In love with Disneyland... would I hate WDW?

[Vala]

We’re taking our niece for her first Disney trip and are staying at Pop. It will be dh and my first time staying at a value but I’m excited! They are refurbishing their rooms and the busses at Pop don’t share with any other hotel.

I think you are going to like it. I didn't see the rooms during our Halloween round of course, but the Resort itself looked great. Like I said, my friend was a bit apprehensive too about value, but ended up loving it.

 

[LilyJC]

We stayed on points at VGC (which btw, is the only way to feel “the bubble” in Californi

I have to disagree with you... While we are VGC owners, we also very much love staying at the DLH. We definitely still feel in “the bubble.” And the view of the fireworks from the adventure tower is amazing.

 

[rkstocke5609]

I have to disagree with you... While we are VGC owners, we also very much love staying at the DLH. We definitely still feel in “the bubble.” And the view of the fireworks from the adventure tower is amazing.

I hear what you are saying. To clarify, I think that for folks that primarily only do WDW the only way to feel a similar WDW style bubble is to be at VGC (IMHO). I think that Californians may feel a Disney bubble at DLH (love the pool there BTW) but most folks would feel like they are in a city from DLH compared to Florida resorts.

 

[HydroGuy]

I think it's hard to predict whether or not you'll love it or hate it, but I'll just give you my personal opinions.

I'm a L.A. native - born in San Pedro - and I much prefer WDW to DL, and so do all the members of my family. My parents, who took us to DL all the time as kids, prefer WDW. As an adult, I go back and forth to DLR and WDW often with my siblings or husband. However, like others have noted, WDW and DL are too different to compare apples to apples, so it's really all about your own preferences.

Personally, what we prefer about WDW are the following:

• Planning: I am one of the few weirdos that LOVE that I can preplan my vacation down to the minute, especially since we're coming from the other side of the country. It's nice to arrive and not have to worry about where we're going to dinner or how we're going to ride popular rides.
• EPCOT: The World Showcase is awesome! No matter how many times I go, I get kind of geeked out about visiting the different "countries" in EPCOT. Plus, the festivals are amazing. There's entertainment, food booths, experiences - there's a festival almost every time we visit, so EPCOT always feels very festive.
• Animal Kingdom: The idea of a park and a zoo in one location is awesome to me. I know many people prefer the rides in the park, we like that we can learn about and visit animals, and also enjoy some typical theme park activities.
• Transportation system: I LOVE being able to ride a Disney bus, boat, or monorail to different areas of the resort. It may sound strange, but I truly feel like I'm in the Disney "bubble" when I'm riding Disney transportation rather than driving myself and parking in a parking lot or taking an Uber to the parks.
• Restaurant choices: My husband is a very disciplined type 1 diabetic and my sisters are picky eaters, and there is a good amount of variety at DLR, but there are exponentially more choices available at WDW, particularly if you include Disney Springs.
• Character dining choices: My sisters are in their late 20's and my husband and I are 30, but we love character meals. There are a handful of places you can dine and meet characters at DLR and you have to leave the parks for 3 of those locations. At WDW, there are more than double (maybe triple? we haven't been to them all) the number of character dining locations. Most do not require us to leave the parks, either.
• Space: My husband *hates* crowds and we've been to WDW many times, even at times that are considered 9 or 10s on the crowd calendars, yet we've never really felt as crowded as it felt at DL because of all the space. The parks themselves are so spread out at WDW.
• Resorts: I just love all the resorts at WDW, even the values. The values and moderates have excellent Disney theming, and the deluxe resorts have the advantage of excellent locations. The prices are VERY good for all levels, including deluxes - at least when compared to the DLR resorts.
• Magic Bands: the Magic Bands are crazy fun! My husband is an engineer and enjoys the techie aspect of it, but all I know is touching the Mickey on the band to the Mickey access point feels magical to me. It's such a small thing, but I really enjoy watching the Mickey access point light up when you touch Mickeys. Additionally, you can customize these in advance or order special Magic Bands when they're released, to have some pre or post Disney fun year round.
• Disney extras: Disney themed mini golf, Cirque show (La Nouba is gone now, but something is going to replace it, last I read), water parks, etc. WDW is massive, and there's just so much Disney fun to go around.

What we prefer about DLR:

• Ride proximity/easy park hopping: It is really nice to just be able to walk a few feet to the nearest ride. Also, park hopping is a breeze at DLR. Once you're at DLR, you don't *need* any transportation - you just walk.
• Familiarity: I've been to DLR so many times; it's nice to just know where everything is.
• Way easier to meet in-park characters: The characters kind of mill about at DLR, but that's not the case at WDW.
• Downtown Disney: I do love Disney Springs, but I like how close Downtown Disney is at DLR. I also enjoy the offerings they put in their significantly smaller space. Even though Disney Springs has a lot more restaurants, experiences, and shops than DTD, I do not feel like I necessarily need more when I'm in DTD.
• History: Like many DLR fans, I think it's awesome that DL was the park that Walt built. It's special in that way.

