Here are the basics about each park/resort in California and Florida.
Disney World
Location: Florida
Number of Theme parks: 4
Number of Water parks: 2
Places to Stay: 8 Deluxe Villas, 10 Deluxe Resort Hotels, 5 Moderate Resort Hotels, 4 Value Resort Hotels, 4 Campsites, and 2 Beach resorts
Things to Do: Downtown Disney, Boardwalk, ESPN Wide World of Sports, Cirque de Soleil, and 6 golf courses
Disneyland
Location: California
Number of Theme parks: 2
Number of Water parks: 0
Places to Stay: Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, Good Neighbor Hotels
Things to Do: Downtown Disney
Each Disney Park has something to offer, it just depends on your preference. In my experience of both parks in the last year, I have discovered that I prefer Disney World to Disneyland. There are a few contributing factors to that.
Number One: Disneyland is too close for me. When I take a vacation, I want to be away from everything and that's why I like having to go to Florida to go to Disney World. I feel like I am in a bubble when I go to Disney World and that's what I want when I am on a vacation. I don't want to be so close that I can still kind of feel like I am back in Utah because the scenery is kind of similar. Obviously the temperature differences make going to California kind of like a vacation because Utah is colder than California.
In that same light of feeling like you are still kind of at home, California is dry like Utah. After experiencing California and Florida, I found out that I like the humidity of Florida. Yes, during the summer it can get almost unbearable because of the combination of the heat and the humidity, but I still like the humidity of Florida more than the dryness of California.
Number Two: Disneyland is too small for me. I am a person who likes variety and I'm sorry, but Disneyland just doesn't provide enough variety for me. I like having the option of going to four parks instead of two. The Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland in California are similar (as are Hollywood Studios and California Adventure) but still different. I'll get to similarities and differences of each park in a second.
When I was in Florida, I developed a special connection with the Animal Kingdom because of where I worked in Disney World (Animal Kingdom Lodge). When I went to Disneyland this past November, I felt like something was missing because I was so used to being able to go to the Animal Kingdom and feeling the experience of being in the wild (not to mention Expedition Everest is one of the coolest-themed and most fun roller coasters ever).
In that same light, I really like the variety that the Epcot center in Disney World offers even by itself. Like all the other parks, it has different 'lands,' (Future World and World Showcase). However, World Showcase allows you the experience of many different countries from all around the world. One of my favorite parts of my college program was attending the International Food and Wine Festival. It was fun to be able to have a 'progressive dinner' by having food from Chile, Africa, India and Greece and then having dessert from Africa. I love experiencing the culture of many different countries and sadly, as great as Disneyland is, it lacks the culture that Disney World has.
Number Three: Disney World has many, many resorts to explore. While Disneyland does have a few really nice resorts, it doesn't have the variety of Disney World has. This is a little of a repeat of the previous paragraphs, but as I said, I like variety. Disneyland has Downtown Disney, but Disney World has Downtown Disney plus a whole bunch of other places to go and things to do (see above for the list). I'm a person who can get bored easily, so Disneyland probably isn't the best park out of the two for me.
Number Four: Characters. This one will take some explaining because I have mixed feelings. In Disneyland, there are a few character spots where people can meet characters (meet Mickey in his house and Minnie at her house, Tiana and Naveen in New Orleans Square, princesses in Fantasy Faire, etc). However, I saw when I was in Disneyland last year that the characters seem to have more freedom in Disneyland to roam around with guests. I do like that because the characters have more chance to be more personal with their guest interaction. I only had a few characters I wanted to be sure I met while I was there, so I'm not sure if all the characters have specific places they are assigned to like in Disney World. I'm assuming that as for character times in Disneyland, it is similar to Disney World. I don't know. But since I have more knowledge about the characters in WDW because I worked there and I became very well-versed in many of their locations, I think Disney World's character greetings are better. But like I said, I don't know any people who have worked in Entertainment in Disneyland, so I guess I can't really say which one I like more. All I know is that when I met Mickey and Minnie in Toontown, neither of them met my expectations like they did in Disney World (however, they did both redeem themselves when I met them in California Adventure the next day).
Number Five: California Adventure vs. Hollywood Studios. These are both great parks and they have very similar themes. However, HS has Rockin' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror and CA only has Tower of Terror. Rockin' Rollercoaster is one of the funnest rides in Disney World because it has a fun theme (Aerosmith), it is indoors, and goes from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds. I do like the theme of California Adventure with the whole Paradise Pier theme, though. And I do very much enjoy California Screamin'. I guess you could call California Screamin' the equivalent of Rockin' Rollercoaster, but it would be a bit of a stretch because RR is more intense than CS. They are both roller coasters and they both go upside down at some point, but Rockin' Rollercoaster does loops and corkscrews and all sorts of crazy things. Since RR is an indoor coaster and CS is an outdoor one, they really aren't all that similar, other than the fact that they are both roller coasters.
Number Six: Fantasmic. I suppose I can't really judge Fantasmic in Disneyland because I didn't get to see it when I was there. I was there on a Wednesday and a Thursday and it was only running on the weekends. However, when watching Fantasmic, I like being able to sit down and have a specific place that is used only for Fantasmic. Disney World has an ampitheater that's only use is for Fantasmic. In Disneyland, Fantasmic takes place on Tom Sawyer's island and there aren't that many places to sit. Also, I haven't watched Disneyland's Fantasmic, but I have the soundtrack for both shows and just by listening to the music, I know the shows are different. I'm biased because I've only seen Fantasmic in Disney World, but I think it is better there than Disneyland. I'll probably have to find a way to watch Fantasmic in Disneyland just so there's an equal comparison in the two.
I think that's all I've got in discussing Disney World and Disneyland. It's like my friends and I were discussing when I was in Disney World, WDW and DL are two different parks. They have a similar theme overall, but they have different things to offer. I do like both parks. They are great and I love visiting both of them. I just prefer Disney World to Disneyland.
Oh! I just remembered a big factor that effected my preferences in parks. I went to Disneyland in November, which was right when they switched over from the "Celebrate" stuff to the Christmas stuff. I was disappointed because in Disney World, they had the same theme the entire year. They still had the Christmas and Halloween parties during the evenings, but the "Year of a Million Dreams" theme stayed constant during the day. I was expecting the same to happen in Disneyland, but I found out the hard way that that was not the case. I was looking forward to seeing the "Celebrate You" parade, but instead I saw the Christmas parade. It was nice, but it wasn't what I was expecting, so I was disappointed.
One more thing that caused me disequilibrium was when I went to see Mickey. Obviously he wouldn't be with Minnie like he is in Toontown in WDW since people were meeting her at her own house, but he was in his sorcerer outfit instead of his traditional outfit. AND (here is what threw me off) he was NOT wearing his sorcerer hat!! I was thinking "How can you be Sorcerer Mickey without your hat?!" Seriously! The mouse does not have his powers unless he is wearing his hat, so meeting him without his hat was weird. He was just in his robe and shoes. It was a little disconcerting.
I will admit, I like the history in Disneyland and the fact that it was the original. It's true that Walt didn't even get to see the opening of Walt Disney World before he died (hence the reason Walt Disney World is named after him). For historical purposes, I like Disneyland more. For entertainment purposes, I like Disney World.
Ok, I promise I'm done now.
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