Disney World or Disneyland?

[jtntx34]

Comparing Disneyland to Magic Kingdom, I prefer Disneyland. It’s easier to navigate and has more nostalgia. But comparing it to Disney World, I prefer Disney World.

 

[CastAStone]

If the Marvel expansion is open, I'd vote DL.

I can't quite justify the trip as it's a 3000 mile flight and I'm not doing that until my daughter is older and I have an extended period of time to do other things in CA.

My rule of thumb is that if your kid is under 5, Disneyland is a MUCH better option than WDW. Much less walking, much less stroller pushing, much cheaper, no wasted time for driving/busing to and from naps, and you can stay 40 minutes later because your hotel is 6 minutes away, even if you’re staying offsite.

I think It’s well worth the flight.

 

[Magical2017]

I have always loved WDW more than DL but I think two weeks in SoCal would allow you to do so much in that area. Plus, your family has not been to DL. I would prefer June in CA to FL, also!

 

[tzeitel]

WDW used to be my home park, I was a CM for a few years, met my DH there, took DD on the weekends from the time she was born. Then we moved to CO.
For the past 9 years DLR has been our home park - and my favorite (DH still prefers WDW ).

Previous posters have made very good points - the history, the classic rides, Carsland, the weather! I also like the food (so much better than WDW), the park hopping (think of walking from FW to IG in Epcot, that is how far the 2 parks are from each other), no buses, no planning 6 months in advance where you want to eat. I also really like the hotel options off property - right across the street from DLR are several hotels that cost less than a value at WDW.

We usually go for a week, 5 days in the parks (PH are a must with the parks so close to each other) and then a couple of days off property.

We travel in May or Oct. In Oct El Capitan theater shows NBC 4D (among other Disney Halloween movies). El Capitan is the classic movie theater that only shows Disney movies so even if you don't go in Oct it is part of a nice outing. Farmers Market is a great place for lunch, it is near the La Brea tar pits, LACMA, Petersen Car Museum (great even for non car lovers like me ), and El Capitan/Walk of Fame etc.

We have done a day trip to San Diego for the zoo (long day but worth it, better if you can stay in SD). We have also done Santa Monica Pier, Griffith Park Observatory, the GP carousel where Walt would take his daughters and thought up DL. The Hilbert Museum of Art has Disney exhibits all the time (really great stuff by Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle).

So if you wanted to have your off-property days still have a Disney feel you could go to the carousel (it is faster, the horses are smaller, and the ride last much longer that at the Disney parks - it felt like flying), the Hilbert museum and catch a movie at El Capitan. The Ghirardelli next door to EC is Disney themed. You can also go look for the Walt Disney (he has 2), Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald (etc, etc) stars on the WoF.

 

[sweetpeama]

I would say Disneyland as part of a Southern California Vacation. There is so much to do that without knowing what else your family is into all I am going to say is click google maps on another tab or window on your computer and move around to the LA area and then use the + to zoom in and move around. There is everything from nature places and state parks, to several museums. Personally I would spend 3 days in the N LA area at least N of I-10 which is right in the downtown area, and S of I-210 then I would either drive or see if I could take a train to the San Diego area for 3days going to the Sab Diego Zoo and Sea World and I would finish off staying close to Disneyland.

So a 14 day trip would look something like this.
Day 1 Fly into LA
Day 2 N LA area
Day 3 N LA area
Day 4 N LA area
Day 5 Travel to San Diego
Day 6 San Diego
Day 7 San Diego
Day 8 San Diego
Day 9 Travel to Aniheim Area
Day 10 Disneyland
Day 11 Disneyland
Day 12 Disneyland
Day 13 Disneyland
Day 14 Time to get on the plane and head home it was a great vacation.
If you wanted to have 5 days at Disneyland I would change travel to San Diego on day 4.

When my siblings and I were close to the ages of your older 2 (We were 14, 12, and 11) my parents took us on a trip to the LA area and this is what we did and the general reactions.

