Wdw V Disneyland California

[c3h3a3r]

Hi, I've visited Disneyland Paris and WDW Florida (3 times). What is the "difference" between Wdw Florida and Disneyland California in terms of size?parks?waterparks?rides?cost? Thanks in advanced

 

[buzz242]

We've been to Caifornia a couple of times and the main difference I wold say is size. There are only two parks and the layout is similar to DLP - parks next to each other. There are no water parks to my knowledge. Some of the attractions are the same/similar to Florida but there are also many different ones - we loved Cars land. The parks are within walking distance of many hotels, there are also lots of restaurants ans shops nearby.
We found California to be slightly more expensive than Florida but a nice change. Universal Hollywood is about an hour away depending on traffic. Seaworld at San Diego and the zoo is a couple of hours but a nice drive.
Hope that helps a bit.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Thanks. Very helpful

 

[saintrob]

We've done WDW many times and Disneyland twice. It is different but the same in many ways if that makes sense. We really like DL mainly for the convenience of having the two parks so close together. California Adventure is a great park and we too loved Cars land. Downtown Disney links the Disney hotels and is a nice area to walk through on the way to the parks. We found it different to WDW due to the proximity of other hotels, shops, restaurants which were all in walking distance.

 

[Claireywalsh]

We are going to DL for the first time in September-having only done WDW in the past. I am so excited to check out all the different details and attractions and have paper fastpasses again. Feels so strange not being in plan mode at the minute as everything there is 60 days as apposed to the golden 180 mark.

 

[zavandor]

Disneyland is smaller in size but the total number of attractions of the two park is around the same of the four parks in WDW! However given the size, it doesn't require as much time to be enjoyed. I'd say 3 days are enough, 4 are ideal.
Buying a 3,4 or 5 days ticket you get one Magic Morning, i.e. an early entry usable only at Disneyland. If you stay onsite (only 3 hotels), you get early entry at both parks every day.

They still have paper FP.
The two parks are one in front of the other, just a few steps away. Since the two parks FP are disconnected, you can park hop to take a different FP, useful if the two parks are crowded.
For Fantasmic! (if it reopens before you go) and World of Color you have to take a FP early in the day, but they are both disconnected, they don't count as a FP.

Shows vary from very good to amazing, all worth to be seen.

Use single rider lines when available, in particular the SR for Radiator Springs Racers can save you A LOT of time.

Counter service restaurants are all very good.

Around the resorts there are plenty of hotels within walking distance from the gate. Some are even nearer than the Disney Hotels.

 

[A Small World]

Another big difference is that DL California is very much a locals park as well. It makes it even more important to get up early and use those first few hours of park opening to get some rides done. As the day goes on the park gets busier as locals often head in after work for a few hours browsing the shops, to watch an evening show or even to eat. This makes the atmosphere very different to WDW (not in a bad way though )

Also don't forget the history aspect of DL - this is the park that Walt designed, built and spent time in.

Also as mentioned above it is a more laid back way of doing Disney - you don't have to plan what you are going to eat or what rides you are going to do months in advance - you can go with the flow

 

[disneyholic family]

i disagree that 4 days is enough..
we spent 4 days there 15 years ago, when half of what exists today wasn't there....and that was barely enough time then..
and now there's a lot more...
if you're flying so far, i wouldn't just set aside 4 days for the visit...

 

[Elise79]

We did DL last July and we found it to be a lot more expensive than WDW. Even offsite food was more expensive. We had IHOP breakfast the first morning which cost us about 1/3 more than the same meal in FL.

We did everything we wanted to in 3 parks days and even spent one afternoon by the pool. We didn't do many of the rides that are the same at DL & WDW as we were flying to WDW after.

I might do 4 parks days next time and spread things out a bit more.

 

[disneyholic family]

let me revise what i said..
if you're like us and find that 3 weeks at WDW isn't enough, then i doubt you'll think 4 days at dl/dca is enough..

