Why do you go to Disneyland instead of WDW

[BrerFox]

I love them both and it really comes down to what you want your trip to be. If you want to devote at least a week to Disney, or if swimming and sunshine is a very important part of your trip, I would go to WDW.

If you want to devote 3 days, or have children under a mature 8, or if you want to combine it with the west/CA experience go for DLR.

Either way you will have fun !

Funny you should say that, that DL is more for 8 years or younger children...

Because my mom took me (16 at the time), my brother (14 at the time) and my sister (10 at the time) last year, our first Disney trip ever.

We went for 6 days, and loved it. It was our favourite vacation we have ever done (and I have been to Egypt, Costa Rica, all over Europe, Canada and the USA. We loved it so much we are going back for 7 days.

I don't think it is so much about age as it is about the type of person you are... If you are willing to immerse yourself in Disney magic and just be a kid, you will love it. If you are rushing and stressed and always looking for a huge thrill, you could get bored.

Interesting to hear different takes on the situation

 

[Mouse13]

I prefer Disneyland because to me it is just more magical. Disneyworld is too complex for my taste. I love the special touches at DL and the simplicity simply increases the magic for my family. When we're in the Land, we can do it all and never feel the stress of not having done so. We go home feeling satisfied, rested, and relaxed. For us, that is magic.

 

[JaneJetson]

I think Disneyland is probably better if you have young children. I just think it would be a lot easier. Especially if your kids are in strollers. I can't imagine doing all of the buses at WDW with small kids. But DL/DCA are really easy with toddlers.

 

[ballarinamom]

We are centrally located (texas) and we've been to both. We soooo prefer DL over WDW. Fisrt, no matter how much you pay, you still have to take a bus to atleast two of the parks as the monorail doesn't go that far. Several times we just took cabs because we didn't want to wait for the next bus and we didn't want to miss rope drop. At Dl you can find a close hotel in all price ranges
Second, the rides at Dl are so much better. Pirates, IASW and Peter Pan just to name a few are so much better at DL. I love that you walk into HM front door and not feel like you're going in through the garage or something like at WDW. Toontown is so cool an surrel at DL and WDW stinks. We were there just long enough for DD to ride the Barnstormer and we left. At DL we play with all the cool gizmos. Indy is so much better than Dino
Third, we can literally just stroll around. DTD is right there, DCA etc...
Finally, it's the original.....,.. We'll be there again in 3 weeks!

 

[JaneJetson]

The value resorts at WDW start at $82 a night for 2009. That's actually really good, IMO. Most offsite places at Disneyland aren't even that cheap. At WDW you can stay ON SITE for that amount. Not too shabby.

 

[OnePrincess]

I live in Missouri so geography is not the main point with me either. We actually prefer WDW. We just got back last week from our first trip to DL. It was great and we did like the parks but I think we just like the how WDW is bigger and with more parks. Also, we had three days at DL and I think two would have been enough for us. My dd kept saying that she wanted to go to AK and we had to keep telling her DL didn't have one. Plus at DL the parks were packed and I mean packed. At WDW we go off-season and there's hardly any crowds.

When people talk about all the planning for WDW, I am one of the very few people who doesn't do any unless we want to dine with the characters. We've always had luck with just walking up to a restaurant and getting right in. Again, we are not planners, we do not like following a schedule while on vacation and it's worked for us at WDW. I also loving staying on-site. Too me it's so worth it at WDW but it wasn't worth it at DL. I like the bus system at WDW too. I think it makes it's easy to get any where you want to go.

 

[ballarinamom]

The value resorts at WDW start at $82 a night for 2009. That's actually really good, IMO. Most offsite places at Disneyland aren't even that cheap. At WDW you can stay ON SITE for that amount. Not too shabby.

But "onsite" at WDW is not like a Good Neighbor Hotel at DL. AND you can choose a hotel with a rate you want. We stayed at All Star Movies before and took cabs 4 times as the buses were not convenient. We also stayed at the Grand Floridian and still took cabs because of the difficulty getting to the parks

 

[JaneJetson]

But "onsite" at WDW is not like a Good Neighbor Hotel at DL. AND you can choose a hotel with a rate you want. We stayed at All Star Movies before and took cabs 4 times as the buses were not convenient. We also stayed at the Grand Floridian and still took cabs because of the difficulty getting to the parks

We stayed at a moderate resort. We look buses to and from the parks every day. And we parked hopped on a couple of the days. We didn't find it to be a problem at all. We rarely waited more than 15 minutes or so.

