Top reasons why I love DL

[VandVsmama]

After doing much research all over the Internet and comparing DL to WDW, DH & I came up with list of all the reason why we love DL so much. Because just thinking about our last trip to DL makes me smile, I thought I'd share the list with you. Feel free to add to it!

1. DH's grandparents took him to DL once every summer as a kid. Just him and his GPs, no sharing w/his little sister. His GPs are both passed away now and those DL visits are some very special memories.
2. There are rides/attractions that have been in operation (aside from refurbs) since the park's first opening. It's really cool.
3. The Matterhorn!
4. Space Mountain!
5. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!
6. fireworks. There's nothing like fireworks at DL. Seeing the fireworks there makes me cry.
7. Autopia with the gas-powered vehicles. Yes, the exhaust is a bit bothersome, but the first time I ever got to drive any sort of car, it was at DL at the Autopia ride as a little kid. Such a thrill. And now DH & I can experience it all over again as overgrown kids with our own children. That's really special.
8. Unlike WDW, not every single ride at DL has a FP or FP+ on it.
9. EMH is a wonderful thing on a weekday. Being the first person on the Fantasyland carousel is really cool, especially after seeing "Savings Mr. Banks."
10. Being able to go to character meet & greets w/o a FP
11. Heck, being able to get FP's without reserving them ahead of time like at WDW.
12. You can stay at a hotel across the street at a reasonable price and it's within walking distance of the park entrance.
13. When you're at DL & DCA, the whole outside world just kind of melts away. I don't have a care in the world when I'm there. We can just be with all of us as a family and create all of these special moments & memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
14. All of the Main Street stores' employees standing out on Main Street at park opening wearing huge Mickey hands, waving good morning and saying lovely things like "Good morning!", "Welcome to Disneyland!" and "Have a magical day!" I have a gigantic grin on my face walking down Main Street first thing in the morning.
15. Seeing every. single. classic Disney character out at park opening on Main Street for photos & meet & greets.
16. The train. I love the sound of the whistle.
17. The monorail
18. The food at the Hungry Bear Restaurant.
19. the Indiana Jones ride. It speaks for itself. Totally awesome.
20. Carsland in DCA. My kids are not huge Cars movie fans, but they LOVE Carsland. It really is like being inside the movie. Really incredible. It's like you are teleported into the film. Really top notch. And I haven't even had a chance yet to ride RSR! Can't wait next year when we go.
21. Soarin' Over California
22. Test Pilot's Grill next to the Soarin' ride. Love the burger condiments bar.
23. All of the quiet little alcoves that you can find at DL despite being in a theme park with thousands upon thousands of other people.
24. The way DL smells. I can never quite put my finger on it, but it smells like a happy place.
25. How even the trash-picker-uppers and the people who clean the bathrooms are kind & friendly & courteous. In the real outside world, sometimes that doesn't happen very often.
26. The window displays on Main Street.
27. How I lost my cell phone in Fantasyland at DL last year and within 20 minutes, a CM had turned it into Lost & Found. Anywhere else and it likely would have been lost forever. It's stuff like that at DL that makes me feel so incredibly joyful, happy to be alive, and full of faith in our wonderful human race.
28. Watching little children when they see Mickey Mouse and go running up to him.
29. Pirates of the Caribbean
30. the Haunted Mansion!
31. Nothing beats at DL parade. The floats, the music. It's really great.
32. Light up Mickey balloons.
33. Eating a meal at the Blue Bayou. Yes, the food is outrageously expensive. But it's the only place in the world where it can be 95 degrees outside in Anaheim yet there you are eating a great meal in the bayou.
34. Not having to make lunch or dinner reservations 6 months in advance of your trip. How will I know what we want to eat 6 months from now?
35. You want to have tofu at lunch? No problem. Walk from DL to DCA and you're there in 10-15 min. In WDW, you'd be talking upwards of sometimes an hour of travel time just to "hop" to another location.
36. the twinkly headboards at the DL Hotel

 

[kitayama]

I love Soarin' Over California... I think it is funny that Disney World dropped the "Over California" portion of the name.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

OP, I read your thoughts and found them interesting, especially in that I consider myself a person who has WDW has my home park, but love DLR as much. I'm on this side of the boards currently as we have a DLR trip planned for a few weeks away.

Not to be arguementative, but I just wanted to respond to some of your thoughts. The personal ones, such as your DH's visits with his grandparents, can not be debated, other than to say that families who visited WDW as their first Disney park have special memories as well.

