OK, the California girl is here. Let me get out my red pencil.
First let me say that the writing is well done and is definatly from a WDW perspective. From my original DL perspective, MK has always been my least favourite of the WDW parks - an overblown echo of its Original.
I much prefer the smaller castle and Mainstreet. It was designed that way for a reason. It uses forced perspective that gives a slightly surreal tone to Mainstreet USA. You seem slightly larger than life - you should. The street is quaint in DL. The normal perspecitive buildings in WDW are just ordinary. It feels different.
Its true that Walt did not have the luxury of space for DL but I have never in the hundreds of times that I have been at the park, been able to read freeway billboards in Tomorrowland or check out the off-site hotels from New Orleans Square. New Orleans Square is near the center of the park and slightly scooped lower than the surrounding landscape.
You say "In Anaheim, there are two parks, Downtown Disney and three resorts, but no room to expand. The entire Magic Kingdom theme park at
Disneyland would fit into the parking lot of its Florida counterpart. "
That is true however that statement IS the expansion. Originally we only had DL and two hotels. Now we have DCA (built where the DL parking lot use to be), DTD (between the two parks), a state of the art parking garage and 3 hotels (I wouldn't call them resorts). They were just built less than 3 years ago so that expansion is fairly new.
You point out "After seeing the elaborate and often entertaining "pre-ride" queue areas in Orlando, it is shocking to walk up to "It's a Small World" in Anaheim and realize the boat loading area is right there! " - ummmm, have you SEEN Small World at WDW? Its a building. A small squat building. It in no way is the HUGE display that Small World is in DL. Yes the boats are there after you go through a sunken line que and past hedge animals. The building itself is a work of art, with an animatronic clock that calls the quarters and chimes the hours with a parade of dolls like a giant german coo-coo clock.
You then say "The Matterhorn's line area is laughably small, forcing the crowd to wrap all the way around the mountain. When the line spills out of its allotted space, as it often does at the older rides, there are makeshift solutions such as temporary roped areas. " - ummm, that IS part of the line. At least since I started going 32 years ago. The Matterhorn is a very large mountain. Bending the line around on both sides is what they have always done.
I agree with you that "Hands-down the most breathtaking, exciting and innovative attraction is Soarin' Over California". It is nearly worth the price of admission to the disapointing for the money DCA. Soarin' is a religious experience and the best piece of Disney magic I can find.
I also think that Bug's Land " is great for little ones, with characters galore and interesting garden areas." DCA needed something more than playing California Dreamin' over and over and over and over until I went postal.
DCA is OK, it's just not worth the same price as Disneyland.
Sorry to be the picky percy. Your writing style is very engaging and you do give a very balanced narrative from your POV.