Long Beach actually on the beach at night. This was fun even if we were not able to go much in the water due to it being dark (A great Uncle took us and our parents after we had dinner at his house with him and great aunt who served us what we thought were black eyed peas but no they just had half a container of pepper all over them).
Queen Mary and Spruce Goose boring as all get out
Universal the backlot tour which was the only attraction at the time was interesting though I was disappointed because I wanted a part when they asked for audience volunteers because at the time I really wanted to go into acting and not only did I not get one my younger brother did. And then he went on about why did they have to pick him he didn't even raise his hand when they asked.
Newport Beach loved it, really nice sand spent a whole day here and since it was in December practically had it to ourselves, we packed a lunch for the day.
Disneyland for one whole day from rope drop to the kiss goodnight 2 days before Christmas loved it wish we could have said longer-this was in the mid 80s so only one park. Favorite foods were a toss up between churos and pineapple spears. Years later we would not only get a costco but a resturant chain called Taco Johns that both serve good churos even if they are smaller at least it's somthing. The pineapple spears well for those we are on our own and have to cut a pineapple.
Magic Mountain fun riding the coasters if your a thrill seeker I am not so I watched a few of the shows and rode the carosaul a lot and did some of the tamer rides. It is under different managment than it was a that time. When we went it was a six flags park but it is no longer and from what I have heard from people who went to it both in the mid 80s and early 00s it has changed drastically and not necessarily for the better. It is still a good park if you are into coasters from what I have heard from but they have cut out a lot of the tamer stuff that is not geared for those not big enough to ride the coasters and a lot of the shows the used to have are no longer there and no other shows have replaced them.
Driving around Hollywood and Beverly Hills was a lot of fun though lots of people and traffic. Loved the holiday light displays in Beverly Hills when my grandmother's much younger cousin (like close in age to my mom younger) husband took us around after dinner which did not include black pepper peas and showed us the lights and even pointed out the houses of some of their celebrity clients as professional massage therapists. Coming from an area where at the time with a few execeptions if you went all out on holiday decorating you hung a row of lights along the edge of your roof where it attached to your house in addition to outlining the biggest window on the front of your house it was fun seeing not only the entire house outlined in lights but decorations in the yards and some of them even had music playing if you rolled down your window.
Sea World shows were fun at the time there were no rides it was just shows and getting to pet the dolphins which you could do for free and feed them which did cost and my parents said no to us doing that. My brother did not like it well he liked the shows he didn't like the sea gulls and would have declared open season on them because they kept going on him and I will leave the rest of that to your imagination. We drove there and back from where were were staying in Santa Monica in a very long day made even longer by what we thought was a random dui check but found out later that they were actually searching for drugs smuggled into the country from the southern boarder and some of the drug cartels. As we approached the inspection area my parents gave us very specific instructions not to be a bunch of smart rear ends and to only speak to answer a direction question otherwise they would do all the talking even though we did not have anything we should not have had. I think when my parents answered where are you coming from and where are you going with we are coming from spending the day at Sea World and we are going to relatives apartment in Santa Monica that is a college student but is actually in our hometown visiting family and is letting us stay there us kids might have been asked something like did you like Sea World or what was your favorite show but other than that us kids had no interaction. I think they might have also asked me being 14 if I had any identification and I might have showed them my really bad photo school id card.
Driving around San Fransisco and going to Fishermans Warf we found interesting though we could not figure out why people would want to litter and toss paper out the windows onto the street. This was on NYE and everyone was tossing their old single page date calendars. It was interesting driving too since as a lot of cars back then we had a manual transmission. My dad who was not only used to 3 on the tree or 4 on the floor but 8 and even larger stick shift systems (the 8 were 2 ton farm trucks he had been driving since big enough to reach the pedals and see over the dash and yes that was before it was legal for him to do so) said that he would never again drive the streets of San Fransisco in a stick and next time he was making sure he had an automatic. (San Fransisco is also a couple of days drive or a long 2 days we actually went from another relative's house in Ventura County which is about an hour or so N of the LA area to near San Jose where we stayed at yet another relative's house and then to San Fransisco where we spent most of the day and onto Sacramento area where we stayed with a family friend at their house. What was supposed to be 15 days away but turned into 16 because my parents decided they did not want to hit a certain spot where if we ended up having to stay because the roads were shut down with the blizzard that was supposed to hit about the time we got to the general area in the wee hours of the morning and there were not a lot of rooms in that area so we stopped in an area where they knew we could get a place to stay the night and that was the only night on the entire trip we stayed in a motel otherwise it was relative's houses or sleeping in the car as my parents took turns driving straight through and we took turns staying awake and talking with the driver).