It was nice to be totally immersed in Disney the entire time. And our resort was wonderful.

WDW definitely has a different feel for me than Disneyland.

The order in which I like the parks is...
1. Disneyland
2. Animal Kingdom
3. EPCOT
4. Magic Kingdom
5. DCA
6. MGM

Disneyland, AK, and EPCOT, are basically tied though. And MK and DCA are tied. MGM is the worst.

 

[Sherry E]

The value resorts at WDW start at $82 a night for 2009. That's actually really good, IMO. Most offsite places at Disneyland aren't even that cheap. At WDW you can stay ON SITE for that amount. Not too shabby.

That is an excellent price for any Disney hotel! I realize at WDW, the whole resort is so expansive, it like a mini city, so you kind of need to stay onsite, I guess. I was shocked when my friend, who went to WDW for a full 6 nights/7 days last December, paid about the same or even a few dollars LESS to stay at Port Orleans than what it costs to stay 3 nights at the GCH out here!!!!

I have never been to WDW. Hopefully I will get there one day before I am too old! But I have watched all the Travel Channel specials and read all the brochures and all that. If the Grand Floridian is supposed to be the most upscale and elegant of all the resort hotels, which one would be the most convenient out of all of them? In other words, the GCH at DLR is elegant, but the convenience factor cannot be denied. The location is excellent. Which hotels are the closest to all four parks in Orlando? I am just curious for future reference. So much is said about the transportation system down at WDW that I wondered if any of the hotels were as close to any of the parks as GCH is to DL and DCA.

 

[HydroGuy]

That is an excellent price for any Disney hotel! I realize at WDW, the whole resort is so expansive, it like a mini city, so you kind of need to stay onsite, I guess. I was shocked when my friend, who went to WDW for a full 6 nights/7 days last December, paid about the same or even a few dollars LESS to stay at Port Orleans than what it costs to stay 3 nights at the GCH out here!!!!

I have never been to WDW. Hopefully I will get there one day before I am too old! But I have watched all the Travel Channel specials and read all the brochures and all that. If the Grand Floridian is supposed to be the most upscale and elegant of all the resort hotels, which one would be the most convenient out of all of them? In other words, the GCH at DLR is elegant, but the convenience factor cannot be denied. The location is excellent. Which hotels are the closest to all four parks in Orlando? I am just curious for future reference. So much is said about the transportation system down at WDW that I wondered if any of the hotels were as close to any of the parks as GCH is to DL and DCA.

Most would say the Boardwalk area hotels are the most convenient as it is possible to walk to two of the four parks - Epcot and DHS. If memory serves these would include the Beach Club, Yacht Club and Boardwalk - all Deluxe hotels and hence pricey. There are also the Swan and Dolphin which are deluxe hotels but are not Disney-owned, and are quite a bit less expensive.

 

[JaneJetson]

That is an excellent price for any Disney hotel! I realize at WDW, the whole resort is so expansive, it like a mini city, so you kind of need to stay onsite, I guess. I was shocked when my friend, who went to WDW for a full 6 nights/7 days last December, paid about the same or even a few dollars LESS to stay at Port Orleans than what it costs to stay 3 nights at the GCH out here!!!!

I have never been to WDW. Hopefully I will get there one day before I am too old! But I have watched all the Travel Channel specials and read all the brochures and all that. If the Grand Floridian is supposed to be the most upscale and elegant of all the resort hotels, which one would be the most convenient out of all of them? In other words, the GCH at DLR is elegant, but the convenience factor cannot be denied. The location is excellent. Which hotels are the closest to all four parks in Orlando? I am just curious for future reference. So much is said about the transportation system down at WDW that I wondered if any of the hotels were as close to any of the parks as GCH is to DL and DCA.

I've only stayed at All Star Sports (back in 1995 with my family) and Port Orleans Riverside (this year.) At both we were bus rides away from all parks.

But here's a map that might be helpful.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/propertymap.htm

 

[Echie]

For us it's a bit of both... mostly because we are in the west and a trip to Disneyland is just a lot quicker and cheaper for us. But also partly because it's a smaller park (less walking, not the feeling of being overwhelmed because there is so much to do and see) and has a different feel to it that we love!

