To a casual observer, Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida are so similar they’re difficult to tell apart. And even though Disney fans know there are some big differences between the two parks in terms of size, scale, and the particular attractions on offer, it’s surprising how much conventional wisdom doesn’t translate from one coast to the other. After all, two resorts run by the same company with a lot of the same attractions… how different can they be?
The answer is very different — and we’ve put together a list of four ways in which these seemingly similar resorts aren’t all that similar.
1. The challenges of getting around on different coasts
The size of the two resorts alone makes it obvious that you’ll need a very different strategy to get around: Disneyland Resort is 510 acres while Disney World Resort is about 27,000 acres — that’s 43 square miles, which makes Walt Disney World nearly the size of the city of San Francisco. If you’re getting around Disneyland, you don’t need much more than your feet to get from place to place… but at Disney World, you need to rely on a network of buses, boats, monorails, and taxis to get around (unless you have a car or rental). On top of that, you need to think about how long it will take you to get from place to place: you’ll want to reserve at least an hour to get from anywhere on the resort to anywhere else. By comparison, you could walk from the far end of Disneyland Park to the far end of California Adventure in less time than that.
And it’s probably for the best that Disneyland is so walkable, because the transportation system doesn’t really exist. Though Disneyland has its own monorail — which was actually the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere — it’s more of a ride than a transportation system, taking guests from Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland and back again. Though the monorail passes over Disney California Adventure Park, it doesn’t stop there… but even if it did, the only reason to wait twenty minutes (or more) for the monorail instead of walking for ten minutes to get to either park is because you enjoy riding the monorail.
2. Making reservations in advance (and more in advance)
At Disneyland, dining reservations can be booked 60 days in advance — at Disney World, that time window expands to 180 days, and for more popular restaurants you need to book that far out in order to get in. At Disneyland, a week’s notice will get you into just about anywhere, with same day availability often available with a moderate wait (depending on the restaurant and the time of day).
Getting to ride your favorite attractions is different, too. Disneyland operates on the old FastPass system where you show up on the day of your trip, head to the ride you’d most like to go on, and get a FastPass return time for later in the day — or, if the day’s FastPasses have already been distributed (which happens early in the day for some attractions, like Radiator Springs Racers), you can wait in line instead. Disney World’s FastPass+ system means you can make FastPass selections online 30 days before your trip — or 60 days before your trip if you’re staying at a resort hotel. Though you can still opt to wait in line if you don’t manage to snag a coveted FastPass+, Disney is currently testing eliminating the non-FastPass line entirely… but whether this trial will stick around is up to question.
Together, this makes Disneyland a quick trip that doesn’t require a lot of advance planning — while at Disney World it’s best to take the time to map out your agenda in advance. Though Disneyland has picked up some of Disney World’s more regimented systems over the years, it remains the more flexible of the two parks, which is in part a reflection of who visits. At Disneyland, you’ll find a lot of California residents — and annual passholders — making day trips without much advance planning, while at Disney World, you’ll find a lot more out-of-town tourists who are interested in mapping out their perfect vacation well in advance.
3. Where are your favorite rides?
There’s a lot of ride overlap between the two resorts, and no matter which coast you’re on, you’re likely to find many of your favorites represented. But some rides are missing, some rides are different, and some rides just aren’t where you’d expect them to be.
This is all the more confusing because some parts of the parks even look the same. Both the west coast California Adventure park and the east coast Hollywood Studios park have identically designed entrance gates (modeled after LA’s Pan-Pacific Auditorium). However if you head through the gates of Hollywood Studios looking for Soarin’, which is a staple of the California park, you’ll have to turn back and head for Epcot instead. And if you’re in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, you might expect to find the PeopleMover or the Carousel of Progress, both of which can be found in Disney World’s version of Tomorrowland. These seem like they ought to exist in Disneyland, because, after all, the PeopleMover tracks run over the walkway and the Carousel of Progress building is at the end of the street. However, the PeopleMover closed in 1995 (the tracks are currently unused) and the Carousel of Progress shut down in 1973 to move to Florida (though the building now houses a copy of Epcot’s Innoventions).
Beyond which rides are where, you’re likely to find that conventional ride wisdom from one park doesn’t take you far in the other. Even when the rides are the same, the rides that offer FastPasses or have long waits might not be. At Disneyland Resort, Toy Story Midway Mania and Peter Pan’s Flight — both rides that can also be found at Walt Disney World — have lengthy lines. But unlike Walt Disney World, neither attraction offers FastPasses, so you have to wait in a standby line if you want to ride. (Our recommendation for both: get to the parks early and head there first!) And some rides which you may be used to having to wait for might have no lines at all at the other park. Jungle Cruise is probably the best example of this: at Disney World, you’ll want a FastPass, but at Disneyland there’s rarely more than a 15 minute wait.
4. Should I stay on or off property?
At Disney World, paying extra to stay at a Disney-owned hotel or skipping the Disney perks and staying off-property can be a difficult choice to make. Staying at a Disney lets you take easy advantage of transportation — which, as we’ve already said, is a must to get around the large resort — and offers extended park hours, free MagicBands, the option to get a dining plan, and an extended window for making your FastPass+ reservations (60 days instead of 30). There are more than 25 hotels on Disney World property, each with its own unique theme and each in its own price range for visitors with different budgets. This isn’t to say that every Disney World visitor does or even should stay on property, but there are compelling reasons to consider it.
At Disneyland, however, there are fewer reasons to stay on property… and more reasons to stay off property. The biggest, perhaps, is that in this walking-friendly resort, two of the three Disney hotels are further away from the parks than off-property hotels. All of these hotels are priced in what would be considered the “deluxe” range at Disney World, which easily prices them out of some budgets. And on top of that, the perks are limited: though Disneyland hotel guests do have access to extra park hours, these are often fewer than are available at Disney World… and though the chance to get into California Adventure early can help you secure a coveted Radiator Springs Racers FastPass, how much money is that FastPass worth? A wide range of third-party hotels surround Disneyland Resort, and most of them beat Disney’s prices.
Walt Disney himself often regretted buying too little land for Disneyland, which allowed outside businesses to take up residence on all sides of resort property. Though it offers guests today the chance to stay in cheaper non-Disney lodgings, it’s a big reason why Disney bought so much property in Florida — letting Walt Disney World spread out, while Disneyland is locked into a comparably tiny parcel of land.
