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

[ChrissyLou]

We've never been because each time I've started "planning" a WDW trip I get overwhelmed with all the advance planning required, the sheer size of the whole resort, some of the differences that I've read about or seen pictured that I think might really bother me (like Fantasyland pictures look so cheesy to me, like a carnival somewhere!), and with my kids ages we'd only be able to go in summer because I would want two weeks in Florida since we are on the west coast and it would likely be a once (maybe twice) trip. Disneyland is easy for us and we love it--we have it down pat. I am a self-professed Disney snob, we've been to Legoland and Seaworld once and the whole time I wished I was back at Disneyland, so we've never ventured to Universal or Knotts because of that. It's hard for me to embrace the differences, I find myself comparing everything to Disneyland and think maybe I'd do the same at WDW.

My daughter just says, "nope, I don't want to go, I think we'd hate it.") And part of me thinks she might be right. I mean we could go to Europe for nearly the same cost. Wondering who here felt the same way and either finally bit the bullet and went and hated it and hasn't gone back or who was pleasantly surprised and loved it.

 

[alvernon90]

I definitely would not say that I "hated" WDW, but I think there is a better experience at Disneyland. It's not just the planning vs. spontaneous thing, although that's big. To me the thing I liked least is that WDW has "more" than Disneyland but it is spread out over so many parks and resorts. At DLR with parkhoppers you are in an easy walk from any attraction in the place. At WDW any one theme park (except maybe Magic Kingdom) feels very light on attractions or things to do. The whole fastpass tiering thing is a direct result of there being too few good attractions at any one park.

I think going to Universal in Orlando is better and more fun than WDW if you really want to go to Florida, but for a Disney park experience I would go DLR all the way.

 

[briggscreek]

I've been to WDW three times and have really enjoyed it. We went once in November and twice in June, it wasn't bad at all but I don't mind the heat and humidity. We don't care much for Magic Kingdom and probably won't visit when we go back, it feels sort of like Disneyland but wrong somehow. We absolutely love Animal Kingdom though, and Animal Kingdom Lodge is our favorite hotel ever. Epcot is fun for a day, and Hollywood Studios has a couple of things that we really enjoy like the Indy stunt show, Tower of Terror and 50's Prime Time Cafe. I don't love the planning involved, but it's really not that bad. I can't stand the bus system there though, we always get a car and drive to the parks. Other than AK, we prefer the Universal parks in Orlando and can spend several days there. We have a great time but it doesn't give me my Disneyland fix, I still find myself planning a trip as soon as we get home!

 

[chickapin parterre]

I went in 1983, after being a 1960s Walt Disney child, i.e. Sunday nights, True Life adventures in the school cafeteria, comic books and drive-in theaters....so I am more than a Disney snob, actually call us 60s visitors Walt Disney DNA children....because we had alphabet books to board attractions and had to make difficult ticket choices.

I had traveled down from NYC with a barracks buddy for his first ever Disney trip, I was building up all the anticipation, the parking lot, the Matterhorn, the trams.....boy was I disappointed...this was not my Walt Disney's theme park. I was so traumatized, that I remember nothing of the WDW visit other than taking that long boat ride from the parking lot. ( there were only two resorts then) ... other than the April rain and my palms turning orange from the Coppertone..as for Epcot, I remember everything about that visit, what we boarded, watched, ate. And I have a scrapbook ( i was a prolific journal keeper) of that Florida visit, each time I reach WDWMK, nothing sparks a memory. Cape Canerval, Tampa bay water theme park, golfing, buying grapefruit, brand new rental Cadillac why even the airport....but Magic Kingdom...blank.

 

[RemainSeatedPlease]

I typically go to DLR and have been to WDW once. It was good, but not amazing. I agree with another poster that Magic Kingdom just felt weird and a little "off." I found myself comparing it to DLR constantly, and DLR almost always won. One of the biggest differences for me is the lack of New Orleans Square, which is my favorite area in DLR. I ended up liking Epcot and Animal Kingdom a lot more.

I'm planning to go again at least once in my lifetime, but it's not a replacement for a DLR trip. It's a different kind of trip. I think one issue with the WDW trip that I went on was that we tried to do it DLR style - staying off-site, maximizing ride time, trying to park hop some days. This style doesn't work as well at WDW. Transportation is so annoying at WDW, way worse than just being able to walk across the street. When I go again, I'll likely stay on-site and will spend more time at the resort than I would ever dream of doing at DLR. I wouldn't even bother park hopping. I'll think of it more as a Disney resort vacation, rather than a theme park vacation.

