Are there Disneyland lovers who've tried WDW once/twice and hated it?

[smiths02]

I grew up next to Disneyland, but now live in GA. I love going to WDW. For me, WDW is a vacation destination whereas DLR is a fun day or two while visiting family in CA. I like getting lost in that WDW bubble. I like that there are so many resorts and parks.

I have a friend, OTOH, who still lives in CA. She came to WDW and hated it. She felt everyone was rude and "redneck" and criticized their fashion (some people wore camouflage). [She sounded snobby, but to be fair, DLR is so much a locals park whereas WDW is a sea of humanity from all over the world.] Also, I don't believe she planned. She was at WDW for some sort of convention, so she just went in the parks.

We went to WDW in June/July in 2003, 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2016. Honestly, I think we are done going in the summer. It is just beyond hot and humid.

 

[Catvondita]

I'm one of those annoying "you shouldn't compare them" people. They are so different and both amazing and people have different preferences so its hard to say one is better than the other. For instance I'm the type of person that loves vacation planning so I love FP+ and I liek to plan my vacation before I go on it, including what I'm going to do each day. I hate the old FP system because I don't like having to walk to the kiosk to get a FP then walk somewhere else to kill time and then walk back to go to the ride but I also dislike Max Pass because I think its crazy to have to pay to make FP.

I will try to compare and contrast though. I love both DL and WDW mostly equally but I will give the hair of a point to WDW because its where I grew up essentially. And for me I like Disney to be a whole vacation so I love the immersive aspect of it. I'm from NYC so while I love DL it ruins the immersion slightly when I'm passing by homeless people on my way to the park and its like oh I'm back home lol

WDW has also made me spoiled in that I love nightly shows every night and the cast members seem more excited to be there.

DL however has such a history and slightly less horrid weather. I love being able to take breaks more easily at DL because I can just walk a block to my hotel for a nap. Also while I think WDW has better queues for rides, the rides themselves slightly edge out at DL. Also churros are so much better at DL!

 

[Drew Perri]

I havent had the time with work, but I have done 10 days at Disneyland 3 times with my fiancee, the most recent being feb, and then I did 7 days in WDW (for my very first time) 3 days after getting back from DL. I have been working on both trip reports and my feelings about DL vs WDW.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Started going to DLR on opening Day in 55, have been more times then you can imagine. Went to the World 2 years ago and we did not like all the hurry up and wait. Like Universal much better. Really saw no Walt in WDW, just corp. Disney and a couple of nice hotels and a couple great rides. We wont be wasting or money going there again and enjoying the cross country flight.

Jack

 

[ChrissyLou]

Lots of great information, thank you all for weighing in. I hope to get there some day, but maybe will reconsider the time of year to avoid the heat/humidity) so that factor, as least, that could hinder a trip could be eliminated and hope that we can just experience the resort without "comparing" -- as hard as that will be!

 

[Mike_M]

If the opportunity comes your way, I found Disneyland Paris to have the same kind of feel as Disneyland does. The two parks there are setup for easy park hopping like in CA, plus the rides are not just copies of the US versions but have their own character, storyline and flow which made it easy to look at it as a new experience rather than just another version of the same thing.

Highly recommend. Plus Paris is nice too. Lol

 

[Seattle]

I think I might be alone in this opinion, but... I. Love. Them. Both.
Yes, they're different experiences, and each has pros/cons, but I love them both.

Loved Disneyland Paris, too, but they aren't quite as accustomed to adults w/ no children at a theme park, and we got more than a few sideways looks from the (mostly British) park guests.

 

[bdiddy]

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum - we are WDW vets (live in NY), and will be visiting DL for the first time in a couple of weeks. I find myself not being as excited for our upcoming DL trip as I usually am for our WDW trips, and I think its because WDW has a more vacation/resort feel to us. With DL, we are staying offsite and like the fact that there are so many affordable options in walking distance, but it does take the immersive experience away. On our WDW trips, everything 24/7 (for the length of our trip) is Disney owned and operated - our shopping, dining, entertainment, transportation, where we sleep. We have to fend for ourselves a bit at DL, which has a different feel for us.