 

[tinkerjo]

As long s you go with the expectation that this is NOT WDW, you will be fine. We were really disappointed our first trip. We felt like we were at Cedar Point. There are a lot of locals and you miss that “magic”. There are not tons of little girls dressed in princess dresses, the castle is small, and CMs were not as “happy”. That being said, we can do the parks easily in 3 days, cars land and Pixar pier are so much fun ( can’t count how many times we rode the incredacoaster, it was DS12 favorite ride), and we love grizzly falls. Definitely get maxpass, it’s worth every penny. We rode everything we wanted. Hopping is as easy as walking across the street. We stayed directly across the street and it saved a ton of money and we had free breakfast. The walk is short. I do recommend Southern California. Do the zoo, the beaches (La Jolla cove and Mission Beach were huge hits with the kids) SAN Diego is beautiful and we really enjoyed it. We could have stayed longer!!!

 

[2vets]

I grew up in FL and live in San Diego. I have only been to DL a couple of times - it’s great, just not as immersive In terms of the surrounding area, and WDW always reminds me of my own childhood, so that’s where I tend to go.

All that said, I see the advice you’ve had here, and as someone who lives on the left coast, I feel the need to add one recommendation... If you’re here, it would be a crying shame not to drive up at least to Big Sur, even if you didn’t stay for more than a night. You could stay in Cambria/San Simeon, check out the elephant seals for a bit, and drive up towards Big Sur (70 miles, ish) and back, without having to stress about lodging farther north, which is rare and expensive along that coastline. Trust me when I say that this part of the CA coast is among our country’s most beautiful views. We drive to Monterey at least once a year, and that view takes my breath away every single time.

Oh - and btw, CA traffic? It’s a real thing, especially on the stretch of the 101 between LA and Santa Barbara. Assume things will take twice as long as would be expected. Avoid the highways between 7-10 am and 2:30-6:30 pm if you can!

 

[2vets]

One last tidbit - google “June gloom”. You may not get sun then. But coming in July plunks you in the middle of the height of tourist season!

 

[westie55]

I have been to WDW countless times and finally tried DL 4 years ago. It was fantastic. Imagine being reunited with your childhood favorites (Mr Toad!!!!!) and experiencing many other new attractions and shows. DCA is a great park. There are a lot of the same rides, but plenty stuff that is different. We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was shocking how you walk out one door into downtown Disney and another door right into the park. NO BUSES NEEDED. Want to park hop? They are SO close together. It is just so easy. Yes, WDW has more overall, but there is a lot to do at DL. I want to go back. World of Color is my favorite nighttime show.

 

[disneylover102]

It is SO hard to compare DL and WDW. As far as rides go (rides are my personal favorite thing about Disney Parks), one doesn’t have far more than the other. Some rides are the same with slightly different experiences (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc), some are literally the exact same experience (Galaxy’s Edge, Star Tours, and Soarin’ are on both coasts and they have the exact same experience) and some rides have similar ride systems but are completely different experiences (Indiana Jones at DL vs Dinosaur at WDW and Radiator Springs Racers at DL vs Test Track at WDW). I’ll list the pros and cons of each place:

Pros of Disneyland:
1. It’s a lot easier to park hop as the 2 parks are right next to each other
2. The parks in general have more rides
3. You can stay very close to Disneyland without having to stay on site
4. The Fastpass system is WAY better
5. You don’t necessarily have to stay on site to get Extra Magic Hours (you get EMH once with a 3+ day ticket)
6. You don’t have to take a ferry or monorail to get to either park
7. It’s the original

Cons of Disneyland:
1. It only has 2 parks
2. It requires less days
3. In general, the versions of the same ride are worse. Many don’t agree with this. For example, I like Space Mtn much better at WDW but most people don’t.

Pros of Disney World:
1. If you want to stay on site, you have more options and it’s cheaper
2. There’s 4 parks so you have more to do
3. You have the better versions of rides
4. Pandora is only at WDW along with a few other rides

Cons of Disney World:
1. The Fastpass system is TERRIBLE
2. You have to take a ferry, monorail, or bus to get to the Magic Kingdom.
3. Only one expensive hotel has a walkway to Magic Kingdom
4. You can walk to/between Epcot and Hollywood Studios but it takes a while.
5. Nobody can walk to Animal Kingdom
6. It’s hard to park hop since none of the parks are literally right next to each other.
7. It’s not the original

Personally, I would go to Disneyland. Maybe there’s stuff you haven’t done at WDW but there’s nothing you’ve done at Disneyland! Review my list of pros and cons (which I could add to probably). Both are amazing so whatever you do, it’ll be amazing!!!!

