Why do you go to Disneyland instead of WDW

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We went to DL instead of WDW because it was our first time taking a trip to either so we thought we would see Disney's original vision first. Plus when we were planning it was Hurricane season in Florida so we didnt want to have to cancel our trip due to a storm. If we did book WDW we would have had to deal with Juan.

 

[Leofoenget]

Hi All,
I'm an aussie planning a trip to the US in february 2009. I understand that WDW is much bigger with more parks and was just wondering why people visit Disneyland over WDW. Is it just a geographical and financial thing or do some people prefer the smaller park??

Cheers
Trish

Because I live 8 hours away from DL instead of 3/4 across the country away. I really want to go to WDW but can't afford it right now. I can drive the whole family for $100 in gas as opposed to fly the entire family for over $1200

 

[drakethib]

I know I don't "belong" in this thread but maybe I can offer something.

I live in Texas and it is much cheaper for us to go to WDW. I have priced it any which way you can and we always come us $ wise better off to go to WDW (plus we are DVC members).

I have only been to DL once a few years ago and it was a whole different experience. It was fun, nice, had a good time, but different. We kept comparing WDW to DL. We did stuff like go to the movies, go swimming, etc while at DL. Different.

This year we have been to WDW a couple of times and we wanted one more trip. We needed a change.

Both my wife and I decided to go to DL so that my little one could experience it. Even with the DING fares from Southwest, it would still have been cheaper to go to WDW. But we found our self saying to each other how much we liked the trip to DL in the past and how relaxing it was. So we are going back and we are counting the days until we get there.

It will still be a different trip, but sometimes that is a good thing.

Pricing wise, if the 2 were priced comparably, I think we would go more.

Hope this helps.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

[ (and because booking dinner two months or more out is just odd!)

I had no idea until I read the boards that people are booking restaurants so far in advance. We had visions of ourselves just stopping off to eat whenever we were hungry and something took our fancy. It's a whole new concept for us

Thanks for the opions, you have all been very generous with your time.

Trish[/QUOTE]

Once upon a time, you could do WDW like that! On our last visit 5 years ago, I mistakenly thought it would still be that way. The only ressie I made for us was Chef Mickey's. DS was 3 then so we thought we'd eat whenever it was good for the kids. NOT. We never could get any other sit down meals, nothing but hamburger stands and counter service food. Which is fine, but after a few days you just want to sit somewhere that's not outside...

So we waited till our youngest was a little older (and tall enough to do everything!) and we leave next week! I have diligently made all the ADRs 6 months ahead. But I really want to be able to do some of this spontaneously, go with the flow and relax, like we do at DLR! The ability to be as flexible or as commando as we want is one of the things I love about DL. You can plan it all out to a T if ya want, but it's not a necessity.

And to answer your original question, while I went to WDW first (my first DL trip wasn't until 1978), I have better early memories of DL. My grandparents took me there (just me!) then and I remember how proud they were to "show it off" to me. They absolutely loved DL. We made many, many trips to both WDW and DL with my parents and grandparents, but that first trip in 1978 to DL is really seared in my memory as a wonderful, magical day. Although I remember I had some tickets left over! I kept that ticket book for so many years, and now I can't find the childhood scrapbook I put it in. Fooey!

 

[gogo65]

Hi Trish,

Another Aussie here who has done both DL and WDW.

We did DL when the kids were younger (5 & 7) and then WDW this year when they were 13 &15.

We decided to do WDW because the accommodation costs were much cheaper (but you need the codes that are spoken about frequently on these boards), when we added in the airfare it really didn't cost that much more.

Yes it was overwhelming the planning etc but I loved it and spent hours on the disboards planning everything. We did the dining plan so all our meals were booked in advance, we did change one of reservations on the day without any problems.

We had a fantastic time but we went knowing that it is unlikely that we will be returning, we are however in the process of planning another holiday to the US and Canada for the end of next year, we will be having a quick stopover (3-4 days) in DL on the way to Canada, we just wouldn't go back to WDW to spend only a few days where as 4 days in DL will be a great start to our holiday.


It really depends on how much time you have, we spent 8 nights in Orlando
(6 in WDW and 2 in Universal) and we really needed those days, if you are pushed for time then DL may be better choice.

You will enjoy no matter what you chose

Now what happened to the USD

I need to start saving even harder

 

[PHXscuba]

Quasar4legs:
You have been given some excellent advice to help you plan whatever kind of vacation you want. Of all the responses, I think fairycat's (post #30 on this thread) really hit most everything I would have said.

