Differences between DL and WDW?

grimley1968

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Apr 2, 2005
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Hey, you DL experts! I need a little advice with our trip to DL this June. We've booked at GC already, have a rental car reserved and our flight booked!

My question is this: What are the biggest differences between DL and WDW? I'm extremely familiar with WDW, having been there probably around 40-45 times in my life. But I've never been to DL, or even to SoCal. I'm familiar with the ride differences. What I'm looking for is general differences in the atmosphere, feel of the place, fastpass, gate etiquette vs. WDW, ticketing structure, or anything else you can think of.

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup2
 
The biggest difference is size. DLR is much smaller. You can walk to all areas w/o much problem. It's also in the middle of a city, as opposed to being almost out in the middle of nowhere, like WDW. For me, DL is much more magical than MK. I think it's because Walt was there so much. You can still feel him there (even though he died a few years before I was born). You don't in any WDW park (you don't at DCA either). There's so many places I can look at and say, "Walt sat there" or "Walt drove that" (referring to the small fire engine that you can ride up and down Main Street).

As for gate etiquette, when you go through bag check, there's no "No bags" line. FP works a bit differently. At DLR, there's no end of your window. You can't use a FP before the window opens, but I've never had a problem using them late, even 12 hours later (so long as it's the same day).
 
There's a thread that's fallen to page 2 that talks about some of the differences between WDW and DL.

The poster above is right. SIZE! DL is just small and cozy. Prepare yourself to almost laugh when you see how small the castle is. Space Mountain, although a superior ride, is very small from the outside.

But I agree that there's something magical about how cozy it is and about "walking in Walt's footsteps". He was there. He worked there. He created this park.

The fastpass perk mentioned above is really nice. Hydroguy has a great post somewhere on fastpass at DL and how to use it to its fullest. Not having to worry about coming back during my window is a great luxury.
 

In WDW the park surroundings are immersive.....but to me the parks are so expansive that the "immersion" feeling is often lost. In DL the surroundingd aren't immersive at all but DL is on a scale that you feel completely immersed. Walking down Main st in DL I don't have to turn my head to see both sides of the street....the sight lines just have so much more "stuff" and overwhelming detail.Of course the trade off is it handles crowds and strollers poorly.
Character interaction is more frequent but less controlled.
I think you see more groups of teens without parents.
 
I forgot. Seemed we saw a lot more characters out and about at DL. We saw and met more face characters: Cruella, Alice, Queen of Hearts, Mulan. My daughter rode the carousel sitting right behind Snow White. Cinderella was on the other side of the Carousel.

So, yeah, more informal character interaction at DL.
 
Like brenda1966 said"cozy". My bils son used to live in Fla.He thought D/L stunk compared to WDW.His loss.More for us.Never going to take him again :confused3
 
I have been to WDW around 12 times. I went to DL for the first time in Nov. I had the best time ever. I really enjoyed both parks. DCA was great, DL was wonderful. I think it all has to do with the attitude that you go there with.
 
Stroller rentals are about the same, except you can take your stroller out of DL and across the plaza into DCA. Also, if you have a Disney Visa, I believe the rentals are free at DL.

It is much cozier. If you count just rides (not walk throughs or shows), DL and DCA have a few more than all of WDW (last time I checked). That packed into parks about the size of Disney MGM.

You don't pay for hotel location as much - it's a longer walk to the gates of DL from the Disney hotels than many $100 motels on Harbor.

Many more locals frequenting the parks. Still a good amount of travelers - mainly from West of the Rockies and Japan.

The scale of main street and the castle is more intimate.

Pirates makes the WDW version feel like a highlight reel.

The park since the 50th do-over looks wonderful. You can really feel what it must have been like to walk through those gates in '55. It looks brand new.

Because you spend so much less time just getting around, you can cover the parks much faster than WDW. 3-4 days is enough time to do just about everything, even when it is busy.

Many more lines are visible - they aren't longer than WDW, just more out in the open.

Lots of unique gems. Storybookland. Alice and Pinochio. Mr Toad still rides! Canoes. Grand Canyon and dinosaurs from the train. Indiana Jones (beats Dinosaur easily).

Also, you have generally great weather. Makes a summer day much more plesant than it can be on those days at WDW when you just try to dart from AC to AC!

So Cal has a lot of other great places too. San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Wild Animal Park, Legoland, Universal (where they really do film!).
 
Wow, MrShiny and others summed it up perfectly in my book! I am going to have to remember this thread and these responses and post the link when this question comes up again! Some things I would mention, that while Disneyland doesn't have the huge array of dining options, I find their counter service places to be better in quality and atmosphere than WDW's. They are often themed around the rides and lands they are near. I don't see that as much at WDW. The food is more expensive because its So Cal after all! Also, New Orleans Square at Disneyland is superb. No Liberty Square however. The Disneyland RR has more stops and a neat Grand Canyon/prehistoric display. Be sure to ride it all the way around. At Disneyland there is a Critter Country where Splash Mountain is located as well as the Pooh Bear ride. And the Pooh ride at DL is nowhere near as busy as it is a WDW because it isn't in Fantasyland. Also, no fastpass (bigger bummer too) at Peter Pan, so if thats important to your family, line up early! Its as crowded as the WDW counterpart but without fastpass you do it early or you spend 45 minutes in line. Make sure when you enter the park to look up into the window above the firestation on Main Street. You will see a light on. That is Walt's personal apartment. When he was alive it was lit when he was in the park. Since his death, its always on because he's always there! Have a great trip!
 
grimley1968 said:
Do stroller rentals, if available, work the same way as at WDW?

