Linden wrote:I definitely pick Disneyland Resort. It's my home park, and I've grown up with it, and I'm probably incredibly biased, but I tried to be objective.
I think your reply was VERY fair and objective. After all, the WDW parks are among my (seasonal) home parks in Orlando, and I've come to the same conclusion as you, Kbehm29, Big Disney Fan, and Flanger-Hanger!
The following is my reply exactly as it was written when the thread was first posted. I was originally hesitant to post this due to it being somewhat critical and opinionated, but, inspired by the excellent responses and civil tone of the thread so far, I decided to give it a go:
My vote goes to:
DISNEYLAND!
Disneyland (the park) versus Magic Kingdom (the park):
In a head-to-head battle just between the two Magic Kingdom "castle parks" on the two US coasts, for me Disneyland wins hands down by a LANDSLIDE. There may be fewer acres than in the Florida MK, but there is so much more CHARM in DL than in the "grander", more pretentious Florida MK. And there are SO many more attractions at DL missing in Florida, especially in Fantasyland. Given that Fantasyland is my favorite land, this is very noticable for me.
The following attractions are found in DL and were either removed from the watered-down Cliff Notes Disneyland-lite known as the WDW MK, or were never there to begin with:
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Adventures, Alice In Wonderland, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybookland Canal Boats, Mickey's Toontown (featuring Mickey's House, Minnie's House, Goofy's House, Donald's Boat, Gadget's Go Coaster, Chip and Dale's Treehouse, and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin), Submarine Voyage, Indiana Jones Adventure, Sailing Ship Columbia, Davy Crocket Canoes, and Main Street Cinema. (I could have also listed Star Tours and Captain EO since they are not found in the WDW MK, but to be fair, other WDW parks have them)
Disneyland (the resort) versus WDW (the resort):
Comparing the overall "resorts" (which for me is ALL about the THEME PARKS) is admitedly closer, but I'd still pick Disneyland.
Disneyland (the park's) superiority over the WDW Magic Kingdom is of course a big factor in this. Now, I admit that WDW has the better overall collection of supporting parks, although I feel that California Adventure is a stronger park than it's similar counterpart, Hollywood Studios (especially with the recent California Adventure additions). But since the beginning of my voluntary WDW hiatus, I will admit that the WDW park I miss the most is Animal Kingdom, being an animal lover. This is not found at DL, nor is Epcot, although Epcot is not as strong as it once was.
Still, there are many things I much prefer about DL as an overall resort than WDW:
* More CHARM, less pretention!
* Still using the original Fastpass system, with no daily limits or "tier" system.
* DL did not pi$$ away 2 BILLION dollars on "Magic Bands" (TM)
* The small compact size of the resort with both parks entrances mere footsteps from each other is ideal for park-hopping! (I also really like this about Universal Orlando!)
* MUCH better weather for my taste at DL. Almost NO rain, and the summer temperatures are not NEARLY as brutal as they are at WDW. The VERY long summers in swampy Florida are nothing but oppressive heat, humidity, and thunderstorms - often all at once on the same day. By contrast, the climate in Southern Cali is just about PERFECT!
* I like that the park population has a higher percentage of savvy locals and AP's at Disneyland. It's much less "touristy" than WDW, which for my taste is a Very Good Thing. Having a larger percentage of savvy, critical, vocal APs means management is kept more on their toes at DL and therefore has more respect for the park's history and heritage. And it is harder for them to start charging upcharges for things that were once free than it is at WDW, where tourists are more likely to pay for these type of things and where you are in the noticeable minority if you are not a tourist on a "once in a lifetime vacation". At WDW, not only does this majority tourist/newbie base give management less incentive to view the parks' history in more reverential tones; it also gives them less incentive to have the same high "show" quality standards found at Disneyland. It is shocking how long broken effects are allowed to stay broken at WDW before they get fixed - sometimes months or even years - if they even get fixed at all! (such as the Expedition Everest Yeti, and numerous AA issues on Splash Mountain, to name a few). WDW Management's attitude about these type of things seems to be mirrored by that of Rizzo the Rat in the MuppetVision preshow: "What do they know - they're TOURISTS!"
* In cases where Disneyland and the WDW Magic Kingdom both have versions of the same attraction, the Disneyland version is USUALLY (but not always) better. Ironically, one exception IMO was Snow White's Adventures, but WDW closed theirs, giving DL the better version.
* Again, DL is the original Magic Kingdom built by Walt, featuring so many MORE attractions than it's watered-down Florida clone. It has much more respect for it's heritage and has made significantly fewer dumb moves. These are the biggest reasons I give my overall vote to DISNEYLAND!
