In Defense of Florida's "It's a Small World"

[Mr. Sullivan]

I don't see why people keep claiming that the Magic Kingdom has the inferior version of everything.

Well I mean it does for the most part. And I think it’s been a problem since the very day the park opened.

I am a WDW “local” in the sense that of my dozen or so trips to a Disney resort all but one has been to WDW so I don’t say any of this from a DL or TDL or whatever bias. I am a WDW guy in my very soul.

When I visited DL for the first time, I was alerted to how behind MK’s versions of shared attractions were to their DL counterparts. DL’s are better designed, maintained, and feel far more complete. The only shared attraction I think is genuinely better at MK is Haunted Mansion.

Magic Kingdom excels in the areas in which it is unique and not presenting another version of an already existing thing. And that is why I believe the current Magic Kingdom projects are such a win for the park: it is Disney finally expanding on what works about Magic Kingdom (it’s vastness and potential to hold such a uniquely definable identity with unique attractions, unique environments, and unique emotions) rather than what doesn’t (it’s attempts at presenting a version of something that comes from somewhere else).

 

[HMF]

Doesn't Disneyland still have the rainforest scene?

It does, It was moved from it's original location which became an America Scene and shoved into the corner of the Oceana scene.

 

[Brer Panther]

Well I mean it does for the most part. And I think it’s been a problem since the very day the park opened.

Really? So NONE of our versions of the attractions on both coasts are as good or superior to Disneyland's?

 

[KDM31091]

I don't see why people keep claiming that the Magic Kingdom has the inferior version of everything.

Honestly, I think DL is superior other than the Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, and Country Bears, which simply do not exist there. But most if not all of the attractions they share with WDW are either roughly the same or better at DL. at least IMO. Disneyland is smaller than MK yet has considerably more attractions. It is a better park on the whole to me when compared to MK, again besides the few glaring missing attractions.

As far as Small World the facade is much more impressive at Disneyland, but I think the MK version is better in that it doesn't feel like you're sitting in a log flume ride as much.

 

[jah4955]

Honestly, I think DL is superior other than the Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, and Country Bears, which simply do not exist there. But most if not all of the attractions they share with WDW are either roughly the same or better at DL. at least IMO. Disneyland is smaller than MK yet has considerably more attractions. It is a better park on the whole to me when compared to MK, again besides the few glaring missing attractions.

As far as Small World the facade is much more impressive at Disneyland, but I think the MK version is better in that it doesn't feel like you're sitting in a log flume ride as much.

I've been trying to remember/find this WDW guide book from circa 1990/1 (not Birnbaum) that not only rated every Magic Kingdom attraction for each age group, but also had a section "side-by-side" comparing every Magic Kingdom attraction to the Disneyland counterpart (this was when Magic Kingdom had more attractions than it does today (& it had many of the same attractions Disneyland alone has today). From what I remember, it was pretty evenly distributed in 3 different ways: Better at Disneyland, Better at Magic Kingdom, or essentially the same. The only one I particularly remember was they said Pirates was "vastly" better at Disneyland.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Honestly, I think DL is superior other than the Peoplemover, Carousel of Progress, and Country Bears, which simply do not exist there. But most if not all of the attractions they share with WDW are either roughly the same or better at DL. at least IMO. Disneyland is smaller than MK yet has considerably more attractions. It is a better park on the whole to me when compared to MK, again besides the few glaring missing attractions.

As far as Small World the facade is much more impressive at Disneyland, but I think the MK version is better in that it doesn't feel like you're sitting in a log flume ride as much.

Jungle cruise, haunted mansion, winnie the pooh, mickeys phillarmagic are a few off the top of my head that are better at MK.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I've been trying to remember/find this WDW guide book from circa 1990/1 (not Birnbaum) that not only rated every Magic Kingdom attraction for each age group, but also had a section "side-by-side" comparing every Magic Kingdom attraction to the Disneyland counterpart (this was when Magic Kingdom had more attractions than it does today (& it had many of the same attractions Disneyland alone has today).

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland had such a chart many years ago

 

[UNCgolf]

Well I mean it does for the most part. And I think it’s been a problem since the very day the park opened.

I am a WDW “local” in the sense that of my dozen or so trips to a Disney resort all but one has been to WDW so I don’t say any of this from a DL or TDL or whatever bias. I am a WDW guy in my very soul.

When I visited DL for the first time, I was alerted to how behind MK’s versions of shared attractions were to their DL counterparts. DL’s are better designed, maintained, and feel far more complete. The only shared attraction I think is genuinely better at MK is Haunted Mansion.

Magic Kingdom excels in the areas in which it is unique and not presenting another version of an already existing thing. And that is why I believe the current Magic Kingdom projects are such a win for the park: it is Disney finally expanding on what works about Magic Kingdom (it’s vastness and potential to hold such a uniquely definable identity with unique attractions, unique environments, and unique emotions) rather than what doesn’t (it’s attempts at presenting a version of something that comes from somewhere else).

The WDW version of Splash was better than the DL version, but seems like the DL version of Tiana is better. WDW also had 20k, which I think is generally considered superior to Disneyland's Submarine Voyage, although I'm not sure about that.

 

[HMF]

The WDW version of Splash was better than the DL version, but seems like the DL version of Tiana is better.

That's probably because Tiana's was being designed specifically for Disneyland. After the George Floyd protests WDI was pressured to shoehorn it into Florida too. Because of how quick it was forced on them they probably weren't given enough time to make design modifications to make it fit better in Florida. Thus why the Florida version has all that dead space whereas the much more space-conscious Disneyland version works better with the overall staging.

 

[jah4955]

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland had such a chart many years ago

You're GOOD....Found it (the earliest I could find is 1996)! Having re-read it, I'm reminded this was one person's opinion...

 

[networkpro]

The WDW version of Splash was better than the DL version, but seems like the DL version of Tiana is better. WDW also had 20k, which I think is generally considered superior to Disneyland's Submarine Voyage, although I'm not sure about that.

Just on track length and duration , what's now Tiana is 5 minutes long in DL and 9 in WDW, while for Small World its reversed with WDW 10 minutes long and DL 14.

There's a large difference when the same show scenes/elements are contiguous vs spread out resulting in gaps and a slowing of pace.