For those that have been to both WDW and DL-what did you think of DL?

[kittycruize]

Hi everyone,

Because we may only be able to travel this summer, we are thinking of going to DL because of the weather. Can anyone who is a major WDW fan, but has also been to DL offer up their opinions of DL to me? We are very intrigued by DL, but are just worried that we would spend all that money and be let down? Also, we are worried about earthquakes there!

 

[KnJ]

We are huge fans of WDW and for our honeymoon we wanted to do something different, so did DL.

The nicest thing about DL is that it is all right there together. Very quick to get anywhere, just walk. Prior to visiting we thought it would be cramped and tight, but it wasnt.

It is fun to compare similar attractions between the two locations and where you like it better. In my opinion, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Tower of Terror are all better at DL. And they have rides that are only there!

My biggest complaint about DL, was the operations. For example, they tried to get everyone to walk in one direction after fireworks to exit (and it failed miserably). And multiple times we were at counter service restaurants and our person would walk away and a replacement would come back 5-10 minutes later. But this was in 2007, i am sure things have changed.

Just enjoy the magic and you will have fun.

 

[MasonDuo]

Hi there - long time WDW vet here who went to DL for the first time last month. DH and I loved it. Honestly at first I was a little put off by some of the differences but we had a great time. When I left I told DH that if I had to choose any park of all Disney parks in the US it would be DCA. Cars Land lives up to the hype and World of Color was wonderful plus there was so much to do.

Disneyland park was wonderful as it had the nostalgia and so many attractions.

I highly recommend it as a WDW vet. BTW we experienced an earthquake and we thought it was an effect in the Aladdin show. It doesn't even phase the people out there. Don't worry about that.

If you can swing it - the Disney hotels are nice. We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was beautiful. Otherwise all hotels on harbor blvd were close for walking.

Again I recommend it and we are thinking about going back next year.

 

[Princess on the Run]

Hi everyone,

Because we may only be able to travel this summer, we are thinking of going to DL because of the weather. Can anyone who is a major WDW fan, but has also been to DL offer up their opinions of DL to me? We are very intrigued by DL, but are just worried that we would spend all that money and be let down? Also, we are worried about earthquakes there!

A good friend of mine who goes to WDW several times a year and has for ages was at DL for the first time a few days ago. She was horribly disappointed. I'm planning to do the Tinkerbell Half in '14 and was trying to decide if we would just make that our week-long family Disney trip that year or make it short and go to WDW later in the year. She told me I'd barely have enough to do beyond the 2 days we're there for the race. She also said people were crabbier -- no magic. I was really disappointed to hear her review since she's such a huge Disney fan.

I haven't been to DL since '84 so what little I remember is out-of-date to say the least.

 

[Princess on the Run]

Cars Land lives up to the hype and World of Color was wonderful plus there was so much to do.

If you can swing it - the Disney hotels are nice. We stayed at the Grand Californian and it was beautiful. Otherwise all hotels on harbor blvd were close for walking.

Very glad to hear that about Cars Land! My boys have been dying to see it and I was hoping it would be awesome.

How do the DL hotels compare in price to the WDW hotels?

 

[blessedby3]

A good friend of mine who goes to WDW several times a year and has for ages was at DL for the first time a few days ago. She was horribly disappointed. I'm planning to do the Tinkerbell Half in '14 and was trying to decide if we would just make that our week-long family Disney trip that year or make it short and go to WDW later in the year. She told me I'd barely have enough to do beyond the 2 days we're there for the race. She also said people were crabbier -- no magic. I was really disappointed to hear her review since she's such a huge Disney fan.

I haven't been to DL since '84 so what little I remember is out-of-date to say the least.

I have heard this also from reading trip reports. Pretty sad. I would love to hit up DL, though...someday. It is just a huge trip costwise with us being on the opposite coast. Guess one day I will make it there!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I'm a California girl and grew up with Disneyland as my "home" park. Anaheim will always be #1 to me. My partner grew up in Florida and had never been to Disneyland until he took me there for our first date in 2005. Now he loves it almost as much as I do. I wouldn't call him a total convert (he might have been if they had followed through on building Westcot), but he appreciates that there is a lot that Disneyland does really, really well. It's impossible not to compare, but really try to enjoy Disneyland as its own entity. There's a lot of magic and history there. Also, California Adventure has improved by leaps and bounds since it opened. With the new additions this summer, I think it's now the third best Disney park in the USA (after Disneyland and Epcot).

