We find many people first think about visiting Disneyland California after several memorable and happy trips to Florida. They love the easily accessible Orland arks and think hey why not try and visit the “Other Disneyland”. However, this is where people run into difficulties as there are very few travel agents that are really serving the West Coast parks.
You really are kind of left to your own devices to plan and book a trip to Disneyland California, and most people are not aware JUST how different the two resorts are. This means people go about planning their Disneyland California trips in the same way they would for Florida, and that is a mistake. In this article, we look at how and why the two resorts are SO different and how you can go about planning your trip to the original Disneyland Park in California.
And remember, despite this being a “Versus” article, we are not comparing which park is better, simply showing you the practical and objective differences between the two parks. Mainly as a way to adjust your expectations of what visiting Disneyland California is really like.
Why Are They SO Different?
This is a really good question. For a company that has such a strong brand ethos, and attention to detail where the focus is on recreating the same thing over and over with incredible accuracy, which is the basis of animation really. It is kind of surprising to hear both parks are so incredibly different. We think most people expect a cookie-cutter experience simply with the only real difference being the location.
This is far from the truth and the whole nature and experience of visiting the parks is wildly different. But why? Really it’s just mainly down to the locations. Walt made a mistake when building Disneyland. He bought a plot of farmland big enough for his ideas but left the surrounding plots open to other bidders. This was in a remote part of Los Angeles and the land around was empty and cheap. Walt chose this plot however as he was advised the new Interstate 5 was about to come crashing through the area turning this sleepy farmland into a bustling metropolis. When this happened, the land was snapped up and prices rocketed, leaving the park City Locked, with very little opportunity for expansion.
When planning the second park, Walt wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so when he bought up some Swampland down in Florida he made sure he bought enough to cover ANY future dreams, aspirations, and expansions he could wish for, along with the opportunity to run the whole area the way he wanted and control ANY hotels and lodging in the immediate vicinity.
This simple difference has meant both parks have grown completely differently as time has gone on, making any visit to the resorts completely different, but there are a whole lot of similarities too. After all the essential DNA is the same.
Similarities
Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Park
The biggest similarity is the two main parks at both resorts. These are essentially the same, just with the Magic Kingdom being bigger, but the essential layout is pretty much the same. You enter both parks under the railway bridge, and into the main square, you then walk up Main Street and into the main plaza with the same Partners Statue and the Castle in front of you. This plaza has the same spoked pattern leading you off into the various lands, Adventure land, fantasyland, Tomorrowland, etc… infact the only real difference at this stage is the Castle.
Even though the sizes are pretty similar, we were quite shocked at this as we always felt Magic Kingdom was a lot larger than Disneyland, but the Main Square, Main Street, and the Central Plaza are all about the same size, and even the Disney Railroads that circle the parks only slightly different lengths.
There are certain dining experiences and attractions that are common across the parks and even subtle similarities such as the layout of the Starbucks on Main Street, and of course branding and merchandising remain constant across all parks, but these strong similes are where the likeness ends and the differences are so much more seismic it really can feel like it’s a totally different world altogether.
The Castles
Many focus on the castle as the main difference, but really, that is a drop in the ocean. Yes, the castles are hugely different, but also the same. they are located in the same spot and serve largely the same purpose. California’s is a lot smaller and less grandiose, and, for many, they are initially very disappointed. The Disney castle is at the beginning of every Movie and you really expect something towering and grand, and while the Cinderella Castle in Floridas absolutely fits the bill, the Sleeping Beaty Castle in Anaheim… can come across as a little …well…s**t.
Now we really say this with love. The Sleeping Beauty Castle was built in a different time, and with a very limited budget, and it’s Walt’s own personal creation so we hate to speak badly of it. And infact we will defend it to the death, but there is no denying that on first impressions, especially if you have seen the Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, that it’s pretty underwhelming. It has its own charm, and we love the fact it’s just the original castle from opening day, we have, with time, totally fallen in love with it. But those first few times…well, yeah.
But the point of this is, that it’s just a castle, they both have one and they both serve the same purpose, so despite looking very different, this actually isn’t really a difference at all.