As for the dining reservations in advance, we were there in mid-September on short notice, and no one was taking walk-ups for dinner. For example, we were in customer service at EPCOT one day asking a question, and the dining-availability board said all the dinner reservations were taken. Remember, this is lowest season! We asked at Coral Reef and the hostess said they were booked solid through the end of the month!

Good luck -- you will have a magical vacation wherever you go!

PHXscuba

 

[kelmac284]

Well I live in CA so obviously I go to DL quite a bit more. I can drive if I choose but I end up flying most of the time because it is a quick 1 hour flight and USUALLY it is cheap although recently the prices have gone up but we still splurge and usually fly anyway for the convenience of it. We get great deals on offsight hotels and can save a lot of money eating offsight as well.

We have AP's and that saves quite a bit and it is a really cheap vacation for us and it is our FAV place to go.

Sure DW is a much more immersive vacation and we love it there as well but it costs SO much more for our family to go there that it is a lot harder trip to take and thus we only are able to do it once every 3 or so years and honestly with the economy this trip may be our last for a LONG time.

I do love DW a lot but it is just a simple matter of geography and economics that make DL easier for us.

Plus I must admit I am very fond of DL as it holds MANY fond memories and will always be special to me.

 

[JaneJetson]

[ (and because booking dinner two months or more out is just odd!)

I had no idea until I read the boards that people are booking restaurants so far in advance. We had visions of ourselves just stopping off to eat whenever we were hungry and something took our fancy. It's a whole new concept for us

Thanks for the opions, you have all been very generous with your time.

Trish

We never book dining stuff in advance. It's not even an actual reservation anyway.

 

[JaneJetson]

I love both WDW and Disneyland.

My husband's family lives near Disneyland so that is one reason we try to go there once a year.

But we also have plans to go to WDW again too. We do longer trips to WDW so we'll probably only got once every few years. Our Disneyland trips are only a few days long.

It costs about the same for us to fly to WDW as it does to Disneyland since we're in the middle of the country. Food was cheaper at WDW. Our hotel is cheaper at Disneyland because we stay off site. At WDW we splurge for a moderate hotel which is around $149 a night (but definitely worth it!!)

Overall, price wise...it isn't a huge difference. But time wise, a WDW trip is longer and we just can't take long trips very often. So a few days at Disneyland is just easier for us. And we can tack on some family time while in town.

 

[JaneJetson]

I agree with both of you completely. WDW scares me. No lie. I am truly intimidated by that place. I know DLR like the back of my hand and it’s home to me. And there is SO SO much to do and see and hearing that everyone is so commando over there, which is the opposite of how I roll. I would love to go to WDW, but right now it just scares me.

Also being an hour and a half away doesn’t help that we go so often. I’m sure if I lived in Florida I would be going to WDW often.

The thing about it being the original really tugs at my heart too. I feel the exact same thing you said cheshiregirl. Also Disneyland holds tons of memories for me too.

We don't do commando style touring at all. We didn't even get to the parks until 10:30 or 11am at the earliest the whole time we wer there. We made no attempt to see everything, because we knew it wasn't possible. We just walked around and enjoyed ourselves. It was fantastic. I think some of the people on the WDW section of the boards are a little crazy with their touring styles. (And I'm sure there are Disneyland people that are the same way. It doesn't work for us though.)

 

[JaneJetson]

We have been to Disneyland countless times and we went to DisneyWorld in 2004.

Disneyworld was overwhelming. We didn't park hop, even though we bought park hopper tickets, because the parks are so far apart. You even have to take a ferry or monorail from the parking lot to the Magic Kingdom!

The lands within the parks are also spaced farther apart than Disneyland. This does help with the crowded feeling that Disneyland can get, but it makes for a lot of walking between rides.

Comparing the Magic Kingdom rides and lands to Disneyland, Disneyland always seemed to have the better version. Though, I must say, they have some really cool rides that Disneyland does not have (Test Track, Mission to Space). However, CA Adventure has CA Screamin'

We DID like the water parks in Florida. That is something I wish Disneyland had. I hear there is a Knotts water park in CA, however they close way too early in the fall.

The weather in Florida was miserable (September). I didn't even bother with makeup, it was sweated off 10 seconds after walking out of the hotel room. That is not an exaggeration. I have never experienced humidity and heat like it.

So, we did try Florida once. We left there feeling like we missed something, and started planning our next trip to Disneyland. We have not been back to Florida since.

We go to WDW in January. The weather was amazing!