 

[fairycat]

That is an excellent price for any Disney hotel! I realize at WDW, the whole resort is so expansive, it like a mini city, so you kind of need to stay onsite, I guess. I was shocked when my friend, who went to WDW for a full 6 nights/7 days last December, paid about the same or even a few dollars LESS to stay at Port Orleans than what it costs to stay 3 nights at the GCH out here!!!!

I have never been to WDW. Hopefully I will get there one day before I am too old! But I have watched all the Travel Channel specials and read all the brochures and all that. If the Grand Floridian is supposed to be the most upscale and elegant of all the resort hotels, which one would be the most convenient out of all of them? In other words, the GCH at DLR is elegant, but the convenience factor cannot be denied. The location is excellent. Which hotels are the closest to all four parks in Orlando? I am just curious for future reference. So much is said about the transportation system down at WDW that I wondered if any of the hotels were as close to any of the parks as GCH is to DL and DCA.

First none of the Hotels are close like GCH, that one enters to one park and is so close to DL its perfect.

We stayed at the Polynesian because I wanted to do a monorail hotel. Since we stayed near the Transportation Center (and lakeside we had an awesome room!), we could rather easily make it to Epcot and MK by Monorail. The Epcot monorail is LONG, since the park is so far away, but it was overall convient, but in no way "quick". For the other parks we had to relay on buses and that was a whole other story.

For those who like the bus system, please teach me what you know!!! We had nothing but issues with the bloody things! We said we would rent a car or motorcycle or even pay Taxi Fares (that aren't cheap) to avoid the buses. We had issues getting correct information, the buses were slow, the traffic layout is terrible (why doesn't WDW add bus lanes to speed the buses up and make them safer). We hated the fact that they stopped at PI every time you left DTD even during the day when 99% of PI is closed!! We always stopped at other hotels first when the bus driver knew we were all going to the other hotel. Over all it just seemed badly planned and a huge time waster. I would have had a lot more park time without those buses.

Overall I would so do the Poly. for the monorails, but would rent a car or skip the other parks and not use a bus again!!!

 

[tonaly]

Geographical for us, mostly, but also I'm sort of intimidated by WDW. I have no idea how to plan for such a vacation. I would like to go, but it seems like a hard thing to figure out unless there is someone with experience to help. I did go to WDW about 13 years ago, and it overwhelmed me then! That was before my days of message board addiction so I guess I could research it now. From what I've heard, though, you really have to plan way ahead and get your reservations in early. I like that with DL, you can decide to go the next day and can make it work. The compactness and lack of choice kind of works for me, LOL.

ETA: I almost forgot to mention that DL holds many, many fond memories for me, too. It is much more Walt's dream, to me, than WDW.

I totally agree with this. We live close to Disneyland (about an hour drive). We will do WDW someday, but I'm waiting for our kids to be a little bit older - I'm already intimidated by the size of WDW, don't want to have to factor kids that are too young into that!

Alyson

 

[HydroGuy]

For those who like the bus system, please teach me what you know!!! We had nothing but issues with the bloody things! We said we would rent a car or motorcycle or even pay Taxi Fares (that aren't cheap) to avoid the buses. We had issues getting correct information, the buses were slow, the traffic layout is terrible (why doesn't WDW add bus lanes to speed the buses up and make them safer). We hated the fact that they stopped at PI every time you left DTD even during the day when 99% of PI is closed!! We always stopped at other hotels first when the bus driver knew we were all going to the other hotel. Over all it just seemed badly planned and a huge time waster. I would have had a lot more park time without those buses.

"Like the bus system" is too strong to describe me, but here is some WDW bus advice/benefits FWIW (bus advice also applies to boats).

1. The bus makes it easier to split up - We are a family of teens and tweens, and the bus system allows us to easily split up. Someone wants to go back early or stay later? No problem, just take the bus. Some want to go to one park while others want a different park or activity? Much easier with a bus than a car.

2. Avoid EMH parks - The buses to the EMH (Extra Magic Hour) parks are in high demand. We follow TGM advice and avoid parks with EMH and the buses are usually not crowded.

3. Some hotels are on a faster loop - We stayed at the AKL last time and one of the good things about it was that it was the only hotel on the bus loop. Hence the entire bus loop was much faster. We went to the Beach Club a couple evenings (Beaches & Cream outings ) and that loop has five hotels. That means five stops as opposed to the one stop for AKL. It was painful. It is one reason while I will resist staying at any of the "Epcot" hotels in the future.

