Hunter182
Masked Vigilante
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2011
- Messages
- 139
As of three days ago, I returned from Disneyland. For the first time ever. I'd like to share a few thoughts on each land, and the park in general. Anyone is welcome to share their thoughts or opinions on what I said. Be sure not to take what I say as fact, but as an opinion. But most of all, enjoy reading. 
The Castle
When we first turned the corner on Main Street and had our first glimpse at the castle, I just stood there. My brother laughed. My mom stared at me with a confused look on her face. It sorta looked like the castle I'd try to go under every time I went and played mini-golf as a kid. But despite all of that...I smiled. It really hit me at this point that I was across the country. Visiting Disneyland, the place where it all started. For the theme-parks, anyway.
After taking a long stroll down Main Street and taking it all in, I worked my way into the crowd waiting for rope drop. And about ten minutes later, I was in Adventureland.
Adventureland
Admittedly, this is my favorite area of the park. It's small, but full of detail and just...a fun area to be in. Plus, it holds my new favorite Disney attraction. The Indiana Jones Adventure.
It's weird when I think about how many years Indy has been open. Over 16 years!
It is ten times superior to it's sister attraction, (Dinosaur A.K.A. Countdown to Extinction, over in our Animal Kingdom) hands down. While Dinosaur is a fun ride, Indy has it beat in all aspects. The queue is amazing. It rivals Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey's (Over at Universal's Islands of Adventure) for the top in detail and overall enjoyable factor of waiting in line. (Oxymoron, right? 
)
I'll spare you guys of any more of my total gushiness of the ride...but yes. First ride there, last ride before I left. And can't wait to go again.
Also in Adventureland is the Enchanted Tiki Room. As a bit of a nostalgia nut, and considering I had never seen the original show, (Under New Management. Ughh.) I walked in one day. Midday, and it was full of people. Brought a smile to my face to see another 50 year+ attraction still filling the benches.
New Orleans Square
In terms of physical beauty, this land tops it for me. I love the winding streets and the architecture of the buildings. I love the little nooks and crannies. Right by the river, with the steamboat in the background. Just perfect.
Pirates of the Caribbean. I adore the one we have over here at the Magic Kingdom. It's in my top 5 rides at WDW. But Disneyland? Easily number 2. It's just...so...BEAUTIFUL. It's amazing. And it makes our version look pretty cheap. We're missing so much over here, and I feel sorry for the people who only experience the one here. I think my brother summed it up best. As soon as he got off, he let off these words of wisdom.
"What happened to this beautiful ride?"
I think that sums it up perfectly.
The Haunted Mansion
This was a tiny bit of a disappointment admittedly. But you've gotta understand from where I'm coming from. The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Walt Disney World attraction. It's a classic. Opening day, 1971 it was there. It has a sort of...just "feeling" about it. It's hard to explain, but the mansion and I hit it off in '03 and I haven't been the same since.
I think it's partially the outside. The mansion itself. WDW's is kinda foreboding, a bit creepy looking but it makes a statement. Sorta like, "BAMM! I'm here, do you dare enter me?" But besides that, we have a much better queue. (Not DL's fault. WDW's just got received a update to that part of the attraction.)
But inside the attraction is where it started to fall a bit flat. I think the fireplace room with the changing Master Gracey portrait is more effective then just the bland room at DL. (Where names are carved into the mirror. Seriously makes me sad people would do that sort of stuff.)
Stretching Room is pretty much the same, except instead of the roof going up, the floor goes down.
However! I do enjoy the hallway scene more. With the moving busts and the changing portraits. Along with the the actual boarding room. (So much cooler at DL)
But on the actual ride, I prefer ours. We have the Escher staircase room, the music room, a (very slightly) better attic, our Madame Leota floats, we have the new interactive hitchhiking ghosts, etc.
So a slight disappointment, but I would still recommend it. A classic and deservedly so. But WDW has spoiled me on this one.