I like how you put things in terms of what you "prefer".

For discussion sake here I prefer the same things about WDW as you do - except for Planning and Character Dining Choices. I really like being able to go to DLR on short notice. Heck, I was planning to go solo last month after a SoCal business trip and at the last minute my DW decided to come too. Easy peasy and that would have been a lot more complicated at WDW. For character dining, I have never done it at either resort so have no opinion.

I love Magic Bands! And while you did not mentioned DHS (it seems to be the least favorite of most WDW vets), I have always loved that park more then AK or Epcot. But now they are slicing it up and I am afraid its vibe will change.

For DLR, I prefer the same things as you plus some you did not mention:

- weather - I prefer it at DLR all year except for times like Feb-March which I prefer at WDW
- longer park hours - you can just do so much more in a day at DLR because of near zero transportation time and longer hours
- seasonal overlays - it works at DLR and really can't at WDW
- entertainment - I think World of Color is the best Disney show. Ever. I greatly prefer DLR's Fantasmic. And the soon-to-return Paint the Night Parade I think is the best Disney parade I have seen. IMO DL's fireworks have been far better than MK's for over a decade but the new Happily Ever After at MK has finally evened things up.

And finally, I greatly prefer California to Florida in just about every way. I never have and never will understand so many folks in the Northeast and Midwest who think Florida is so great. Heck, it all looks exactly the same! And you have to have screens around your swimming pools!!! Sheesh!

For various reasons, Disney has not been able to invest very much in WDW in recent years. At least not in terms of rides and shows and such. Now they are turning their big guns on WDW and it is just getting a ton of attention. IMO it is going to become increasingly difficult for folks to prefer DLR to WDW. Pandora (now complete). Toy Story Land (opening this summer). Tron ride. Two new rides at Epcot (GOTG and Ratatouille - which is apparently very popular at DLP). Heck, DL is getting Star Wars Land (very cool) but so is DHS. Other than that DLR is getting a "Pixar Pier" re-theme. Pretty lame in comparison. WDW is getting so much and DLR will only fall behind over time unless and until they decide to pull the trigger and build a third park there.

 

[HydroGuy]

If you have not seen it, this article on DIS today was very insightful:

Meeting Disneyland – The Eldest Son - http://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/meeting-disneyland-the-eldest-son

 

[taaren]

Thank you! I think right now WDW feels very overwhelming and exhausting because I have young kids. I enjoyed the ease of walking everywhere with the stroller and easy hotel breaks at Disneyland. I deff want to expirence WDW, but I think when my kiddos are older. They are 5 and 1.5 now.

We went for the for the first time when the kids were 5, 6, and 7. It was a great age. We rented a double stroller on long days in the park and usually any 2 of them liked to take a break in it when they were tired of walking (about half the days), they switched out a bunch. So perhaps plan on going when the youngest is 5 and older one is 9? Last time they'll be a Disney-kid price (paying Disney adult prices is now painful that they are 10 and up).

We'll be going next year with the kids who will be nearly 11, 12, and 13 plus an 18 month old, not to mention two in the 65+ set with hip issues that will be using ECVs. Feeling a small amount of trepidation about the youngest and oldest, but we'll enjoy ourselves anyway and since this is trip #3 we are able to take it at a slower pace and don't need to "accomplish" as many things and the older ones will be more independent. Your first trip tends to be the most ambitious because you want to cover it all!

If you wait until they are school age, I highly recommend picking a not-summer time trip. When they were little we could go in early Dec because missing school wasn't as critical of an issue, that is a great great time weather-wise, wish we could keep going then. Spring/Fall/Winter is much more pleasant by the accounts of most DLR lovers, we're force into school holiday zones now as they age, which are more crowded, but as we're less ride-focused, we're okay with that.

 

[Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah]

I don't think you'll hate it - you just have to remember that they are different! I haven't been to WDW since I was 9; we're finally going this summer. We just moved from SoCal, where we did 3 big DLR trips in 15 months. I love that DLR is so easy to plan for a "quick trip". You can't beat walking across the street from your hotel to the park. And the feeling of charm and history in DLR makes it even more magical. And yes, easiest place to park hop!

But, I am looking forward to the giganticness of WDW. I love that I have a reason to talk about Disney Disney Disney all the time because we'll make ADR's in a few weeks for a trip that's still 6 months away. I love that there are so many more hotels to explore at the World, and that Disney Springs has a Christmas store, a toy store, an art store, etc. Most of all, I love that there is just going to be so much more to explore there. After 3 close trips to DLR, it will be nice to have so much new stuff to explore at WDW.

If you're concerned about being close to the parks for nap time, book a monorail hotel!

 

[Indiana Scott]

Staying in any of the local hotels is in the bubble as far as I'm concerned. Their business revolves around the park and the vast number of guests are there for the parks and travel to and from the parks just like me. The hotels are even decorated with Disney stuff and sell Disney tickets.
Thats Disney enough for me!