First time at Disneyland WDW Vet.

Ok.. here is my rundown.

FYI: I will talk about EVC usage as I needed to rent one the last day and Handicap/assisted passes at the end.
Disneyland:
We arrived right at what we found out after our 3 days in parks, was their busiest time, 4-9:30 pm time frame. It seems that people use the parks as a "jaunt to" after school and such if they are local so the parks get overloaded at these times. Early morning and after the 9:30 fireworks at DL was awesome times to catch the rides missed or do them again! It being Easter weekend didn't seem to really add too many people to the parks as a lot of rides were still only a 20-30 min wait which is a good day at WDW parks..lol. Disneyland still runs all Mainstreet cars which is AWESOME!!! I love that! They also have the buttons at City Hall available which was sooo fun!! We got our "anniversary" button and they would wait for you to approach to say "happy anniversary" and some would make conversation about how many years. I felt so special!! It must have been said over 100 times! This park now has a spot in my heart!!! Though it is very different from WDW.. it is a little gem that all should see and love! With that said. There were differences and some were not good at all, especially for a WDW Vet as our expectations are quite skewed as Disney has done a great job spoiling us.. would you agree? lol.
Differences: Disneyland was more crowded but not busier than WDW if that makes sense. It is simply a smaller space therefore seems to be overflowing with guests when it's not. The wait times reveal this truth. We preferred DL's It's a small world and space mountain, their space mountain was faster and smoother and their IASW was just so pretty outside I couldn't stop taking pictures!!! They had more scenes than us too. DH preferred DL's Pirates over WDW. I didn't think that their Fantasmic was "better" than WDW as many here have said.. just different aspects, it seemed much smaller than WDW's display.
The magic is somewhat missing at DL in my opinion at some points. One thing that was a horrible turn off for me was that 5 rides in one park that we were either already on, in line for or approaching were shut down due to issues. This has not happened to me in the over 100 times I have been to WDW. I noticed a lot of poor maintenance too. A lot of things were being picked at and missing paint or things and would take a whole 20 minutes to redo and make pretty which Disney World does take care of and DL did not. It seemed that the DL does not take as much pride in their parks as WDW. This is what lost the magic in some ways for me. They did not have the merchandise available that WDW does. ALL of items we asked for more of or other sizes, they were out of! Again, never had this happen at WDW. I thought that overall it was a great experience and I got to see Disney's original dreams come to fruition but at the same time it was heart breaking to see how the park was bordering looking worse than a six flags or other in my opinion lower grade park. Another magic breaker was that the magic music is not piped through all speakers during the day as WDW parks do. I think this would help a bunch! Also, some of the rides which require the cast be in character.. they were not! I will of course be returning and with more family, as I still think that it has it's own magic and is still a gem!!! The original will always have it's special place but I think they need to concentrate on saving it.
It was super nice to see Captain Eo again!!! Missed him much! I missed the wedway, as it was shut down.. sad to see the tracks and no train on it.

DCA: This park was a nice visit ONCE! It was almost completely void of the Magic that The Disney's offer and WDW counter parts. Even Animal kingdom to me offers that "Disney feel" but this park really seemed to have lost it. It has a very odd design as for the layout. Cars land was very cute and open feeling! Great addition I think. A lot of the rides and areas at this park are very much "boardwalk" style and some are quite boring because they aren't telling a story which is what Disney is known for. They tried to keep Disney in it but I think between the poor park layout and non themed areas it didn't help. Cars land really reeled it back in though!! I really did not care of this park very much and really feel it is nothing more than a classier version of a six flags with Mickey here and there. The rides here were breaking down also, which was disheartening again. If you have a fast pass and the ride breaks down by the way .. which seems to happen here a lot, they don't shut off the passes out so you can get another, so you are stuck. Please if you know a ride is shut down and had a FP for it, at the ride you wish to ride discuss this with the attendant and sometimes they can allow you 'fast pass" access to their ride in exchange. The lady running Soaring did go above and beyond and offer a second pass for all our "broken down ride" inconveniences which to me is spectacular Disney magic. I felt like a yo yo in this park..lol.

