When faced with a decision to visit either Walt Disney World or Disneyland, you can’t make a bad choice between the “Happiest Place on Earth” and the “Most Magical Place on Earth.” Both parks put the spotlight on classic rides like Peter Pan’s Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean, embrace the seasons with special events and programming, and offer families a special place to reconnect. Other than their locations on opposite coasts, there are some major differences - and similarities - between Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Today on the blog, we’re breaking down what makes each park unique.
Scale
It’s so big, Walt Disney World has its own magical entrance
Walt Disney World Resort is mammoth, measuring in at 40 square miles, or about the size of San Francisco. In fact, Walt Disney World is akin to its own city with more than 25 on-site hotels and hundreds of eateries, employing tens of thousands of people and operating its own transportation system comprised of shuttle buses, water taxis, the new Minnie Vans and iconic Monorail.
In all this space, Walt Disney World is home to four theme parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, two water parks - Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, and its own entertainment and dining district, Disney Springs. Pedometers have been known to combust from all the steps taken at Walt Disney World - not really, but our Apple Watches have tracked more than 10 miles walked in ONE day!
Disneyland Resort, on the other hand, only measures in at about 83 acres. There are only two parks - Disneyland Park and California Adventure, as well as Downtown Disney, a much smaller version of Disney Springs. Guests staying on-property only have three resorts from which to choose - Grand Californian, Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel, and they are within safe walking distance to the theme parks - no dangerous crosswalks or highways to traverse. As such, Disneyland does not provide transport from its hotels to the parks, but it does have the Monorail as well which visitors can pick up from stops at Tomorrowland and Disney Springs. As an indicator of Disneyland’s compactness, we’ve timed ourselves (briskly) walking from the entrance of Pixar Pier to Disneyland Hotel at just 10 minutes!
Convenience
A mid-day pool break at Grand Californian is only a short walk away from the Disneyland parks
Naturally, the smaller scale of Disneyland Resort makes it easier to navigate and more convenient for families. Guests staying on-property enjoy a short walk to the theme park entrances. Unlike at Walt Disney World, there is no need to schedule time in your day to account for waiting for buses to take you to and from the parks. The closeness of the parks to the hotels becomes a stress reliever for those instances when your little ones need a nap or your older ones want a swim break. Bonus: Grand Californian boasts its own private entrance into California Adventure Park.
Don’t worry if you’re on a budget and think that you can’t take advantage of the proximity of Disney hotels to the parks. There are some “Good Neighbor” hotels closer to the theme park entrances than Disney’s own Paradise Pier. Whether you’re staying on- or off-property, everyone will appreciate that Disneyland Park and California Adventure are literally steps away from each other. Park Hopper tickets at Disneyland Resort are a no-brainer; it’s so easy and takes a minimal amount of time to get from one park to another.
Although you can’t walk from one Walt Disney World Resort park to another, guests staying at the Contemporary, Grand Floridian and Polynesian enjoy the convenience of using the Monorail to get from their hotel to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Guests staying at a resort on the Monorail line along with guests at Wilderness Lodge and Ft. Wilderness can board a water taxi to Magic Kingdom, while guests at the Contemporary enjoy the ultimate convenience - walking to and from Magic Kingdom from the hotel. In addition, guests staying in the Boardwalk area have an easy walk to Epcot via the International Gateway entrance and a reasonable walk to Hollywood Studios.
Pre-Planning
Let’s be real. A Walt Disney World trip is one of the most difficult and time-consuming vacations to plan. Where to stay? What type of tickets to purchase? Which version of the dining plan to add? Not to mention that if you want to secure reservations for your must-have restaurants, you need to be ready to book 180 days in advance of your trip. Yes, that’s right. You need to know which park you’re going to be visiting half a year before your actual visit so you can make an advance dining reservation. (Don’t stress - your Beyond Imagination Vacations agent will help you figure it all out!) And two months before your visit, you need to be prepared to make FastPass+ selections for your must-do attractions, entertainment and character meet-and-greets. Read about Walt Disney World’s FastPass+ here. (Again, those of you with a BIV agent are ahead of the game!)
On the opposite end of the planning spectrum lies Disneyland Resort. Booking windows for dining reservations open at the 60-day mark, and even after that, reservations are not difficult to secure - allowing for a bit of spontaneity and flexibility while on vacation! Furthermore, Disneyland does not offer dining plans nor does it offer promotional dining packages. Rather than FastPass+, Disneyland offers FASTPASS as its system to reduce guest wait times in attraction lines. The big difference is that FASTPASS selections cannot be made in advance of a visit. Guests choose the attractions for which they’d like to use FASTPASS at the parks the day of their visit. You can do so in two ways: by visiting physical kiosks and pulling paper FASTPASS or by purchasing access to digital MaxPass on the Disneyland app.
Although planning a Disneyland Resort trip sounds like a breeze, it still takes strategy and forethought. Of course, you want to plot out your days at the parks, identify family member priorities for rides, dining out and experiences, and conduct research. You don’t want to arrive at the entrance of Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout only to learn that your Star Lord super fan doesn’t meet the height requirement.
Vibe
What’s happening, Pluto? Fancy seeing you at Disneyland Hotel
The lack of intense planning needed for a successful Disneyland trip lends to its chill vibe - it is located in SoCal after all. Consider also that the majority of Disneyland park-goers are easygoing locals visiting on annual passes, while Walt Disney World entertains more first- and one-time visitors. The differential we really enjoy about Disneyland is the serendipitous character encounters. We ran into Pluto and Goofy along the walkways of Disneyland hotel and witnessed Jack Sparrow being salty with guests in front of Pirates of the Caribbean. Lifetime memories are created when a child’s eyes light up meeting their favorite Disney character unexpectedly and experiencing a personal, genuine moment!
The Small and Significant In-Park Differences
The iconic landmarks at the signature parks of both Walt Disney World and Disneyland are named after classic Disney princesses - Sleeping Beauty Castle and Cinderella Castle at Disneyland Park and Magic Kingdom respectively. Like most things at Walt Disney World, its castle is more expansive and physically impressive than the castle at Disneyland. Both are sights to behold nevertheless, particularly at night. There are additional instances of things being the same but a bit different at the parks. For example, both Walt Disney World and Disneyland host seasonal parties and corresponding holiday overlays but the special touches really wow at Disneyland. The facade of “it’s a small world” transforms into a festive backdrop for the entire park with 15-minute interval lighting and projection shows at night, while Haunted Mansion Holiday gets an endearingly creepy makeover featuring Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Jack Skellington takes over Haunted Mansion during the holidays at Disneyland Park
There are also some things that are significantly different. Disney’s California Adventure is home to Cars Land, not to be found at Walt Disney World and a must for your Lightning McQueen fans, while Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom has quite possibly the best theme park ride in Flight of Passage at Pandora - the World of Avatar. Toy Story Land calls Hollywood Studios home, while Pixar Pier can be found at California Adventure. Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland are getting their own Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge this year with the latter park getting the out-of-this-world land first.
Despite their differences, we love Disneyland and Walt Disney World equally and enjoy visiting both as often as possible. Do you have a favorite park?