Which is better, WDW or Disneyland?

Hi everyone!

I was wondering which you like better, Walt Disney World (Florida) or Disneyland (California) and why?

I live in Portland, Oregon. Cali is closer but I love tropical beaches and warm ocean water, which Florida does have.

Which place is cheaper or they are about the same?

Which place is prettier?

Which place is the best if you are not gonna be driving a car?

Which place has the best cheap food close to the Disney park?

I want a good, very quiet place to sleep at night with comfortable (soft!) beds and for it to be easy to get to the park. A fridge and microwave in the room would be great!

My child is 11.

We do not go on scary rides. I have trouble walking a lot. I might have to rent a scooter or a wheel chair.

I would like a place with a pool because my child loves to swim!

A character breakfast or lunch would be nice, and/or she would like to meet some Disney characters. She likes Lilo and Stitch, the Princesses, Alladin, Hannah Montana, The Cheetah Girls, That's So Raven, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The Lion King, Minnie Mouse, etc.

I wanna know the good the bad and the ugly about WDW and Disney land! Oh, and when are the best and worst times to go? I do hate crowds so it does matter a bit to me!

I would initially say WDW is the better choice without reservation, except for the part about you having trouble walking. WDW is more spread out than Disneyland. That said, renting a scooter is not a problem at either location.

But most importantly, the Disney experts are on tripadvisor.com and other sites... not so much on Thorn Tree. If you haven't already asked these questions there, I would certainly do so.

I agree with #1. But both are pretty well set up for handicapped folks. You shouldn't have a lot of trouble getting around or finding a scooter. Take a look at their websites, there is a whole section on each for the subject.

Ed

I would say WDW is the better of the two, We stayed at The Caribbean Beach Resort on the complex, our room was really nice. This hotel has a pool and lake and a restaurant area closeby. We got the shuttle busses from outside every day and they take you straight in to the main entrance of the park. I believe there is a monorail type system that goes between the hotels in the resort, we went to view other hotels aswell, they are all fantastic. The grand Floridian (the posh main one) is where you can meet all the characters at breakfast and dinner, it was quite expensive though. We got to get all their autographs whilst int he park which was just as good for us. My mum has trouble getting around too but just took it easy, I'm sure they have good facilities though in terms of scooter hire etc.

If you do go make sure you visit MGM, Epcot and Universal Studios. I also remember Blizzard Beach waterpark was so much fun.

Have a good trip

Contact the park and your hotel in advance and you should be able to have a scooter, golf cart or wheel chair waiting for you. We met Walt Disney himself at Disneyland (obviously this was a long time ago), driving a small golf cart to get around. Disneyland is a shorter flight from Portland (use John Wayne Orange County airport if possible), but if you have the bucks to go to lots of different parks, WDW may be best.

p.s. you can guess the worst times in terms of crowds yourself: holidays, vacation periods. Weather will be hotter in Orlando than in Anaheim in the summer. May be a good idea to use a travel agent, for packages, suggestions on dates to avoid crowds and get better flight fares, etc.

thank you all for your responses. I hope I get a lot more!!! That is cool, Babba, that you got to meet WD. Tiger, did you go in the Lake at Carib Beach resort? Is it allowed?

All: i will vcome back here tonight. Gotta leave now for a hectic day!

I will be excitied to come back here to read your responses, ideas, experiences,and suggestions! We are not well to do but I do want it to be fun for her. We have been very low income all our lives so I am kinda a penny pincher but, like I saud, I want this to be SUPER fun for her!!!

So is summer more crowded than like, say the middle of April? If I go to WDW I would prefer the summer!

See ya tonight!

Thanks!

nancy

I think you'll wind up spending a lot more money if you go to the Florida park.

Definitely Disney World. If you're looking for more of a once-in-a-lifetime trip, WDW is the place, especially if you're flying anyway.

You might consider one of their Value resorts. They have 4 - Pop Century, All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, and All-Star Movies. They're all pretty normal hotel rooms, but the benefit is that they're on property so you get the Disney transportation as well as all the early entry and late close days. Any price difference that there may be gets made up for in convenience.

Food is something that can really trip people up. What we've done is get the meal plan. I believe it's about $45/day/person and it includes one counter-service meal, one sit-down meal and a snack. And during the meals you get your dessert, drinks, etc. It's a great way to experience the restaurants at WDW. For example, you could do a character breakfast as your sit-down meal one day. And for what you get during the day, it ends up saving you lots of money. If you do this, though, make sure you get your dining reservations made early!

Whatever you do, avoid the middle of April! That's the only time I've been there when they've actually closed down the park because it was so full. If you absolutely must go sometime when school's out, try early or late summer. Another option is January, right after New Year's. The weather's cooler and everyone leaves pretty quickly after the holiday.

Here's the thing...I've seen people who try to scrimp and save on their Disney vacation and they end up being miserable. I can remember nights when my nephews were very tired and cranky and then once the park closed we had to wait in line to take the tram to the car, wait in traffic, and then drive out to a Ponderosa or something. At the end of the day no one was in a good mood! Any time you leave one of the parks it's a bit of a hassle, but it's much easier A)if you're staying on property and B)if you don't have to leave every time you want to eat.