I think those who only ever go to DLR won't be missing out if they never make it to WDW. But those who only do WDW would be missing out if they never made it to DLR.

 

[Aladora]

We've never been because each time I've started "planning" a WDW trip I get overwhelmed with all the advance planning required, the sheer size of the whole resort, some of the differences that I've read about or seen pictured that I think might really bother me (like Fantasyland pictures look so cheesy to me, like a carnival somewhere!), and with my kids ages we'd only be able to go in summer because I would want two weeks in Florida since we are on the west coast and it would likely be a once (maybe twice) trip. Disneyland is easy for us and we love it--we have it down pat. I am a self-professed Disney snob, we've been to Legoland and Seaworld once and the whole time I wished I was back at Disneyland, so we've never ventured to Universal or Knotts because of that. It's hard for me to embrace the differences, I find myself comparing everything to Disneyland and think maybe I'd do the same at WDW.

My daughter just says, "nope, I don't want to go, I think we'd hate it.") And part of me thinks she might be right. I mean we could go to Europe for nearly the same cost. Wondering who here felt the same way and either finally bit the bullet and went and hated it and hasn't gone back or who was pleasantly surprised and loved it.

This reply is going to jump around a lot, I'm writing it in small bits while at work!

I was really overwhelmed when I started planning our first WDW trip a few years ago. At the time we had done 9 DL trips so I knew how easy DL was. I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of planning involved and there were times that I wanted to throw the towel in and give up. But once I looked, I mean really looked, at what I needed to plan I realized that WDW planning basically fell into a few key areas of planning that were spread out over 12+ months. Once I broke the planning down into smaller bits, it seemed less overwhelming.

I know this might not be exactly the information you were looking for but here were the key things I needed to plan and when. (Note: I know that you don't ever "NEED" to plan all of these things, but this list is what I chose to plan!)

The things I planned were:
Where are we staying? - we picked this 12+ months in advance and because we rented DVC points, we booked this 11 months in advance.

What parks are we going on what days? - we decided on non-park hoppers so we did 1 park/day. I looked at a few online calendars and picked what I thought was our optimal plan.

Where do we want to eat? - once I picked the parks, I could then pick ADRs

What are our top priority FP+ rides? - I printed the list of FP+ rides in each park and handed one copy to my husband and another to our son, once we had each picked our top priority rides, I planned our FP+.

After all the planning, we ended up switching plans on the fly while we were in WDW so it just goes to show, you can plan and plan and plan and plan...and then toss those plans out the window. Our original plan had up spending 1 day each at AK and Epcot and 2 days each at MK and HS. After our first few days we flipped that plan around completely and did 2 days each at AK and Epcot and only 1 each at the other two.

After that Dec 2015 trip we didn't go back to WDW until Aug 2018. That planning was so much easier and once again we ended up changing some plans on the fly and moved ADRs around a bunch of times. I also changed our FP+ just about every single day. We even added on a couple of days at the start of the trip 4 months before. I learned a number of things after our first trip that made planning the second so much easier, the most important thing was that I needed to take a breath and relax.

As for whether or not we liked WDW?

Our favourite total resort is DLR, there is no contest there however, all 3 of us agree that our single favourite park is AK with Epcot a very close second! The TS restaurants at WDW are for the most part, in our opinion, better but the CS is superior at DLR. We tend to skip over a lot of MK because it is similar to DL and I am fairly convinced that if we gave it a really good try instead of skipping bunches of it, that we would like it more than we do now. HS is an interesting one for us. During our 2015 trip we all thought it was a 1/2 day park at best. Now that TSL is there and SW:GE is opening soon, this opinion is likely to change.

The takeaway for me on all of this is that WDW is not DLR and it will never be but there are parts of it that I love. AK took me by surprise, I knew I would enjoy it but did not realize just how much I would love it.

Sorry for the rambling answer, hope that it answered something for you!