Size
The biggest difference between the two resorts is the Size. There is no denying this, the Florida Resort is, erm, big. The whole site is 39 square miles. That’s larger than the island of Manhattan. It has 77,000 employees and a theoretical capacity of 330,000 guests, these numbers don’t really sink in though until you are there and you can see firsthand just how colossal it is. As we said the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland California, are pretty similar in size, but that is just that actual park. In front of Magic Kingdom is a lake, surrounded by hotels, nearly twice the size of the park, and then a parking lot nearly as big as the park itself. As we move out, there is another lake, bigger still vast wilderness areas, more hotels, 3 golf courses, the huge wilderness lodge, villa complexes, and even a Freeway…and this is just the Magic Kingdom Area..there are 3 more parks, many more hotels, two water parks, and even a vast safari park. It has its own transport network, police force, and sewage system. It’s basically a self-contained city devoted entirely to Disney…and Disneyland… isn’t.
It is much much more compact. If we are talking pure size, then it’s a minuscule 0.15 Square Miles, yep just up above we said Disney World is 39 Square miles, so 260 times smaller! The difference in size is unbelievable and it’s really hard for people used to the colossal Florida campus it really get to grips with it. But bigger is not necessarily better. We use the word compact intentionally here, as what Disney has done with this tiny footprint is insane!
The tiny footprint is home to two theme parks, three hotels, Downtown Disney, and even a host of parking lots, all in what is only a 4×3 block radius. The parks are packed with rides and attractions and navigating these is made SO much easier as everything is within walking distance. You can literally stroll from your hotel to the parks, explore both parks all day, head back to the hotel for an afternoon rest, and then back in the parks for the evening, You can’t always do this at Disney World as the time taken to get and from a hotel to a park is just too long, it can be over an hour and that’s staying in a Disney Hotel.
So while the Size is a huge difference it’s not clear cut that Disney World Wins, as the little pocket rocket just packs so much in!
Quantity
Again, there is no doubt there are more rides and attractions at the Larger Disney World resort. There are 4 parks and two water parks, you are just not going to get the same amount of rides in the two-park Disneyland. But honestly, the California Resort gives it a good go and some of the best Disney rides appear at both locations.
Due to the smaller footprint, Disneyland is not really able to house many big roller coasters, so there is no Expedition Everest or Rock ‘N’ Roller coaster. It lacks a Pandora (for now) so misses out on one of Disney’s best rides Flight of Passage, while Tron and Gaurdian Cosmic Rewind are still on California’s wish list. But really as far as top rides go that’s about all that’s missing.
How they squeezed in a Galaxys Edge is beyond us, but they did, there is a Tower Of Terror (now Guardian of The Galaxy), the Cars Themed Radiator Springs Racers is basically Test Track only 100 times better, there is a Soarin’ and pretty much all of Magic Kingdom and Disneylands rides are the same (just there is the seven dwarfs mine train at Florida, but loses out on Matterhoorm Bobslerds, Nemos Undersea Sumarine Voayage, and several older classic rides) It’s really quite an achievement.
Due to Florida’s excess space, the rides are just more spread out across the various parks, whereas California just feels more dense.
Time Scales
These last two differences are more notable due to the effect they have on visit times. Disney World is a Holiday, 2 weeks is considered a basic amount of time to Visit the Resort, with many people opting for longer trips just so they can take more in and get out of Disney to see other parts of Florida. However, we rarely spend more than 2 days in the Disney Parks.
The amount you can pack in a do in Disneyland compared to Disney World is staggering. We often read trip reports from Florida goers claiming to have had amazing days at a park where they managed to get in 4-5 rides including most of the big rides in any given park. True enough, that is a good haul in the Florida Parks, but if we don’t get 15+ rides a day over in California we have seriously been sandbagging (which does happen, sometimes we just get stuck on Sonoma Terrace with a bottle of wine…)!
With everything so close and clustered together you really can smash ut the rides at the smaller Disneyland park. It’s really the way the parks have evolved. Disneyland is a Themepark, a place to visit, to fall into a fantasyland, and then leave. Disney World is a vacation destination, you are meant to go there and spend your whole trip in the Florida Bubble.
Orlando Bubble
Once you have touched down at the airport, your whole trip is really planned for you. You might think you are in control, but it’s all been pre-sighted and ready for you to just follow along. You will likely get some kind of airport transportation, (although may get hire cars too), and head over to your specific Dinsey/Themepark Orineted hotel, even if it’s not a Disney property, it only exists to serve visitors to these parks. You will follow the specific highways constructed just to get you into the arks, or use Disney’s OWN transportation network, you will eat the food Dinsey has provided, ride the rides in the way the parks laid out or the app steers you towards, you will see the same sights, take the pre-planned photos, and then leave back to your specific hotels ready to do it all again.
