I was just wondering what the difference between Disneyland and Disney World is? ; I know they are on opposite coasts, but do they have the same rides/parks, etc?
I have been to both parks and find that Disneyland is almost a mini version of Magic Kingdom DW. I went to Disneyland first, which helped because then DW was much more of a wonderful surprise. Don't get me wrong though - I did love Disneyland as well.
Disneyland has two parks and downtown disney: ; The magic kingdom and California adventure. ; It is much smaller with the advantage of being able to get a hotel close to the park and not having to stay in one of the expensive Disney resorts. ; Disneyworld on the other hand has The magic Kingdom, epcot, the animal kingdom, MGM studios, 2 water parks, and a whole lot of hotels. ; I haven't yet been to the California Adventure park but will be going this year to see what it is like.
I haven't been to Disneyland, but I did find an article that might help. Disney Land has better rides and a bigger park. Tomorrow Land in Disney World was tiny. Disney World makes you scan your fingers before you enter. This might not seem like a big deal but it slows down the line a lot. Disney Land is right next door to California Adventure and Downtown Disney. Disney World is spread out between Downtown Disney, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and MGM. MGM vs California Adventure. Both have a great rollercoaster ride but the longer one is in California. Also the shows in California seemed better over all. Add that to the ability to walk next door to Disney Land and California Adventure wins. Animal Kingdom vs San Diego Zoo. This one is a blow out. San Diego Zoo is by far the more educational and generally fun experience. The San Diego Zoo over all is massive. While it does not have the cool ride Everest like Animal Kingdom does it still has more overall things to see. However, if you do go to Animal Kingdom check out Everest and the Lion King Show. Both are very fun. One area that the Disney World theme parks win at is number of people or lack there of people. In Florida we never had a problem with too many people at any area of the park. Now I have been to both FL and Cali at the same time of year and can tell you Cali is more packed. Also Florida has Epcot and although it is not the most entertaining for youngsters it is very fun for people who want to experience other lands in its many different countries. In Japan at Epcot they had a entire section devoted to Anime.
DL was where Walt started it all - but he wanted to grow, and ran outta land. ; He went to Florida and started buying up parcels of swamp land without using his real name. ; So, WDW is the dream he had for DL realized. DL is small - 2 parks vs. 4. DL is much smaller scale (castle is tiny compared to WDW). ; Many of similar rides. ; Same Disney feel - but on a much smaller scale. You have to remember how large WDW is - 47 square miles of theme parks, recreation, etc. etc. ; Disney itself has 2 dozen onsite resort hotels in Florida - DL has, what, 3? ; (Of course, good neighbour hotels seem to be more prominent in folks' minds because of that at DL.) One thing most people don't appreciate is that the actual dining plans are very different between DL and WDW. ; If you know the WDW one, don't expect the DL one to run the same way at all.
