Disneyworld vs. Land!?!

[Janamarlene]

Looking at booking a trip with our kiddos ..they will be 8 and 5 when we go..both do not go on big rides yet really. Would love the option to hit up a beach because they have never been to the ocean either. Was thinking of actually staying near or on beach and going to Disney for a day or 2 ..not sure yet. Thinking of going in February. Would either place be warm enough to swim in ocean at that time? We really want them to feel the magic of Disney before they get much older so that part is important too. We have just started taking about this and are in the very beginning stages and feel a bit lost ! Any tips are helpful!! We would like to say we have some sort of a budget ..so we also don’t want to go the Most expensive route but also not the cheapest if that makes sense. We have no idea how much it will cost so any info there is helpful too. Thanks

 

[kaytieeldr]

First, I'd suggest doing some Googling for things like average temperatures for the months you're considering, maps showing the distance between the parks and the relevant coast, hotels (DL has just a few, but is walkable from many, many, many chains and individual properties.

 

[tbholc81]

We went to San Diego and Disneyland in February of 2016. We spent 3 days and 2 nights in DL. We spent one afternoon at the beach in Carlsbad CA bit it really was not warm enough to swim. During our vacation temps were mostly in the 60s and low 70s and it rained a couple days. It was an unusually rainy winter there that year.

 

[MaC410]

While ocean beaches will be further from Disney World than they would be from Disneyland, you will typically have warmer weather in that area of Florida than you would have in southern California.

 

[Disneypro1]

Well, Youll need to go from May - Sept. To enjoy the ocean...kinda cool other times. The Pacific is a cold ocean..but you get used to it. El Porto at Manhattan beach is one of Southern California BEST beach. (its right below El Segundo) which is right by LAX. Especially for swimming and large waves. Disneyland Resort...is just simply better than WDW. IMHO....Its Disney at its best, so you will love it!! There is ALOT of great things to see and do in L.A. (i lived there 5 years in the Air Force.) I miss SoCal.
Staying off property is common there. Literally hundreds of great places. On site..is basically only Deluxe. IMHO, Disneyland hotel is best but its $$$.
Just do some pricing online but i highly recommend. DLR. We always stay at a hotel on Harbor Blvd. 3 minutes and you are parking at DLR.
We also love WDW..but once you goto DL...you hare hooked. When we only do disney...we goto WDW when we also want to do the beach and touring scene....we goto California and DLR for at least 4 days.
You WILL need 3 full days minimum to see both parks. 2 for DL and 1 C.A...then maybe one more..for anything you missed.
If Disney lovers have never been too DL...then they are missing not only the original..but the essence of Disney. Its just Disneys best park. Period,

 

[MaC410]

Well, Youll need to go from June - Sept. To enjoy the ocean...kinda cool other times. The Pacific is a cold ocean..but you get used to it. El Porto at Manhattan beach is one of Southern California BEST beach. (its right below El Segundo) which is right by LAX. Especially for swimming and large waves. Disneyland Resort...is just simply better than WDW. Its Disney at its best, so you will love it!!
Staying off property is common there. Literally hundreds of great places. On site..is basically only Deluxe. IMHO, Disneyland hotel is best but its $$$.
Just do some pricing online but i highly recommend. DLR. We also love WDW..but once you goto DL...you hare hooked.

I just visited Disneyland for the first time a few weeks ago and while I loved so much about it I still think Disney World is my favorite. There's so much to love about Disneyland...the history, the ease of saving money by staying off property and still being in walking distance to the parks, the fact that both parks are right across from each other is a park hoppers dream, a lot of the rides are better than their counterparts in Disney World (in my opinion) and at times I think Disneyland's fastpass/maxpass system can be better than Disney World's fastpass if you know how to use it right. There's just still some things about Disney World that has us absolutely hooked. Things just feel so much larger than life there, all 4 parks are incredible, Epcot's World Showcase is such a unique place to be and just in general we feel more cut off from the real world when we are at Disney World. Can't wait to go back to Disneyland though! It's just I think Disney World will always be our "home".