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Yes. No. Maybe? Long ago, we were planning on a WDW trip until Radiator Springs was announced, and a friend also cautioned us that the more-compact DLR would be better for our then young family of three sons. I really wanted my eldest son, a "Cars" maniac, to get to go to Cars Land while still young enough to be wowed and immersed, to find it magical. So we went in 2012, when he was almost 8yo and his brothers were 5 and 2.5. We loved it! We did a long trip, buying APs, bridging the gap from Halloween to start of Christmas season, enjoying both holidays in the park over two weeks. We split our stay, staying mainly at the Residence Inn (now Clementine Inn), but ending with a park-view room at Paradise Pier.
(Because you mentioned other parks, I will say that we took a break in the middle to go to Carlsbad for Legoland, and liked it, but really loved the Legoland Hotel, which is still my favorite hotel ever. All family-centered, from the all-suites rooms to all the fun surprises to the kid-friendly but still yummy and reasonably nutritious breakfast buffet.)
We went back for a week in 2013 before our APs expired. We split our stay (with a side trip to SF) between Residence Inn, the Tropicana (gotta love being across the street!), and DLH. Fun!
Then in December 2016, with a 2.5yo DD who had not existed for the DLR trips, we switched it up and went to WDW with a Free Dining promotion. As a family of six, our choices were Art of Animation of Ft. Wilderness, and so we stayed in a cabin, as FW is near Magic Kingdom, our main park of choice. We had a great time, but were firmly decided that we preferred DLR, if only for the walkability of it all! Add in the lack of spontaneity and a feeling of always watching the clock for FP and dining reservations to all that transportation time (more watching the clock to catch buses from our resort!), and we decided DLR was the real vacation spot.
(We also went to Universal Orlando for Wizarding World, loved the express passes, but were not overly wowed by much except Harry Potter, although the Seuss area was fun. We are major SHOW people, loving the non-ride entertainment, and Disney wins hands down in that department.)
So, earlier this year I started planning for a grand return, and have had several rude awakenings. Five years is a long time in park time, I guess, and we have lost a lot of things that made our previous DLR trips special.
-NO Jedi Training (WHAT?! The whole reason for our timing was to get DS2 one last Jedi experience before he ages out!),
-NO Ariel's Grotto (by far, our favorite character meal, because all the princesses are "marquee" names unlike some of the smaller "stars" at Goofy's or Plaza Inn) and instead we're supposed to shell out $160 (after tax and tip) per person to eat at Napa Rose, and
-NO rooms for us under $200/night as prices everywhere have jumped, even though the hotels' quality has not. Oh, and now, to get any real use out of the FP system, we need to pay $15 per person per day ($90 for six), adding $450 to five park days--an amount that could get us another day of vacation, including (good) food! Oh, and the APs are now priced so that you'd need to spend 15 days in the park to make them worthwhile, instead of 10, but meanwhile, the regular tickets are still geared at the "locals' park" label with a cap of five days. So we either limit ourselves to five days, not knowing at all what SWGE is going to do to life in the parks, or buy two full five-day tickets.
Is California weather really that much better to outweigh what feels like downgrades in our experience?

WDW, and its
-multiple options (and price points) for princess meals to take a 5yo DD,
-on-site hotels that give WAY more bang for the buck,
-a M&G with a MERMAID Ariel, not a human one (not on most people's radars, I know! LOL),
-EMM at MK that we LOVED in 2016 and now includes more rides!,
-FP system that is included as part of our stay, and
-a dining plan that is now two CS meals and two snacks a day, so we don't feel like we "have" to do a dining reservation every day,
are much more attractive to us than we originally thought, esp with reports that DLR now has no low season like the early November one we enjoyed in 2012, so that FPs are more of a must. Being spontaneous is nice, but so is *knowing* that you will get to ride the rides you most want long before you arrive at the park that day. SWGE is so vital, essential, and pivotal to our next Disney trip, no matter which park we choose, that I really need a system in place where I know we will get to visit SWGE. Nobody seems to know what is going to happen, but the WDW culture seems more likely to provide something closer to a guarantee--BEFORE we leave home to trek thousands of miles to the park. Once again, DLR is acting like they only care about locals, not people who come from thousands of miles away and can't change their plans or come back again if SWGE is at capacity.
Depending on how SWGE things shake out, we could still end up at DLR (esp if they reinstated Jedi Training...which looks very unlikely), and I know I will shake my fist some day at the rain (and a missed bus!) if we go to WDW. But it is nowhere near as clear cut as it was a couple of years ago. YMMV

 

[ashley0139]

I love both, but I started going to WDW and then moved to the west coast and now DL is my home park. Will always love both. I love the unbeatable immersive experience of WDW, resort wide. If there's one thing I think DL lacks it's that.