That said, I'm trying not to compare and just enjoy the overall experience as a Disney fan. WDW is such landmark that I think any Disney fanatic should go, even if there's things they may not like about it. Its an experience, at the very least.

This was my biggest thing with DLR and is still why I choose WDW over it but with that said we had an amazing time and can’t wait to go back. We especially loved, loved, loved California Adventure! It’s like the best of the other 3 parks at WDW plus more cool stuff all wrapped up in one. The other really weird thing to me is how small the castle is. It’s super cute but just not the same when you are used to that view when you first come onto Main St at WDW. And my kids said they are so used to orientating themselves at MK by looking for the castle but you can’t do that at DL. Oh and Matterhorn has to be one of the worst rides I’ve ever been on. It was like a horrible carnival ride. I know it’s a staple and people are nostalgic for it but I would love to see it replaced. Other than those things and the lack of being fully immersed we loved everything else about it!

 

[Mike_M]

Loved Disneyland Paris, too, but they aren't quite as accustomed to adults w/ no children at a theme park, and we got more than a few sideways looks from the (mostly British) park guests.

I didn’t experience that at all. It was just my GF and I, and we saw many other childless couples on that trip. I don’t recall seeing many British guests though. It was October and the peak of the off season I think (smallest crowds i’d ever experienced in a Disney park, and mostly French from what I could tell) so that may have something to do with it.

 

[agamble]

Oh and Matterhorn has to be one of the worst rides I’ve ever been on. It was like a horrible carnival ride. I know it’s a staple and people are nostalgic for it but I would love to see it replaced. Other than those things and the lack of being fully immersed we loved everything else about it!

The thing with Matterhorn is it is old. The ride had a huge refurb a few years ago, but that actually made it worse not better as far as bumpiness and uncomfortableness goes. It is a cool ride though with the two tracks winding around each other as they go down the mountain. And of course it does have great history.

And our castle may be smaller, but it's also a fun walk through attraction . I think it would be great to dine at Cinderella castle in WDW though, just expensive and a hard reservation.

 

[wench]

We love Epcot!!!

We really really like Animal Kingdom a lot.

We enjoy Hollywood Studios.

Magic Kingdom...meh.... Other than the TTA & new FL, it’s just a sad imitation of DL to us.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

If the opportunity comes your way, I found Disneyland Paris to have the same kind of feel as Disneyland does. The two parks there are setup for easy park hopping like in CA, plus the rides are not just copies of the US versions but have their own character, storyline and flow which made it easy to look at it as a new experience rather than just another version of the same thing.

Highly recommend. Plus Paris is nice too. Lol

I’m going to be at Disneyland Paris two weeks from tomorrow, so I’m glad to hear this!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you can see my sig I'm a WDW person but I'll still give some opinions.

We found ourselves running out of things to do with 3 days at DL/DCA and parts of that is our interest level in some of the attractions. I did point out to my husband though we went when the rain really helped the crowd be lower. Actually I will say that's a con to DLR. Because of the climate it's meant for a lot more outdoor places to sit and the queues are outside. Neither are fun when your trip falls on the time period when SoCal is getting much more rain than normal in recent times lol.

There are some rides at DL we preferred over WDW but as a whole WDW is our preference. There's more to do in our opinions. I'm sure as a destination place we also love Universal Orlando so that can play into things. Yes there's Universal Hollywood but again doesn't have quite as much to do as Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

What I will say is for the planning aspect, for the ease of getting used to how MP functions and looks going to WDW first can really help with that. Funny I actually found myself stressed about going back to Legacy FP system even though I had been to WDW when it also had Legacy FP. In terms of MP I did like Stacking. In terms of FP+ being able to modify your time is really nice.

I feel like for some people who have gotten used to how touring works at DL it can be so daunting, confusing and stressful to replicate that over at WDW because they function a bit differently in terms of FPs and ADRs, size, park hopping, etc. Truly though how much planning you want to do is up to you. What's the most important part IMO is knowing some basics like FPs and ADRs if you want them, etc.

