Comparing & Contrasting Disney World and Disneyland

Comparing Disney World to Disneyland is a little bit like comparing a chocolate fudge sundae to a big slice of chocolate cake. They're both amazing. So there's not going to be a clear winner. But despite having some of the same rides, parades, and live shows, the two parks are vastly different. From their layouts to their size to their surrounding areas, you'd be amazed at the differences. I've often heard people come home from a Disney vacation talking about how they were disappointed that they, "ran out of time", and as I hear them talk I realize that they just went to the wrong park for them. (Not that there is such a thing as a wrong park for us Disney geeks, but you know what I mean.) Hopefully these facts can help you decide which Disney vacation would be best for your needs, considering all kinds of factors such as how old your children are all the way up to what kind of weather suits you best.

Let's start with the obvious, Disneyland is in California and Disney World is in Florida. So start considering which park is best for you with that information. In terms of cost, it may be best to go with the simple solution of picking the park nearest you. This will cut down on travel expenses. Both are hot in the summer, but Florida is warm all year. (That is to say, I live in Indiana where it's typically 30 degrees or below for half the year, so 50's in the winter sounds GREAT to me.) If you're looking for a winter getaway, consider Disney World. The first time my husband and I ever went to Disneyland, it was February. We didn't do the necessary research and didn't even bring coats. We were comfortable during the day and freezing that night! It rains more at Disney World, but that's part of the charm. Odd as it sounds, it creates a nice cool down in the afternoons and there are plenty of interior locations and rides to get away from the rain.

Also, Disney World is far larger than Disneyland. Disneyland consists of several blocks of space right smack dab in the middle of the city of Anaheim. Disney World really is like it's own world. Disney has purchased miles and miles of land, including several resorts and a downtown area. The Orlando location consists of four theme parks and two water parks. The Anaheim location only has two parks and fewer hotels. They do work with local economy hotels to help provide travelers with more options.

I'm going to be honest with you about something here, and this is just my opinion as someone who has very recently been to both locations. Orlando has much more of an all-inclusive getaway atmosphere. I found myself surprisingly depressed at the state of the city of Anaheim. Don't get me wrong, the interior of the parks are beautiful and Disney has done a lot of work to make Disneyland feel very tucked away. It's easy to forget that you're in the middle of a city. But if you walk from your hotel to the park in Anaheim, you will see many homeless, lots of rundown or closed buildings, and you'll be right in the middle of traffic. If you're the kind of Disney dork who will stay until closing, like we did, we felt very unsafe walking home in the dark. I'm making it sound worse than it is, but as someone who grew up going to Disney World, I was surprised at the difference in the experiences. One way to prevent these feelings during vacation would be to stay on Disney property while in California. Stay at a Disney resort, stick to Downtown Disney and the parks, and safety shouldn't be a problem. (But you should always be vigilant in tourist locations. We're prime targets for crimes of all kinds. Don't be scared, just be careful.)

As far as the parks themselves, the same size difference applies. Disneyland is far easier to do all in one day than Disney World, assuming that you stay in the Magic Kingdom. Disney World would literally be impossible to do in a day. You need a few days at best to cover all of the parks, and even then you probably wouldn't be able to do half of what's there. So if you're looking for a week-long vacation, try Disney World. If you want to get away for a weekend or just a few days, I'd stick to Disneyland.

I was pleasantly surprised by how many rides one could accomplish at Disneyland. They're all very close to one another, which makes it very convenient for ride-junkies to grab one Fastpass after another and plan their entire day. This way they can hit the maximum number of rides. There's also more time to take in secondary activities that you can sometimes miss while waiting for your Fastpass time to come up at Disney World. (Because the space is sometimes just too large to make it to a smaller ride that you want to do while waiting.) I even had extra time at Disneyland to take in an entire parade and fireworks show, something I usually can't do at Disney World. So if you're pressed for time in any way, Disneyland will be more convenient for you.

Disney World has a greater variety of rides and shows, mostly because they have more parks and more space. But Disneyland is the original location and seems to have stayed more faithful to many of the original show concepts. Whereas Disney World has made some changes that don't please purists. (The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management, and Tarzan's Treehouse, for example.) But I think the two parks have tried to even out the general experiences overall. For example, there's no Indiana Jones ride at Disney World, so they created the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios. You'll get some Indiana Jones entertainment at both parks, even if they're not identical attractions. Same thing goes for slightly different versions of the same ride at different locations. The Florida Haunted Mansion is very different in many ways from the original California version. (All the more reason to make time in your life to take the family to visit both!) But Disney World has a lot of attractions that Disneyland doesn't have, such as the entire World Showcase at EPCOT. If there's something you're just dying to do at Disney World that they don't have at Disneyland, I'd say go ahead and make the trip.

Consider visiting the Disney park websites to learn more about the differences, and remember to put some time into the decision. It can make the difference, depending on how much money you have to spend, how much time you have, how far away you are from a particular park, and how young your kids are, you'll want to pick one park over another for specific reasons. Many folks just assume that all you should do to plan a vacation is book a ticket, but it helps a lot to learn about where you're going and how things work there. Surprises can be the enemy of vacations. So go well-prepared, and everything will go smoothly.

In some ways, all the differences between parks can give you extra incentive to plan your next vacation for whatever park you didn't attend the first time around. The best thing about comparing and contrasting the two parks? Doing the research for yourself. No matter which park you pick, you'll have a great time.