Frontierland/Critter Country
Pretty much the same but smaller. It's a bit odd not seeing Splash Mountain next to Big Thunder, but not anything negative. Unfortunately, Big Thunder Mountain was down for most of one day and excessive waits the others. An unfortunate skip, but supposedly it's not that big of a deal.
Splash Mountain is having it's refurb. And Winnie the Pooh...we honestly just never wandered that far back in Critter Country. No interest.
Fantasyland
So much better then our current Fantasyland. (We'll see how that holds up after our major expansion. ) So many more classic dark rides, and so much I didn't get a chance to ride. (Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Storybook, Alice in Wonderland.) But I did get to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures. Admittedly the witch made me jump at a few points. (WHAT IS UP WITH THAT ENDING?!) And Mr. Toad. Quite a fun, enjoyable ride. I smiled throughout. Except for the end. Another, ("WHHHHHHAT JUST HAPPENED?!!" moment.
The Matterhorn...a very fun ride. I really enjoyed it, despite it banging my knees up pretty bad. (6'3", so some injuries were inevitable.
) I enjoyed the nostalgic feel of the attraction, but it's nothing I would wait excessive wait times for.)
Tomorrowland
Very comparable to our Tomorrowland. Too much to judge the land as a whole. But it's an easy decision on who has the better Space Mountain. In my opinion, you guys win. The ride itself is so much more enjoyable in my opinion. But my brother and sister both think ours is ten times superior. It's all a matter of taste, but as for the ride, you guys win that competition.
EXCEPT. The queue. It is absolutely dreadful over there. Waiting on concrete in the hot sun for a majority of it, then walking past the same pictures. Ours is entirely (except for extreme cases) indoors and so much better themed. So,
The Ride-DL
Queue/Themeing-WDW
Unfortunatley, we had no time for Nemo's Submarine Voyage.
And Star Tours is still closed. But opening soon! Here over in our Hollywood Studios as well!
Main Street
There's no discussion about it. You guys easily have the better Main Street. I love the little machines and little details throughout the stores. Very impressive.
As for now, that's pretty much all I can say. I will add more (Primarily about California Adventure and a little more on my thoughts about Disneyland later.) later.
But all in all, I prefer Disneyland. It's a great park and very enjoyable. You guys have every reason to be proud of Walt's park. And I can't wait to visit again.
The Castle
When we first turned the corner on Main Street and had our first glimpse at the castle, I just stood there. My brother laughed. My mom stared at me with a confused look on her face. It sorta looked like the castle I'd try to go under every time I went and played mini-golf as a kid. But despite all of that...I smiled. It really hit me at this point that I was across the country. Visiting Disneyland, the place where it all started. For the theme-parks, anyway.
After taking a long stroll down Main Street and taking it all in, I worked my way into the crowd waiting for rope drop. And about ten minutes later, I was in Adventureland.
Adventureland
Admittedly, this is my favorite area of the park. It's small, but full of detail and just...a fun area to be in. Plus, it holds my new favorite Disney attraction. The Indiana Jones Adventure.
It's weird when I think about how many years Indy has been open. Over 16 years!
It is ten times superior to it's sister attraction, (Dinosaur A.K.A. Countdown to Extinction, over in our Animal Kingdom) hands down. While Dinosaur is a fun ride, Indy has it beat in all aspects. The queue is amazing. It rivals Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey's (Over at Universal's Islands of Adventure) for the top in detail and overall enjoyable factor of waiting in line. (Oxymoron, right? )I'll spare you guys of any more of my total gushiness of the ride...but yes. First ride there, last ride before I left. And can't wait to go again.
Also in Adventureland is the Enchanted Tiki Room. As a bit of a nostalgia nut, and considering I had never seen the original show, (Under New Management. Ughh.) I walked in one day. Midday, and it was full of people. Brought a smile to my face to see another 50 year+ attraction still filling the benches.
New Orleans Square
In terms of physical beauty, this land tops it for me. I love the winding streets and the architecture of the buildings. I love the little nooks and crannies. Right by the river, with the steamboat in the background. Just perfect.
