For the past two Christmas seasons, my wife and I have given a Disney trip to our kids. In part, this has to do with knowing that the magic of childhood will only last for a little while. In part, it has to do with wanting to visit somewhere warm during the winter. And in part, it has to do with the new book project I have embarked upon, looking at how Disney uses History. Or, maybe we just have a "Disney problem"--going to the parks is fun! This year, thanks in part to my sister-in-law now living in Los Angeles, we decided to go to the original park, Disneyland! If what follows is a bit disjointed, please blame it on the post holiday/post trip jet lag.
As we had hoped, the trip was full of fun (despite the weather being very un-California like), and it was great to walk the streets Walt laid out. While I won't spoil the eventual book that this trip is going to help inform with a lot of professorial ramblings, I know that some friends were wondering about how Disneyland compares to Walt Disney World and so below are some observations based on our experience. But let me just say at the outset, if you are planning on going to either park, make sure that you visit Disney's website but also visit Tom Bricker's awesome blog about all things Disney--both are packed with info and insight.
First off, some advice that was given to me: You can't go in expecting Disneyland to be exactly like Disney World. If you do, you might run into some problems! There are similarities (of course) between Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, in terms of general layout and rides (at least in their names), but the differences are real--and if you expect it to be a carbon copy (and thus "know" what you'll encounter) you will be dismayed (and I suppose, perhaps even disappointed). The flip side is also true (I was told that people who are used to Disneyland often feel overwhelmed by the Magic Kingdom).
A few examples are in order. There are different rides at Disneyland that you won't find at the Magic Kingdom. We had a great time on the Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland's ride, and Pinocchio's ride as well. Then there was "nostalgia" for us anyway, in that Disneyland still has Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the converted 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride (re-themed around Finding Nemo) attraction. These are well worth spending the time in line for. Even the rides that are duplicated in both Florida and California are often different (case in point for me, was the Winnie the Pooh ride, which I would argue is superior in the Magic Kingdom) and fun. There is also the fun of encountering new and different themed areas (like New Orleans Square).
Rides alone, of course, aren't enough to justify a trip out to California. But don't let that sentence dissuade you, dear reader! Though Disneyland and Magic Kingdom are quite similar (even though they are different--the biggest being the size. Disneyland is much, much smaller, and that can cause crowd issues, because Disney does not have the room to keep everyone in line out of sight), what truly made our visit worth it (from a non-academic standpoint) was the California Adventure park (the so called "second gate" to Disneyland). Cars Land alone is worth the price of admission. California Adventure (which was once Disneyland's parking lot if the stories are true) does have the room to be "Disney-esque" when it comes to crowd control. If you know Walt Disney World like the back of your hand, you'll quickly be at home in California Adventure.
There is another thing to say, when it comes to the parks and the issue of size. Nestled in between Disneyland and California Adventure is California's version of Downtown Disney. It is nice to have everything together and walkable, really walkable. As in, once you pass through the main gate, you can see and pick from all three locations from the central plaza. You can spend the day in a park, have dinner and shop in Downtown Disney all on foot. As my wife put it, that option is "a nice diversion."
That being said, there were few other things that I should note, which jumped out to us. First, there seemed to be more food option locations (in terms of snacks) in Disneyland than at the Magic Kingdom. Second, there did not seem to be as many character opportunities in Disneyland as there are in the Magic Kingdom. That is not to say you won't see characters, you will. It just takes a bit more planning when you are at Disneyland (and from what we observed, there are even fewer opportunities over in California Adventure). I would also say that the shows we saw were awesome (Mickey and the Magical Map was neat, the Fantasmic show was better in California than what is done at Hollywood Studios)--and that doesn't even include the Frozen experience that we got to be a part of. We also enjoyed our time learning how to draw like a Disney animator (indeed, the whole Animation area in California Adventure was awesome).
Lastly, a word about where to stay. When Walt built Disneyland, he only had enough money to purchase around 300 acres (in comparison, the company bought over 46,000 acres in Florida). By the time money was rolling in from the park, others had snatched up near by parcels of land. Though Disney has been able to buy more land since, other hotels (many of them chains) and restaurants dominate the strip outside the park. There are three hotels owned by Disney, but we found them to be to expensive (at least for this trip). So, we stayed at the Candy Cane Inn which is on the same side of the street as the park and literally abuts California Adventure (and is just 2 long blocks to the park entrance).
So, would I recommend going to Disneyland? Yes (even though Walt Disney World will probably always remain my preferred park--and if I were planning a trip based solely around a Disney experience, I'd opt for Florida). While I wish that we had one more day (perhaps because this was our first trip there, or perhaps because we were there during the holidays), we left after three days feeling as though we'd gotten a full experience (even though we didn't ride every ride or see every show), and blessed with more family time and grateful to walk the streets that Walt laid out.
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