 

[bdiddy]

The thing with Matterhorn is it is old. The ride had a huge refurb a few years ago, but that actually made it worse not better as far as bumpiness and uncomfortableness goes. It is a cool ride though with the two tracks winding around each other as they go down the mountain. And of course it does have great history.

And our castle may be smaller, but it's also a fun walk through attraction . I think it would be great to dine at Cinderella castle in WDW though, just expensive and a hard reservation.

I wonder if it was rehabed after we were there which was July 2017.

 

[Jperiod]

I wonder if it was rehabed after we were there which was July 2017.

I'm pretty sure it's the same now as it was in July 2017. I'm not a fan of Matterhorn either, both because of the yetis and how rickety it is. But for whatever reason, it's both of my kids' favorite.

 

[VandVsmama]

We went to WDW last summer in June for a week. Here were the pros & cons from my point of view.

Positives:

• got to stay 1 night at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a savanna view room. That was amazing. I'd be thrilled to stay there in that room a whole week.
• stayed the rest of the time at All Star Music. Saw Donald AND Goofy at that resort on the same day. Despite it being a value resort, we enjoyed our stay there. Plenty of fun activities to do, which was great on our one "we're not going to the parks today" day. Even made Mickey tie-dye tshirts at the pool (you had to pay for them of course).
• Really enjoyed Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness. SO much fun. Worth the $$$ we paid for it. I wouldn't mind staying some day at Wilderness Lodge, I think.
• Country Bear Jamboree
• Hall of Presidents
• Flight of Passage ride in Animal Kingdom
• fireworks dessert party at Magic Kingdom w/garden viewing. That was worth the $$$.
• got to ride 7 Dwarfs Mine Train a couple of times. That was a lot of fun
• Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom (although DL's Space Mtn is a better ride)
• Loved the food in the Italian restaurant in Epcot
• Riding Splash Mtn with no wait 5 min before MK closed one night and walking through an empty Adventureland.

Negatives:

• the FP system. DL's FP system is superior. I really REALLY do not like having to decide 2 months ahead of time what time I'm going to go on certain rides.
• It seemed like EVERYTHING at MK had a FP for it.
• Every character meet & greet had a FP. It made it almost impossible to do meet & greets in that case unless you had a FP or were willing to wait an hour to take a picture with a character. Yes, we've been spoiled by our spontaneous character interaction experiences at DL, so this was a big negative for us.
• Quick Service food, in general, really kind of sucked there.
• Hard to get Table Service reservations. It seemed like eating was a huge deal for a lot of park guests at WDW. We enjoy eating as much as the next person, but for our family, it's not a massive event. It's not the main attraction.
• Getting places takes forever. Especially to Magic Kingdom. The distance might not be that far, but the free transportation just seemed to take a long time. Good thing we didn't park hop.
• The weather - California wins on this, hands down. We live in AZ and knew it would be humid. So we knew what we were getting into. But it still wiped us out.
• The heat in Animal Kingdom. We didn't make it past noon on our one AK day because of the heat. We were all starting to feel nauseous and heat sick because of the weather in that park that day. Would love to have spent more time exploring all of the animal trails in AK, but we all felt like we were going to throw up.
• Epcot - Future World felt like a sad & ugly 1980s Silicon Valley business park. And it seemed like it took forever to walk from one attraction to another in this park. The International section felt like it was more about food and shopping. We pretty much hated Epcot. I wouldn't really want to go back to that park, to be honest.
• Our check in experience at All Star Music was bad. It was our first time ever checking into a WDW resort. I even told the CM that. He didn't even say "Welcome." Maybe he was having a bad day, but his attitude just really left a lot to be desired. He didn't offer First Visit buttons even after I specifically asked if they had any.
• There were a couple of great CMs here and there, but generally speaking, the CMs' attitudes were in the realm of "I'm here to collect a paycheck." The kids and I wore our First Visit buttons the entire time and not once did any CMs (other than at Animal Kingdom Lodge) notice the buttons and say anything to us, ask us if we were enjoying our visit, etc. The CMs at DL, in general, just seem WAY more happy to be there. However, the CMs at WDW seemed very grumpy and unhappy.
• Don't understand what the big deal is about Disney Springs.

