Disneyland vs Disney World

Before I post more about the rest of my trip across the country, I really want to compare Disneyland to Disney World, because I think this is something that people are genuinely curious about.

For me, a California native, I have a pretty good perspective on Disneyland and California Adventure.  I have visited the park fairly consistently once a year or more during my life, I bought my first season pass a few years ago, and will be buying my next one sometime soon.  Just this past Tuesday I went to Mickey's Halloween Party in Disneyland, and having both parks fresh in my mind (I went to Disney World for the first time about a month ago and attended their Halloween Party), I wanted to compare the different parks/rides and which ones I preferred.    

I will compare the major differences between Mickey's Halloween Party (Disneyland) and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (Magic Kingdom) in a later blog post.

There are some things I did not get to experience in Disney World, such as the Swiss Family Treehouse (in Disneyland it's Tarzan's Treehouse) or Tom Sawyer Island (in Disneyland this is Pirate's Lair).  I really like these features in Disneyland, and I have visited the originals (Swiss Family Treehouse and Tom Sawyer Island) while they were unchanged in Disneyland, so my guess would be these areas are fairly similar in experience.  I also did not go on Splash Mountain at Disney World, so I can't compare it to Disneyland's Splash Mountain.

I also did not stand in line to meet with any characters except Pluto, so I won't be comparing the different characters you can meet in the various parks.  I will say this: it's pretty cool that you can meet characters in their "native" lands in EPCOT, such as Mary Poppins in England, Mulan in China, etc.

Disney World

I am going to start with the park that is by far the biggest.  With 4 different theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT) and 2 water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), Disney World has a lot to offer guests.  I did not visit either of the water parks, and as Disneyland really has nothing to compare to those places, they aren't too relevant to this discussion.

Now an outline of what each parks main attraction(s) are; these are generally considered "E-Ticket" experiences, or the rides that most people make a fastpass reservation for:

Magic Kingdom

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 

Space Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Splash Mountain

Main Street Electrical Parade (might be leaving for Disneyland soon)

Various Firework Shows

Animal Kingdom

Expedition Everest

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Kali River Rapids

DINOSAUR

Festival of the Lion King

Finding Nemo - The Musical

Hollywood Studios

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

Star Tours
Toy Story Midway Mania!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Fantasmic!

Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

EPCOT

Test Track

Soarin'

Mission: SPACE

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth

Disneyland

The original park has several rides and experiences unique to this park, such as meeting Thor or Captain America in Innoventions, and rides like Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and Mickey's Toon Town.  

Now an outline of what each parks main attraction(s) are; these are generally considered "E-Ticket" experiences, or the rides that most people make a fastpass reservation for:

Disneyland 

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain
Matterhorn Bobsleds

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Indiana Jones Adventure

Pirates of the Caribbean

Various Firework Shows

Fantasmic!

Disney's California Adventure

California Screamin'

Grizzly River Run

Radiator Springs Racers

Soarin' Over California

Toy Story Midway Mania!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

World of Color

Ride Comparison

Now let's compare the different rides that the parks share in common.  I will also give my impressions on some of the rides/shows that only Disneyland has, and some of the rides that only Disney World has.  To differentiate with ride goes with which park, I will use acronyms to show which ride belongs where.

DLR: Disneyland Resort 

DCA: Disney California Adventure

MK: Magic Kingdom

EPCOT: EPCOT

HS: Hollywood Studios

AK: Animal Kingdom

NOTE:  If any sections are in quotes (“ ”) it was taken directly from the theme parks ride description.