 

[AQW]

Oooooo, I hope the weather is amazing this coming January! I'm going to WDW for the first time Jan 3-10 after growing up on DL (grew up 10 minutes away, now live 40 minutes away).

My kids have been to DL at least once a month since they were born - I can't wait to see how they respond to WDW. I agree with the previous posters who find WDW intimidating - I'm glad I'm going with my sister who is a WDW vet. The idea of planning a WDW vacation is daunting and exhausting to me... and I love planning vacations!

 

[JaneJetson]

Oooooo, I hope the weather is amazing this coming January! I'm going to WDW for the first time Jan 3-10 after growing up on DL (grew up 10 minutes away, now live 40 minutes away).

My kids have been to DL at least once a month since they were born - I can't wait to see how they respond to WDW. I agree with the previous posters who find WDW intimidating - I'm glad I'm going with my sister who is a WDW vet. The idea of planning a WDW vacation is daunting and exhausting to me... and I love planning vacations!

We were there at the end of January this year. The high temps were in the 60's and 70's. The lows were in the 40's and 50's. In the early morning (walking to breakfast at the hotel) and later evening (at the parks) I wore a jacket. But for the most part I wore jeans and a t-shirt the whole time and had a sweatshirt around my waist that I wore occasionally. I saw a lot of pepole in shorts but it wasn't quite warm enough for me to wear shorts.

We laughed when we saw this photo we took because we're some of the only people NOT wearing shorts...

I will say that for whatever reason (maybe all of the trees and stuff) Animal Kingdom felt the hottest when we were there.

January can get some rain. It rained on a couple of the days we were there. But it was just a light rain so it wasn't a big deal.

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

Oooooo, I hope the weather is amazing this coming January! I'm going to WDW for the first time Jan 3-10 after growing up on DL (grew up 10 minutes away, now live 40 minutes away).

My kids have been to DL at least once a month since they were born - I can't wait to see how they respond to WDW. I agree with the previous posters who find WDW intimidating - I'm glad I'm going with my sister who is a WDW vet. The idea of planning a WDW vacation is daunting and exhausting to me... and I love planning vacations!

We were at DW for the similar time frame last year. The weather was decent. It did rain quite a bit, but it was warm and you dried off within an hour or so.

Has your sister let you know about the WDW marathon crowds? We had no idea and were actually told that the 2nd week of January was a low crowd time. Yikes! Never have we seen crowds like that! The week before the marathon a lot of families come to enjoy some time together before the race and while the holiday school breaks are still going. It was crazy!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

While geography plays a major role in my decision, I love both locations. As many have mentioned they're both wonderful in different ways.

I do feel that Disneyland park is far superior to the Magic Kingdom park. It has more rides and attractions, usually longer and more detailed versions of attractions that both share, and a distinct charm to Disneyland that I believe comes from the fact that Walt Disney built it himself(Walt passed away shortly after they announced what would become WDW).

If you're someone who admires and respects Walt Disney, Disneyland is a place you need to visit at least once in your life. It's the only park in the world that Walt himself worked on and best exemplifies his dream. His personal touch is all over the park, right down to the apartment he had on Main Street. As much as I love Epcot, it is very different from what Walt wanted to build.

 

[KCmike]

JANEJETSON - where did you stay at DL?

 

[Krissy Marissy]

Personally I love WDW and DL but WDW is always the bigger draw for me. If we are short on funds then dl is usually our choice...however WDW is much more disney because once you are on property it's disney everywhere 24/7 and you dont have to leave it behind! You jump on the monorail to go back to your room and in minutes you are there and still right next to the theme parks. I love it. I would pick WDW every single time over DL. We do like to visit DL once a year though to keep up with what is new and whatnot though. If it is DL or nothing then DL it is Gotta get my disney fix!

 

[FanaticadeDisney]

I live in the Midwest so the geography is not the main point. Disneyland's annual pass is cheaper and I like to go to California when is cold here. I still go once to WDW each year and I love it because of the variety. It's not overwhelming for me. When I retire, I'll maybe move to Florida and then maybe I'll tell a different story.

 

[JaneJetson]

JANEJETSON - where did you stay at DL?

Our last two Disneyland trips we've stayed at the Anaheim Plaza. It's only $69 a night. We're staying there again in January.

At WDW we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside.

 

[JaneJetson]

I live in the Midwest so the geography is not the main point. Disneyland's annual pass is cheaper and I like to go to California when is cold here. I still go once to WDW each year and I love it because of the variety. It's not overwhelming for me. When I retire, I'll maybe move to Florida and then maybe I'll tell a different story.

Where in the midwest are you? I'm in Nebraska.