Like DLR, WDW has some rides that have been operaion since the park opened. True, DLR is the original park, but many rides original to WDW on opening day are still there.
DLR has the Matterhorn, WDW has Everest
Both have Space Mountain and BTMR
The fireworks at WDW are offered each night of the year. When we are tat DLR in two weeks, they will only be one night.
DLR has Autopia and WDW has Tomorrowland Speedway
True, every attraction at DLR does not have FP, but it would be nice if they did to save time
EMH are indeed wonderful at both parks
Your are NOT required to use the FP+ system to book attractions months in advance. If you like you can still use the previous FP system or do not use FP at all
Yes, you can walk across the street to your hotel at DLR, but as soon as you leave the park you are back in the "real" world. At WDW, you stay in the Dizney Zone the entire trip if you stay on property
The Main Street CM's also stand on the street to welcome guest in the morning
Both have the train
Both have the monorail
Good food at both parks
True DLR has indiana Jones, (which i will miss darn it, due to refurb) but WDW has Dinosaur which is similar in design, but I give a nod to IJ
Carsland, yep another nod to DLR
Both have Soarin'
There are quiet spots at WDW as well
Both have that speical Disney smells, at different locations in the parks
Both have friendly CM's, but I find the ones at WDW just a little more friendly
Both have wonderful window displays on main Street
Kids (and adults, too!) love seeing MM in both parks
Both have POTC and HM
Not sure i can give a nod to DLR parades. WDW has had some mighty good ones.
You are NOT required to make lunch or dinner reservations 6 monts in advance. You can do so if you want to, but not required.

Again, not starting a fuss, just wanted to add my thoughts to yours. We have wonderful memories at each one and look forward to making many more!

 

[disneyisawesome07]

I love Soarin' Over California... I think it is funny that Disney World dropped the "Over California" portion of the name.

My family and I loved Soarin' over California. Definitely one of Disney's most creative rides imo

 

[VandVsmama]

Reason # 37:
We can drive to DL. WDW requires an almost-cross-country plane ride with expensive air fare!

I did not intend this thread to be a WDW-hater post, so if that is how some folks have taken it, then I sincerely apologize! I just really really love DL.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

I didn't think of it as hating WDW--we all come from different avenues but most of us wind up on the same street as Disney lovers.

And I certainly understand your reason 37 and the airfare. We will be leaving from Birmingham so a cross country flight is required, but we do it for the fun of it!

 

[nukephd]

I went to WDW nearly every year growing up, and I just started going to DL this past year when I moved out to socal.

There are certain things I like more at DL (e.g. Space Mountain is better), and there are certain things I like more at WDW (e.g. Tower of Terror is better). If I was going on a vacation for a week, I would definitely choose WDW over DL because it has more to offer, and the whole resort is just so immersive. If I was a local, though, I would prefer DL over WDW because it's more accessible and has a more "homey" feel - if that makes any sense.

I love that Disney has two parks in the US that are uniquely awesome. Here's a golf analogy. I love my driver and I love my 9 iron, but I won't be using my 9 iron to tee off on a par 5, just like I won't be using my driver on my approach shot. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other overall; one is just better than the other in certain situations.

 

[VandVsmama]

I love that Disney has two parks in the US that are uniquely awesome. Here's a golf analogy. I love my driver and I love my 9 iron, but I won't be using my 9 iron to tee off on a par 5, just like I won't be using my driver on my approach shot. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other overall; one is just better than the other in certain situations.

I love your golf analogy! It definitely suits it to a tee!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I want to go on record now and forever that Tower of Terror at DCA is in my opinion screamingly better than the original at DHS in Orlando. I may be the only Disney fan on earth who completely doesn't get the Fifth Dimension room (and thinks it's just kind of dusty and cheesy), but so be it.

Also, and more seriously, I don't get why every time a DLR fan says they prefer DLR, a WDW fan somewhere on the planet feels like they have to jump in and defend WDW. Any ride-by-ride comparison of DL and MK or DLR and WDW is pointless. The resorts are very, very different. Just because they have similar rides you can rattle off point-by-point in comparison does not mean in any way that the experience is the same. I totally get the similarities in this sense between Anaheim and Orlando. But that doesn't mean vacations in both places feel the same. They don't. For all the allegedly positive comparisons between WDW and DLR I heard last year before I visited WDW, I still spent five days wishing I had gone to DLR instead.

Of the WDW list above, my thoughts:

• Matterhorn is comparable to MK's Space Mountain, not Everest, and Matterhorn's main show element is not broken.
  
• Space Mountain is completely different at MK and not directly comparable to DL's version.
  
• DL's Autopia is very long, meandering, lushly landscaped, and well-themed, while the Tomorrowland Speedway is short, truncated, and almost completely un-themed.
  