Space Mountain
DLR: A high-speed turbulent ride through outer space.	MK: A high-speed turbulent ride through outer space.
Winner: DLR The MK version of Space Mountain is very similar to DLR’s Matterhorn.  There are two cars connected together and each car seats three, like (X | X | X) – (X | X | X); so you ride alone.  What makes DLR better is that the track is WAY smoother than MK, it takes your picture in a better place (the end of the ride rather than the beginning at MK), and felt faster overall.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
DLR: The wildest ride in the wilderness, a mine train ride that rips through tight curves and climbs up steep mine shafts.	MK: “Dash in and out of desert caverns and rumble through a haunted mine aboard a speeding train.”
Winner: DLR Before the renovation of this ride in DLR, MK actually had a slight edge over the DLR version due to what I consider a slightly better track design.  However, the new effects and incredibly smooth track make the DLR ride experience the clear winner.

Indiana Jones/Dinosaur
DLR:  Take an adventure on a bumpy jeep ride and help Indiana Jones along the way.	AK: Travel back in time to save a dinosaur from extinction.
Winner: DLR/Indiana Jones The overall storyline of this ride is much better presented than the slightly cheesy Dinosaur ride.

The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure/Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid
DCA: “Pack your dinglehoppers, tune up your snarfblatts and journey under the sea to be part of Ariel's world.”	MK:  “Descend below the waves for a splashy musical adventure featuring famous scenes from this cherished animated classic.”
Winner: Tie These rides are virtually identical in every single way except the outside set up in the ride.  MK has a better ride queue with more details and a better nautical/cave theme.

Disney’s Railroad (this circles the park)
DLR: “Celebrate Americana—and all things red, white and blue—as you steam away on a vintage train for a full circle tour of Disneyland Park.”	MK: “Celebrate classic Americana as you steam away on a vintage train for a full circle tour of Magic Kingdom park.”
Winner: DLR Both train rides are fun, but DLR has some great scenes of animals, dinosaurs, and inside Splash Mountain that make it an overall better ride experience.

Enchanted Tiki Room
DLR: Four colorful parrots narrate a singing journey with flowers, birds of the jungle, and tikis.	MK: Four colorful parrots narrate a singing journey with flowers, birds of the jungle, and tikis.
Winner: DLR I was so sad when I went to the Enchanted Tiki Room in MK; they completely cut out one of the songs!  I believe it was “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies” that was cut, and thus no guest sing-a-long.  For that reason alone, DLR wins.  However, I do love the volcanic window scenes that MK has over DLR’s bamboo shades and fake rain.

Peter Pan’s Flight
DLR: Explore Neverland with Peter Pan and the Darling children.	MK: Explore Neverland with Peter Pan and the Darling children.
Winner: MK By a narrow margin, MK edges out this classic ride at DLR.  I liked the different track layout at MK and some of the slightly different scenes compared to the DLR scenes.  These two rides are also very similar, so either experience will be enjoyable.

Soarin’ (over California)
DCA: “Feel the wind race across your face during a breezy airborne adventure above California’s natural and manmade wonders.“	EPCOT: “Take flight and feel the wind through your hair as you fly above breathtaking vistas of California.“
Winner: Tie These rides are identical in every way, except for the name, which is just “Soarin’” in EPCOT.  The only way DCA might edge EPCOT out is the inside décor of the queue is more interesting to see and read than in EPCOT.

Autopia/Tomorrowland Speedway
DLR: “Put the pedal to the metal in your very own car and cruise along a scenic miniature motorway.”	MK: “Put the pedal to the metal in your very own hotrod and cruise along a scenic miniature motorway.”
Winner: DLR This is mostly personal preference, as the rides are very similar.  Autopia offers a better themed roadway, with plenty of natural features such as trees, tunnels and an off-roading section versus the   Speedway’s racetrack design.

Pirates of the Caribbean
DLR: Set sail on a swashbuckling voyage to a long-forgotten time and place when pirates wrought havoc on the high seas.	MK: Set sail on a swashbuckling voyage to a long-forgotten time and place when pirates wrought havoc on the high seas.
Winner: DLR The ride at DLR felt slightly longer in experience, but both rides are incredibly similar.  What edged DLR to the front is the fact that this track has 2 drops in it, which make the ride more of a thrill ride than a sit-and-watch ride.  However as far as overall theme goes, MK has a much more pirate-y outside décor.

