WDW vs. Disneyland

[culturenthrills]

I don't think Al's article was negative. I think all of his criticisms were dead on. I have been going to WDW for over 20 years and the upkeep of the parks is nowhere near what it used to be esp. at the MK. It is ridiculous that they have let MK get into the condition it is in. You look at DL and all the updates they have gotten over the last few years and the park just feels so alive. The entertainment is way above Mk and all of the entertainment doesn't stop at 5pm which seems to be the case at MK. I think they are improving Epcot but it and the other parks should never have been allowed to fall into the condition they are in now. I think DAK has a pretty coherent vision and that is because you have an imagineer, Joe Rhode, who is charge of that overall vision. I think if each park had an imagineer who was responsible for the overall vision of each park then maybe that would help.

 

[Tim G]

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by CoffeeJedi
I personally believe that Disneyland itself is slightly superior to The Magic Kingdom for a variety of reasons.
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I agree with you there.

I second that...

 

[culturenthrills]

That said, other than the fact that Fantasmic uses 2 "real" ships at DL instead of the fake barges used at MGM, I like Fantasmic in Florida better.

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but Fantasmic at DL blows MGM's half-assed attempt at the show. Peter Pan and the Columbia sequence completely blow away the lame Pocahontas sequence. You are much closer to the action, you don't have to get their an hour before the show to get a good spot, the show doesn't overuse the water screens. I am sorry but Florida's pales in comparison to the original at DL.

 

[NadieMasK2]

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but Fantasmic at DL blows MGM's half-assed attempt at the show. Peter Pan and the Columbia sequence completely blow away the lame Pocahontas sequence. You are much closer to the action, you don't have to get their an hour before the show to get a good spot, the show doesn't overuse the water screens. I am sorry but Florida's pales in comparison to the original at DL.

I agree with you on that. I love both versions but DL's is superior.

 

[kcnole]

Don't listen to him.( Al Lutz).He is a nobody. All he has are opinions and his alone. NOt any more valid than yours or mine. He has nothing to do with the disney corp. He just has a web site, he isnt a journalist, he just has a web site that entitles him to write his opinion of things, Thats all there is to him.

While I'm not a huge fan of Al's articles about WDW as many of them are ignorant I do have to admit that he has a ton of sources within Disneyland. He's broken several stories of major import long before everyone within the disney corporation even knew about them (aka the tom sawyer refurb). He's not just a man with a website, he's that, but like it or not, he does have some very deep sources.

 

[darthjohnny]

Hey, at least we don't have that eyesore DCA...like John Hench said "I liked it better as a parking lot."

Why do people say DCA is an eyesore. It is a great park, beautifully designed. I wish we had one like that here at WDW.

I do think Al Lutz went a little overboard with the review. Although I do agree the Haunted Mansion needs a little improvement with audio, I think sometimes people do exagerate the condition it is in. At least Disney did fix the hanging body in the stretching room so you are able to see it again.

 

[LoriMistress]

Personally, I like WDW better because there's more parks, the land is Disney property, and you feel more emerge in the "Disney Magic." I was raised going to DLR. The CM there are rude (from what I've noticed), when you exit the parks your surrounded by restraunts and motels, and the park is smaller. But DLR has certain rides that WDW doesn't.

 

[darthjohnny]

Personally, I like WDW better because there's more parks, the land is Disney property, and you feel more emerge in the "Disney Magic." I was raised going to DLR. The CM there are rude (from what I've noticed), when you exit the parks your surrounded by restraunts and motels, and the park is smaller. But DLR has certain rides that WDW doesn't.

In my opinion, I've found the WDW castmembers very rude. When I went a year or so ago, all the castmembers in DCA and Disneyland so polite and willing to help.

 

[mousermerf]

Why do people say DCA is an eyesore. It is a great park, beautifully designed. I wish we had one like that here at WDW.

I hope the smiley means you're kidding, cuz DCA, as much as I tried to like it tends to be downright garrish in places and just not pretty in others.

 

[darthjohnny]

I hope the smiley means you're kidding, cuz DCA, as much as I tried to like it tends to be downright garrish in places and just not pretty in others.

No I wasn't kidding.

