The "real Disneyland"

[Mommy to Kayla]

Yesterday on Main Street I heard a woman talking to a man saying, "when you go to the real Disneyland in Florida the castle is much better and bigger. This is kind of like the nock off version."

I couldn't believe it! I seriously wanted to tap her on the shoulder and say, "excuse me, this is the original park that Walt himself built."

 

[ashley0139]

Yesterday on Main Street I heard a woman talking to a man saying, "when you go to the real Disneyland in Florida the castle is much better and bigger. This is kind of like the nock off version."

I couldn't believe it! I seriously wanted to tap her on the shoulder and say, "excuse me, this is the original park that Walt himself built."

Why couldn't you believe it? Most people who visit Disney go to Florida, and most people who go to Disney aren't as educated as we are on these boards. I bet 90% of people who go to Disney could not tell you which park was built first or which one Walt was actually in. That comment is not surprising to me at all.

 

[Mommy to Kayla]

Why couldn't you believe it? Most people who visit Disney go to Florida, and most people who go to Disney aren't as educated as we are on these boards. I bet 90% of people who go to Disney could not tell you which park was built first or which one Walt was actually in. That comment is not surprising to me at all.

I think it was more so how informative she was being with him. Like she was dropping knowledge. She seemed very sure of what she was saying.

 

[DizMe]

Those kinds of comments really bug me, too! When I was in DL last month, I was waiting at rope drop in front of the castle and a couple who always go to WDW were commenting to another couple with them about all of the inferiorities of the DL rides. It went on and on and when they started complaining about the crowds, I couldn't help saying that it would make DL a lot less crowded if the WDW people who found it so inferior stayed at WDW.

 

[bcla]

Why couldn't you believe it? Most people who visit Disney go to Florida, and most people who go to Disney aren't as educated as we are on these boards. I bet 90% of people who go to Disney could not tell you which park was built first or which one Walt was actually in. That comment is not surprising to me at all.

Not sure about that. Right now there are Disney parks in five (sorry, six) locations around the world. I wouldn't think that any one location gets the majority of the visits. Granted visitors to Florida take longer visits across multiple parks.

 

[STLstone]

While I have always known that Disneyland was the original, I have to admit, before I visited, I always assumed Disney World would be better.

I figured that Disneyland was the first draft and they improved everything when they built Disney World. But having visited Disneyland for the first time in 2014 (after several WDW visits), I know that is simply not the case.

I don't want to start-up the never-ending discussion about which is better, but let's just say my eyes were opened wide on that trip... And I'll be back next year.

But I'm pretty sure the woman mentioned in the original post was right about one thing. The castle is bigger in Magic Kingdom.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I was over heard a woman at the end of Main Street by the castle ask when they were going to Disneyland!!

I went to WDW for the first time in 2014 and I have to admit, their castle is beautiful. But it is mostly unapproachable due to all sorts of shows going on there. We did get some great pictures and walked through it one morning we were in the park before opening for a tour. We got to walk around and take pics before the tour started. I like we can walk up and in the DL one.

 

[bcla]

I figured that Disneyland was the first draft and they improved everything when they built Disney World. But having visited Disneyland for the first time in 2014 (after several WDW visits), I know that is simply not the case.

There isn't much in Disneyland that hasn't been upgraded, replaced, or renovated in 60 years. Even some of the rides that were around in the 50s have been made different with newer technology.

 

[rileyz]

Please, half the time I'm in Magic Kingdom I hear people call it Disneyland. Lol

 

[Catvondita]

Some people just don't know and don't do the kind of research we do here on the boards. I think maybe its because (at least here in NYC) most of the commercials you see are of WDW since its considered more of a "vacation destination". So maybe if people see Cinderella's Castle more often they might equate that with "better" or the original? I don't know lol

 

[GatorChris]

A knock off version....that's funny. I guess that if you go to WDW a lot and you're not familiar with the Disney story, you can easily reach that conclusion. With DL being so much smaller in every conceivable way, it does seem (if I dumbed down for a moment) that DL is the small version Disney threw together because LA just doesn't have that much space.

But it is funny that DL is celebrating the 60th and she still thinks WDW is the older sister here. That takes a special level of being blind to your surroundings.