Jungle Cruise
DLR: “Set sail for high adventure in Asia, Africa and South America during a guided tour of the world's most remote rivers.”	MK: “Set sail for high adventure on a tour of the most exotic and “dangerous” rivers in Asia, Africa and South America.”
Winner: MK While the ride and jokes are pretty much the same (slightly outdated and corny), the MK ride has a couple different “rooms” with a better theme, which gives MK the edge in this experience.

It’s a Small World
DLR: “Embark on a whimsical boat ride past a jubilant confection of singing children from around the globe.”	MK: “Embark on a whimsical boat ride past a jubilant confection of singing children from around the globe.”
Winner: DLR While the song in both rides is never-ending, DLR has added a few touches which kick this ride up a notch: they placed characters in the respective land they are from.  So you’ll see Peter Pan flying in England, Lilo and Stitch in Hawaii, Mulan in China, etc.  I’ve also been told by cast members that MK does not dress their ride up for Christmas like DLR does, which is one of the best times to ride this ride.

Grizzly River Run/Kali River Rapids
DCA: A thrilling whitewater raft adventure that takes you roaring down a California river in the Sierra Nevada mountains.	AK: A rip-roaring, river raft ride that takes you on a tour through a lush jungle landscape ravaged by illegal logging.
Winner: DCA The DCA ride is a noticeably longer ride with two small drops in it, compared to AK’s one sort-of-drop-but-more-of-a-slide.  I was incredibly disappointed with this, most particularly because the ride is much shorter than its DCA counterpart.  However, the theme of AK’s ride is definitely well done.

Haunted Mansion
DLR: Take a haunted journey through a stately mansion in a doom buggy, see ghosts and perhaps take a hitch-hiker home with you.	MK: Take a haunted journey through a stately mansion in a doom buggy, see ghosts and perhaps take a hitch-hiker home with you.
Winner: DLR Again, these rides are incredibly similar.  What gave DLR the lead over MK comes down to the fact that DLR dresses up their ride for Halloween and Christmas with Jack Skellington and friends, which makes this ride very fun/cute.  I do like the “attic” room more in MK, though, with footprints walking along stairs and ceiling above you.  The ride itself also feels bigger in MK.

Test Track/Radiator Springs Racers
EPCOT: Design a virtual concept vehicle and then go for a high-octane spin at this attraction that’s thrilling and creative.	DCA:  Start your engines! Zoom through the desert landscape of Cars Land, inspired by the Disney•Pixar movie Cars.
Winner: DCA/Radiator Springs Racers These two rides are incredibly difficult to compare.  The tracks where the cars go fast (aka the outdoor portion) are very similar, however DCA track has some nifty hills and practically sideways portion of its track.  If it were based solely on track, EPCOT would win.  What edged DCA over EPCOT is the fact that Cars itself, like Lighting McQueen and Tow Mater, are more fun to see than randomly testing a cars features that you “designed” yourself.  The speed you feel on Test Track is quite thrilling, though!

Star Tours
DLR: Take a trip (no one trip is ever (usually) the same) through outer space Star Wars style, with C3P-O as your guide.	HS: Take a trip (no one trip is ever (usually) the same) through outer space Star Wars style, with C3P-O as your guide.
Winner: Tie Both rides are identical, and even the queue leading into the rides is remarkably similar.

Toy Story Midway Mania!
DCA: “Step right up! No ride is ever the same twice. From expert to beginner, everyone's a winner!”	HS: “Ride and shoot moving targets at this midway-style, 4D shootin’ game starring your favorite Toy Story characters.”
Winner: Tie Both rides are exactly the same, with the only difference being that most of the HS queue is indoors and DCA queue is outdoors.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
DCA: “Lunge up and down into the Twilight Zone aboard a haunted "elevator" ride.”	HS: “Hurtle up and down into the Twilight Zone aboard a haunted "elevator" ride.”
Winner: HS The rides are nearly the same when it comes to the dropping part; what makes HS the better experience is the tour you get of the hotel before you rise up for the great view of the park.