 

[longboard55]

We hated our first trip to WDW, did everything wrong. We did not stay long enough, we spent too much time at the Magic Kingdom, and signed up for too many extra activities. We tried again 3 years later, no car, stay longer, went a lot slower, spent more time at the other parks, water parks and pleasure island, and we had a great time and were hooked for life.

Certain areas are so similar it is hard not to compare, but they are very different for a vacation. You can not do WDW in 3 days but at DLR 3 days is perfect

 

[BillFraser29]

The most important thing to remember (as HydroGuy always points out) is that WDW is a resort. DL is more for commando touring, where WDW is more somewhere to take your time and relax. You really cannot compare the two outside of the similar attractions. Enjoy it for what it is and do not compare to DL.

 

[bdiddy]

I’m a WDW person with one trip to DL under our belt and I really loved our visit to DL and can’t wait to go back. There were things I liked a lot better at DL and a few things I didn’t. But overall it was right up there with WDW for us.

What gives WDW the slight edge is how immersive it is. I don’t like how DL is right in the middle of the city. You walk out the gate and you are back in the real world. And you can see outside the park on some of the higher up places in the park. WDW is 100% truly immersive for me. We are in that Disney bubble for the entire week and we never step a foot outside of the Disney property and I love that! I want to be completely lost in Disney on our trip, even when we leave the park at night. You can travel to all 4 parks, the water parks, Disney Springs and countless resorts and never leave the Disney bubble. And you just can’t get that at DL on the same level. You are always just a few steps from the “real world.”

So for me....that’s the main reason why WDW will always have the slight edge for me. But we really really loved DL and will definitely be back, hopefully many more times.

 

[cinnaminny]

We spent 10 days in WDW parks last August. It ended up being the most amazing time, our first day was rough though. Magic Kingdom felt off to me, but after our first day we spent time in so many other parks. I think it was our fourth day we went back to Magic Kingdom and after an attitude adjustment on myself, I actually loved it. I didn't give it a true chance our first day, many factors involved. I would say, make sure you give yourself enough time. Don't compare them, they will never really compare with each other and both have amazing things that the other will never have.

 

[Malcon10t]

Did I hate it? No. Did I love it? No. While with Disneyland, I am always planning my next trip, when we returned from our WDW trip, my feeling was "Maybe in another 5 years".... We split stayed at AKL Grand Villa and Bay Lakes 2 bedroom unit over 10 days. I'm glad we did it, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. I don't compare the 2, because it really is like apples and oranges.

 

[Indiana Scott]

We certainly don't "hate" WDW but it did take us 3 trips to figure out we really prefer DLR.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Oh, and now, to get any real use out of the FP system, we need to pay $15 per person per day ($90 for six), adding $450 to five park days--an amount that could get us another day of vacation, including (good) food!

This particular point isn’t really correct. The free FP service exists as it did before - Maxpass is simply an available upgrade. It’s pretty great, but it’s certainly not necessary “to get any real use out of the FP system.” You could easily opt to only use it for a day or two of your trip, or forgo it entirely.

I realize that’s just one of many points you brought up, but worth mentioning...

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

I don’t hate WDW. I live on the west coast so DL is closer but went to WDW a few years ago. The one thing I didn’t like is having to make dining reservations and fastpasses so far in advance. I’m not much of a planner so I didn’t like that part at all. Loved the parks though and riding the different rides not in DL. Stayed at the Polynesian and loved it. Both parks have advantages and disadvantages IMO.

 

[sparkle78]

WDW girl here. Must do at least 6 park days, prefer 9 days for trip to see our favorite shows. Restaurants. Pick one in the park you are visiting. Hopping over to Epcot or Disney springs to eat takes forever. Have been to DLR , twice, last in 2014. Loved it too! Much more relaxing pace of touring did 4 park days and really explored Carsland. But the price to fly and stay onsite at land for 6 days, I can do the world for 10 days. We will travel to California again in a few years.

 

[Bluewild79]

I love Disneyland and am on my 3rd trip in 3 years. I've been to WDW 3 times, twice in high school 20+ years ago and once last month. I had avoided going to Disney World with my 4 kiddos and hubby because
a) it's way far from where we live
b) the planning seems overwhelming, and
c) we love Disneyland.

