DL vs. DW - Cost?

[ajwolfe]

So Dh and I were discussing last night and thought maybe our next Disney related trip will be to DL instead. I'm curious what the price difference is for a normal vacation to DL vs the World. We normally stay 6 nights which I'm assuming would not be needed at Disneyland? How long do you usually stay there and feel like you were able to do everything you wanted? This probably would be a once only trip for us as it is closer to go to Florida than Cali for us.

Any insight from those of you that have done both would be great!!

 

[DnA2010]

So Dh and I were discussing last night and thought maybe our next Disney related trip will be to DL instead. I'm curious what the price difference is for a normal vacation to DL vs the World. We normally stay 6 nights which I'm assuming would not be needed at Disneyland? How long do you usually stay there and feel like you were able to do everything you wanted? This probably would be a once only trip for us as it is closer to go to Florida than Cali for us.

Any insight from those of you that have done both would be great!!

Our last trip was with 5 day hoppers + a Halloween party, and we still didn't do everything we wanted. We did 7 nights. I would suggest heading over to the DL section and reading up about onsite vs offsite, what else you might want to visit, that sort of thing. I think the difference in cost will be whether or not you are set on staying on site, how many park meals you want to do, that sort of thing.

 

[alitrem]

WE haven't been to DW but in the midst of planning for 2017 but in 2013 we went to DL. We stayed off site at the Best western anaheim inn. It was close enough to walk but was also on a bus route. The rooms aren't huge but really we were sleeping in them only. Breakfast included.
We spent 5 days with a park hopper pass and could of spent a little more time but also we were able to do everything we wanted to in the 5 days.

 

[scrapquitler]

We didn't notice too much difference in food prices, but we only eat Quick Service. We stayed offsite, at a La Quinta Inn, and the price for that was higher than staying at a Value Resort onsite at WDW, and there is no Magical Express, so you need to factor than in as well. There also might be an issue with ticket prices depending on your trip length...DL only offers ticket options up to 5 days. If you want to visit for longer, you'll need to either buy a season pass or start with new tickets. We visited the parks 4 days and felt that we saw/did pretty much everything we really wanted to do. The biggest extra expense on the trip was our flights from the East Coast to California, which was significantly higher than the price we usually pay for tickets to Orlando. That of course will depend on where you are starting from.

 

[ajwolfe]

Thanks!! All good info so far. Guess I was figuring since it was smaller we wouldn't need as long, but sounds like that necessarily isn't the case.

 

[aebeauregard]

I have priced out a larger trip for both DW and DL recently. 4 hotel rooms for 7 adults and 5 kids, 6day/7night with 5 day park hoppers. (I only priced staying onsite) The cheapest Disneyland trip (Paradise Pier) was almost $4000 more than the cheapest Disneyworld trip (Pop). And that was doing rack room pricing for DW which honestly at the time we could have also gotten free dining or a room discount that makes the difference even greater, I rarely have seen any discounts for DL. Also plane tickets are more for us to get to California. I'm sure you wouldn't need as many days at DL and could stay offsite too. Just giving you an idea of what I found out.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I keep looking longingly at DL but can't wrap my brain around the idea of staying offsite. I really like how easy Disney makes it when you visit wdw. DL doesn't seem to have as much of a "Disney Bubble", no Magic Express, only 3 hotels (and they're all deluxe, sort of), no dining plan, etc... It just sounds so much harder! lol

 

[ajwolfe]

I keep looking longingly at DL but can't wrap my brain around the idea of staying offsite. I really like how easy Disney makes it when you visit wdw. DL doesn't seem to have as much of a "Disney Bubble", no Magic Express, only 3 hotels (and they're all deluxe, sort of), no dining plan, etc... It just sounds so much harder! lol

After reading some of these posts I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it too..Might not be for us after all. I was hoping there would be some cost savings there but if not we will probably just stick with DW.

 

[DnA2010]

I keep looking longingly at DL but can't wrap my brain around the idea of staying offsite. I really like how easy Disney makes it when you visit wdw. DL doesn't seem to have as much of a "Disney Bubble", no Magic Express, only 3 hotels (and they're all deluxe, sort of), no dining plan, etc... It just sounds so much harder! lol

When you can be at the gate in 4 minutes with no bus required, you may change your mind Many of the offsite across the street are closer than the actual DL hotels. We loved the variety of the WDW parks, can't wait to go back, but the charm of DL

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I think 5 days is plenty if you go during a slower season. Go doing Spring Break, Thanksgiving Break, Summer Break or end of December and forget it. I am a DL local but have been to WDW a few times. There are no hotel tiers here, unfortunately. It's either deluxe or off-site. Even the new hotel they're going to start building will be deluxe.

If you've never been to Southern California and don't anticipate visiting again, I'd do just a 4 day park hopper (in the slower season) and use the 3 other days for site seeing. And unlike WDW, a PH is a must at DL. It is SO easy to get from one park to the other in a matter of minutes and with all of the wait time apps it will prove crucial to planning as much as you can in those days.

