Disbabe
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2001
- Messages
- 682
Hi Folks,
Have been back a week now and have finally got the time to give my 1st impression of Disneyland.
I did sooo much research in order to prepare us for our visit having been to WDW 7 times before.
We loved Disneyland as a whole inc. California Adventure!
I will just say that it is a different experience from WDW and our hearts are very much there but both parks have their small negatives, but on the whole - its Disney and we can't help but LOVE it!
Our impressions:
Disneyland:
Loved the fact that the parks were close together and we were able to park hop without too much walking involved. Actually none of us commented on the size of the castle - we loved it as a different castle and think it cool that each of the 3 Disney parks (including Paris) - all have a different icon.
Main street area is comparable, but we loved that Walt himself had built this park and made a stop to see his light in his window.
The only negative is the closeness you get to other people - there's no personal space in certain areas especially around the entrances to Tomorrowland and Adventureland, but we managed to negotiate them OK, even managing to go on Star Tours twice, both with different scenes -
Loved Indy (went on twice) - similar to Dinosaur, which we also think is great.
Loved the theming around New Orleans - pity they didn't have this at WDW!
Loved Pirates of the Caribbean (my favourite ride!) - definately better at Disneyland.
Overall, in the height of summer with high crowd levels and 3 days spent at this park - we managed to get almost every ride done at least once. We had some completely new experiences and enjoyed every single minute.
California Adventure:
A little disappointed with all the building work going on, but it's gotta be done!
and Magic Kingdom in Florida is going through exactly the same.
Went on TOT at least 3 times (maybe more) - loved the area indoors with the animation. Alot of new experiences from this park as most of the rides aren't represented in Florida. The best area is around Paradise Pier, so colourful! Looked just as good at night as suring the day. Makes you feel that you are actually at a beachside amusement place.
We had such a fun time at this park.
The only downside - we obtained fastpasses for WOC but ended up with a very obstructed view, which spoilt it a little. My suggestion to Disney would be to change the viewing areas to how they have the seating for Fantasmic in Florida - in rows of benches in tiers going down - then everybody tall and short could get to view it as it should be. My kids could not see the show due to alot of tall adults standing in front - and we got there an hour and a half before the show started.
Overall - we had a brilliant experience. Some of the rides were exactly the same as WDW and some were different, but we enjoyed those differences. We also took in Hollywood in this vacation and have said we wouldn't do that part of the vacation again.
We are going to wait a few years before going again, so that we can see Carsland and anything else new and mix in a week at San Diego.
I have read some negative view points from some WDW visitors and it is sad that there is not an appreciation for differences. Perhaps they should visit Paris or the far East parks to appreciate that Disney doesn't want to make each park a replica of one another, so that each has something new/different to offer people.
We're off to Disneyland Paris next year for the 6th time, as we're not having a major holiday (need to do some work to the house!
)
Well done California - you got our vote!!
Have been back a week now and have finally got the time to give my 1st impression of Disneyland.
I did sooo much research in order to prepare us for our visit having been to WDW 7 times before.
We loved Disneyland as a whole inc. California Adventure!
I will just say that it is a different experience from WDW and our hearts are very much there but both parks have their small negatives, but on the whole - its Disney and we can't help but LOVE it!
Our impressions:
Disneyland:
Loved the fact that the parks were close together and we were able to park hop without too much walking involved. Actually none of us commented on the size of the castle - we loved it as a different castle and think it cool that each of the 3 Disney parks (including Paris) - all have a different icon.
Main street area is comparable, but we loved that Walt himself had built this park and made a stop to see his light in his window.
The only negative is the closeness you get to other people - there's no personal space in certain areas especially around the entrances to Tomorrowland and Adventureland, but we managed to negotiate them OK, even managing to go on Star Tours twice, both with different scenes -
Loved Indy (went on twice) - similar to Dinosaur, which we also think is great.
Loved the theming around New Orleans - pity they didn't have this at WDW!
Loved Pirates of the Caribbean (my favourite ride!) - definately better at Disneyland.
Overall, in the height of summer with high crowd levels and 3 days spent at this park - we managed to get almost every ride done at least once. We had some completely new experiences and enjoyed every single minute.
California Adventure:
A little disappointed with all the building work going on, but it's gotta be done!
and Magic Kingdom in Florida is going through exactly the same.
Went on TOT at least 3 times (maybe more) - loved the area indoors with the animation. Alot of new experiences from this park as most of the rides aren't represented in Florida. The best area is around Paradise Pier, so colourful! Looked just as good at night as suring the day. Makes you feel that you are actually at a beachside amusement place.
We had such a fun time at this park.
The only downside - we obtained fastpasses for WOC but ended up with a very obstructed view, which spoilt it a little. My suggestion to Disney would be to change the viewing areas to how they have the seating for Fantasmic in Florida - in rows of benches in tiers going down - then everybody tall and short could get to view it as it should be. My kids could not see the show due to alot of tall adults standing in front - and we got there an hour and a half before the show started.
Overall - we had a brilliant experience. Some of the rides were exactly the same as WDW and some were different, but we enjoyed those differences. We also took in Hollywood in this vacation and have said we wouldn't do that part of the vacation again.
We are going to wait a few years before going again, so that we can see Carsland and anything else new and mix in a week at San Diego.
I have read some negative view points from some WDW visitors and it is sad that there is not an appreciation for differences. Perhaps they should visit Paris or the far East parks to appreciate that Disney doesn't want to make each park a replica of one another, so that each has something new/different to offer people.
We're off to Disneyland Paris next year for the 6th time, as we're not having a major holiday (need to do some work to the house!
)Well done California - you got our vote!!
.