I had the chance to go to WDW last month with a friend who was going there for a conference. It was the most spontaneous trip ever. I had a whopping 13 days to plan my Fastpass+ reservations and figure out a rough schedule of my days. I threw myself into the research (as an unemployed librarian/SAHM that's totally my jam) and ended up having an amazing time. I was solo a lot so I didn't focus on dining at all. The hotel was paid and picked out by my friend's work. I took the bus everywhere and it was annoying to have to wait, and then drive 15 minutes to get to my hotel for my afternoon pool time. I definitely enjoy the 5-minute walk out of Disneyland gates over to Harbor instead! I did like being in the Disney bubble the whole time except for the night we skipped dinner at AK and by the time we got back to the hotel all the hotel restaurants were closed. It was 11pm and we were starved and no food to be found. Boo! But most importantly, I managed to snag a FP+ for every major ride except 1 during a spring break week that was pretty busy. I couldn't get a FP+ for Mine Train so we just went on during the nighttime extra magic hours. I got 5-7 FP each day and rarely waited in long lines. I do have to say there aren't enough rides in all of the parks. I totally get why everyone says to take an afternoon break there. The lines were super long each afternoon and I found myself with zero desire to wait in the super long lines for rides that I had already done or had FP+ for later so I went back to the hotel and hung out by the pool.....which is amazing as a mom of 4 I no longer get to lounge when we're at the pool. It's always making sure the kids don't kill themselves or someone else. Not very relaxing. I could have spent another day at Magic Kingdom because I missed a ton of rides even though I was there from 830 am - 1 am (with a 3 hr afternoon break). Animal Kingdom was amazing and FOP was the highlight of my trip! Hollywood Studios was fun and I did most of the rides twice. Epcot was only okay but I didn't have time to explore the countries very much. I like to do the rides and not so many shows but if I had more time I'd definitely see more shows. I feel like the advance planning requires more work than Disneyland but the actual park days were more relaxed because there's less to do in some of the parks than Disneyland. The short planning time left me less time to stress and overthink things. I took what I could get and made it work!

I completely enjoyed my trip and I definitely want to bring the rest of my family. But I didn't LOVE it like we love Disneyland. It's different and I had to keep reminding myself of that. If I were you I would definitely go! We are going to take our kiddos in 2021 when our youngest is 5 (and a bunch of new rides will be open). I also want to make a trip to Universal Orlando for the Harry Potter world. You could always find a travel agent and have them help you book your trip if the planning isn't your thing.

And it turns out I really like the planning involved. My college friend is taking her kiddos this summer and asked for help planning her days. This is almost as fun as going on the trip (okay not really!) I'm finding that the more we visit the more Disney obsessed I'm becoming. It's like a virus, ha. The only cure is more Disney trips!

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

This particular point isn’t really correct. The free FP service exists as it did before - Maxpass is simply an available upgrade. It’s pretty great, but it’s certainly not necessary “to get any real use out of the FP system.” You could easily opt to only use it for a day or two of your trip, or forgo it entirely.

I realize that’s just one of many points you brought up, but worth mentioning...

Sure, I know that's technically correct, but so many folks post about using it, that it feels like we would have to spend the first hour at the park running to kiosks or accept waiting in lines and/or accept that we can't get paper FPs for some rides because people on their phones will get them all first. Idk, maybe DISboarders are the minority, and most visitors don't use MaxPass.
But it's another point where it's a product that feels priced on the idea that visitors are locals coming for one or two days, not for entire families with kids (read: people who are not paying for their own MaxPass) who are coming for several days. Even the fact that it's on your phone means that people like me from other countries have to plan for roaming or other extra costs to be on our phones using data (different than just a text) a lot in the park.
So it feels like a trip to DLR will be harder, more expensive, and lack some experiences I enjoy, where WDW feels like something where I can improve on our previous trip, having learned what works and what doesn't for us. A first trip to WDW is probably the hardest, the most intimidating, because of the planning aspects, but you learn and it gets easier.
But I love SoCal, went to school there...Sigh.

 

[IAmDis]

You'll get different perspectives from different types of Disney fans, as some travel to both DL and World from other states, while others who are local to either.

Speaking as a local to DL, I LOVE everything about WDW - including the planning, the visits, the size, DVC rooms, vacations, food options... something I'm jealous of when comparing to the DLR - almost to the point where I would lightly consider moving to Orlando to be a part of it. And I'm hoping to make 1-2 WDW visits every year, BUT, DL is my 2nd home and always will be so I could never choose WDW over DL.

DL just has that historical charm that WDW may never have.

I've noticed local WDW'ers like DLR a lot and vice versa for us DL'ers loving WDW. It's most likely due to us going (living at) to the parks so many times and it being a part of our lives that we appreciate the opposite experience since we're so used to our home park.