• Not every ride needs Fastpass--WDW does this only because on-site hotel capacity is higher than ride capacity, as a strategy to keep standby lines manageable.
  
• Desires for Fastpass not to come to Anaheim are based in the fact that DLR's visitor base is very different than WDW's visitor base, and there's little point in making things needlessly more complex.
  
• The "Real World" is all around WDW. Every time you crowd onto a bus, monorail, or boat--or stand and wait half an hour for them--that is the real world. How that is any different from the annoyances of a workday commute I don't know, and it's definitely not magical. Neither is acre after acre of undeveloped land. The comparison isn't between the "real world" and a "Disney Zone", the comparison is between a Disney bubble located in a major metropolitan area and a Disney bubble located in the exurbs.
  
• Main Street is dirty and dingy at MK--and often so filthy that riding trash vacuums have to be brought out in the evening to clear the garbage while the park is still open.
  
• The monorail and its beams are also in clear need of cleaning and refurbishment at WDW (which is now happening.)
  
• I have never heard anyone else say there is comparable "good food" at DLR and WDW. Table service is wonderful in both places, though more varied at WDW. Counter service is terrible (often disgusting really) at WDW, and usually amazing at DLR.
  
• Indy and Dinosaur are not comparable ride experiences, only comparable in technology.
  
• Soarin' Over California with a truncated name trying to hide the fact that it is clearly a California-themed ride created for a theme park in California is ridiculous.
  
• I find WDW CMs cloying and fake, as if they'll get fired if they don't invade your space to make sure you have a "magical day"!
  
• I happen to like Pirates at MK, but it is clearly half the ride that DL's version is.
  
• DL's Soundsational is one of the best parades Disney has done since the original Main Street Electrical Parade. Especially compared to MK's former Celebrate a Dream Come True, which actually made my partner and I cringe watching the high-school level choreography last May.
  
• If you don't make table service ADRs six months out at WDW, you're out of luck during much of the year. This is not the case at all at DLR.

From my DLR vet perspective, that's how I see the same things about WDW. I like MK a lot and enjoy certain aspects of WDW and would go back. But if given a choice, I'd never pick it over DLR. Because they're not the same thing, and because it's ok to have preferences for one over the other without needing to hear a chorus of, "But at WDW...," as if DLR vets would prefer WDW if somehow they only knew better.

 

[Girimama33]

I thought this a thread about "Why I love Disneyland"...

I am disappointed to see that other posters are comparing it to WDW...I was looking forward to seeing folks' lists of what they love about DLR.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

I want to go on record now and forever that Tower of Terror at DCA is in my opinion screamingly better than the original at DHS in Orlando. I may be the only Disney fan on earth who completely doesn't get the Fifth Dimension room (and thinks it's just kind of dusty and cheesy), but so be it.

Also, and more seriously, I don't get why every time a DLR fan says they prefer DLR, a WDW fan somewhere on the planet feels like they have to jump in and defend WDW. Any ride-by-ride comparison of DL and MK or DLR and WDW is pointless. The resorts are very, very different. Just because they have similar rides you can rattle off point-by-point in comparison does not mean in any way that the experience is the same. I totally get the similarities in this sense between Anaheim and Orlando. But that doesn't mean vacations in both places feel the same. They don't. For all the allegedly positive comparisons between WDW and DLR I heard last year before I visited WDW, I still spent five days wishing I had gone to DLR instead.

Of the WDW list above, my thoughts:

• Matterhorn is comparable to MK's Space Mountain, not Everest, and Matterhorn's main show element is not broken.
  
• Space Mountain is completely different at MK and not directly comparable to DL's version.
  
• DL's Autopia is very long, meandering, lushly landscaped, and well-themed, while the Tomorrowland Speedway is short, truncated, and almost completely un-themed.
  
• Not every ride needs Fastpass--WDW does this only because on-site hotel capacity is higher than ride capacity, as a strategy to keep standby lines manageable.
  
• Desires for Fastpass not to come to Anaheim are based in the fact that DLR's visitor base is very different than WDW's visitor base, and there's little point in making things needlessly more complex.
  
• The "Real World" is all around WDW. Every time you crowd onto a bus, monorail, or boat--or stand and wait half an hour for them--that is the real world. How that is any different from the annoyances of a workday commute I don't know, and it's definitely not magical. Neither is acre after acre of undeveloped land. The comparison isn't between the "real world" and a "Disney Zone", the comparison is between a Disney bubble located in a major metropolitan area and a Disney bubble located in the exurbs.
  
• Main Street is dirty and dingy at MK--and often so filthy that riding trash vacuums have to be brought out in the evening to clear the garbage while the park is still open.
  
