WDW vs DL - What's the deal with the castles?

[Ltl Mermaid]

I may be the minority here but I both castles! DL is the original and has always looked more cartoon-like (maybe fairytale-like is the better word) as it is done up in pink...which is not a color used in most "real" castles. Obviously it is smaller than the one at WDW but I don't think it is lame, I honestly think it is cute!

WDW castle is not so much cute as majestic and beautiful! It looks like a real castle that I could picture somewhere in Europe! It can be breathtaking at times!

Note: please no one yell at me, these are jus my opinions and I don't want anyone taking offense to anything I said. Also, I am not an expert in any way on castles (real and/or imaginary) so my thoughts on both castles are just my own opinions!

But, all joking aside, I really do LOVE seeing both castles!

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

I'm a WDW Vet and have only been to DL once. I love Cinderella castle and can just stare at it all day. However, Sleeping Beauty's Castle has a certain charm to it. It just seems right at Disneyland. I couldn't imagine another castle in it's place. Each has their own certain qualities and each are fitting for the parks they are in. I can't wait to see DL again in October!

 

[SirRoderick]

Ok well although I am fairly young I am a WDW vet. I think in my 22 previous years I racked up close to 20 Disney World vacations and ended up working there as a good friend to a special man dog for two years. I LOVE Walt Disney World and consider it home.

Then I recently moved to Southern California.

This Sunday was my first time ever visiting DL in my entire life. I did NOT have the low expectations of a WDW "snob" as my first stop of the day was to the ticket booth to buy a annual pass for me and my fiance. (As I have always said, if you live near a Disney park you should take full advantage of the infectious onslaught of optimism that circulates there.)

Here are my thoughts:

The castle was very different. It's the first time I'd been in front of a castle that I couldn't see if a tree happened to be in the way. But Matterhorn to the right was very cool, although DAK's Everest IS more impressive.

I loved the lack of space. I loved that things were on top of each other. Instead of making things huge and impressive everything was small with the attention to detail that SCREAMED Walt Disney.

The employees weren't as magical. I'm sure I'm just partial to my homeland but the employees just didn't do it for me. Unlike WDW it seemed most of the people working there were locals and were doing it just to have a job. Now I'm SURE there are many exceptions but it's just the feeling I got. At WDW workers come there from all over the world because somewhere inside themselves they want to give people the magical experience they received as kids.

To conclude, I want to say I was comparing the two parks allllll day until finally my fiance told me to shut up, to judge it as a stand alone institution, and to take it for what it is: the original.

 

[Amy&Dan]

To me, DL's castle is very lovely and charming and I love it that its pink, since to my daughter, that is the end all be all! We do both WDW and DL evenly and to me, well the castles are like all other things in the parks, distinct and unique. I can't imagine wasting one minute of my time at either DL or WDW comparing anything. But that's just me.

I guess my bottom line is this: size isn't everything! Whether its a castle, or comparing the Matterhorn to Expedition Everest. I think most structures built 50 or more years ago will generally not be on the same scale and scope of something built more recently.

As for DL cm's. that has also been discussed to death and I'll say that I find DL cm's very good at what they do, no more or no less than WDW cm's. I will say that I have no idea how anyone in Southern California can live on what a DL cm makes.

 

[Hound 109]

Ok well although I am fairly young I am a WDW vet. I think in my 22 previous years I racked up close to 20 Disney World vacations and ended up working there as a good friend to a special man dog for two years. I LOVE Walt Disney World and consider it home.

Then I recently moved to Southern California.

This Sunday was my first time ever visiting DL in my entire life. I did NOT have the low expectations of a WDW "snob" as my first stop of the day was to the ticket booth to buy a annual pass for me and my fiance. (As I have always said, if you live near a Disney park you should take full advantage of the infectious onslaught of optimism that circulates there.)

Here are my thoughts:

The castle was very different. It's the first time I'd been in front of a castle that I couldn't see if a tree happened to be in the way. But Matterhorn to the right was very cool, although DAK's Everest IS more impressive.

I loved the lack of space. I loved that things were on top of each other. Instead of making things huge and impressive everything was small with the attention to detail that SCREAMED Walt Disney.

The employees weren't as magical. I'm sure I'm just partial to my homeland but the employees just didn't do it for me. Unlike WDW it seemed most of the people working there were locals and were doing it just to have a job. Now I'm SURE there are many exceptions but it's just the feeling I got. At WDW workers come there from all over the world because somewhere inside themselves they want to give people the magical experience they received as kids.

To conclude, I want to say I was comparing the two parks allllll day until finally my fiance told me to shut up, to judge it as a stand alone institution, and to take it for what it is: the original.

