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Many people have an opinion on which Disney Park is better. I don’t believe one is actually better than the other, they both have features that I enjoy more than the other. It’s not as easy to take a last minute trip to Disney World anymore, you really have to plan in advance, which isn’t necessarily the case for Disneyland. I can decide a month before that I want to go to Disneyland and use Get Away Today or Costco Travel to book my hotel and tickets and I am pretty much good to go. Here are 7 reasons why I prefer visiting Disneyland over Disney World.
Location – Since I am on the West Coast (Washington state to be exact) traveling to California is so much easier than traveling to Orlando. Add the fact that there are 4 airports near Anaheim it makes traveling even easier and cheaper. We recently were able to score tickets on Alaska Airlines for only $64 each way. That was an amazing deal and way cheaper than anything we could get flying all the way over to Florida.
Weather – The weather in California is almost perfect year round. The summer months in Orlando are way too humid for this Washington girl. Plus, Orlando gets some crazy rain storms too.
Fast Pass Options – Since Disney World switched to Fast Pass+ we personally have found we aren’t able to ride as many rides as we have in the past. At Disney World you are only allowed 3 Fast Passes pre-selections per day and in order to get the really popular rides you have to book them in advance. We booked 60 days in advance for our upcoming trip and we still weren’t able to get some of the more popular or newer rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. Now, that Disneyland has MaxPass it makes getting Fast Passes a breeze. I love it! I should mention that Disney World will give you an option of one more Fast Pass once all your other 3 have been used, but usually by the end of the day all the good ones are gone.
Convenience – I love, love, love that you can stay at a hotel within walking distance of both Parks and Downtown Disney. You can walk 5 minutes and be at either park. Traveling to the different parks at Disney World takes way more time, sometimes 3o minutes or more.
Rides – Many of our favorite rides seem to have better versions at Disneyland. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster’s is way better at Disneyland. Disney World needs to cut those cords, am I right? Pirates of the Caribbean is nearly twice as long at Disneyland. I know there are rides that are exclusive to each coast, but some of our family faves are in California like Radiator Springs Racers, Indiana Jones and the new Incredicoaster on Pixar Pier.
Nostalgia – There is something special knowing that Walt Disney was a part of nearly every aspect of the building of Disneyland. He was actually there, he walked down Main Street USA and even stayed in the apartment above the firehouse. That is magical my friends! Simply magical.
Dining – You may think I am crazy on this one because there are so many more dining options at Disney World, but we have found many restaurants at Disneyland that we enjoy visiting. It’s not necessarily the selection of the restaurants, but the ease in which you can get a reservation and the fact that you can walk to all the restaurants. I like the fact that in most cases you don’t need to make reservations 90 days in advance to get a table at Disneyland (there are a few exceptions like the new Lamplight Lounge). That is not always the case at Disney World. As an example, it is so hard to get a reservation at O’hana and a few others even when you book well in advance.
Do your family have a preference when it comes to the Disney Parks? Do you prefer Disneyland or Disney World? I’d love to hear your reasons (location, weather, etc).
If you have a Disney vacation planned make sure you check out some of my other Disney posts (we are huge Disney fans):
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- Check out the highlights from our trip to Disneyland Paris
- 10 of the BEST places to eat breakfast at Disneyland
- 10 of the BEST places to each lunch at Disneyland
- Several ways you can save on Disneyland Park Tickets.
- Great tips that will help you to do Disneyland (and California Adventure) in a day.
- Craving a Dole Whip? Check out our recipe for Homemade Dole Whip
- Check out the time my husband and I has six meals & one snack at Disneyland and paid less than $30 (thanks to a lot of planning)
- Save BIG on official Disney Parks souvenirs.
I love Disney World. Love it. The rain doesn’t bother me and is actually kind of nice sometimes because people will leave the parks. I like that it’s set apart from the city and has its own land because it’s a pretty area and doesn’t feel crammed. Finally, I actually like the fastpass+ system because I don’t feel like I have to miss out, or wait forever in line for a ride if I don’t get to the park within the first couple hours of opening and the passes run out. I like being able to plan my days with those definite time frames in place. You have to keep checking back if you’ve missed a reservation slot for the most popular rides because people switch around reservations when it’s close to the actual date. I’ve made Toy Story Mania reservations the day before for 6 people to all ride at the same time because I overlapped time slots. It obviously comes down to preference of the parks and Disneyland is great too, but I’m a Disney World fan girl at heart <3
Actually you get more than 3 fast passes at Disney World as long as they’re available. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/fast-pass-plus/multiple-fast-pass-plus/
But you only get to pick 3 in advance of your trip. I hear FastPass+ will be coming to Disneyland eventually. I hope they will include Midway Mania and Peter Pan’s Flight. I have never been to Disney World, but I love Disneyland/DCA so much that it’s hard for me save up for Disney World. I live in Oregon and we have taken our kids three times since 2013 and my husband and I have gone 3 separate times just the 2 of us for our last 3 anniversaries! Yes that’s how much I love Disneyland!
Hi Christina,
We love Disneyland trips with just the 2 of us too, it is so much fun to take everything at a leisurely pace. I really hope the FastPass+ doesn’t make it to Disneyland, the regular system is so much better in my opinion. I also get the “it’s hard to save for Disney World “because you love Disneyland so much. Whenever I see a screamin’ deal on airfare to California, I think “let’s go”
I mention in the post that you can get another Fast Pass once all 3 of your Fast Passes have been used. Having use the service on 3 occasions now, we have NEVER been able to get an additional Fast Pass we wanted because either our last Fast Pass time was too late in the day or the ones we wanted were already gone for the day. So, even though they offer additional passes it has never worked well for us. It looks like they have updated things and they will give another pass after your last one has been used, but like I mentioned we have never has success with getting a 4th pass.
“Once you redeem your initial set of FastPass+ selections (or the last arrival window has passed), you can make another FastPass+ selection for the same day at an in-park kiosk or using your mobile device, up to park closing. After you redeem the additional FastPass+ pick, you can make more selections (one at a time).”
We are heading to Disney World for our anniversary in November, I’ll be sure to let you know if we have better luck. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I love chatting with other Disney fans.