Fantasmic!
DLR: “The forces of good and evil battle in Mickey’s dream during this extravagant musical, pyrotechnic spectacular!”	HS: “The power of dreams blazes before you in this breathtaking 30-minute fireworks and water   extravaganza.”
Winner: Tie While each show was slightly different, there really is no clear winner in Fantasmic.  It comes down to personal taste.  The HS version has stadium seating and scenes from Pocahontas.  The DLR version has causal seating around the Rivers of America and Peter Pan dueling Hook on the Jolly Roger.  Many other parts of each show are nearly identical, with the only differences being which scenes they show in the water spray and which villains they feature.

California Screamin’/ Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
DCA: Tear through the air aboard this high-speed thrill ride that recalls the great wooden roller coasters of yesteryear!	HS: Blast off in a super-stretch limousine through the darkened freeways of Los Angeles to the rockin’ tunes of Aerosmith.
Winner: DCA The rides overall are very different experiences, but the smoothness of the tracks and similar turns/twists/upside-down nature of the two rides begged comparing.  That being said, DCA was a better experience as the ride was longer and the ups and downs were more intense as this ride was outdoors.  Both rides are really fun, though, and picking a winner out of these two was tough.

Rides Unique to Parks:

There are rides that are unique to each park; I’ve listed them below along with the park they are in.  This is a short list which highlights some of the more unique and interesting rides that are found in the various parks. 

Expedition Everest (AK)

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (HS)

Matterhorn Bobsleds (DLR)

Kilimanjaro Safaris (AK)

California Screamin’ (DCA)

Alice in Wonderland (DLR)

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (DLR)

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey (DLR)

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (DLR)

The Great Movie Ride (HS)

Maelstrom (EPCOT)

Journey into Imagination with Figment (EPCOT)

Mission: SPACE

Dinoland U.S.A. (has some common fair type rides)

Notable Mentions:

Expedition Everest – Located in Animal Kingdom, this is probably the most thrilling and intense roller coaster in any of the Disney parks found in America.  The backwards section of this ride is particularly intense, with a lot of pressure building up as you zip along in the dark.

Matterhorn Bobsleds – A classic ride, they recently renovated the ride cars so that they are similar to MK Space Mountain: ( X X X) – (X X X).  Each X represents a person sitting in their own seat, NOT in someone else’s lap!  The right track is a little bit smoother and noticeably faster than the left track.  It would be more accurate to compare Space  Mountain MK to this ride, than to Space Mountain DLR in terms of track roughness and seating arrangements.

Kilimanjaro Safaris – An incredibly unique ride which offers you about as authentic an African safari you can get without leaving America.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – I was highly disappointed with this ride because of its length.  This ride is about 60 seconds long, which is far too short for how long you have to wait to go on it.  It’s a beautiful ride and incredibly smooth, with a few fun drops.  Just wish it was longer!

Shows

Not that big on seeing shows, but here are a couple that didn’t get mentioned up above that I really enjoyed:

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth (EPCOT) – This show probably comes the closest in terms of relating to World of Color.  It’s a great fireworks and laser show.

World of Color (DCA)- This is probably my all-time favorite show that Disney has ever done.  The colors, the flames, the fireworks, the projections onto screens of water, are just incredibly well done.  Don’t miss any opportunity to see this show!

Food

I am not a food expert, so I will briefly talk about some of the things I enjoy about Disneyland and Disney World in terms of food.