Despite all of that, I WOULD like to go to WDW probably once more. I'd love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge for an entire week with that savanna view. And if we go again in a hot time of year (which is almost the entire year in central Florida), I think that my general plan would be to do way fewer park days. Something like this:
Arrival day
park day
rest day
park day
rest day
park day
etc.

 

[GatorChris]

I prefer WDW over DL....as far as the parks go. DL has the better FP system for sure. But WDW is more than just a few days in the parks. It's an all-encompassing experience. From the moment you get off your plane until you get back on, you're surrounded in Disney Magic. Truly an escape.

Are the rides better at DL? Somewhat. Is it more relaxed at DL? Yes. But the sheer size and grandeur of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot will blow you away.

 

[Catvondita]

If you can see my sig I'm a WDW person but I'll still give some opinions.

We found ourselves running out of things to do with 3 days at DL/DCA and parts of that is our interest level in some of the attractions. I did point out to my husband though we went when the rain really helped the crowd be lower. Actually I will say that's a con to DLR. Because of the climate it's meant for a lot more outdoor places to sit and the queues are outside. Neither are fun when your trip falls on the time period when SoCal is getting much more rain than normal in recent times lol.

There are some rides at DL we preferred over WDW but as a whole WDW is our preference. There's more to do in our opinions. I'm sure as a destination place we also love Universal Orlando so that can play into things. Yes there's Universal Hollywood but again doesn't have quite as much to do as Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

What I will say is for the planning aspect, for the ease of getting used to how MP functions and looks going to WDW first can really help with that. Funny I actually found myself stressed about going back to Legacy FP system even though I had been to WDW when it also had Legacy FP. In terms of MP I did like Stacking. In terms of FP+ being able to modify your time is really nice.

I feel like for some people who have gotten used to how touring works at DL it can be so daunting, confusing and stressful to replicate that over at WDW because they function a bit differently in terms of FPs and ADRs, size, park hopping, etc. Truly though how much planning you want to do is up to you. What's the most important part IMO is knowing some basics like FPs and ADRs if you want them, etc.

I agree about the outdoor queues! I know everyone loves California weather but for me the whole "not a cloud in the sky" thing was actually a negative because I ended up getting more tan than I wanted and it felt so hot. I must be a crazy person for not loving cali weather

 

[LizzyS]

I also live on the West Coast (grew up in the South, so not my whole life) and gave WDW a try last year and we had a fabulous time, but you must go into it knowing that it's just *not* Disneyland. I love that a lot of folks have a great love for WDW, but as a person who loves Walt Disney and considers DLR "home", there is just no direct comparison, imo. If you go into WDW as a DLR lover and are expecting a really similar experience (if you are, why go, I guess), you will be disappointed.

I did enjoy most of the planning aspect of WDW, but FP+ has nothing at all on MP! I did love the magic bands and the Disney moderate resorts being much more affordable than the DLR Disney hotels, however. I just generally love Florida, so that helped in my outlook, also. We'll be going back to WDW, but it's not a sure thing like our annual DLR trips. It'll probably be a every 3-5 years thing going forward.

 

[LizzyS]

This was my biggest thing with DLR and is still why I choose WDW over it but with that said we had an amazing time and can’t wait to go back. We especially loved, loved, loved California Adventure! It’s like the best of the other 3 parks at WDW plus more cool stuff all wrapped up in one. The other really weird thing to me is how small the castle is. It’s super cute but just not the same when you are used to that view when you first come onto Main St at WDW. And my kids said they are so used to orientating themselves at MK by looking for the castle but you can’t do that at DL. Oh and Matterhorn has to be one of the worst rides I’ve ever been on. It was like a horrible carnival ride. I know it’s a staple and people are nostalgic for it but I would love to see it replaced. Other than those things and the lack of being fully immersed we loved everything else about it!

The Matterhorn is the first tubular steel coaster that was ever built and inspired by one of Walt's trips to Switzerland. It's my favorite Disney ride, period. I'm sorry for you that you don't appreciate it.