Good post.

I've been to WDW 5 times but now consider DLR my "home park".....but for the most part i agree with almost all of your observations.


(but for accuracy sake, it makes sense that Everest is twice as big as the Matterhorn since the real mountains are 30K & 14K feet respectfully. ....& although EE has the very cool scary Yeti.....the Matterhorn has a nice Yeti....& Mickey climbs it.....& if i knew anybody on the inside, I'd be able to play basketball inside it. )

 

[HydroGuy]

Ok well although I am fairly young I am a WDW vet. I think in my 22 previous years I racked up close to 20 Disney World vacations and ended up working there as a good friend to a special man dog for two years. I LOVE Walt Disney World and consider it home.

Then I recently moved to Southern California.

This Sunday was my first time ever visiting DL in my entire life. I did NOT have the low expectations of a WDW "snob" as my first stop of the day was to the ticket booth to buy a annual pass for me and my fiance. (As I have always said, if you live near a Disney park you should take full advantage of the infectious onslaught of optimism that circulates there.)

Here are my thoughts:

The castle was very different. It's the first time I'd been in front of a castle that I couldn't see if a tree happened to be in the way. But Matterhorn to the right was very cool, although DAK's Everest IS more impressive.

I loved the lack of space. I loved that things were on top of each other. Instead of making things huge and impressive everything was small with the attention to detail that SCREAMED Walt Disney.

The employees weren't as magical. I'm sure I'm just partial to my homeland but the employees just didn't do it for me. Unlike WDW it seemed most of the people working there were locals and were doing it just to have a job. Now I'm SURE there are many exceptions but it's just the feeling I got. At WDW workers come there from all over the world because somewhere inside themselves they want to give people the magical experience they received as kids.

To conclude, I want to say I was comparing the two parks allllll day until finally my fiance told me to shut up, to judge it as a stand alone institution, and to take it for what it is: the original.

Thanks for your observations.

Not entirely fair to compare the 50-year-old Matterhorn to the shiny new EE but nevertheless I agree with you.

Also I agree with everything Amy said (as usual ). I have not seen a huge difference in CM quality between DLR and WDW. Both locations seem on average to be outstanding.

 

[SirRoderick]

Thanks for your observations.

Not entirely fair to compare the 50-year-old Matterhorn to the shiny new EE but nevertheless I agree with you.

Lol, ok I think I probably worded that wrong because you are absolutely right. It's kind of like an NFL team bragging about their victory over the pee-wee squad.

This is how it should have been said:

It's amazing to go to Disney World and see what imagineers can do with as much space as they want, as much money as they want, and over 50 years of experience! Such is the case between the classic Matterhorn and Expedition Everest. (But by the way, I almost enjoyed Matterhorn more due to the seating. It was such a cool experience to hold my fiance in my arms and making it OUR experience.)

 

[HydroGuy]

It's amazing to go to Disney World and see what imagineers can do with as much space as they want, as much money as they want, and over 50 years of experience! Such is the case between the classic Matterhorn and Expedition Everest. (But by the way, I almost enjoyed Matterhorn more due to the seating. It was such a cool experience to hold my fiance in my arms and making it OUR experience.)

My only memory of DL when I was there for the first time with my wife-to-be in 1989 is going up the Matterhorn in the dark and, well, you know...

We were engaged two months later.

 

[JustAKid]

My only memory of DL when I was there for the first time with my wife-to-be in 1989 is going up the Matterhorn in the dark and, well, you know...

We were engaged two months later.

*wolf whistle* HydroGuy's got game!! But seriously folks...

That's a very sweet story.

 

[kirkson]

GREAT point about the difference between DL and WDW cast members. at DL, for the most part, it seems to be "just another job" whereas WDW, the cast members seem truly invested in the place.

still, I can't just jump in my car and be at MK in half an hour, so DL has that goin for it

 

[Amy&Dan]

My only memory of DL when I was there for the first time with my wife-to-be in 1989 is going up the Matterhorn in the dark and, well, you know...

We were engaged two months later.

Trey, when I am on Matterhorn next month, I'll be thinking about you and your wife! That is a very cool story!

 

[fairycat]

GREAT point about the difference between DL and WDW cast members. at DL, for the most part, it seems to be "just another job" whereas WDW, the cast members seem truly invested in the place.

still, I can't just jump in my car and be at MK in half an hour, so DL has that goin for it

Not to start a tiff but I found the exact opposite to be true, we had some very terrible experiences with WDW CM's in our trips and they tend to be far less knowledgeable. But as I pointed out a long time ago in another thread I think that experience in the parks (I don't need to know where things are in DLR, I did in WDW), and some cultural differences make a big difference on how you see the CM experience.

