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Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2017
We are Canadians who frequent WDW three times per year and finally made the trip out to the West Coast to enjoy Disneyland during the last week of June.
Overall we really enjoyed the trip and below are some of our initial thoughts:
Overall we really enjoyed the trip and below are some of our initial thoughts:
- Disneyland and California Adventure are beautiful parks! They are far easier to manage on a day to day basis than WDW, have more rides, better theming (except for maybe Animal Kingdom) and seem more cohesive in how the parks are laid out.
- The food is far better in Disneyland and California adventure than what is offered at WDW. We dislike most of the quick service offerings at WDW and typically HAVE to schedule sitedown restaurants in order to have something decent to eat but that is not the case at Disneyland. The quick service options such as Bengal Barbecue were awesome. Access to fresh food and fruits was fantastic as well and the sheer number of food offerings within each park blow WDW away.
- Most versions of rides within Disneyland were superior to that of WDW whenever they were duplicated. My family loved Hyperspace Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion etc. all better at Disneyland. The outlier to this was Indiana Jones - we all felt that Dinosaur was more cohesive and enjoyable (unpopular opinion, we know).
- With all the above stated, there was just something "missing" from our vacation at Disneyland. We stayed for the first 2 nights at the Westin and then spent 3 nights at the Disneyland Hotel to experience "the bubble" as best as possible but overall, these resorts / hotels were just not relaxing in the way most deluxe resorts are at WDW. Having to constantly trek through Downtown Disney was a bother that got old real fast once you had already shopped in a number of stores. There was no sense of escape or calm once you left the parks and we found really missed that element in comparison to WDW. As DVC members we typically stay at The Polynesian, The Riviera, Beach Club or Boardwalk during our WDW vacations and each has a proper resort feel that the Disneyland Hotel just can't match. The pools at the Disneyland Hotel are too small, have nowhere near enough pool seating and the whole place just feels so crowded.
- Perhaps our most controversial take? We all prefer Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at The Poly to Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel. There is just more energy and life at the WDW version and I prefer the drinks there as well (love the Nautilus).