The Subtle Differences Between Disneyland and Walt Disney World
We interrupt the current trip report from Walt Disney World, 2018, to share some recent thoughts from a week at Disneyland Resort, California just last week. It was our first visit there after many to Walt Disney World, and we thought we'd take this moment to share our thoughts about unexpected differences.
Previously, we shared how the planning was different. We also shared how packing during the pandemic is different. And there are, of course, the obvious differences. Like, Disneyland is in California and contains 2 parks. Walt Disney World is in Florida and contains 4 parks, 2 water parks, 2 mini golf courses, several pro golf courses, and more. But this post is not about the obvious differences because anyone with an internet connection can find those. No, this post is about the subtle and unexpected differences we weren't quite prepared for.
So here we go....
California weather is more forgiving than Florida weather
Another gorgeous morning at Disneyland
Now, I am a huge fan of Florida weather. I often joke that I should have been born in Florida because that humid weather is often where I am most comfortable. But there does come a sticky midday moment that is quite uncomfortable, followed by a 3 o'clock thunderstorm in the summer, or a rainy evening in the early spring.
On the contrary, I found California to be extremely comfortable. Granted, we went in mid-November, but we had a smattering of temperatures ranging from 67 degrees to 97 degrees one afternoon. And even the 97 degrees wasn't quite enough to send us scurrying inside. In fact, we ate a nice lunch al fresco (though in the shade). The lack of humidity made almost any temperature tolerable. The cools were less cool and the heat was less sticky. The lack of humidity also meant piercingly blue skies for all but about 2 hours of our entire week, and even those two hours were just clouds, no rain. So I can see why Walt elected to build his first park in California.
Disneyland Is Also a Bubble, Sort Of
Although the isolation is not quite total like it feels at Walt Disney World if you are staying on property, once inside the gates, those that say you can see the highway or other hotels are, for the most part, incorrect. And if you can, they usually blend into whatever scene Disney is trying to create. In other words, it doesn't matter if it's World or Land, Disney Imagineers are experts at blending surroundings into what they are trying to accomplish. I never felt like I was in the middle of a city while inside the park.
Size Matters
An intense rope drop crowd at California Adventure. It got worse than this, but I didn't take pictures then because I was just trying to keep my footing
Here is where World has an edge in my opinion. What I didn't realize about Disneyland being smaller was that the pathways and ride queues were also more narrow. This made the park feel incredibly crowded even when it was not technically very crowded. It meant that for fireworks on Main Street, you are basically shoulder to shoulder. Don't lift your foot, or you won't be able to put it back down because the spot will have been taken by someone else's foot.
In addition to it feeling packed, rides are so close together, it is easy to miss the entrance to a ride because you see a more obvious entrance down the path and think that's the next thing.
Locals Affect Disneyland in Big Ways
I knew that Disneyland had a more robust local following than Walt Disney World, but I had not realized how that would impact busy times, or even some things I felt were missing.
Let's start with busy times. While I normally expect Walt Disney World to be busiest from about noon to just about the afternoon parade (let's say 3 or 4 o'clock) the same is not true for California. Yes, it gets busy around noon. But then it kind of stays busy as at 4 o'clock, a new wave of locals begins to flood in. At least, we assume they are locals because it's just when people are getting off of work. This continues until about 7 o'clock and the park doesn't really begin getting less busy until around 7:30 PM. That's a MUCH busier stretch than you find at Walt Disney World.
Another reason I feel the park is very much geared toward locals is there is a genuine lack of direction for those who are unfamiliar and haven't been there before. Some ride entrances are actually quite poorly marked. There's a lack of maps and signs as well compared to Walt Disney World. I can't tell you how many times we back-tracked because we had walked right past a ride entrance without seeing it.
Overall Impressions
Overall, I'm really glad we visited Disneyland California. In part, because I am a Walt fan, it felt like a pilgrimage. You can really feel Walt here like you sometimes can't at Walt Disney World. There are plaques, statues, and displays in several places paying tribute to the history of Walt Disney, and for a fan, these were really fantastic to see. I wish we'd been able to go on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour as well, but it was unavailable during the time we were there.
Disneyland's weather was perfect and it was definitely charming. Main Street in particular was oozing with charm. It packs more charm per square inch than Walt Disney World. And the Christmas decorations were unbelievable (more on that in future posts and pictures).
However, Walt Disney World is still "home" in my heart. Perhaps it is knowing what to expect. It was hard to walk on a Main Street, as charming as it was, without smelling Casey's Hot Dogs at the corner like you do at Walt Disney World, for example. World also has room to spread out. Even when crowded, if you try, you can find a quiet corner at Walt Disney World when it seemed next to impossible at times at Disneyland. There are parts of World that I wish were more like Disneyland (for example, Avenger's Campus and Cars Land would be amazing additions to World, and there are parts of World that could do with a little more charm), but overall, World remains where we wish to be.
If you're liking this post, you will be happy to know we plan to do a trip report of Disneyland just as soon as we finish our report on Walt Disney World! You'll get to hear about the holidays at Disneyland, and what it was like to tour without FastPass OR Genie+ and just do standby. If you like our blog, follow us on Facebook where you can see when new posts are published each week! Until next time...
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