If there's one thing Disney is good at, it's getting you to spend your money. But the upside is that it's an increadible place and getting to go there leaves great memories for any kid (and the parents). Is it the most educational vacation you'll ever take? The cheapest? No and no, but it makes up for it in other ways. I hope I answered some of your questions, and feel free to let me know if you have any others!

I too agree with #1. #8 has useful observations. Particularly troubling is the way people blow money they don't have because they have the notion that Disney is the Vacation of a Lifetime. So they end up miserable.

There is a whole industry devoted to publishing how-to-cope-with-Disney guidebooks, videos, and websites. If visiting Orlando, Sea World is in many ways as nice as Disney, and just as costly.

The resort and convention industry in Orlando is overwhelming. There's the duck hotel (Peabody), palm atrium hotel (Gaylord Palms), any number of golf places, and of course Disney's wide array of themed hotels.

I suspect that Disneyland, being so much smaller, is more manageable.

Going from Portland to Orlando between May and October would be an exercise in self-torture. Portland is blessed with lovely low-humidity summer weather. Orlando is like going into the bathroom, turning on the UV light, running the shower until the temperature is at least 90 degrees, and sitting there until you sunburn. [I'm an ex Portlander with plenty of Florida summer experience--and it's nicer here on the beach than in Orlando!]

I think I spent an average of about $75/per person for a day at DL a couple of years ago. Not bad. Its easy to see how people could spend the kind of sums I hear about there.

Ed

The scary thing is that some of the prices I have seen for hotels in Disney are 200 and 300+ a night!
We are not those kinda people! We are peasants! he he! I guess I could splurge for about 3 night max! I think that is all I could stand of a Disney park anyway! If I go to WDW I will probably run away to the coast afterwards to recuperate form the Disney experience!

What do you mean by early and late summer? I mean does the early part end the end of June or some time in July and does the late part start in early or late August or the last coupla days of Sept (probably not the latter, due to the huge holiday of LAbor day).

So, going around the 12th of April to Disney Land for 3 or 4 nights, would be crazily crowded? That was a tentative plan and it was gonna be around 2000 bucks or less, I think, from Portland and staying at Paradise Peir, for my child and myself. I did not know if that was reasonable or not or a good or bad time to go so I did not make the reservation. It did include a character breakfast with Lilo and Stitch and possible other Disney characters.

Although it would be interesting to see, we do not wanna go to Seaworld because we think it is mean to capture wild sea animals and make them live in, essentially, swimming pools and perform tricks to amuse humans.

When we are in Florida some time, we will just take dolphin and manatee tours. We took a dolphin tour once and it was fine.

I have a friend here on LP who told me that you can actually swim at the sandy beachy lakes at the Florida WDW resort. Which resorts, spefically, would allow that?

For some reason, I find the idea of Florida much more interesting than Cali but Cali would be ok for just a short, hopefully cheap (yeah, right!) excursion and then I would just head home.

As I said earlier,if I head to Orlando in the summer (I know I will die from the humidity) I will only be there for maybe 3 days and then head to the coast. Been to Fort Myers beach (this last Thanks Giving) and the beach was gorgeous but the ocean water was stinky and murky. Lotsa shells though! If I go to the beach I want gorgeous sand and wide beach like in Fort Myers Beach and quiet and uncrowded like it was there (I was not in downtown area) but also with nice water and affordable place to stay on the beach!

I do thank everyone for their input and hope for lots more!

I have been a Thorntree nut for about 9 years or so, I think, and I love it!

Depending on things like wind direction, red tides, etc, the water at the Gulf beaches around Ft Myers and Sarasota can be lovely. Not to mention that the barrier islands have a number of splendid state parks and "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Also, terrific birdwatching.

Intercot.com, "info central" states that the weeks before and after Easter are "extremely crowded," whereas the end of April is "a good time to go." So April 12 might be a few days too early, since the Easter crowd will still be on hand.

If I were staying on a Disney property and trying to keep costs down, I would go for a moderate, namely, Port Orleans Resort- French Quarter. It's consistently the highest ranking Disney hotel in Orlando on TripAdvisor. This is owing to its reasonable cost (compared to the deluxes), nice rooms and grounds, and convenient transpo to the parks. Imo, the value resorts are just a little too much of a step down for the amount of savings they offer.

Yes, there is swimming at the beach at the Grand Floridian, although I'm not sure what the admission policy is. Having stayed at Deluxe hotels a few times, I can tell you that no one seems to bother you once you're on the premises. Might have to tell them you're having lunch there to get past the gate keeper in parking, but that's not a problem. We like having lunch outside at the beach bar at the Grand Floridian (sandwiches).

Definately make lots of meal reservations in advance. You can always call and cancel. Otoh, if it's busy, getting last minute ressies can be tough. If your 11 y/o likes meeting the characters, I recommend dinner at the Crystal Palace. Cheers.