As far as transportation, we don't have the Magical Express like someone had mentioned. And parking isn't free if staying at the on-site hotels. You have MANY airports to choose from. In order of MY preference to DLR: SNA, ONT, LGB, LAX, BUR. I would ONLY pick Burbank if it were CONSIDERABLY cheaper than the others because it is the furthest (an hour on a good day. 1 hour and 45 minutes on a bad day) I like to stay away from LAX because it's the most congested but they have the most flights and can be cheaper. It's about the same distance as ONT but with traffic can be double the commute time. LGB is a great, small little airport. Southwest JUST started flying out of there. It's my favorite airport but very limited flights as it's so small. It's about a 25 minute drive with no traffic - 45 minutes with traffic. ONT is about the same distance and timing as LGB. More flight availability and about the same size as SNA. SNA is closest distance and time wise with lots of flight availability.

The time of year will play a huge role in pricing as does on-site vs. off-site. After that, things are roughly the same price.

 

[scrapquitler]

The hotel we stayed at was almost a mile outside the park, and we just walked. Even with the long-ish walk to the park and back to the hotel, we still walked far fewer steps in a day than we do at WDW, so don't discount staying offsite. And there are a lot of offsite hotels that are significantly closer than where we stayed.

 

[scrapquitler]

You should probably check out the DL board here on the DIS. There's a great post over there called something like "A guide to DL for WDW vets" that is definitely worth reading because it has tons of information. I found it extremely helpful when I was planning our DL trip.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We are going to DL in early November because we got very cheap flights from Detroit (Just $350 for 2, round trip) and I had enough hotel points to cover our stay at the Sheraton, less than a mile away. We are getting 4 day park hoppers and from a previous post, I learned that this should be more than enough time. Never been to DL before, so I am very excited!

 

[tzeitel]

We stay off site when we go to DLR and value when we go to WDW. prices are basically the same - we stay across the street from DLR for around $79 a night and it is so much nicer to be that close to the parks!

Tickets we get through lmtclub and we get hoppers - which we usually dont get at WDW.

Flights are about the same for us. We fly to SNA and either rent a car (have paid around $11-16 a day) or take a shuttle for $20 round trip per person.

Food is about the same.

we usually go for 5 days and get to do everything. Since hopping is so easy you can flip parks if one is busier than the other. Our last trip was only 2.5 days and we got to do quite a bit. On our Oct trip we did a day in Hollywood and saw Nightmare Before Christmas at the El Capitan theater.

It really depends on what you want to do and when you are going. But 5 days is plenty.

 

[tvguy]

When you can be at the gate in 4 minutes with no bus required, you may change your mind Many of the offsite across the street are closer than the actual DL hotels. We loved the variety of the WDW parks, can't wait to go back, but the charm of DL

Just Google Disneyland and look at how many "offsite" hotels there are. Look at Harbor Boulevard to the east of the main gate. Looks like 12 offsite hotels closer to the main gate than the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier. Only the Grand Californian is closer.

 

[ktlm]

We stay 4 nights and do 5 day hoppers and spend a good amount of time in the park on arrival and departure days. (Probably 1:00 pm to close to midnight on arrival and opening until close to 3:00 on closing). We still are never ready to leave. (At WDW we usually spend 8 nights and have 9 day hoppers) We love DLR and definitely recommend giving it a try. It is smaller area wise, but the attractions are packed to the fullest and there is great stuff there! For us, we like to be on property in the Disney bubble and DLH and GC are not cheap. Those 4 nights can cost the same as a week at WDW in a deluxe with a discount. BUT, if you are okay not being on property, there are a lot of options off property in walking distance. We looked at the Howard Johnson's which gets great reviews once and it would have been significantly cheaper than a WDW trip (we usually stay deluxe). Ultimately we cancelled HOJO because we just couldn't give up the DLH and decided we would spend the extra money, but you definitely could do an off property hotel and less days at DLR and probably save some money.


Also, I don't know if you will have kids with you- but if you don't and are pretty high energy, you can get a lot done in a day at DLR and would not need as much time as we take. My first adult trip to DLR was one day with DH while I was on a business trip and we got a ton done- we were going at a quick speed and only eating CS though.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I think number of days at DL depends on how you tour and vacation. Disneyland is much smaller than what you think of Magic Kingdom and Disney California Adventure is more spread out. It's really nice to be able to hop park to park and all you do is just walk out one gate and walk into the other gate. We do 4 days as 2 adults and that is plenty for us. We are usually very ready for second part of the trip which is usually beaching in San Diego.

Regarding the Disney bubble, I understand it's important to many people. However, DL is easily, really easily accessible from hotels all around. We stay at a Marriott chain right around the corner and comes with free breakfast. I love it because I love going down to breakfast and seeing all the excited kids around hoping foot to foot ready for the big day. There is a circular bus that makes rounds and very easy to get to DL from your hotel. As others mentioned MANY hotels around DL you can walk in no time. I think seeing all the families and the family activities like mini golf and the swimming pools still makes it feel disney like even if there are 20ft disney themed statues like at the value resorts.

I think Disneyland is must do for anyone that is a disney fan to just simply experience it and make their own decisions about one or other being superior.

