Living in Orlando I go to WDW more than a healthy number of times. Today was my first ever visit to Disneyland, and I just have some observations I'd like to share (if this is the right place).
1) Walking around a Magic-Kingdom park that isn't WDW Magic Kingdom was surreal. While the general location of the rides is similar, its not exact. I enjoyed the feeling of adventure/discovery and trying to figure my way around. Also, there's a smaller/more intimate feeling I came to appreciate about some sections of the park, such as Frontier Land and Fantasy Land.
2) Overall I much prefer WDW Tomorrowland to DL's. I didn't like the lack of rides/activity in DL's TW, and Space Mountain is sortof shoved in a corner of the land. From a ride perspective WDW's Space Mountain is superior; DL's Buzz Lightyear beats WDW's.
3) Paint the Night Parade: fantastic parade. Great soundtrack, very relevant use of Disney characters, creative costume design, and the lights are amazing. Would love to see this added to WDW. It pays homage to the Main Street Electrical Parade while keeping everything fresh.
4) As much as I love Wishes, the Disneyland Forever fireworks show is the fireworks show I've been dreaming of seeing at the Magic Kingdom. Watch a video online, you'll see why. I would love to see WDW retire Wishes and move in this sort of direction in the future.
5) The Haunted Mansion was decorated and the narration changed to reflect The Nightmare Before Christmas storyline. Not a big Nightmare Before Christmas fan but absolutely enjoyed the change in scenery. Again I would like to see WDW take this approach.
6) Single Rider lines were available at most attractions (including Soarin'). As somebody who typically does these things alone this was great for me. I was able to get most of the big attractions done within my first 5 hours on property, which meant more time to relax or re-ride if I so felt it. Amazingly I didn't see any 'abuse' of the single rider lines (where entire families get in the single rider line to bypass the stand-by line). Every single-rider line I waited in was less than 10 minutes long.
7) Cars Land is the best themed land I've ever set foot in. Radiator Springs Racers is the best attraction at DL, and is definitely a top-5 favorite Disney ride for me. If the same people who put this land together are taking care of Avatar, Star Wars, and Toy Story for us, then we're in good hands.
Anyway, very fun getting the change of scenery. I still love WDW more, but I really hope some of the fresh new things I saw at DL are in the works for us at WDW.
1) Walking around a Magic-Kingdom park that isn't WDW Magic Kingdom was surreal. While the general location of the rides is similar, its not exact. I enjoyed the feeling of adventure/discovery and trying to figure my way around. Also, there's a smaller/more intimate feeling I came to appreciate about some sections of the park, such as Frontier Land and Fantasy Land.
2) Overall I much prefer WDW Tomorrowland to DL's. I didn't like the lack of rides/activity in DL's TW, and Space Mountain is sortof shoved in a corner of the land. From a ride perspective WDW's Space Mountain is superior; DL's Buzz Lightyear beats WDW's.
3) Paint the Night Parade: fantastic parade. Great soundtrack, very relevant use of Disney characters, creative costume design, and the lights are amazing. Would love to see this added to WDW. It pays homage to the Main Street Electrical Parade while keeping everything fresh.
4) As much as I love Wishes, the Disneyland Forever fireworks show is the fireworks show I've been dreaming of seeing at the Magic Kingdom. Watch a video online, you'll see why. I would love to see WDW retire Wishes and move in this sort of direction in the future.
5) The Haunted Mansion was decorated and the narration changed to reflect The Nightmare Before Christmas storyline. Not a big Nightmare Before Christmas fan but absolutely enjoyed the change in scenery. Again I would like to see WDW take this approach.
6) Single Rider lines were available at most attractions (including Soarin'). As somebody who typically does these things alone this was great for me. I was able to get most of the big attractions done within my first 5 hours on property, which meant more time to relax or re-ride if I so felt it. Amazingly I didn't see any 'abuse' of the single rider lines (where entire families get in the single rider line to bypass the stand-by line). Every single-rider line I waited in was less than 10 minutes long.
7) Cars Land is the best themed land I've ever set foot in. Radiator Springs Racers is the best attraction at DL, and is definitely a top-5 favorite Disney ride for me. If the same people who put this land together are taking care of Avatar, Star Wars, and Toy Story for us, then we're in good hands.
Anyway, very fun getting the change of scenery. I still love WDW more, but I really hope some of the fresh new things I saw at DL are in the works for us at WDW.