• The monorail and its beams are also in clear need of cleaning and refurbishment at WDW (which is now happening.)
  
• I have never heard anyone else say there is comparable "good food" at DLR and WDW. Table service is wonderful in both places, though more varied at WDW. Counter service is terrible (often disgusting really) at WDW, and usually amazing at DLR.
  
• Indy and Dinosaur are not comparable ride experiences, only comparable in technology.
  
• Soarin' Over California with a truncated name trying to hide the fact that it is clearly a California-themed ride created for a theme park in California is ridiculous.
  
• I find WDW CMs cloying and fake, as if they'll get fired if they don't invade your space to make sure you have a "magical day"!
  
• I happen to like Pirates at MK, but it is clearly half the ride that DL's version is.
  
• DL's Soundsational is one of the best parades Disney has done since the original Main Street Electrical Parade. Especially compared to MK's former Celebrate a Dream Come True, which actually made my partner and I cringe watching the high-school level choreography last May.
  
• If you don't make table service ADRs six months out at WDW, you're out of luck during much of the year. This is not the case at all at DLR.

From my DLR vet perspective, that's how I see the same things about WDW. I like MK a lot and enjoy certain aspects of WDW and would go back. But if given a choice, I'd never pick it over DLR. Because they're not the same thing, and because it's ok to have preferences for one over the other without needing to hear a chorus of, "But at WDW...," as if DLR vets would prefer WDW if somehow they only knew better.

For someone who thinks it is pointless to make ride-to-ride comparisons, you spent a lot of time doing just that.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Moving this to the DL Community Board.

 

[daisy_77]

I love Disneyland for many reasons but mostly because it takes me back to my childhood. I grew up going there often and miss it so much!

 

[VandVsmama]

One of my DH's relatives (now deceased) helped build the Haunted Mansion ride at DL, so it's pretty special for us whenever we go on that ride. And it was pretty funny when I showed my timid 7-yr-old how to pick the nose of the ride-along ghost that was in our Doom-buggy. Ok, not my best parenting moment, but it served the purpose in the moment! Suddenly, she wasn't afraid of it anymore and we went on it a couple more times before we finished that trip.

I hadn't really intended for this thread to be one of "DL is so much better than WDW." Rather, I just really love DL and I truly mean no offense to any WDW-lovers out there! Our family will get to WDW one of these days, just not this year or the next one.

I kind of see the "DL vs WDW" debate as like you're going to Baskin & Robbins Ice Cream...there are multiple flavors. Some people like chocolate, some like vanilla, some like banana ripple. Everybody ends up leaving satisfied with their fill of ice cream. The only difference is you get different flavors based on where you go and what you choose to do when you're there.

 

[Morgan063006]

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[Morgan063006]

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[mikedoyleblogger]

For someone who thinks it is pointless to make ride-to-ride comparisons, you spent a lot of time doing just that.

What is your point?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hey guys,

Let's keep this friendly, please.

 

[Morgan063006]

.

 

[Chrisfilm]

Haha. I like this Mike Doyle guy.

As for me, I'm from the midwest, almost right in the middle of Orlando and Anaheim. However, I am biased as well as my grandparents lived in Ventura so DL was almost an annual visit for us growing up. I have been to DW several times though and even more recently than DL actually. But, still, DL is my preferred choice.

Here's what I love about DL (a lot of repeats, sorry!)
1. Matterhorn
2. Indiana Jones
3. The Disney 'bubble'. Considering the amount of land DW covers, it's amazing they can keep you in that 'bubble' as well as they can. But it just does not happen the way it does at DL. Some of the reason is that DL doesn't offer as much, but...
4. I consider that an advantage. When we were at DW in 2010 for 1 week, I felt like I experienced 50% of what it had to offer. I could spend 3+ weeks at that resort and not feel like I've covered it all. At DL, it can be done in 5 days with time to relax. I don't want to leave the parks thinking about all the things I wish I had time for. I like leaving knowing I did it all, and did it all as many times as I want. (There are rides that REQUIRE 3-4 turns.)
5. Blue Bayou
6. Fantasyland. DW Fantasyland is weird and 'boxy'. It doesn't flow or feel as 'firmly constructed'. Though has there been refurb in DW's FL since 2010? Regardless, the flow of DL's FL is superior, and...
7. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!/Alice in Wonderland/Pinocchio/Snow White
8. New Orleans Square
9. The full Pirates of the Carribbean
10. Pirates and Haunted Mansion being side by side.
11. Star Tours in Tomorrowland.

I'm sure there are others I could think of, and I fully acknowledge there are things about DW that I like better than DL. Just not as many...