Both parks have some incredible food choices, but just by the fact that Disney World (this being all 4 parks) has so much more square footage of parks means it has that much more in terms of food to offer.  In particular, EPCOT has some spectacular places to find food.  I really enjoyed the Werther’s store in Germany; their chocolate cookie filled with caramel, rice crispy treats drizzled with Werther’s caramel and chocolate, pretzel rods dipped in caramel and chocolate, all were to die for.  I even bought an overpriced but delicious bottle of Werther’s caramel drizzle to take home!  The variety of food in EPCOT is astounding, and each country features food eaten in that country, from Italian and French gelato to Norwegian pastries, English fish and chips, Mexican empanadas, Chinese orange chicken...I think you get the idea.  Go to EPCOT with an empty stomach!

Both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom have Dole Whips, another favorite of mine.  However, Magic Kingdom also offers orange and vanilla as flavors in addition to the Dole pineapple flavor.  I actually prefer the orange/vanilla swirl flavor.  It’s heavenly.

One thing I noticed, the cream cheese filled pretzels were $5.00 at the Florida parks and were extremely hard to find.  In Disneyland, they were $3.85 and found in the Coca Cola shop, among various other pretzel stands in the park.  These pretzels are one of my favorite treats in the park.

Magic Kingdom vs. Disneyland: Who wins?

So, which park wins?  I am biased with my views, as I have been multiple times to Disneyland and only once to the Magic Kingdom.  That being said, in my opinion the winner is:

DISNEYLAND

Disneyland is the better park (again, in my opinion) for a variety of reasons.  One thing I really like about this park is that it IS small.  You don’t spend half the day (and ¾ of your energy) walking around the park trying to get from one ride to the next.  With attractions closer together, you are able to ride things faster and get to them quickly.  Secondly, Disneyland has a sort of wheel-and-spoke approach to organization.  While the Magic Kingdom has a similar setup, personal experience visiting this park last month made me realize it’s not nearly as convenient as Disneyland’s.  Again this relates to the size of the Magic Kingdom; the different attractions are very far apart in each land, so visiting things in an orderly fashion is difficult.

For example, in the Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain feels like it’s off all by itself in the middle of nowhere.  The new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride sort of blocks off Fantasyland so you have to walk all the way around the ride from the entrance to get to that part of the park.  Then there’s that new circus area which is also kind of off by itself.  There are so many little paths that seem to go off for you to explore, which is great because it means more stuff to see, but also not so great, as you can get lost easily (at least, those unfamiliar with the park).  I do have to say, I really love the Magic Kingdom’s newly expanded Fantasyland: it’s awesome.  I wish Disneyland had as much space as the Magic Kingdom so we could get some of the nice features like this!

Everyone loves to point out how much bigger the castle is in the Magic Kingdom compared to Disneyland, and it’s true.  On Tuesday when I was in Disneyland I was like, wait, what?!  THAT’S the castle!?  It looks very puny compared to the Magic Kingdom’s soaring spires.  That being said, I do like that you can explore Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle interior, and see scenes from the movie in diorama form.  You can’t walk inside Cinderella’s castle at the Magic Kingdom; the only way to really “get inside” is to dine at Cinderella’s Royal Table.

Last thing: the weather.  I’m sure Florida is great in the winter or whenever the humidity is much lower, but it’s not that fun visiting in September or any other month when the humidity is so high.  I had no problem with the thunderstorms or sudden downpours.  Not a big fan of ‘stand-still-and-sweat’ humidity, because you don’t need to move in order for it to look like sweat is dripping down your body.  It seems to just zap your strength and energy, which is not okay when you are planning on spending 12+ hours in the park.  The nice thing about California is that there is never humidity like that.  We get rain (lots of it, sometimes), and thunderstorms too, but no hurricanes or tropical storms, either. 

And hey, Disneyland tickets are still $3 cheaper!  Just one other reason why Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth, and the best theme park.

I hope you enjoyed reading my park comparison.  I know I left out some things, so feel free to let me know in the comments section what you think of my review and any important details you felt I left out.  Please remember that this is my personal opinion!  If you think Disneyland is second rate to the Magic Kingdom, that’s fine by me :-).  Just don’t take my opinion as a personal attack on “your park”.  Thanks!