 

[cedricandsophie]

I love DW. We go every year for two weeks and may go to parks one day. If you haven’t been to DL or California I’d do that. 3 days at DL is more than enough...we usually just go for a day. And then tour California. Fab state with much to see and do. In 10 days you could go to la for a couple days, drive up the coast to San Francisco, hit the wine country or Yosemite and fly back from San Fran.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We love both and base our decision on the amount of time we have available. 2-4 day trips we go to California. 5+ days to Florida. I don’t feel like I can experience enough of DW in less than 5 days. If you are taking a longer trip, and you still wanna try Disneyland, there plenty of other things to see and do in Southern CA.

 

[MaC410]

My wife and I have been to Disney World 3 times now and currently planning our 4th trip. We finally decided to go to Disneyland last year and we absolutely loved it. Disney World will still be the place we typically go but Disneyland is such a great experience. Everything feels much more relaxed there. The food is so much better and you don't need to plan out every little detail. We couldn't get enough of park hopping with how easy it was to just walk back and forth between the two parks.

The only downside I felt is that unless you pay to stay on Disneyland property it's harder to feel like you're in that "Disney bubble" while at Disneyland. We stayed at the Best Western literally right across the street from the Disneyland entrance and while it was so fantastic how easy it was to walk to and from the parks each day, we still missed that disney bubble feeling. If you stay off property and if you stay in walking distance you will be seeing people selling knock off disney shirts, people selling bottles of water or people trying to get you to take a picture with their parrot (we saw that almost every day lol).

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Disneyland is a 3 day trip max for us. If you have 2 weeks in California you should visit other areas. Disneyland won’t take up a lot of time. WDW is a vacation destination with much more to do & see.

 

[TTA Rider Matt]

If you have 2 weeks, I would say to go to WDW, unless you plan to do other things in California as part of your trip. We did 4 days at Disneyland 4 years ago, 2 days at each park, and we absolutely LOVED California Adventure. DL Park was good, but a little disappointing. There were also a few main walkways closed down for construction of Galaxy's Edge, which clogged up the park, and the thing I disliked most was that there is NO shade at DL. Queues are mostly outside, most dining seating is outside, and that sun is wicked in southern California in the summer time. If I had 2 weeks for vacation, I would choose to spend it in WDW, 10 days in the parks, staying at a deluxe or DVC property, spend a day or two at the pool and another day or two at Disney Springs, playing mini golf, shopping, etc.

 

[GreenTea13]

Pros of Disney World:
3. You have the better versions of rides

I have to disagree with this one. I have been to Magic Kingdom only a couple of times and mostly Disneyland through out my life, so yes that does have an effect on my opinion. However I do think there are things that are better at Disneyland than Magic Kingdom.

Personally like Haunted Mansion in Disneyland better, at least I like the outside queue better and how to go in through the front door of the Haunt Mansion like a welcomed guest instead of shoved in through the back basement entrance. (Like they're saying "ehhh, use the back door, don't dirty my front porch." lol. just joking around) Also their stretch room servers a purpose other than just being a stretching room. (Elevator that gets you down to the basement level). which I just find interesting.

I also think that Pirates of the Caribbean is better because there is more in the ride. I mean, you have all those caves scenes which just do not exist in Magic Kingdom and the inside of the burning building at the end of the ride. AND they have the Blue Bayou Restaurant (My favorite place to eat at, reservations 100% needed!)

Thunder Mountain has that cool explosion scene at the end that was added fairly recently. (also I don't recall seeing the goat with the TNT in his mouth, but I could have just missed him since I was just having fun on the ride and not paying attention to every detail.)

Space Mountain is better, it has those new cars at set two to a row instead of just one. But what makes the cars really great is that they have speakers and themed music that follows you through out the ride, making the ride even more fun than without the music. I think the music really enhances the experience.

 

[GreenTea13]

I have no idea how this got double posted. Sorry.

 

[ktlm]

We are long time WDW vets, who have now been going to DLR every year for the last 10 years, and still also go to WDW. 12 years ago, I took DH on a business trip with me and we spent one day there. 2 years after that we decided to take one family trip that direction so DD could see the Aladdin show before it closed (they had announced it was closing and then extended it later). We planned that to be our only DLR trip and then we would just stick to WDW. We have been to DLR EVERY year since. We fell in love with DLR. I would say go for DLR since you have never been. You really can't go wrong with either choice!