 

[Disneypro1]

I just visited Disneyland for the first time a few weeks ago and while I loved so much about it I still think Disney World is my favorite. There's so much to love about Disneyland...the history, the ease of saving money by staying off property and still being in walking distance to the parks, the fact that both parks are right across from each other is a park hoppers dream, a lot of the rides are better than their counterparts in Disney World (in my opinion) and at times I think Disneyland's fastpass/maxpass system can be better than Disney World's fastpass if you know how to use it right. There's just still some things about Disney World that has us absolutely hooked. Things just feel so much larger than life there, all 4 parks are incredible, Epcot's World Showcase is such a unique place to be and just in general we feel more cut off from the real world when we are at Disney World. Can't wait to go back to Disneyland though! It's just I think Disney World will always be our "home".

Yes, if you know how to master DL F.P. youll never wait in line much...especially with single rider option. DL will never have WDW FP systems they are different in that DL is such a locals park. Folks just dont plan that far out.. I do love DL fast pass. You can easily get 10-15 per day with no problems at all. SWGE i have heard is amazing...we will be going back in 2021..WDW in 2020. Be fun to compare them.
And you are right...So many attractions at D.L trump WDW.....But, WDW does have some that are better....HM comes to my mind first..and Splash..but POTC and Space is literally twice the quality at DL. vs WDW Glad you just got to go!

 

[saskdw]

DL is a great place to spend a few days, while DW is a more complete vacation destination.

After 3-4 days at DL you can feel like you've done everything you wanted to do twice. At DW we have no problem staying two full weeks and never leaving DW property.

For a quick taste of the magic I would go to DL. Save DW for longer stay when your kids are a little older.

 

[Janamarlene]

Yes

DL is a great place to spend a few days, while DW is a more complete vacation destination.

After 3-4 days at DL you can feel like you've done everything you wanted to do twice. At DW we have no problem staying two full weeks and never leaving DW property.

For a quick taste of the magic I would go to DL. Save DW for longer stay when your kids are a little older.

 

[stephk1981]

If you can only devote two days, I might go with Disneyland. I LOVE Disney world, and to be honest, I don't care for Disneyland at all. I would always vote Disney world over Disneyland...but 2 days just not enough time for Disney world. As far as the beach....the Pacific ocean is way to cold for me to venture into even in summer months. We do Florida beaches almost anytime of the year though. If it were me, I would do 5-6 days Disney world then hop up to Cocoa Beach or Daytona...or over to Clearwater for 2-3 more days.
As far as costs, it will depend on if you stay on site. You can stay at a Disney springs hotel and at least still get the 60 days Fast pass plus benefit, with lower nightly costs. However some charge for parking, and they don't offer magical express from the airport as on site resorts do. Are you flying or driving? Wait until a deal is released, go at a slow time( check crowd calendars), both will save you money. Hope you all have a magical first trip!!!!

 

[Janamarlene]

Yes we are just looking to save money and do DW for 2 days because the passes for the parks just for days with 4 people is 2 grand alone ! That is insane. I like the idea of Florida now better for beaches I think. Then the rest of trip stay at a beach.

 

[Upatnoon]

Yes we are just looking to save money and do DW for 2 days because the passes for the parks just for days with 4 people is 2 grand alone ! That is insane. I like the idea of Florida now better for beaches I think. Then the rest of trip stay at a beach.

Short stays are the most expensive at Disneyworld. The longer you stay, the "per-day" is less.

 

[stephk1981]

Yes we are just looking to save money and do DW for 2 days because the passes for the parks just for days with 4 people is 2 grand alone ! That is insane. I like the idea of Florida now better for beaches I think. Then the rest of trip stay at a beach.

Try to Google discounted tickets, there are s number of sites that offer them. I don't think I'm allowed to mention actual names on here....but you can get better deals than going through Disney directly. Then you can link the ticket number on my Disney experience app. Good luck!!