EVC and Assisted passes:

EVC is rented OUTSIDE the gates to the parks and can be used in either park but not in DTD. In DL the assisted pass allows you majority of the time through the exit right to the ride OR they will allow you through fast pass for a cut down wait time. At DCA, they make you take wheel chairs and EVCs through the rides and in most parts you will skip "parts" of the line. They load most of these at the exit anyways, so this doesn't make much sense to take up the line with a large EVC but it is what it is. IF you are getting a pass for a mentally challenged person with say severe anxiety, Autism, Deletions.. etc... I do not know for sure, but have an inkling that they may have a different pass for your situation. IF They don't have another type of situation available, then this park may need to be skipped because they will expect your child or person to be in line for sometimes an hour or so and this is not helpful to a person such as my son with a deletion, super ADHD, and a mix of other ailments including the physical.

Thanks to those of you that suggested Blue Bayou.. We thought the food was excellent and it was wonderful for an anniversary dinner!!!
**Carthay's at DL is a MUST! It was very delicious, pricey but awesome! Great dining with great seats for the show!
World of color was Beautiful!!! Not really over the top as Disney usually does.. but very nice! It seems that they are in a "memories" stage and are remembering their movies and such as Disney land's fireworks was themed much the same.. touching here and there which was very nice!!!

Thanks so much for reporting. I'm actually a little speechless, although it reminds me that we all have opinions that are to be valued and considered. I find your thoughts on DCA interesting, almost like I was reading a report from before the refurb. I'm sorry you had so many instances with broken down rides. I've never encountered it being that bad on my many trips there. And it's funny, the bit you mention about the paint, etc. is something I saw at WDW often. Never would I compare Disneyland to a Six Flags. Not even close! Sorry. :blush:

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Originally Posted by Melanie

Never would I compare Disneyland to a Six Flags. Not even close! Sorry. :blush:

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LOL... basically, if it doesn't meet what I see as Disney quality (which is pretty much most things..lol) then it goes on the same level as Six Flags... lol. Notice, I didn't compare actual DL with Six flags.. that could never happen.. they would have to take a nose dive and a half. I'm sorry if the review was harsh. I have a BIG opinion of what's Disney and what's not seeing as I have been to WDW all my life...:-).

PS... DCA may just grow on me. To be fair, I had a major life epiphany at this park about my health.. so I may have seen it more harshly, but my DH had the same "take it or leave it opinion" and he was the one that said "six flags alikeness" first...lol. I look forward to seeing what the rest of my WDW Vet family thinks when I take them!

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Originally Posted by Disney_pups2

I have a BIG opinion of what's Disney and what's not seeing as I have been to WDW all my life...:-).

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And, see, in my opinion, Disneyland is WAY more "Disney" than WDW. :mickey:

I kind of understand your "first impression" because you have WDW loyalty. That was me too, when I first visited Disneyland about 20 years ago. I hated it, frankly. But, that was before DCA was even built, and I remember my opinion being something along the lines of "Disneyland is so ghetto."

However, over time, I came to realize that Disneyland really is the one with all the magic. I spent almost 20 years living in CA, and the last 10 years I was living in very close proximity to Disneyland, so I went there about once a week.

These days, the entire DLR complex, to me, outshines practically everything about WDW. I still visit both places very regularly, but WDW is so much more corporate feeling, and Disneyland is more like a tightly knit family. I like how compact the resort is, and the CMs in my experience care much more about their jobs and the parks as a whole. There is a sense of pride that I feel is missing at WDW.

I have to wholeheartedly disagree with your assesment that Disneyland looks worse than WDW. I have found the complete opposite to be the case. You have to remember, Disneyland is almost 20 years older than MK, so naturally, some things might look a bit worn, but I find DL to be FAR cleaner and fresher looking than MK.

As to the rides being down, again, you're dealing with older rides, for the most part. Of course they will be down from time to time. There is certainly no shortage of ride breakdowns at WDW, so you have certainly just been very lucky if you've never experienced that. On practically every WDW trip I go on, the following rides break down consistently: Splash Mtn, Expedition Everest, Test Track, Big Thunder Mtn, Haunted Mansion, Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Primeval Whirl, Pirates of the Caribbean. I can go on. There are definitely rides at DL that break down frequently (CA Screamin, Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin). This is just the nature of theme parks in general...rides go down. To me, not a big deal.

