WDW Vet 1st time at Disneyland report

[BrownHP800]

Hello All.

We just got back from our 1st trip to Disneyland and California Adventure. It was my 14 yr old son, my wife and myself. We have been to WDW many times before so this is a little of what to expect for anyone else in my situation going to DL the first time.

First thing you will notice is how small the castle is. Now I knew it was smaller but I didn't realize how much smaller. It is quite a shock at first. After awhile you just see it as the castle and not being small compared to Magic Kingdom.

Another thing that was different were the queues for the attractions. In WDW they are mostly inside and/or out of site. At DL and CA they were outside and wind down the pathways. It made it seem like the lines were much much longer than they actually were. I found out that the wait times posted were pretty accurate.

Attraction comparisons: Pirates, (Hyper)Space Mountain and possibly Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are better in Disneyland. Pirates was considerably longer and more interesting. Big Thunder is slightly different and has some neat effects.

Splash mountain is much better in Magic Kingdom. Haunted mansion was a tie.

In CA. Cars Land is really really cool. The World of Color show was amazing.

Get park hoppers. It was very busy when we were there so we would grab fast passes between the 2 parks and hop back and forth. We rode a lot of rides that way. We also walked about 16 miles that day. LOL.

We stayed at the Sheraton Park Resort which is about 3/4 of a mile from the entrance. It was an easy walk. Took about 15-20 minutes depending on how you hit the crosswalk lights. Very nice resort. Very quiet.

All in all we had a great time. Being from the east coast that may be the only time we ever get back out there. I am glad we did it once. It is something to see for anyone who loves Disney!

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

[OneThree]

Glad you enjoyed the trip. As a kid our family always went to Disney World and I remember my first time at DL also thinking of how small the castle was.

 

[grnflash]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing

 

[cheshiregoofy22]

Agree with your line assessment! Very different than WDW we thought...and lots of stairs within lines and ride exits (no wonder all the SoCal folks are so fit!).

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I always tell my WDW vet friends to look up the famous photo of Walt walking through the castle before they visit and to keep that photo in their minds when they see Sleeping Beauty castle for the first time. DL's castle isn't huge in size, but in impact. (I do wonder how big the castle would have been had the bank given Walt a blank check...)

 

[farlinm1]

Hello All.

We just got back from our 1st trip to Disneyland and California Adventure. It was my 14 yr old son, my wife and myself. We have been to WDW many times before so this is a little of what to expect for anyone else in my situation going to DL the first time.

First thing you will notice is how small the castle is. Now I knew it was smaller but I didn't realize how much smaller. It is quite a shock at first. After awhile you just see it as the castle and not being small compared to Magic Kingdom.

Another thing that was different were the queues for the attractions. In WDW they are mostly inside and/or out of site. At DL and CA they were outside and wind down the pathways. It made it seem like the lines were much much longer than they actually were. I found out that the wait times posted were pretty accurate.

Attraction comparisons: Pirates, (Hyper)Space Mountain and possibly Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are better in Disneyland. Pirates was considerably longer and more interesting. Big Thunder is slightly different and has some neat effects.

Splash mountain is much better in Magic Kingdom. Haunted mansion was a tie.

In CA. Cars Land is really really cool. The World of Color show was amazing.

Get park hoppers. It was very busy when we were there so we would grab fast passes between the 2 parks and hop back and forth. We rode a lot of rides that way. We also walked about 16 miles that day. LOL.

We stayed at the Sheraton Park Resort which is about 3/4 of a mile from the entrance. It was an easy walk. Took about 15-20 minutes depending on how you hit the crosswalk lights. Very nice resort. Very quiet.

All in all we had a great time. Being from the east coast that may be the only time we ever get back out there. I am glad we did it once. It is something to see for anyone who loves Disney!

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Hi! will be doing a very similar trip as yours a year from now, but going solo.....what time did you arrive at the parks in the mornings? What restaurants did you eat at in the parks and what were the parade and fireworks crowds like at this time of year???? Did you do fastpasses and how did you prioritize those?? Thanks for any info...

 

[GatorChris]

I agree with everything you mentioned. 7 trips to WDW and then you see the castle at DL..."where is it?" While my kids like the castle, I'm still having castle envy (and Spaceship Earth envy, too) of my east coast friends.

 

[Baklava]

I did it the other way- DL vet did WDW for the first time last year. I agree with your ride comparisons and have a couple more.

WDW's HM exterior is pretty amazing, but the free for all aspect of the line right before boarding was so stressful it was the scariest part of our trip. I won't ride it at WDW again.

IASW... I was disappointed by WDW's loading area compared to DL but the ride itself was as good (if different) and the finale might be a teensy bit better. Also I loved that it hadn't been "improved" with the characters like DL's because while I don't mind the characters, the little snippets of their own music bugs me at "home."

WDW has no Mr. Toad which is sad, but the tea cups are sheltered so they don't shut down in the rain which was awfully nice in January!

Overall, "different, not better" was our assessment. I am so glad you enjoyed DL! Our "once in a lifetime" WDW trip has turned into, "when can we go back" so maybe we'll see you back out this way again.

 

[pmaurer74]

we are going next summering June. How was the weather? Was it comfortable standing in line outside? Were the wait times similar to WDW? How many days?

 

[jesses_disney_girl]

Glad to hear you guys had fun! We're WDW vets headed to DL for the first time this fall.

 

[marsh0013]

we are going next summering June. How was the weather? Was it comfortable standing in line outside? Were the wait times similar to WDW? How many days?

Not the OP but we went last June 13 and 17-20 (with LA in the middle). Our first day the weather was gorgeous. We were super comfortable in shorts and t-shirts whereas in WDW at the same time, we'd have been sweating in dri fit material. The rest of the week warmed up a bit, but it was still really nice. Not the heat and humidity we're used to at WDW, not even close.

We didn't have any issue with lines, old school fast pass was great! We used our first morning to hit all of Fantasyland (used our EMH from multi-day hopper ticket). I know we waited about half an hour for Pirates and Haunted Mansion. And Toy Story was about the same. Those were in mid-afternoon/evening. Really wasn't bad at all.

 

[BrownHP800]

we are going next summering June. How was the weather? Was it comfortable standing in line outside? Were the wait times similar to WDW? How many days?

We were lucky and had good weather. Most of the days it was low to mid 80's. At night it got quite cool and we had long sleeve shirts on. Later in the week it was getting hotter and was in the low 90's the last day we were there. Still not bad.

I would say wait times are on par with WDW. With the outside queue it looks like a much longer wait than it really is. Hyperspace mountain, Indiana Jones and Star Tours waits were crazy long. Ride them early or get a fast pass early in the day to ride later in the afternoon. Fast passes were gone by 11am.

We had 5 day park hopper passes. We hit the parks right at opening and stayed until about 1pm or so and we went back to the hotel for a swim and usually a nap and went back in about 6pm or so. We covered everything we wanted to see. We never waited more than about 25 minutes for any attraction.