 

[Summer2018]

Looking at booking a trip with our kiddos ..they will be 8 and 5 when we go..both do not go on big rides yet really. Would love the option to hit up a beach because they have never been to the ocean either. Was thinking of actually staying near or on beach and going to Disney for a day or 2 ..not sure yet. Thinking of going in February. Would either place be warm enough to swim in ocean at that time? We really want them to feel the magic of Disney before they get much older so that part is important too. We have just started taking about this and are in the very beginning stages and feel a bit lost ! Any tips are helpful!! We would like to say we have some sort of a budget ..so we also don’t want to go the Most expensive route but also not the cheapest if that makes sense. We have no idea how much it will cost so any info there is helpful too. Thanks

I was in Disneyland in April. We went to Huntington and Seal Beaches. The surfers all had wet suits on. The air temperatures the week in between Palm Sunday and Easter ranged from 60’s to mid 70’s in the afternoon. One day almost made it to 80. Water was freezing.

We’ve been to WDW for Christmas when it’s been up to 87-90 degrees all week. We have also been in February with same high temperatures. I think you’re more likely to get the high temperatures you want in Florida.

 

[stinkpickle]

We keep our beach vacations separate from Disney vacations to keep things simple. And any visit under 4 days at either DL or WDW is a little too costly on a per day basis for my tastes.

 

[cinnaminny]

I live on the West Coast and in my experience the Pacific is much colder than the Atlantic, and probably colder than the gulf by a lot. But it looks like the temps on both sides of the Florida coast is in the low 70's. Still pretty cold. When we went to Disney World we started our summer trip with 3 days in Cocoa Beach and it was a lot of fun! We spent one of those days at Kennedy Space Center also. Then we went on to do 10 park days at Disney World and we still didn't get to see everything. Not even close to everything we wanted to see.

Disneyland technically, for the short period, has more actual rides but there is more to experience at WDW. You can also get a good feel for Disneyland in two days because everything is contained in such a small area. You would still need to do a quite a bit of homework to make sure you're making the most out of it, if you only have two days. But the temps there are in the 60's making it not at all ideal for swimming at the beach.

Honestly, I would rethink the whole thing. February is not a great beach time for most places. If you're picking up the tab for flying, two days isn't probably enough bang for your buck for either park JMO.

 

[AllieBoo]

The beaches in Florida in February will be pretty chilly. If you do go, I would recommend going to one of the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico side (Anna Maria Island, Siesta Key, Clearwater). The water is much prettier there than in Cocoa Beach.

 

[cinnaminny]

The beaches in Florida in February will be pretty chilly. If you do go, I would recommend going to one of the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico side (Anna Maria Island, Siesta Key, Clearwater). The water is much prettier there than in Cocoa Beach.

We went south of Cocoa Beach and found some really pretty beaches but actual Cocoa Beach, like on the actual beach, was so weird to me coming from Oregon. (We have beautiful freezing cold beaches lol) The water in Cocoa (in summer) was so warm and and it had stuff in it. Like an actual lemon slice floated over my foot. I said to my husband, I feel like I am in a bowl of soup. lol The city of Cocoa Beach was fun though. But I agree, the beach was nothing to write home about.

We avoided the gulf side though because of the red tide.

 

[Shellbells]

We're west coasters so the cost of the flights to Florida don't justify a stay shorter than 5 nights. I wouldn't want any less than 1 day at each park.
Having been to both WDW and DL, you can easily do DL in 2 days. Of course, depending on the crowd level and how many hours you'll be at each park each day, you will still miss some things.
WDW is just gigantic compared to DL and there is so much to do. There's a lot more things to do above and beyond the rides.

Unless absolutely necessary, I would stay on property at WDW. With a code or sale, the values are reasonable and it's worth it for the convenience of of being on property.

I'm afraid I can't comment on going to the beach in Florida as we haven't been. I have done So. Cal beaches and even in the winter they are fun of you go to a beach that has an active boardwalk. I love the ocean and I think it's something everyone should do at least once in their lives. I grew up in a beach town in Nor. Cal and you couldn't go in the water without a wet suit. We still went to the beach several times a week.

All that said, depending on flight costs, I would do DL for shorter stay trips. But I love WDW more.

 

[Lynne M]

Since this isn’t specific to WDW resorts, and I don’t think many Disneyland regulars hang out here, I’ll move it to the Community board so you get a broader audience.