I haven't been following the GOTG thread, but I'll play;
After riding the Disneyland Splash Mountain several times from 1989 to 1993, I had no idea that it was supposed to have a plotline until I rode the WDW version in 1994. Previously I thought it was just "Log Ride With Singing Chickens And Big Drop". The Disneyland version still fits that bill. Then in the 2000's I rode the Tokyo Disneyland version of Splash Mountain and realized not only is it supposed to have a plot, but it's also supposed to have proper maintenance. Who knew?
Tower of Terror at WDW looks really cool from the street that leads up to it. The DCA version looks like a lightly decorated warehouse building at the end of an un-themed side street in a theme park. No wonder they ripped it out in DCA.
Epcot Center is truly wonderful, even in its dumbed down and increasingly neglected state in the 2010's. But I still view it through rose tinted glasses of my first visit in 1987, when it was a triumphant tribute to American Free Enterprise and the brilliance of Imagineering. If it weren't for Epcot, I would have stopped visiting WDW many years ago. It's really the only reason for a West Coaster with a Disneyland AP to bother visiting WDW. The rest of non-Anaheim WDW offerings are a good zoo with bad to decent rides at DAK, and a Hollywood theme park with two pretty good rides Disneyland doesn't have at DHS. Neither DAK nor DHS are enough of an excuse to fly to Florida. But Epcot is.
Carousel of Progress should have been updated twice in the last 20 years, but it hasn't been. Embarrassing.
Most of the rest of the E Tickets at WDW in Magic Kingdom, DHS and DAK are weaker, shorter and cheaper looking than their Disneyland counterparts; Pirates, Small World, Space Mt., Thunder Mt., Grizzly, Indy, all of Fantasyland, etc., etc.
Cars Land and all its rides and stores and entertainment kicks behind, plain and simple. Carthay Circle Restaurant is unparalleled in the global theme park industry, not just the Disney theme park industry. The Blue Bayou from 1967 has never been matched, fifty years later. Disneyland entertainment, from small bands to major spectaculars, is lush and beautifully presented and finely crafted and routinely replaced and updated, and there's so much of it compared to the weaker WDW parks. SNOWFLAKE TRIGGER WARNING: There are far fewer overweight people in ECV's at Disneyland, nor people in tacky clothing, which makes for a nicer environment in Disneyland.
WDW has four parks, DLR has two parks but still has a half dozen more rides than all four WDW parks combined. How the heck does that happen after 45 years of operation out there except for gross mismanagement and cheap leadership?
There's also a vast cultural difference between Orlando locals and SoCal locals who are theme park fans. In Orlando, the only thing to do for entertainment is visit theme parks, the shopping malls attached to theme parks, the corporate restaurants attached to theme parks, the hotels attached to theme parks, or the nearby tourists traps just outside of theme parks. The video blogs on YouTube of Orlando area theme park fans are terrifying, in that the bloggers entire life seems to revolve around going to Disney or Universal properties and then wandering around and talking about them. In SoCal, where there is a huge wealth of cultural and natural entertainment offerings, Disneyland is just one beautifully crafted florrette of icing on the big cake of life. SoCal has mountains and desserts and beaches and a million or more cultural and entertainment offerings that a glamorous and affluent global capital like Greater Los Angeles offers.
Disneyland fans in SoCal seem to balance their fandom much better than Orlando fans do, who just keep going back to Disney Springs again to blog about the latest Darden Corporation food barn or the latest bathroom refurbishment in Fantasyland. It gets creepy.
