Disneyland or WDW?

[daryliscool1]

OK, so here's my scenario- I'm a college student who's itching to go to one of the two coasts for a Disney-style spring break. I will only be 20 at that time, so I can't rent a car. Spring break is for a week in mid-March, but I think I can only afford a vacation of about three days. Which will give me the most bang for my buck? This includes the parks, hotels, etc. Also, which is closer in proximity to hotels, and are there affordable ways to get to the parks? Thanks for the help! I'll clarify if needed, just ask.

[AwallaceUNC]

Hi... I'm in a similar situation for my spring break considerations (20, can't rent a car without paying a ton in fees, and would like to go to a Disney park).

Disney World will allow you stay in an on-property Disney hotel (where the transporation is convenient and free) for far, far, far less than an on-property Disneyland hotel. That alone might make WDW the cheaper option for you. WDW's hotels will all get you to any park quickly and safely at no charge. At Disneyland, you can get a non-Disney hotel and you'll have three options: walk to the park (if it's close enough), take a cab/bus (costs money), or use a free shuttle service (if your hotel or vacation package offers one). At Disneyland, the hotels are all next door to the parks, so getting there isn't a problem, but if you're on a limited budget, you won't get to stay at one of those. Disney World, on the other hand, has many, many more hotels at a variety of prices. WDW is huge and much more spread out, so your hotel won't be within walking distance of a park, but again, getting to them is no problem.

WDW is also the cheapest when it comes to park tickets now, assuming you go for several days. The more days you stay, the cheaper your tickets get. A single-day ticket, however, is cheaper at Disneyland (I believe).

I don't know where you live. In my case, I can drive to Disney World and so commuting around Orlando is no problem (not that you need to- there are 4 parks there and many other attractions that you can commute to for free and you'll be occupied the whole time). If I go across the country to California, I'd like to be able to see Hollywood/LA/Burbank too, but that's not very easy to do without a car and I can't very well drive there and not go broke. Still, traveling to Disney World's going to be cheaper, because if you drive, you can stay at the Disney Value Resorts and get free parking and if you fly, you can use the Magical Express service and get picked up from your airport for free.

As far as food and merch go, well, prices aren't going to vary greatly from one park to the next.

Which resort is the most valuable? Well, that's the age-old (not that many ages, really) debate. WDW is vastly larger and has infinitely more to do, but then Disneyland is the original and the only one Walt lived to see to completion (and is also celebrating its 50th anniversary right now). That's your call. There are things unique to both.

I hope my rambling has been of some help!

-Aaron

[Loomis]

I'm not sure how useful this is, but there is a thread started here a while back on 'Disneyland vs Disney World'.

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=11834

Might be worth a look at any rate.

I haven't been to WDW, but from what I understand, a thorough look will take more than the three days you have. On the flip side, I think three or four days is just about perfect for Disneyland (less if you don't want to do EVERYTHING).

I stayed respectively at the Howard Johnson (HoJo) and Radisson Maingate Hotels in Anaheim. Both are across the road from the park, the latter being a bit further away. That said, 'a bit further' means a 10 minute rather than 5 minute walk. The HoJo is affordable and literally 3-5 minutes from the Maingate. I recommend it highly. The hotels IN the park are incredibly pricey.

Despite comments above about getting to LA/Hollywood being difficult from Anaheim, I found a number of tours and shuttles that were all too easy. For about $50, you get a 9 hour + tour through all of the major LA sites. We saw Kodak Theatre, Mann's Chinese Theatre (incl. Johnny Depp induction), Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, Venice Beach and more on said tour. However, I understand that public transport in LA is not exactly frequent.

As Aaron said, there is obviously more in WDW, but you may have to miss a few things given the sheer size of it. A plus for Disneyland is that (as Aaron also said) is that it is the original, AND it is celebrating its 50th anniversary at the moment. There will be plenty of things to do there that you may not be able to see again in the future.

