Disneyland vs. Disney World

For years I always debated about going to Walt Disney World for various reasons. The flight to get there from where I am is 6+ hours direct or I can take numerous flights making the travelling day over 14 hours. Who really has time for that. Then there’s the thing about wanting to mess the original. I like to call Walt Disney World the sequel. Everyone knows that sequels are crap. Nothing compares to the original. Its how Disney started, but I wanted to at least check out Disney World at least once and if I don’t want to go back then I don’t have to. I originally wrote this the day after I got back from Disney World so my opinions about the parks are still fresh in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, you may love both Disney World and Disneyland, you may like one more then other. Its fine, but this is what I think. Don’t let my opinions and thoughts discourage you from planning a trip to Walt Disney World.

WALT DISNEY WORLD:

Parks Are To Far From One Another.

If you wanted to hop between the 4 parks, you have to take numerous forms of transportation just to go to another park. If the monorail or the ferry doesn’t go to a park you want to go to then you have to bus it to a resort then bus it from there to the park you want and depending on the time of day, it could take a while. The bus system is great, but it just takes some time to go between parks.

2+ Hour Wait Times

Even with a fastpass, there still could be a wait to get on. Again, it depends on when you go and what time of day, but I think its like that no matter what time you go. When the ride breaks due to a failure or if there’s rain, getting back onto to it later in the day is a challenge because everyone that had a fastpass for that ride is going to go back and ride it or use it for a different ride so the lines are going to be twice as long. If the ride is next door to another ride and that rides breaks down and you have a fast pass for that ride, everyone is going to go to the ride that's right next to it making the line even longer.

Everything Is Close Together

The parks especially the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios look a lot smaller because the rides and shops are close together. Sometimes you would walk past a ride because it was tucked away or it blends in with the surrounding rides and buildings.

Fastpasses

Its great that you can use your magic band for everything, but with fastpasses, you feel pressured into using the system. You can only use 3 at a time on the same day and if you have a few hours between rides, you have to risk waiting for a ride that has a long wait and hope that it doesn’t overlap into your fastpass time. Then there’s the fast passes that get sell out fast and you mess out getting onto your favourite ride.

Weather Is Different

Florida as a different type of weather. Its hot, moist and there’s rain. You would think it would be cooler at night, but its more hot when the sun goes down. Walking to the lobby of your hotel is exhausting because its a different type of warm/heat. You can’t change the weather on command, but bring lots of sunscreen.

Hotels Are Not Walkable To And From The Park

Hotels are so far from civilization that if you wanted to leave the park early to relax, you would have to wait for a bus or take an uber. There’s nothing to walk to grab food. You're pretty much stuck at eating all your meals at your hotel. Its a trek trying to find a restaurant.

DISNEYLAND:

Parks Are Easier To Get To

They are within feet from each other. You can visit both of them countless times in the same day. You don’t have to worry about getting on a bus to travel for 20 minutes to get to the next park.

You Have A Better Chance Of Getting Fastpasses

There isn’t a rush in booking fastpasses. If something happened and you had to leave the line, you can always get a fast pass to ride later on in the day, but it feels like Walt Disney World makes you get them and you have to use them. I have heard that getting fastpasses now is going to come with a fee with a thing called Genie+ or something like that.

Hotels Are Closer

If you wanted to check out a different resort, you can just walk a block or two to get there or you can cut thru Downtown Disney.

More Things To Do Outside Of The Park

Like I’ve said, everything is within walking distance so you can always walk to the corner store and grab a snack or you can just take a scroll and check out the other hotels that line the street across the street from the park entrance.

Less Busy/More Quieter

It seems like the lines are shorter and there are less crowds. I don’t remember a time where I waited for more then an hour for ride and there are less people stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and cutting you off.

Closer To Home

Disneyland is only a 2 and a half hour flight from home then Walt Disney World. I prefer to stay close to home then having to travel across the continent just to get my Disney fix.

I checked out Walt Disney World. I saw everything I wanted to see. I don’t think I’ll go there again. Its not as impressive as people make it seem. There’s so much hype about it. It's just not that great. Disneyland as so much more and its closer to home. In a way it was a disappointment and a let down.