Pirates of the Caribbean. I adore the one we have over here at the Magic Kingdom. It's in my top 5 rides at WDW. But Disneyland? Easily number 2. It's just...so...BEAUTIFUL. It's amazing. And it makes our version look pretty cheap. We're missing so much over here, and I feel sorry for the people who only experience the one here. I think my brother summed it up best. As soon as he got off, he let off these words of wisdom.
"What happened to this beautiful ride?"
I think that sums it up perfectly.
The Haunted Mansion
This was a tiny bit of a disappointment admittedly. But you've gotta understand from where I'm coming from. The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Walt Disney World attraction. It's a classic. Opening day, 1971 it was there. It has a sort of...just "feeling" about it. It's hard to explain, but the mansion and I hit it off in '03 and I haven't been the same since.
I think it's partially the outside. The mansion itself. WDW's is kinda foreboding, a bit creepy looking but it makes a statement. Sorta like, "BAMM! I'm here, do you dare enter me?" But besides that, we have a much better queue. (Not DL's fault. WDW's just got received a update to that part of the attraction.)
But inside the attraction is where it started to fall a bit flat. I think the fireplace room with the changing Master Gracey portrait is more effective then just the bland room at DL. (Where names are carved into the mirror. Seriously makes me sad people would do that sort of stuff.)
Stretching Room is pretty much the same, except instead of the roof going up, the floor goes down.
However! I do enjoy the hallway scene more. With the moving busts and the changing portraits. Along with the the actual boarding room. (So much cooler at DL)
But on the actual ride, I prefer ours. We have the Escher staircase room, the music room, a (very slightly) better attic, our Madame Leota floats, we have the new interactive hitchhiking ghosts, etc.
So a slight disappointment, but I would still recommend it. A classic and deservedly so. But WDW has spoiled me on this one.
Frontierland/Critter Country
Pretty much the same but smaller. It's a bit odd not seeing Splash Mountain next to Big Thunder, but not anything negative. Unfortunately, Big Thunder Mountain was down for most of one day and excessive waits the others. An unfortunate skip, but supposedly it's not that big of a deal.
Splash Mountain is having it's refurb. And Winnie the Pooh...we honestly just never wandered that far back in Critter Country. No interest.
Fantasyland
So much better then our current Fantasyland. (We'll see how that holds up after our major expansion.
) So many more classic dark rides, and so much I didn't get a chance to ride. (Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Storybook, Alice in Wonderland.) But I did get to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures. Admittedly the witch made me jump at a few points. (WHAT IS UP WITH THAT ENDING?!) And Mr. Toad. Quite a fun, enjoyable ride. I smiled throughout. Except for the end. Another, ("WHHHHHHAT JUST HAPPENED?!!" moment.The Matterhorn...a very fun ride. I really enjoyed it, despite it banging my knees up pretty bad. (6'3", so some injuries were inevitable.
) I enjoyed the nostalgic feel of the attraction, but it's nothing I would wait excessive wait times for.)Tomorrowland
Very comparable to our Tomorrowland. Too much to judge the land as a whole. But it's an easy decision on who has the better Space Mountain. In my opinion, you guys win. The ride itself is so much more enjoyable in my opinion. But my brother and sister both think ours is ten times superior. It's all a matter of taste, but as for the ride, you guys win that competition.
EXCEPT. The queue. It is absolutely dreadful over there. Waiting on concrete in the hot sun for a majority of it, then walking past the same pictures. Ours is entirely (except for extreme cases) indoors and so much better themed. So,
The Ride-DL
Queue/Themeing-WDW
Unfortunatley, we had no time for Nemo's Submarine Voyage.
And Star Tours is still closed. But opening soon! Here over in our Hollywood Studios as well!
Main Street
There's no discussion about it. You guys easily have the better Main Street. I love the little machines and little details throughout the stores. Very impressive.
As for now, that's pretty much all I can say. I will add more (Primarily about California Adventure and a little more on my thoughts about Disneyland later.) later.
But all in all, I prefer Disneyland. It's a great park and very enjoyable. You guys have every reason to be proud of Walt's park. And I can't wait to visit again.
And now I kinda regret that choice.