I also found it sad that clearly the costume budget is lower at WDW as their costumes look so much lower quality and less detailed.

I have to say I find it sort of funny at WDW that Main Street USA, a place that is to mimic old town's around the country of a specific time, ends with a huge honking Castle!!!!!!!!!!! I think that is sort of why I prefer DL's castle because it doesn't jar the allusion of Main Street for me. But again that is me

 

[jlmarr]

I have to say I find it sort of funny at WDW that Main Street USA, a place that is to mimic old town's around the country of a specific time, ends with a huge honking Castle!!!!!!!!!!! I think that is sort of why I prefer DL's castle because it doesn't jar the allusion of Main Street for me. But again that is me

Me too! Exactly. Also the MK version looks (to me) like fiberglass/plastic/artificial, but I'm not going to trot over to the WDW forums to say so.

I can see that Disney wanted the MK castle to be visible from the Poly and TTC though, so they made it BIG. That just wouldn't work at DL.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

My only memory of DL when I was there for the first time with my wife-to-be in 1989 is going up the Matterhorn in the dark and, well, you know...

We were engaged two months later.

TMI!!! (Just Kidding!)

I think I'll have to pass that story along to my DH.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Count me as one who loves both castles. The grandeur and majesty of Cinderella Castle is equally amazing compared to the intimate charm of Sleeping Beauty Castle. I love them both for entirely different reasons. My preference is Sleeping Beauty Castle, but it would look entirely out of place in the sprawling MK and Cinderella Castle would look entirely out in the more cozy Disneyland.

In my experience, CMs have been wonderful in both places. No complaints about either one.

While I love WDW and Disneyland equally for very different reasons, if you ask me to choose my favorite park, that's an easy one. Disneyland.

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

As a DL cast member I have to say it is not "just another job" for me. I am sure at BOTH DL and WDW you will find people who are just working for Disney to earn a paycheck. But please don't generalize and say that most of us at DL are "unmagical" and/or only working for Disney to have a job. it is pretty hurtful since I took a huge paycut to come work for DL....and I did so because I ADORE Disney!

I can also say that well over 50% of my fellow CMs (in my department at least) feel the same way. We all love Disney and that is why we are willing to accept lower than average pay!

Now I personally have had more "unmagical" experiences at WDW in comparison to my many trips to DL but I don't generalize at all. They were all isolated incidents and certainly not a theme with the CMs there.

Maybe I am one of the few but I am both a DL and WDW fan. There are many things I love about each of them....which is why I work at DL and travel to WDW as often as I can!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Sometimes I think that some people are just looking for something about the "other" resort to dislike so they can extol the virtues of their favorite at the expense of the other one. I'm one that happens to love both. While I consider Disneyland "home" I believe that's because it's the one I always went to growing up.

As a random note, I never get the "I'm at WDW" feeling when I see Cinderella Castle. However, I always get it when I see Spaceship Earth. I suspect that's because Spaceship Earth and Epcot always represented the wonder of WDW to me.

In the end, it comes down to what you're looking for when you visit the other park. I'm convinced that the "other" resort isn't for everyone, whatever the "other" resort is. I visit both for different experiences and enjoy them equally. When I'm at Disneyland, I miss Epcot. And when I'm at WDW, I miss Disneyland.

 

[fairycat]

Sometimes I think that some people are just looking for something about the "other" resort to dislike so they can extol the virtues of their favorite at the expense of the other one. I'm one that happens to love both. While I consider Disneyland "home" I believe that's because it's the one I always went to growing up.

As a random note, I never get the "I'm at WDW" feeling when I see Cinderella Castle. However, I always get it when I see Spaceship Earth. I suspect that's because Spaceship Earth and Epcot always represented the wonder of WDW to me.

In the end, it comes down to what you're looking for when you visit the other park. I'm convinced that the "other" resort isn't for everyone, whatever the "other" resort is. I visit both for different experiences and enjoy them equally. When I'm at Disneyland, I miss Epcot. And when I'm at WDW, I miss Disneyland.

Now talking about Epcot, now I can show some extra love!! I keep wanting to pack Ak and Epcot up and bring them home!!! They are why I like WDW and sets it off as unique.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Ever since I was little I've wanted to see Epcot. In fact, growing up I would see pictures of that big ball with the word "Epcot" under it and I thought all of Epcot was located inside.

 

[HydroGuy]

To me Epcot is the least magical and least "Disney" of all the WDW parks. Some people say it grows on you and I will say that after my second trip I liked it more than after my first. I really like DHS. That is my second favorite WDW park. It has a lot of energy. Then AK. And then Epcot.