How many days will you be in Anaheim? Two? Three? More?
You don't need to dedicate specific days to specific parks like you do at WDW. DCA is a five minute stroll from Disneyland. You can be at Indiana Jones in Adventureland at 1:30 PM and take a ten minute walk and be in DCA entering Soarin' Over California at 1:40 PM. The parks are very close to one another, with Downtown Disney sliding in between.
Be advised that Disneyland has many more rides than Magic Kingdom does and Disneyland will take up a big chunk of your time. I think three days is sufficient for both parks, even for a big Disney fan. Just use Fastpass and make good use of your time.
And don't miss the Disneyland exclusive attractions you won't find in Florida like Davy Crockett Canoes, Alice In Wonderland, Casey Jr. Circus Train, StorybookLand Canal Boats, Roger Rabbitt Car Toon Spin, Pinnochio's Daring Journey, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Sailing Ship Columbia, Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, Tarzan's Treehouse, Indiana Jones Adventure, Disneyland Railroad past Grand Canyon Diorama and Primeval World, Main Street Cinema, Big Thunder Ranch Petting Farm. Plus the exclusives at DCA like California Screamin', Mickey's Fun Wheel (amazing view from stationary gondolas), Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley To The Rescue, Animation Pavilion, Hyperion Theater Aladdin Show, and the four attractions in Flik's Fun Fair.
You'll also want to make sure to take in the Disneyland attractions that are noticeably and sometimes dramatically different (often the polite way to say "
better"
) than the versions in Florida, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, It's A Small World, Autopia, Innoventions, Disneyland Monorail, Space Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight and The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. DCA attractions in that category are Grizzly River Run and Tower of Terror.
The general consensus is that Disneyland's Splash Mountain is the one major attraction that is noticeably inferior to it's Florida cousin, as Disneyland has more animatronics but the pacing is much faster and it doesn't make as much sense as the slower Florida version. Big Thunder tends to be a draw as there are differences, but not huge. Star Tours at Disneyland is nearly identical to the Florida version, with only cosmetic differences in the queue. The same can be said for Midway Mania and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. MuppetVision, Soarin' Over California, and Tough To Be A Bug also fall into the identical-except-the-queue category in DCA. You might enjoy Soarin' more since it was designed for that park and the building it is in fits perfectly, rather than shoehorned into The Land pavilion five years later in Epcot.
I also hope you are going to take some time to explore the million other things Southern California has to offer. Disneyland is but one little gem amongst a million treasures found between Santa Barbara and San Diego. I hope you won't limit your SoCal stay to Disney property.
And are you visiting DCA as well?
