It’s six months before your trip to Walt Disney World. You are consumed by every little thing that absolutely has to be done in advance for your trip to be absolutely perfect.
Where are you going to stay and what is the closest transportation from your hotel to the parks? How long does the bus to Magic Kingdom normally take? What three FastPasses do I absolutely need? FastPasses went up an hour ago for the Avatar ride and they’re already gone; the wait is normally three hours so three hours it is.
This is supposed to be your vacation, but this is not calming.
A couple of friends and I drove to Disney World for spring break last week, and it was so fun, but I couldn’t help from thinking why did I have to do all of this? I mean seriously — you can’t even eat without making a reservation months in advance. I partially get it; I love to plan, but this kind of planning is crazy to a whole new level.
At the Disneyland Resort in California, you will have an actual vacation.The only thing you need to think about is buying tickets (which are usually $5 cheaper than Disney World at any given time) and booking a hotel room (where you can easily walk to the parks and kiss the bus goodbye).
Disneyland has two amusement parks compared to Disney World’s four amusement parks, but as far as moving attractions, Disneyland has 46 (split between two parks) and Disney World has 45 (split between the four parks). I did this math myself so if you want to check it, I counted every ride where you sit and it moves you. I left out any shows, parades and interactive playgrounds.
Imagine just walking into Disneyland and starting off on the same foot as everyone else. No one has early FastPasses or reservations to basic restaurants. You can go up to any ride you want, put your ticket in and get a FastPass out the old- fashioned way.
Disneyland is so much more efficient than Disney World. Realistically, it is all the same stuff but closer together with shorter lines. It would take you approximately three minutes to walk from one park to the other. Characters have the freedom to roam the parks all day, which makes the experience that much more magical. There’s no set places to meet them or any 20-minutes-on-40-minutes-off nonsense.
Hot take: California as a whole has much better weather than Florida. On any day, you can expect weather in the high 70s without humidity or rain. At Disney World, when you’re not watching the clouds to make sure it doesn’t rain, you’re drinking water like you’re running a marathon.
Let’s sum it up. Disneyland has better rides such as Indiana Jones Adventure, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout. Sure, the castle is smaller, but you can walk through it and inside of it any time of the day. Disneyland has Cars Land, which always feels like you are stepping right into the movie. Sure, there’s no Toy Story Land, but they’ve started work on a Marvel Comics area and Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is set to open May 31. In Florida, it won’t open until late August.
There’s no big golfball, massive tree or huge castle, but there’s something to be said about a place that produces just as much magic without having to be so showy. It’s also California, which means half of the magic is finding celebrities in the park. You most definitely will do if you look hard enough.
Disneyland is a one-day vacation. It is the kind of place where you go to take a day off work and leave everything behind. It’s Walt Disney’s original vision, and it’s better than Disney World.