 

[KarenAylwood]

We went to DL a few years ago and I'm a WDW vet. We only spent one day at DL but could have spent more (it wasn't feasible based on our trip). We're East Coasters so we were doing California- LA (only to see a friend), Santa Barbara, Anaheim for a day, PCH down to San Diego and San Diego. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn on points very close to DL. It was a totally different feel and at the time I was pregnant so one day was more than enough (I couldn't ride most of what had long lines and it was slow season!) I'd spend a few days but would absolutely not pay the price of staying on site because like everyone said there are so many close chain hotels. With only one day we still did the park hopper despite the cost and are very glad we did. Walking between parks is like walking from the ferry to the train at WDW. So close. I'm a Disney bubble person though so while DL was very charming, I found myself yearning for WDW. Everyone gets a different feel. If it were me I'd go 4 days max, maybe 3 at DL and then travel elsewhere like see the PCH, go to San Diego, something like that.

 

[tvguy]

I think number of days at DL depends on how you tour and vacation. Disneyland is much smaller than what you think of Magic Kingdom and Disney California Adventure is more spread out. It's really nice to be able to hop park to park and all you do is just walk out one gate and walk into the other gate. We do 4 days as 2 adults and that is plenty for us. We are usually very ready for second part of the trip which is usually beaching in San Diego.

Regarding the Disney bubble, I understand it's important to many people. However, DL is easily, really easily accessible from hotels all around. We stay at a Marriott chain right around the corner and comes with free breakfast. I love it because I love going down to breakfast and seeing all the excited kids around hoping foot to foot ready for the big day. There is a circular bus that makes rounds and very easy to get to DL from your hotel. As others mentioned MANY hotels around DL you can walk in no time. I think seeing all the families and the family activities like mini golf and the swimming pools still makes it feel disney like even if there are 20ft disney themed statues like at the value resorts.

I think Disneyland is must do for anyone that is a disney fan to just simply experience it and make their own decisions about one or other being superior.

And I hope to complete by Disney experience some day and make it to Walt Disney World. We were in Orlando for a Disney cruise and looked at staying to do WDW but the prices scared us away. Disneyland is not cheap, but my quick check of WDW was even higher, which is why the folks talking out the original park being expensive threw me off. There is even a Motel 6 that is a 13 minute walk from the main gate.

 

[Aladora]

So Dh and I were discussing last night and thought maybe our next Disney related trip will be to DL instead. I'm curious what the price difference is for a normal vacation to DL vs the World. We normally stay 6 nights which I'm assuming would not be needed at Disneyland? How long do you usually stay there and feel like you were able to do everything you wanted? This probably would be a once only trip for us as it is closer to go to Florida than Cali for us.

Any insight from those of you that have done both would be great!!

We've been to DL 9 times and this past December we went to WDW for our first time.

To answer a few of your questions:

We usually do either 4 or 5 day hoppers at DL and we did 6 day base tickets at WDW but if we go back there we will likely increase that to 8 day base. Four or five days (with hopping) at DL is good for us but for a first trip I would definitely recommend going for the 5 day hoppers. Hoppers are really helpful at DL since the two parks are SO close (less than100m or so between the two gates) and it is so nice to be able to pop over to the other park whenever you want.

With 5 day hoppers we feel as though we can do everything we want to do.

Onsite vs offsite is an ongoing debate on the DL boards and not one that we have ever come to a consensus about there! As you can see from my signature, we have stayed at all 3 onsite hotels as well as 3 different offsite motels. We prefer to stay onsite, Paradise Pier is actually our favourite of the 3 but if I can't find a decent price onsite, we are happy to stay offsite. The one thing to know about the offsite places on Harbor Blvd is that they are almost all motels as opposed to hotels. (The rooms are accessed via an outdoor corridor as opposed to indoor. Not a big deal to us but it is a deal breaker for some.

Food at DL is about the same cost as WDW. We like to splurge and eat at the chef's counter at Napa Rose, it is very pricey but well worth it in my opinion. Our next trip is going to be in March for my 45th birthday and we are going to be taking out son (11 yrs) there for the first time.

DL is amazing for its ease. I was so stressed out planning our WDW trip because quite frankly, there was a lot of planning needed! I disliked having to figure out where we wanted to eat 6 months in advance and although I came to not dislike FP+, it was hard to try and plan what we wanted to do on each day. At DL, you can only make ADRs 60 days out and it still has the old fastpass system.

Cost is a bit trickier, on the whole WDW was more expensive for us but most of the extra cost was for the flights although I think we spent more on meals there as well.

Sorry for the mixed currencies, we are Canadian so some of the costs were in CAD and some in USD. Our flights were $2700 CAD for WDW and less than half that $1218 CAD for our last trip to DL. We rented DVC points at AKL which cost us $1066 USD for 7 nights, if we stay offsite for 5 nights, the cost is around half that $520.00 at Desert Inn & Suites. Onsite is definitely more expensive, although I once managed to snag a fantastic price for the Grand Californian, $229 USD/night in February. Our entry tickets for WDW were $1040 USD and for DL are around the same price, $1005 USD.

We can typically do a DL trip for $3500 for the 3 of us, I think our WDW trip cost us more than twice that.

Any more questions, please ask!