My DH prefers DLR and if it was not for EPCOT World Showcase and maybe Pandora, I think we all would be fine sticking to DLR.

DLR is what WDW used to be before it became so rigid and requires so much minute to minute planning due to FP+.

DLR you can be flexible. You can make a few advance dining reservations (we love the World of Color Dessert Party) and then play everything else by ear. Max Pass is great and worth the price. You walk in the park, pick your first FP on your phone and then it works like the old WDW system where you have to either ride or wait a certain amount of time before your next FP. Because they are one at a time, you can get FPs for everything the same day. The most popular rides aren't all booked up a month or two in advance like at WDW. At DLR, you can go where the day takes you. You aren't tied down running from FP to FP that you picked two months earlier like at WDW. Park hopping takes 5 minutes. We go back and forth all day. We had one morning where DH forgot something and had to go back to the resort, so DD and I thought it would be fun to use Max Pass until he got back to just pick the closest ride that had an immediate pass and go from ride to ride. We did that until one of the headliners first available FP was a time we really wanted to be over there to ride it, and we had a blast. It was fun just seeing what popped up and then walking over and immediately getting on that ride with FP.

Yes, it is smaller, but we still spend a full 4 days or a little over there and aren't ready to leave. They pack a lot into those parks. Carsland is amazing and we don't even like the movie that much. Radiator Springs Racers puts Test Track to shame. We usually arrive by about noon and are in the park by 1:00. We go in the summer and DL is often open to midnight on arrival day, and we have been known to stay that long. We then spend 3 full days. The day we leave, we typically hit the parks from opening until about 2:00 or 3:00 before heading to another destination for the rest of our trip.

If you can swing staying in one of the Disney hotels, you can remain in the Disney bubble like at WDW. We really enjoy DLH because it is different that anywhere we have stayed at WDW. GCH is very nice, but it basically is a scaled down version of Wilderness Lodge at a higher price.

Also, with the amount of time you have, you could see a lot of other things. For years we went south after our time at DLR because we have friends that live in one of the beach towns on the way to San Diego. There is a lot to do in San Diego. We really like the San Diego Zoo wildlife park (which is great and will give you a little bit of AK feel) and the San Diego Zoo. There are lots of things to explore going south. Lots of nice beach towns and things to do. Newport Beach is not too far from DLR and is also a nice area. Last summer we went north, instead of south. If you choose to go north, you can go to Univeral Studios (much smaller than Orlando- but it has the tour of the actually working back lot). We absolutely loved the Warner Brothers studio tour. You can take a look at the Hollywood area. There really is a ton to do in California.

 

[MaC410]

I have to disagree with this one. I have been to Magic Kingdom only a couple of times and mostly Disneyland through out my life, so yes that does have an effect on my option. However I do think there are things that are better at Disneyland than Magic Kingdom.

Personally like Haunted Mansion in Disneyland better, at least I like the outside queue better and how to go in through the front door of the Haunt Mansion like a welcomed guest instead of shove in through the back basement entrance like a shameful guest that you don't want people seeing entering your house. (Like they saying "ehhh, use the back door, don't dirty my front porch.") Also their stretch room servers a purpose other than just being a stretching room. (Elevator that gets you down to the basement level).

I also think that Pirates of the Caribbean if better because there it more to it in the ride. I mean, you have all those caves scenes which just do not exist in Magic Kingdom and the inside of the burning building at the end of the ride. AND they have the Blue Bayou Restaurant (My favorite place to eat out, reservations 100% needed!)

Thunder Mountain has that cool explosion scene at the end that was added fairly recently. (also I don't recall seeing the goat with the TNT in his mouth, but I could have just missed him since I was just having fun on the ride and not paying attention to every detail.)

Space Mountain is better, it has those new cars at set two to a row instead of just one. But what makes the cars really great is that they have speakers and themed music that follows you through out the ride, making the ride even more fun than without the music. I think the music really enhances the experience.

I agree with you and I'm someone who has been to Disney World more and will continue to choose Disney World over Disneyland for other reasons. Disneyland has many better versions of rides. Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Big Thunder and Space Mountain are all better at Disneyland, in our opinion of course. The Disneyland versions are either longer or have special added elements/effects that make the ride better than the Disney World version.

 

[TheBigErn]

Everyone should go to the original at least once. Well worth it. A very different experience in many ways.