The only "negatives" I can think of for Disneyland are mostly not even their fault, as they mostly relate on a personal level to my geographical distance from the park:
* Disneyland is a 30 hour, 3 day (or 2 LONG day) drive from my primary residence in New Orleans, and I hate/refuse to fly, making my visits there extremely rare. By contrast, my seasonal residency/hangout, central Florida, is only 9 hours away, making it much more practical and logistically easier for me to spend a lot of time there each year. I've done that drive back and forth so many times, I practically know every exit and rest stop from memory. The drive is only about an hour longer than my 6 CD boxed set, "A Musical History of Disneyland", which is perfect for the drive. I've even often done this drive overnight, before or after a day in one of the Orlando parks!
* Because of DL's higher show and maintenance standards, they have a much more ambitious attraction refurbishment closure schedule than WDW does, which makes it VERY difficult for me to find a window in which I can visit DL with all of the attractions open. Usually one or more (sometimes several) attractions are down for refurb when I think about going, and often this would mean missing something unique to Disneyland that is among the attractions I was looking forward to the most - like the Matterhorn, or one of the Fantasyland dark rides not found at WDW, or the Submarines (which is currently down). This has caused me to postpone many potential trips to Disneyland. Of course, if I was a local or even lived close enough to visit regularly or annually, this would not be an issue, but since my DL visits are so rare, I aesthetically long for the COMPLETE experience, especially in DL (the park).
* My beloved Country Bear Jamboree was closed, now over a decade ago, by the now-defunct Paul Pressler regime. Still, when compared to the NUMEROUS beloved favorite classics WDW has habitually removed despite having 28,000 acres to work with, the rare classic removals like CBJ from a landlocked Disneyland are easier for me to forgive. Overall, DL has a MUCH better record of respecting and honoring the legacy and heritage of their parks and classic attractions than WDW does.
The Overseas Parks/Resorts
Now, I haven't been to the overseas parks, but I've read a lot about them and studied them, looked at TONS of photos and video, and am VERY familiar with their attraction rosters. For my taste, (based on what I know), I would rank them in both the categories of their MK's and of their overall resorts in the order they've been built:
Tokyo Disneyland - Their MK-style main park rivals WDW's MK for second most "complete" MK, and in some ways, SURPASSES it! It features almost all the essential "Castle-park" classics, including things found at DL that Florida's MK is missing, such as Pinocchio's Daring Journey, the Canoes, a Monsters Inc. dark ride, Mickey's Toontown, and of course the Snow White dark ride (although Tokyo's is missing the essential Happy Ending scene). And it has a version of my beloved Country Bear Jamboree, which Anaheim is now missing, and Philharmagic, also missing in Anaheim (2 of the Anaheim MK's few flaws). It also has a more advanced Pooh ride than either US park. Still, it is missing a few classics, such as Carousel of Progress, Peoplemover, and, most notably for my taste, 5 Fantasyland attractions found only in the US at Disneyland. The covered Main Street (with no Horse-cars) would take some getting used to, as would the limited route of the Railroad, and lack of English on some attractions. Still, this is IMO the most "complete" MK-style park outside of America. As an added bonus, a trip to Tokyo would mean a visit to Tokyo DisneySea, which of course looks like an awesome park!
Disneyland Paris - The park looks extremely beautiful, and I can tell from videos, photos, and reports that it has lots of the little charming touches I love, especially in Fantasyland. It scores major points from me for having the beloved Pinocchio dark ride, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybook Land Canal Boats, and a Snow White dark ride with a Happy Ending scene (a ride now sadly missing from WDW). Paris' MK is the only MK on the planet besides Disneyland to feature a version of the Casey Jr. Circus Train and Storybookland rides. Still, compared to the 3 MK parks I ranked above it, the park is missing much more of what I consider essential classics, including the Pooh dark ride, Mickey's Philharmagic, Mickey's Toontown, and 3 attractions found exclusively in the DL Fantasyland (Toad, Alice, Matterhorn). And the western quadrant of the park is missing a staggering amount of iconic essential classics, most notably Splash Mountain, Country Bear Jamboree, Enchanted Tiki Room, and Jungle Cruise. Also, the "second gate" in Paris does not seem as appealing as the ones in Tokyo or Anaheim, or the 3 other gates in Orlando.
Hong Kong Disneyland - I'm happy that the people who live closest to this park get at least a taste of the "magic", but they are only getting half as much of what ALL the other MKs have, and this park is missing as many Essential Classics as the ones they have! The smallest Fantasyland, with no Fantasyland dark rides except Pooh and Small World. No Mickey's Toontown. The smallest Tomorrowland. And in the western quadrant, no Splash Mountain, Country Bears, Tiki Birds, Riverboat, Rivers of America, Pirates, etc. And no second gate. At least they recently got their own unique versions of Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion. It's a start.