 

[imagineer boy]

I'm kinda half and half on DCA. It had some good themeing in some parts ( like the Golden State, bugs land, and Wharf area ), but in other parts it was just confusing, unexciting or just flat out bad ( Hollywood pictures backlot, Paradise Peir, Bountiful farm ). But the main problem of the park was that there wasn't anything that appealed to me. The Paradise Peir rides either looked too intense or too unexciting. The bugs land rides were too kiddy for my tastes, and Golden Dreams sounded like a snooze fest. The only rides that only appealed to me that I liked were Soarin' over CA, GRR, Animation, Muppets, and ITTBAB.

 

[Skippy2000]

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but Fantasmic at DL blows MGM's half-assed attempt at the show. Peter Pan and the Columbia sequence completely blow away the lame Pocahontas sequence. You are much closer to the action, you don't have to get their an hour before the show to get a good spot, the show doesn't overuse the water screens. I am sorry but Florida's pales in comparison to the original at DL.

Trust me, I WANTED to like DL's version better based on everything I'd read - we even sprang for the big bucks for reserved seating in the Disney Gallery. Result? We were held in a closed-in upstairs courtyard - with no view - longer than I've every had to wait on the benches in Florida. When we were finally let onto the Gallery's balcony, even above the heads of all those who had to stand below for what seemed like a LONG time, it just seemed to me that the show had a kind of "hemmed-in" aspect to it that we haven't experienced in Florida. Yeah, the 2 ships at DL were great. I guess we were disappointed in the Gallery experience. I couldn't recommend that to anyone, not worth it.

 

[utrythinkinof1]

I've never been to Disneyland but I looked it up on Google maps and I switched it to satelitte and the resort is surrounded by other neighborhoods, from the looks of it. The monorail track was right next to a normal road and you could probably office buildings from there....does anyone know if this is true? If this is the case, WDW all the way.

 

[danzingcutie12]

that is very true, but how can you put something in second place for something that Walt Disney has actually walked and lived in??

 

[Victor]

Why do people say DCA is an eyesore. It is a great park, beautifully designed. I wish we had one like that here at WDW.

Now don't take any offense, because I know not to mess with a sith lord, but you honestly think DCA holds a candle to any of the WDW parks!? :lookaroun Like I've said, I'll give you DL over MK...but come on, if MGM was designed over the weekend, DCA was designed in an hour.

 

[darthjohnny]

Now don't take any offense, because I know not to mess with a sith lord, but you honestly think DCA holds a candle to any of the WDW parks!? :lookaroun Like I've said, I'll give you DL over MK...but come on, if MGM was designed over the weekend, DCA was designed in an hour.

I'm not saying anything about which park is better than which, but I do like DCA, and I don't quite understand why it is under so much scrutiny by everyone.

And you were right not to mess with the dark side of the force. :fork: :lol:

 

[kag1984]

After living in Orlando for almost 4 years I finally took a trip to Disneyland, after not having been there for nearly 7 years. Some things are much better at Disneyland and some are much better at WDW. The quality of attractions at DL I feel are far superior to most everything at the MK. Although I must say that I hated iasw at DL, I did not like the flume aspect and being able to see the trench we were riding in... I thought it looked very cheep and thrown together, but after MK's huge refurbishment it is a tough ride to compete against. Haunted Mansion Holiday was fantastic! Although after hearing about this floating Madame Leota head I was disappointed to see that it was actually just like the one in Orlando, but with a new recording for the overlay. And that graveyard scene in the overlay just blew my mind. Indiana Jones is fantastic no doubt. The placement of BTM threw me off completely, and Splash was really bad, it went way to fast to get immersed in the story... if there even was one. Tomorrowland looks much better after the repaint... but I am still a huge fan of ours with the classic white, still having the rockets on the roof top, and the TTA. I appreciate so much having the wide open spaces in the walk ways at MK. After visiting DL I was so thankful that I do not have kids because the stroller situation is far worse there and if I had to deal with one of those I think I would have left the kid in the hotel while I went out by myself. haha. And after riding the POTC they had a much better refurbishment, but I was suprised at how similar the two attractions actually are... really the only difference is the length of the cavern scene in the begining. DL is much longer and they have a treasure room scene that is missing from MK, but other than that they are basically the same. Although having that extra room does seem to give it a much more in-depth feel to the attraction. Space Mountain... I will not ride the MK version again until it get's an overhaul like they got in DL... there's just no point... unless I want to make myself cry because I will be so depressed because I know what I'm missing.