It’s all very self-contained. You are not really in a real place, it’s all just Disney and even the bits that aren’t are still constructed just for the purpose of serving the gusts of Disneyworld and the other parks. If the parks were not there, it would all just be SWAMP!
While your time in Disneyland will be much the same it’s the time out of the parks that will be more varied and more “REAL”
Disney Hotels
Both Parks have a selection if Disney Hotels, but they are vastly different in the way they let you experience the parks.
There are huge advantages to staying in a Disney hotel at Disney World. Not only the various perks you get for being a guest such as Early Entry and Early access to Fastpass and Dining options, but you are also inside the Disney Bubble, which is another bubble inside the Orlando Bubble. The only hotels in the Dsiney Resort area are Dsiney-owned, meaning 3rd part hotels are all further from the parks. Being in the Disney Bubble means you will have direct transport options to the various parks. Certain hotels have better links to certain parks, but essentially now have great links to all parks as the resort is just so huge.
The Disneyland Hotels are very different. There are fewer direct perks and the advantage of being closer is lost as Disney does not have control over Hotels right outside the park gates. This means you can stay in a much cheaper, higher-class hotel and still have all the benefits of being right by the gates. We scarcely stay in Disney properties in California, whereas at Disney World we see it as pretty much essential.
Packages
This is where the biggest difference for UK visitors comes in. There are a multitude of companies selling packages to Disney World from the UK. They will provide flights, hotels, tickets, even Disney dining, and car hire, and transport. It’s almost like an all-inclusive with every aspect taken care of. These same guests then think about trying California and there is basically nothing.
You are completely left to fend for yourselves, Sure you can book flights, and there are loads of hotel booking sites, but who knows what the hotels are like…and what are you going to do in Anaheim once you have done all the Disney Stuff…Disneyland’s longest ticket is only days! It’s a world away from the simple easy package trips to Florida.
Which is where we can help. We have put together years’ worth of California Trips and know from hard-learned experience all the best places to see and things to do in the Golden State. Click the Contact Us button so we can look to put together the perfect Disneyland trip from the UK. We can help you plan your flight, and hotels and find all the best things to see and do. There is so much to see and do and asking us for a proposal is totally free, so what have you got to lose, contact us today so we can take the stress out of planning your trip.
California vs Florida
And with this final category, we get to Disneyland California’s trump card…it’s in California. As we said inside the Orlando Bubble all your wants and needs are taken care of, you never need even leave the Themepark area, and that’s a good thing, as there isn’t much out there but SWAMP. In contrast, California really is the promised land.
From the bustling cities of San Francisco, LA, and San Diego, to the smaller towns of Napa, Monterey, and La Jolla, it’s a State of contrast. Towering redwoods, scored Joshua Trees, towering mountains and rolling plains, farmland, endless metropolises, incredible wildlife, and soaring skyscrapers. Drive 100 miles in Florida and you will go from swampland to more swampland. Drive it in Cali and the landscape can change 4 or 5 times. It really is one of our favorite places in the world and we would love to give you the chance to fall in love too.
And all the best trips to California include a little bit of Disney thrown in for good measure!
Weather
As a final difference, we should also mention the weather, and this is another clincher for California. Mild and sunny winters and warm and sunny summers offer perfect themepark visiting conditions. Months can go by without rain, and there is very little in the way of extreme weather events. Contrast that with Florida. It’s going to be hot and humid…in the winter, and scorching hot and disgustingly humid in the Summer, when it’s not tipping it down due to thunderstorms…and those are the good times, July to October is Hurricane season and just watching the news at the minute should tell you all you need to know about those in Flidoa in present-day conditions.
Overall
Really there are huge differences between the overall experiences between the two. We still think trying to pick a winner is pointless as both have their pro’s and con’s and suit different kinds of audinaces and travellers.
If you are coming from the UK then California is more geared up for those with an adventurous spirit. For a 3 or 4-day trip to Disneyland, the 11-hour flight is just too much and it’s imperative you are planning a trip to see the wider area. For Florida you really can just be heading to the theme parks, there is stuff to see outside the bubble, with the everglades, Miami, and the Keys all within striking distance, but it’s more up to you if the trip is 100% Disney or a mixture of both. Where as with Disneyland California, it’s definitely more of a case that Disney just be a small part of the trip. But luckily there are endless possibilities outside of Anaheim, you just need to go looking!