 

[saintrob]

I'd say three days isn't enough. We went in 2014 with the idea of a one off trip and did four park days but didn't manage to do everything that we wanted. We didn't rush however and did the Walking in Walt's footsteps tour and the World of Color dinner package. Consequently we returned last year and did four more park days again at a relaxed pace therefore there's still some attractions that we didn't get around to. We feel that we've now 'done' DL however whereas in over 20 visits to WDW we still feel that we have more to do!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Thank you all for you replies. Although I'd love to visit all the different Disney parks, I think I'd rather go back to Florida again. So much more to see and do (and cheaper lol) Thanks again

 

[LoveAList]

We have been lucky enough to spend 2 weeks in WDW staying at on site resorts in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Last year we went to California and spent 2 weeks travelling south from San Fran. and ending our trip in Anaheim the 1st week in August. Even with two relatively young children (8 & 10) in tow we managed to do everything we wanted with a 3 day pass. DL is amazing, we loved it. They seemed to do so many things better than WDW however we were on tail end of 60th celebrations. It is way more expensive than WDW as they don't offer the same deals as we are used to for WDW (14 days for 7, free dining, gift cards etc). I wouldn't trade a WDW holiday for a DL one but would certainly love to go back again if travelling to California to do another multi-centre. I appreciate the two types of holiday aren't totally comparable but would say we spent about £2 - 3k more on our California trip than we have at WDW. We are heading back to the World this year and I can't wait.

 

[anna_m]

I'm late to the party (lol) but I've been to WDW twice and DL once. And I much, much preferred DL.

Saying that, I think it really depends on what sort of holiday you're after.

DL is a lot more laid back. You don't book your FP+ months in advance, or your dining, or shows (well, for now, anyway). You can rock up with no plan and have an amazing day just soaking up the atmosphere and flying by the seat of your pants. Wait times for most rides rarely exceed an hour - I waited 40 minutes for Peter Pan on a Saturday in April. You wander around and it's like, "Oh hey, it's only a 15 minute wait for Haunted Mansion, we should do that", rather than "Our FP+ return time is now so we have to get over to Haunted Mansion asap".

I think some people (like me!) love that go with the flow way of experiencing Disney, others prefer to have a plan. If you're a planner, WDW is definitely a better experience for you!

Just to add - for me, there was a huge amount of magic knowing that Walt himself designed the park. I loved the CMs telling me that Casey Junior was his favourite ride. I loved being shown Walt's apartment.

I freaking loved Disneyland.

 

[joolz1910]

I went to DL 20 years ago and have some amazing memories but I prefer WDW. I know it sounds silly but I was disappointed that you could see the 'real world' outside the parks. It is more immersive at WDW.

 

[Hawki]

I've done WDW 16 times & decided time for something different. So this year we are doing 4 nights at Anaheim staying at Grand California & plan to spend all our time in the 2 parks. Hoping this will be enough for our first time, going Mon to Friday, so shouldn't be as busy. Then flying to WDW for 2 weeks at POR!
I'm really looking forward to seeing the original park & all the history.

 

[buzz242]

I've done WDW 16 times & decided time for something different. So this year we are doing 4 nights at Anaheim staying at Grand California & plan to spend all our time in the 2 parks. Hoping this will be enough for our first time, going Mon to Friday, so shouldn't be as busy. Then flying to WDW for 2 weeks at POR!
I'm really looking forward to seeing the original park & all the history.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, we have visited WDW 11 times and DL 3 times and love them both for different reasons. I think you've allowed enough time for the two parks, as previously said the queues are never to long. The only long queue we found was in Cars Land so maybe worth fast passing or going early or late in the day. We loved that the parks are so close together and we could park hop easily. We loved the World of Colour show and if I remember rightly we needed passes for that and they went really early in the day. We managed to get reservations on the day for all the restaurants we wanted during our trip. If you fancy a short walk away from the parks there's a Cheesecake Factory nearby and some other restaurants. Have fun on the Matterhorn ride - our teeth were rattling for hours!!!

 

[Vicki106]

Our family has done WDW multiple times and 2 summers ago we spent a week in CA that included 2 days at DL (1 day at California Adventure and 1 day at DL). We love both of the parks. As others have said above DL is smaller and some of the rides/shows are similar to those at WDW. BUT I would recommend that you don't skip those that you have already ridden/enjoyed in WDW, because they are different in each park. Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Fantasmic, Tower of Terror (especially if you get a chance to ride this after all the changes are completed) are all different in DL. We loved seeing the differences!