As for DCA I must say that I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. But I went in there with very low expectations so that is not saying a whole lot. I loved Paradise Pier and thought it was beautifully done... especially from across the lake, and I have never been so afraid on a Ferris Wheel in my entire life, I lost my voice after riding that thing. I just had to do it again the next day though. I know I'm going to commit major sacrilidge here but I think I even enjoyed TOT at DCA more than the MGM version. I like how it pulled you away from the elevator doors in the begining and brought you back to them at the end, I thought that was a very cohesive element to the ride (I can't stand the big screen tv's sitting in the basement of the MGM show). And I liked the new effects in the mirror where everybody disappears that was wicked awesome. Monsters Inc was cute but nothing to write home about. And I thought that the space taken up by GRR was a bit much... it seemed to take up the entire right side of the park, and everything else was kind of mashed off to the left.

For an overall comparisson of both parks the line cutting in the DLR was absolutely ridiculous, there were groups of 5+ people that would cut their way to the front of the line and that is something I have never experienced in WDW. The quick service in DCA was the slowest I had ever seen. It took us 20 min to place an order and another 30 to get the food. The entertainment at DLR blows WDW out of the water, but they have the whole Hollywood thing to pull in higher quality talent from around the country... aspiring actors and all. DLR was also much better at getting people to smoke in designated areas. I don't think I ever saw anybody smoking on the walkways or anywhere they weren't supposed to. That was really nice.

And finally DTD as DLR is so amazingly beautiful it makes ours look pathetic, and their selection of shops is just fantastic. OK I think that was long enough.

 

[Enderikari]

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but Fantasmic at DL blows MGM's half-assed attempt at the show. Peter Pan and the Columbia sequence completely blow away the lame Pocahontas sequence. You are much closer to the action, you don't have to get their an hour before the show to get a good spot, the show doesn't overuse the water screens. I am sorry but Florida's pales in comparison to the original at DL.

Well, if everyone is entitled, then I will throw mine out there.... You have got to be kidding me.... DL's Fantasmic better than MGM studios?
Not getting there an hour beforehand? Do you not go to DL on Weekends? (when they primarily show the nightime spectacular) The place is packed to the gills with folks to the point of being dangerously crowded. People aren't sitting down because there is simply no way to get over there, thanks to smaller pathways, and inefficient park planning.

Don't get me wrong, I like the show at DL, but absolutely better than WDW's? Shenanigans, I say! Disney-MGM studios version is better than DL after one simple word.... benches...

The differences in the show (with the exception of the Columbia and the Mark Twain, which are pretty awesome) are skewed heavily towards MGM... The "Pink Elephants" sequence makes NO SENSE, especially in the context, unless they are trying to imply that Mickey is getting drunk while imagining (which spurns that scene in Dumbo), and personally(since I am entitled to my opinion) the nature scenes combined with the best of Disney Moments blows the Cardboard Pinocchio and Rope Light strings off of the stage.

Pocahontas vs. Peter Pan is a value judgement, but I tend to lean towards the Columbia sequence... of course I refuse to discount the stunts and excitement in Pocahonts. They are working their tails off for that scene, and the cannon blast really wakes up the audience.

And, at the end of the show, how do parents explain why Mickey is standing on top of that tar-paper shack? The mountain built for Fantasmic is much more majestic, and taller, and useful, and makes more sense, then using simply what they had and making do.

 

[darthjohnny]

Can someone explain to me why they think Splash Mountain is terrible in Disneyland.

I went on it some years ago, but don't remember it much. I thought it was pretty much a clone of WDW's (with the exception of the single seats in the logs.) But maybe because I knew the storyline from WDW's version, I didn't really criticize Disneyland's.

 

[Enderikari]

Can someone explain to me why they think Splash Mountain is terrible in Disneyland.

I doth bequeath unto DL's Splash Mountain.... The Prestigious MOST UNCOMFORTABLE RIDE VEHICLES ON THE PLANET...


My chiropractor was excited with anticipation when he heard I wanted to ride it