I believe they do not have double strollers at Disneyland. I could be wrong however! Another thing I thought of, no photopass at Disneyland. You have to go in person to the photo place on Main Street and buy them directly.
 
Hey thanks everyone! :thumbsup2

This is all good information that should help me out. I can't wait to experience the SoCal flavor of Disney!
 
Judy from Boise said:
In WDW the park surroundings are immersive.....but to me the parks are so expansive that the "immersion" feeling is often lost. In DL the surroundingd aren't immersive at all but DL is on a scale that you feel completely immersed. Walking down Main st in DL I don't have to turn my head to see both sides of the street....the sight lines just have so much more "stuff" and overwhelming detail.Of course the trade off is it handles crowds and strollers poorly.
Character interaction is more frequent but less controlled.
I think you see more groups of teens without parents.

My experience with immersion is the opposite. At WDW it is possible to completely immerse yourself in Disney 24/7. From the time of your Mickey wake up call till you put your head down it's all Disney, all the time and for ME, that is magical. At DL, even when in the park, it's easy to lose the magic. You go to the top of the Mattehorn and look out over... Aneheim. You have lines crisscrossing each other and there are few trees. The Magic Kindgom is more park-like, lots of flowers and landscaping. There isn't a que for one attraction going through the Jungle Book, where at DLR there isn't so much space so it's more cramped.

Another difference is restaurants. At WDW, there are loads of themes restaurants that transport you to another time or place... magical! But at DL, there are few sit down restaurants. Ditto for resorts and resort pools. There isn't a lot of options at DL. There aren't a lot of options at DL.

Walt had his fingerprints all over WDW, which he planned after he saw some of the pitfalls of his orginal park. Whether or not he planted his foot in Orlando or not is immaterial, at least to me. Disneyland patrons like the historic and nostalic aspects of the original park.

Another difference is that at DL there are far more day-trippers and more packs of teenagers. They come in for Fantasmic, parades and rides but arent' really there for the whole overall magical resort experience. They come in and clog up the passageways and lines, where you don't find that so much in Florida. Definitely more family friendly at WDW.

Another difference is climate. WDW has opporessive humidity which you trade for smog in DL. Pick your poison.
 
sters said:
My experience with immersion is the opposite. At WDW it is possible to completely immerse yourself in Disney 24/7. From the time of your Mickey wake up call till you put your head down it's all Disney, all the time and for ME, that is magical. At DL, even when in the park, it's easy to lose the magic. You go to the top of the Mattehorn and look out over... Aneheim. You have lines crisscrossing each other and there are few trees. The Magic Kindgom is more park-like, lots of flowers and landscaping. There isn't a que for one attraction going through the Jungle Book, where at DLR there isn't so much space so it's more cramped.

Another difference is restaurants. At WDW, there are loads of themes restaurants that transport you to another time or place... magical! But at DL, there are few sit down restaurants. Ditto for resorts and resort pools. There isn't a lot of options at DL. There aren't a lot of options at DL.

Walt had his fingerprints all over WDW, which he planned after he saw some of the pitfalls of his orginal park. Whether or not he planted his foot in Orlando or not is immaterial, at least to me. Disneyland patrons like the historic and nostalic aspects of the original park.

Another difference is that at DL there are far more day-trippers and more packs of teenagers. They come in for Fantasmic, parades and rides but arent' really there for the whole overall magical resort experience. They come in and clog up the passageways and lines, where you don't find that so much in Florida. Definitely more family friendly at WDW.

Another difference is climate. WDW has opporessive humidity which you trade for smog in DL. Pick your poison.

Wow, sounds like you should just stick with WDW in the future since you have absolutely nothing but negative feelings about Disneyland!
 
Amy&Dan said:
Wow, sounds like you should just stick with WDW in the future since you have absolutely nothing but negative feelings about Disneyland!

Negative as Sters' post was, it still gives an opinion on how DL differs from WDW, and I value all of them.

Any other differences?
 
sters said:
Another difference is that at DL there are far more day-trippers and more packs of teenagers. They come in for Fantasmic, parades and rides but arent' really there for the whole overall magical resort experience. They come in and clog up the passageways and lines, where you don't find that so much in Florida. Definitely more family friendly at WDW.


we definitely had this experience as well.....
there were some very very scary packs of teenagers.....and it's rather unsettling to be caught in line with them...
even when we used FPs for Indiana Jones, we were still in line for about 20 minutes (the regular line was over 90 minutes long)....and to be stuck inside that cave-like line with packs of teens (more like gangs of teens if you ask me) was scary...
the same thing happened at Splash Mountain....one of the times we were in there, there was a huge group of older teens....very loud and possibly threatening....they were certainly enjoying scaring everyone around them...
not my idea of a good time...

and strangely, there was a lot less visible security than you see at WDW....i'm sure there's plenty of security, but it wasn't visible...
 

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