It's a tough call! If only all of life's decisions were 'which Disney park should I go to'?

[daryliscool1]

Thanks Aaron! I'm in Minnesota, so I'll be flying to wherever I chose to go. My friend is a castmember at WDW, so I might see if I can stay with her over break. She goes to school with me, but works at WDW over break. Since Spring Break is so short, she can't live in the castmember apartments. Maybe we could split a hotel cost? I'm not sure. I'm totally open to both choices at this time.

[daryliscool1]

Thanks to Loomis, too! I hate to be a double poster, but you posted while I was typing my last response! I've been WDW, but that was oh so long ago (about 8 years), so I don't remember much. My two favorite parks were MGM and Magic Kingdom- if need be, I can cut Animal Kingdom out of my spring break plans. Thanks for the link, too. I'll give the thread a read.

[AwallaceUNC]

Despite comments above about getting to LA/Hollywood being difficult from Anaheim, I found a number of tours and shuttles that were all too easy. For about $50, you get a 9 hour + tour through all of the major LA sites. We saw Kodak Theatre, Mann's Chinese Theatre (incl. Johnny Depp induction), Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, Venice Beach and more on said tour. However, I understand that public transport in LA is not exactly frequent.

Indeed. I should've mentioned the availability of these tours. I was just thinking that getting to the rest of LA wasn't easy because the tours didn't go to some of the places we were wanting to go and didn't leave enough time at others. I suppose I can't have it all, though. Well, I can, but that just costs a lot more. Needless to say, I doubt you'll be disappointed with either choice.

-Aaron, who has only been to Disney World but is not one of those who argues that Disney World is superior because he appreciates both for what they are and wants very much to visit the other parks

[chapnearwdw]

hey there daryl(forgot the rest of the screename, sorry) - I used to work for Disney World Guest Services and I'll tell you that your best bet, especially since this IS their 50th birthday, I'd advise you to go to Disneyland. Disney World is great if you've got a HUGE amount of time and LOTS of money to blow, but if you just want to go to one park for a couple days and also enjoy some beach time, etc, Disneyland has a lot more attractions for you to enjoy (and they really are BETTER than their "counterparts" at Disney World), and SoCal is so much MORE cool than Orlando. Hey, since I've been to ALL of the disney parks (and worked for them for 7 years, too), you can take my advice to the bank, k?

Ron :)

[I am the Doctor]

I agree with chapnearwdw. Disneyland is a much better bet. Anyone who's been to both WDW and Disneyland will tell you that the vast majority of attractions at both parks are better at Disneyland (stuff like Pirates and Space Mountain).

Also, if you can't afford a WDW hotel and have to stay off property, you will need a car of some sort. With Disneyland, most of the hotels (even non Disney hotels) are within walking distance. Anaheim has also started a shuttle service to and from most of the hotels in the resort area and it's not very expensive.

Like chapnearwdw said, you'll need plenty of time and money if you want to visit WDW. With Disneyland, you can spend a couple days, and then have a couple of days for something else (The Beach, Hollywood, Universal Studios).

And, just my opinion, if you're going to visit a Disney park during Disneyland's 50th anniversary, do it right and visit the original!

[chapnearwdw]

thanx 4 backin me up dude! i hope daryl has fun no matter what he decides, but i do hope 4 his sake that he just visits and doesn't end up staying there and working there like a certain someone did...

[memnv]

I would go to Disneyland. There are some great deals at www.getawayvacations.com where you rent a motel room and it includes 3-day hopper tickets at Disneyland, A taxi from the airport is not to expensive and they have a shuttle bus that runs every 20 minutes to the park for $3.00 a day. Also alot of the hotels are within walking distance. When I went to Disneyland in November. My Hotel park admission was around $600.00 for 5 days, 4 nights hotel and 2 adult ticket hoppers and 1 child. we also did a character breakfest which we also had included in the price. You can stay in the park for around $1000 bucks