4. Know which buses can get you somewhere directly without having to take a connector bus - When we could not take a bus or boat directly to our destination we hired a taxi.

5. Always take a credit card or money for a taxi - Like you we used taxis when the bus was not convenient. One day I forgot my credit card and cash (only had my room key card with charging privileges) and we could not take a taxi. And we needed to. I was very frustrated at myself.

6. Bus/boat/Monorail system takes a similar amount of time as driving -
if you are not taking connectors. This is data from the UOG book people.

My two cents.

 

[Sherry E]

I've only stayed at All Star Sports (back in 1995 with my family) and Port Orleans Riverside (this year.) At both we were bus rides away from all parks.

But here's a map that might be helpful.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/propertymap.htm

Thanks for the map (and thanks to everyone else who gave their input about the locations of the hotels in relation to the parks)! It's funny - because I haven't been to WDW yet, when I look at the map, it appears that the Magic Kingdom is way far away from the other three parks and Downtown Disney, and the other three parks look very close together. I don't think I knew that this is the layout. I think I thought the other three parks were more spread out from each other and from MK, but not that MK was as far away as it is from them. And just by looking at the map, it looks as if it would be really easy and quick to get from AK to DH to EPCOT and every other combination of those three, but that it would take forever to get to MK. I suppose when you actually get down there, the layout seems different and things that appear close are not as close??

 

[JaneJetson]

We went to MK on an Extra Magic Hour (extra evening hours) day/night and it was fine. The bus in the morning was no worse than any other ones. And the bus at night after the park closed was fine too. Actually, we were the only ones on the bus that night.

We don't "like" the bus system, per say. I mean, it would be great if all of the parks were within walking distance but that just isn't the case.

Essentially our options were...
1. Use the bus system
2. Rent a car, drive ourselves, find parking spots, take a tram to the park
3. Use a taxi ($$) which would have been to and from the parks every day, for 6 days. Including two days of parking hopping.

So the choice was easy for us. It was basically the lesser of the evils.

We were at Port Orleans Riverside so we had to share the bus system with a few other resorts. That made it take a bit longer but overall, we didn't mind. On average the bus ride to all of the parks was maybe 20 minutes, give or take.

We went expecting super long waits and super long bus rides. So we were pleasantly suprised. The biggest thing I can say when using the buses at WDW is...have patience!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Funny you should say that, that DL is more for 8 years or younger children...

Because my mom took me (16 at the time), my brother (14 at the time) and my sister (10 at the time) last year, our first Disney trip ever.

We went for 6 days, and loved it. It was our favourite vacation we have ever done (and I have been to Egypt, Costa Rica, all over Europe, Canada and the USA. We loved it so much we are going back for 7 days.

I don't think it is so much about age as it is about the type of person you are... If you are willing to immerse yourself in Disney magic and just be a kid, you will love it. If you are rushing and stressed and always looking for a huge thrill, you could get bored.

Interesting to hear different takes on the situation

I think you misinterpeted my point....which is WDW is best for children a mature 8 and up if given a choice, whereas DL is much more doable with younger or more emotionally fragile children.

 

[JaneJetson]

I think you misinterpeted my point....which is WDW is best for children a mature 8 and up if given a choice, whereas DL is much more doable with younger or more emotionally fragile children.

I agree. WDW with young kids were be a LOT more difficult than Disneyland with young kids.

 

[mariezp]

Oh man! All this talk of using the bus system at WDW is making my head spin! Just another confirmation of why I should just go to Disneyland! *

I have never been to WDW. In 11 days we will be heading to DL for our 8th annual trip. We love it there so much that I just cannot imagine that WDW could be any better! And really, I am just not willing to take the chance that we would be disappointed. (Ya know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

Here are some of the things we love about the park:

• being able to pick a hotel and walk to the park everyday.
• being close enough to take a break back at our hotel everyday.
• California weather.
• the intimate feel that you get when you walk into Walt's quaint little park that makes you feel like you are back home.
• knowing where everything is in the park.
• the food, the atmosphere and all the little details.
• staying for long trips and being able to ride our favorites over and over again because everything is so conveniently close.
• all the shows.
• cleanliness of the park.
• the fact that it is the original.

I am sure there are plenty more reasons but the main thing is that we all get to relax and have fun while we are there.

*I somehow doubt we would be nearly as relaxed if we had to keep track of bus schedules and depend on them to get us where we wanted to go.