Oh my you are soooooo lucky to live that close to DL. As WDW has become a little shabby around the edges, DL seems even more of a sparkling jewel.
Yes, it's not as large as WDW....but that is such a tremendous advantage. No time wasted on busses.....5 minutes from the Grand Californian and you are on Main Street.
When you step onto Main Street some may say...oooooo...smaller. What I always see is how much more intimate Main Street is at DL.....so much more like a true main street would be.
The castle is just beautiful.....and completely accessible - unlike Cindy's castle. You are walk through it .... stand on the very stones Walk stood on so many years ago. I have to admit missing the magic of walking through the castle at WDW into Fantasy land.
Walk around on the sidewalk to the right of the castle and find the characters from Snow White. These were a gift to Walt by someone who visited DL and fell in love with it. Who? No one knows.
Fantasmic - do the dessert party. It's a far more intimate location - no big stadium. The Fantasmic dragon is soooooo much better than HS.....no comparison.
Space Mountan, Pirates, BTMRR, Indiana...so many of the rides are just plain BETTER than WDW....and the imagineers did SUCH A GREAT JOB with the design and theme of DL vs WDW.
Food is still dumbed-down like WDW....but DL's food began at a much higher level so we find it's simply better overall.
California Adventure is getting a long-overdue facelift on the southwest side of the park. When finished it will be great. As it is.....California Screaming and TSM and so great...they still pull people into the park.
TOT.....so much better than WDW!
I'll get to the resorts in a moment....but as a resort guest you can now enter California Adventure 30 minutes early. 30 minutes, you say....what's the big deal? The big deal is you can have first access to the World of Color fast passes. WOC is Fantasmic......but bigger. Take a peek at You Tube to get a peek at how great it is.
Now, resorts.
No comparison....Grand Californian is 10 times better than anything Disney built in Florida. It's the class of service the Grand Floridian wants to have (but doesn't) with Californian Craftsman theming. Just beautiful.
Same design team at the Wildie and Animal Kingdom lodge, an afternoon of discovery at this beautiful propert is not out of line. They took a tiny footprint and built an intimate resort. Photos will never totally to justice to the beautiful lobby.....nothing better than stepping inside personally.
Disneyland has advantages WDW will never be able to replicate. The advantage of being able to walk everywhere is just wonderful. You can truly immerse yourself in the experience......AND NO BUSSES <---THANK GOD!
It's cleaner than WDW, castmember far better than WDW --- perhaps this is survival since the grownups are so close in Burbank.
Think of everything they have taken away at WDW for the holidays.......resort decorations cutback, LOW gone, stage for EPCOT Christmas tree and characters out for the tree lighting, Country Bears Christmas......shall I continue or do you get the picture.
Now look at DL.....they change Haunted Mansion to the Nightmare Before Christmas.....Small World changes to Small World Holiday.....holiday season is not suffering the sad cutbacks of WDW.
My DH went the first time.....kicking and whining. It didn't take long for DL to shoot right to the top of his favorites list.
So what do you think? Think I like DL better?
i grew up in California (born about a half mile down the road from DL) and grew up going to DL. now I live in Florida since 1999...it's interesting to see different opinions