 

[ex007]

I grew up in SoCal and, thus, have been to DL around 50x. Now live in Pittsburgh and have been to WDW 4x in the past eight years. Since I have family still in SoCal, we go to DL every year for a few days. Here's my take:

DL is the original and has considerably more charm once you are in the park. I love going back to DL for the old Fantasyland rides that are nowhere else to be found - Matterhorn, Casey Jr. RR, Storybook Canal Boats, etc. - and to relive childhood memories. Plus, Blue Bayou remains one of my favorite Disney restaurants. However, with the building of DCA, part of the charm of DL is gone. Now, DL is part of a "resort" and it feels a LOT more cramped than it used to and the elimination of the front parking lot and the anticipation of walking up to the front gates is gone completely. Also, DL paths are narrower and were not built for the crowds that now come. And we won't even discuss how awful the local hotel chains and food joints that surround DL are. That said, DL is a wonderful park and one that I believe everyone should visit to see how it started.

Finally, quit worrying about earthquakes. They are no big deal. Really. Having lived through several 6s and one 8, plus I don't remember how many 3s, 4s and 5s, they are nothing to plan your life around. Go and have fun.

 

[damo]

We like DL so much better than WDW. There is TONS of magic. Everything is right there...no waiting for buses. The food is excellent. The three onsite hotels are great and there are lots of very close offsite hotels as well. If you stay onsite you get the hour of early entry, which is a big deal. We think the rides are better too. My major complaint about WDW is how spread out everything is and DL eliminates this problem.

 

[jlh512]

I am a WDW vet here who went to DL for the first time last year. I was told not to expect the magic in DL, but those people were wrong. DL has the nostalgic factor going for it. Yes it's smaller, but having the two parks right there was great. We treated them as one park. The CMs weren't as nice i thought. We stayed at paradise pier as it was the cheapest on site hotel and we liked it. The Grand Californian looked beautiful though as we walked through it. We loved comparing the differences in the attractions and we even liked some of DLs betters. It was also nice to ride Mr. toad again. Sadly the Matterhorn was closed and cars land wasn't finished yet. I guess we will just have to go back.

 

[andyman8]

DLR was great! It's much smaller than WDW making it much easier to get around and manage. RD and FP are still important but the PH may actually be a great value here.

I also found the dining to be better than WDW but lines for everything were much longer.

Overall, I really liked it and would indeed go back. One little note (it may sound like the they drive on the left in Britain), in DLR you insert your ticket into the FP machine with the other side (the white said with bar code) up.

 

[cmwade77]

Very glad to hear that about Cars Land! My boys have been dying to see it and I was hoping it would be awesome.

How do the DL hotels compare in price to the WDW hotels?

I live out by DL, so we have annual passes and we love it! We also love WDW, but both are different and I do not find people grumpier at either coast. You have nice and mean people in both places.

As for the prices, we don't have the competition for hotels that Florida does, so they are much more expensive than WDW (Paradise Pier is somewhere around $250 a night in the off season without any discounts and is the cheapest oniste), offsite is more expensive than offsite at WDW, but offsite hotels are often just as close and just as nice as onsite out here. The only difference is EMH that you get when staying onsite.

 

[Texashokies]

LOVE Disneyland! Fantasyland is so superior to DW. So our some of the rides like Pirates. There are very few rides that are exact duplicates between the two resorts. Disneyland has some great rides that don't exist at DW like Monsters Inc. and Roger Rabbit. Toontown is also great. The old Toontown Faire never came close to it.

 

[longhorns2]

I'm a wdw vet who just had a summer trip to DL

A lot of my feelings (good and bad) have been previously mentioned

We stayed at grand Californian and had no complaints about the resort at all. It was amazing

DL and carsland were also very high on my must do list. DL is physically smaller which overall I give thumbs up to- less walking.

But if was more condensed crowds as well and slightly scary when we were told to leave NO square due to a fire drill or actual fire- never found out the deal. So tighter streets to walk through.

I also had more negative cast member experienced at DL. Enough that it did color my overall opinion of the trip. The attitudes were soooo non Disney IMO. But they are also people, so who knows? The long summer might have gotten to a few of them. Of maybe I have unrealistic expectations.