 

[bcla]

This is probably an East Coast thing to some degree. There's probably even a segment of the population that thinks the Walt Disney Company is now headquartered in Florida to be near WDW. Certainly a lot of the management of the Disney empire is now in Florida, such as Disney Parks, DCL, and Disney Vacation Club. However, I remember seeing on DIS people inquiring about Walt Disney Imagineering jobs and asking if they would have to move to Florida. The fact is most of the creative jobs for WDI are in Glendale, CA near the Walt Disney Company HQ.

Certainly the Walt Disney Company has a diversified workforce with large numbers of employees needed to run theme parks and resorts in Florida. However, the creative part of the company is still in California where the top management is along with nearly all movie production.

I mean - I remember an episode of the animated Robot Chicken that included the legend that Walt Disney's head was cryogenically frozen. However, instead of the typical story that his head or body was stored at Club 33 or Walt Disney Company HQ, they had it stored and then reanimated in Florida so as to get access to Cuban children. Yeah - it was really twisted.

 

[bcla]

A knock off version....that's funny. I guess that if you go to WDW a lot and you're not familiar with the Disney story, you can easily reach that conclusion. With DL being so much smaller in every conceivable way, it does seem (if I dumbed down for a moment) that DL is the small version Disney threw together because LA just doesn't have that much space.

But it is funny that DL is celebrating the 60th and she still thinks WDW is the older sister here. That takes a special level of being blind to your surroundings.

The area around Disneyland was just orange orchards for miles. There probably was enough space, but Walt didn't have enough money to buy up that much land even after financing it with the profit from TV shows (there was a show on ABC called "Disneyland"). It also wasn't cheap. However, it was a heck of a lot more land than available for Walt's original idea to building a place in Burbank.

 

[Wahlee]

A few years back we got stuck for a little bit on Pirates just before the jail scene. One of the ladies on the row in front of us was telling her friends that they built the ride after the movies came out. Like, not just updated it to include Jack Sparrow, but really, truly, the ride didn't exist before 2003. My correcting-people-thing took over and I piped up that the ride had actually opened in the 60s. She didn't believe me.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

Ugh. I cannot tell you how many times I have actually gone up to someone and kindly corrected them on their misinformation. It's rarely taken well, of course, but it's unbelievable how many people don't know the history of the Disney parks.

 

[LizzyS]

Yesterday on Main Street I heard a woman talking to a man saying, "when you go to the real Disneyland in Florida the castle is much better and bigger. This is kind of like the nock off version."

I couldn't believe it! I seriously wanted to tap her on the shoulder and say, "excuse me, this is the original park that Walt himself built."

Honestly, I'm with you on this one. However, a lot of people go to Disney just for fun and don't appreciate the history of the parks/company like a lot of us on the DISboards do. My feathers would have been ruffled, too, because I'm miffed when people can't keep straight which one is Disneyland and which one is Disney World, lol.

 

[gmboy95]

having been to WDW over 30 times and then traveling this past February to DL for the first time....i was blown away by the size difference not only with the castle, which was shockingly small then what i expected, but the whole park itself.....Its certainly charming and i definitely enjoyed it, but it was much smaller then i expected

 

[bcla]

having been to WDW over 30 times and then traveling this past February to DL for the first time....i was blown away by the size difference not only with the castle, which was shockingly small then what i expected, but the whole park itself.....Its certainly charming and i definitely enjoyed it, but it was much smaller then i expected

It took a lot of skill to design small like that. Look up the term "forced perspective". Walt just didn't have enough money to build bigger. He also didn't care for all the businesses that built around the park. He would have liked a bubble. He also had to deal with a somewhat sleazy partner in building the Disneyland Hotel, which the Walt Disney Company didn't own. They tried to buy it for years and could only manage to gain ownership in the 80s.

Quite a few people have commented that the size really helps with reduced walking and the ability to go from attraction to attraction quickly.

 

[disneyxica20]

one time we were on pirates and as we passed the blue bayou, a woman behind us told the rest of her group that you had to make reservations a year in advance if you wanted to eat there. my husband and i looked at each other like, "what?" lol. but based on other (non-disney) snippets of her convo that we overheard, she didn't seem like the brightest crayon in the box. now every time we pass blue bayou he tells me that we need to make a reservation a year in advance to eat there, haha

 

[Jaina]

I have to admit, the Cinderella Castle is amazing, and I love it. (and WDW's Splash Mountain is pretty awesome) But otherwise, I prefer Disneyland in almost every way! I have heard a few exciting "facts" while at DLR before, too. I try to kindly help out, if it's something that's going to cause them trouble. (Like if they're headed absolutely the wrong direction to find something specific). Otherwise, I just shake my head.