How many rides in Disneyland vs. Disneyworld?

[KCmike]

Trying to convince my wife's sister to visit Disneyland next summer vs. Disneyworld. What is the ride/attraction count vs. each other not including water parks? Any other suggestions I can give her? My wife and I have already told her that it is now our favorite but she needs more convincing!

 

[bearette]

I don't know the exact count, but with two more parks Disneyworld has more. Disneyland is the original so a lot of people like it better for that reason alone. I live in SoCal, but I noticed a lot of people who come down here visit other places as well. The san diego zoo, knotts, universal etc... Maybe there is something she would like to see down here that you can entice her with?

 

[ballarinamom]

Not only does DL have more rides ( I believe it was 5 or so but I know someone will answer it correctly) but the quality of the rides at DL is SOOOOOOOOO much better. Space Mountain is much better, POTC is longer and makes more sense with the POTC themeing plus the bayou part is cool. IASW is fabulous in front instead of just walking into a building and getting on the ride. Peter Pan has the lights over London and other extras. Tarzan's treehouse is so much better than Swiss Family Robinson. Indiana Jones is so much better than Dinosaur. Toontown at Dl blows away WDW plus it has Roger Rabbit and the surreal look over the whole area. WDW has no Alice or Mr Toad (classics!). And we just loved how you could go back forth between the parks and DTD without taking a bus or monorail or boat.
Also check out Hydroguys sticky for morehelp! Good Luck we did WDW last year and will not go back. We live in Texas and the cost is actually a little cheaper for WDW. But for us it's DL in November!

 

[ballarinamom]

Just did the count of attractions from the two parks websites. The count- 74 for WDW's 4 parks and - drumroll please..... 80 for Disneyland/DCA!!! Good luck

 

[HydroGuy]

I have it all in Excel spreadsheets from 2006 and think I was fair to both resorts. It is somewhat ambiguous what is and is not a ride, and I had to use some judgement. Here is what I came up with:

WDW Spreadsheet:
http://hydroguy.smugmug.com/gallery/1819958_7ujm5#90919696_ZbCPY-A-LB

DLR Spreadsheet: http://hydroguy.smugmug.com/gallery/1819958_7ujm5#90919695_xREUk-A-LB

WDW Total - 75
DLR Total - 68

The total numbers include the new rides since 2006 which are the new Nemo rides at Epcot and DL, and the new TSM rides at DSH and DCA, and the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor at MK.

Here is how they break down:

MK - 33
Epcot - 20
MGM - 11
AK - 11

DL - 42
DCA - 26

Note that several of the DCA rides are being taken out starting this month because of new rides being added as part of the DCA major overhaul.

 

[ballarinamom]

Hey hydro,
What do you make of the DL website maps that say 59 attarctions for Dl and 31 for DCA? I did a quick count and got less than that but a few more than yours. Either way, I still feel over all quality of rides goes to DL. More is not always better

 

[sportbettor]

I would stress to your sister in law how much less walking you have to do at DL compared to WDW. Rides are much closer together and you can parkhop to DCA by walking across the Esplanade, unlike WDW where parkhopping requires riding busses, boats or driving. Parkhopping is almost a must at DL because you can really maximize fastpass usage this way. Also there are many close hotel options (both onsite and offsite) that are a 5min walk to the entrance.

And while you are walking less you are also much more comfortable because its not insanely humid like Florida which means no summer thunderstorms either.

While some rides/attractions are better (space, Fantasmic etc.) , some rides are worse (Pooh, Jungle Cruise, TSI etc), many are close in quality. Overall, however, I think the DL rides are better.

I think DL is much much cleaner than WDW. And I may get flamed for this but I think the CMs are nicer at DL as well.

 

[DoomBugger]

Another point to consider is at DLR the transit time between all the attractions is far less, therefore you spend much less time traveling between parks and rides at DLR than you do at WDW.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hey hydro,
What do you make of the DL website maps that say 59 attarctions for Dl and 31 for DCA? I did a quick count and got less than that but a few more than yours. Either way, I still feel over all quality of rides goes to DL. More is not always better

Well, a cursory glance at the Disney maps shows that they are very liberal in what they call an attraction (to boost the count) and further not all attractions are rides.

For example, look at this recent DL map: http://www.willcad.org/maps/dlr/parks/2008-03/dlr_2008-03_front.jpg

Here the Golden Horseshoe Stage is counted as an "attraction" but obviously that is not a "ride". In my count I skipped all the Main Street carriage cars, etc., as in my judgement they are not true rides.

 

[HydroGuy]

Another point to consider is at DLR the transit time between all the attractions is far less, therefore you spend much less time traveling between parks and rides at DLR than you do at WDW.

It is one of the reasons I stress you can experience more at DLR each day than at WDW. When I look at our trip reports where I kept records, I found out that we spend 10-12 hours of each day actually inside the parks at DLR, while at WDW we only spend 5-8 hours each day. Further, when I compared the total number of rides we did at WDW over a 10 day trip to the total number we did at DLR over a 4 day trip I found out we did the exact same number of rides. It was about 70 rides on both trips.

For many reasons, of which the closeness of the rides to each other is one of them, it is easier to spend more time at the parks at DLR.

Let me also add that I am not saying this to imply DLR is better than WDW. A Disney trip is about a lot more than just ride count. But it does reflect on one of the differences between the two resorts.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Any way you spin it, I'm quite surprised at the numbers. Despite have two more parks than the DLR, WDW barely has more attractions(and that may well change in a few years when DCA is fully operational).

Sometimes it can be challenging to convince people about the merits of Disneyland. They're just too caught up in the WDW mystique that they can't see the tremendous appeal of Disneyland.

I suppose one thing that I always say to extol the virtues of Disneyland is that it's the only park in the world built by Walt Disney himself. It has his personal touch and so much history. If anyone considers them a fan of Walt Disney and his many accomplishments, they owe it to themselves to visit the park that started it all.

 

[KCmike]

I still am in awe of the our two visits there. I really do think that when I walk into the park that Walt himself was there walking the park and planning out his dream for a park where his whole family could play. It truly is the best park of all.