Some of the rides really are better at DL.

We are planning a big family trip next summer and I really considered DL again mostly due to the weather. But in the end we are going back to WDW because it feels more like a "get away from reality" experience to us. More resort, vacation experience where DL felt like a theme park visit if that makes sense.

Oh- whoever mentioned the operations aspect:yes!!!! The parade, fireworks, fantastic and world of color really annoyed me in the execution of the crowd controls. They close down a lot of rides during fireworks as well- mostly fantasyland. Same with WoC.

There's oodles of magic and I'd suggest a wdw loved to give DL a try. But agree that you can't compare them. Both have their perks and specialness. If you go in expecting different, you'll be ok. I'm going back in January and can't wait. I plan on doing more tours and old DL history during that trip.

 

[Princess on the Run]

I live out by DL, so we have annual passes and we love it! We also love WDW, but both are different and I do not find people grumpier at either coast. You have nice and mean people in both places.

As for the prices, we don't have the competition for hotels that Florida does, so they are much more expensive than WDW (Paradise Pier is somewhere around $250 a night in the off season without any discounts and is the cheapest oniste), offsite is more expensive than offsite at WDW, but offsite hotels are often just as close and just as nice as onsite out here. The only difference is EMH that you get when staying onsite.

I'm glad to hear this as I was pretty disappointed thinking anyplace Disney could be crabby.

I don't mind paying a little more for a nice hotel. We stay in deluxe at WDW (2 bedroom suites) but if it's not really worth staying on-site, might as well use that money to buy more souveniers!! Thanks for the info! I remember looking on-line once to try and compare and I don't think they put their rates for 2 bd suites on-line.

 

[Dizzytime]

Grew up with going to DL every few years, had the magic first injected there in Anaheim.... so naturally worried about the magical feeling we would get our first trip to DW Jan 2000. Well, we weren't disappointed in DW, and I'd sure be surprised, if you open your heart, that you didn't find the great Disney magic in CA.

The differences we saw were the obvious ones, DL vs MK, CA Adventure vs...well, the rest...
So the size difference was night and day, 2-4 days vs 1 week plus, but we used to include Knotts Berry Farm with our DL trip which made it a nice week trip.

Good luck, have fun!!!

 

[Qltrgrl2]

I traveled to DL last year for my first trip to the park that Walt built. I loved being able to walk from one park to the other and the nostalgia factor is definitely there. While FL has more parks and amusements, i.e. water parks and miniature golf, DL is great too. Go for it and enjoy your trip!

 

[msmith07101]

I have been to both...WDW several times, and DL just once, 5 years ago. I was afraid I wouldn't like it...afraid that it wouldn't feel as special to me as WDW does. But I loved it! Loved how close everything is...how you can walk from one park to the next, walk to the downtown Disney area (if that's what it is called there). WDW and DL are very different experiences as far as I am concerned, but both a lot of fun. I don't recall feeling less Disney magic or thinking people were crabbier or anything like that. CA is a great park...would love to go back and see Cars Land. But I thought it was great before. Plus I loved the weather...it was April, and a little cool some days, but no humidity, bugs...just a great trip. We stayed offsite. Would love to stay at one of their onsite hotels...they look beautiful. Also took a day trip down to Carlsbad to visit Legoland. Cute park in a beautiful town on the ocean. Overall, loved DL and recommend giving it a try!

 

[PrincessShea]

In my opinion, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Tower of Terror are all better at DL.

I'll give you Pirates, but Tower of Terror!? Really?! The DL one just goes up and down? I think there is no comparison there, the DHS is superior!

Overall, I felt like DL was fun and definitely a must-do for a true Disney fan. However, WDW will have a more special place in my heart probably because that's where my Disney memories were built. I also feel it's so much immersive and you can truly spend a couple weeks there and not get bored. I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel while at DL and even so I didn't feel totally disconnected from the real world like I do while at WDW.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I'm glad to hear this as I was pretty disappointed thinking anyplace Disney could be crabby.

Honestly, the only place I've ever seen a crabby Disneyland CM was backstage. I think they do "show" pretty well there. I think that the sheer number of aspiring actors in So-Cal means that there are a lot more cast members that get in to their roles. Some of the best CM interactions I've had have been with cast members who are really "in character" at rides like Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It's nice when they really sell it.