Thanks for your report, and I hope you give Disneyland another chance in the future.

Oh, and just for kicks, have you BEEN to a Six Flags recently? We went to Hershey Park (I know, not Six Flags) last year, and man, that was so depressing. Made us REALLY miss Disneyland. :D

I understand BrerGnat. I think we do tend to lean towards where we were raised to go. I feel sorry for those that have never been treated to either :(. I have a 21 year old adopted son that has never been to either and I have told him that he hasn't seen a theme park for real until he sees a Disney. I wonder if your breakdowns were possibly handicap loads? These were obviously not as they either had to pull us all off the ride or they told us flat out they had to reboot the ride because it shut down. I understand it is older and I did not say this at all deters us from going back. We loved it matter of fact, I just didn't like DCA but know I will have to go back for the children. I am sure that it will grow on us over time. I also saw trash in the HM and other rides also, I had never seen that before in WDW either. Maybe times have simply changed, I'll find out soon enough as we are going to WDW sometime later this year. I will report honestly on that trip also. It is sad, but I do know that with lack of control on parent's parts, and just overall attitude changes across the world, these things are harder for them to keep clean and going properly. There are far more rule breakers these days and frankly they ruin everything and just cause more work for these poor overworked cast members. I love Disneyland for what it is, that is for sure! I was disappointed in the ride breakdowns however, that is no secret. And yes, all we have near us now is Six flags so I know them well. Ours is well maintained for the most part and clean. NOT near Disney Caliber however by no means. Please remember that this was more than one person's input on DCA, not just mine and they are not a Disney Lover like you and I therefore it was more of an honest answer I think that either of us would give! :blush: That said, we will try to revisit in the next year and a half. I am going to hopefully be doing WDW 2 times in the next year and hopefully a DL/DCA 1 time so I am looking at the Premier pass for myself. :-).

So funny. My comments are the complete reverse AND I too always went to WDW as someone that lives on the east coast. We even own DVC at WDW. I felt the magic at Disneyland the moment I entered Main Street.

Sorry the park wasn't for you.

Thanks for your report. We've been to Disneyland twice now and hope to return within the next couple of years. Big plusses for Disneyland are the ability to walk everywhere - it's so compact you can walk from resort to Downtown Disney to Disneyland to California Adventurs and back! There is special magic to be found at Disneyland!!

While it's been a few years since our last visit there, we had no issues with any of the problems you cite. Hopefully that has not changed.

I think Tony Baxter put it best when he described Disneyland as charming and Walt Disney World as spectacular. I appreciate and love Disneyland for being the original and having all the little extra magical things that Walt Disney World does not. I love Walt Disney World for the different variations on the original Disneyland concept and the scope and immense scale of it all. Can't complain or "side" with either in a "purest" fashion. I think those kind of ideas are just silly and I get kind of put-off by people who act like that.

I want to go to all the world's Disney Parks and I will enjoy each of them for the unique qualities that each wields. All parks are Disney and you can't go wrong with that. I also disagree (at this point) about what was said about DCA. Buena Vista Street is just beautiful and Cars Land is another work of art. The rest of the park isn't too bad and Paradise Pier has seen as much help as it can get without tearing it down, IMO. I like the attractions of Paradise Pier anyway.

Nothing has been overly substandard or "ordinary" quality at any Disney Park to date. I do agree with the seemingly "annoying" crowds that attend California's parks, though. They flock there whenever they are bored, making it terribly crowded and some "special" guests can be rowdy in attractions. Such as screaming loudly and with a certain shrillness in the Haunted Mansion just to blow out your ear drums and take away from enjoying the attraction. They also (at WDW too) enjoy throwing pieces of trash in rides like throwing empty water bottles in the grass on the outdoor porition of Splash Mountain. They can be very disrespectful (and I realize WDW is not devoid of this, it just seems to have more of a presence when at DLR).

ANYWAY! I agree with Mr. Baxter's method of thinking whole-heartedly. We're heading out west to Walt's park this August! :thumbsup: