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There’s a lot of debate about which is better between Disneyland and Disney World. Really, they’re both a ton of fun and are super magical. You can’t go wrong with either!
Most people like one more than the other though. Our family likes Disneyland more than Disney World. To be fair though, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to Disney world.
We’re hoping to take our family to Disney World in the next year or 2, so it’ll be interesting to see if we still feel the same after we go again.
Okay, are you ready to hear why we like Disneyland more than Disney World? I’ll tell you!
1. We Live Closer To Disneyland
We live in Utah, so we’re much closer to Disneyland than we are to Disney World. We can take a quick non-stop flight or do a one day road trip to get there.
Growing up I actually went to Disneyland and Disney World the same amount of time. My husband went to Disneyland a ton though.
Living closer to Disneyland makes for easier travel days for us and it costs less for us to get to California than to Florida.
Related Content: 5 Rides We Could Live Without At Disneyland
2. It’s the OG Park
I obviously wasn’t there, or even alive, when Disneyland first opened up in 1955, but I think it’s really cool that it’s the original Disney park.
There are attractions that are still there today that were there on opening day, like Peter Pan’s Flight and Mad Tea Party.
This is the park that started it all and that makes it really special.
3. Walt Was There
Disneyland is Walt’s park and without Walt, there would be no Disney parks. Walt Disney himself walked around this park and no other Disney park.
Walt personally oversaw the imagineering of many attractions, including Pirates of the Caribbean, which was the last attraction that Walt was involved in.
He even had an apartment on Main Street above the fire station. You can go inside of it on certain tours, like Walt’s Main Street Story Tour, or just look up at it while walking down Main Street.
Walt never went to Disney World as it opened after he died. His brother Roy Disney had to carry out the vision for it.
Walt Disney died in December 1966 and Walt Disney World opened in October 1971.
4. The Two Parks Are Close To Each Other
I absolutely love that the entrances to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park are right across from each other.
This makes park hopping easy and you can have a hotel that’s close to both parks instead of just one.
The Disney World parks are much more spread out and you have to use transportation to get between some of them. You can’t stay at a hotel and walk to all 4 parks because of how spread out they are.
Related Content: 5 Rides We Could Live Without At California Adventure
5. Radiator Springs Racers
Radiator Springs Racers is my favorite ride in all of California Adventure! It’s thrilling and so cute with the Cars theme with characters like Mater and Lightning McQueen throughout the ride.
Disney World will be getting some Cars rides of its own at some point, so that will be really fun to see. Hopefully they’ll have meet and greets with Cars characters like they have in Cars Land.
My kids love meeting Lightning McQueen and Mater in Mater. We also love eating at Flo’s V8 Cafe and watching the neon lights come on in the evening.
Related content: 11 Surprising Facts About Cars Land You Might Not Have Known
6. Mickey Pumpkin
The big Mickey Pumpkin (aka Blinky) is only at Disneyland. It’s located at the beginning of Main Street, USA during the Halloween season.
I don’t understand why Magic Kingdom doesn’t have a big Mickey pumpkin too. It’s so iconic and is a spot you have to take a picture at while it’s up.
7. Haunted Mansion Holiday
Both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom have a Haunted Mansion ride, but only the Disneyland attraction gets the holiday overlay.
It’s up during the Halloween season and the Christmas season. The whole ride gets a Nightmare Before Christmas takeover that is so cool!
It has Jack Skellington the pumpkin king, Sally, Zero, and more from the movie. It’s a really fun touch to the holidays at Disneyland.
8. It’s Cheaper
Typically, Disneyland tickets are cheaper than Disney World tickets, especially Magic Kingdom ones, but this of course can depend on the dates you’re trying to go.
Disney vacations are expensive so we’re always looking for ways to save a little money. One of our favorite ways is to purchase our tickets through Undercover Tourist. You can get them here.
We’ve bought Disneyland tickets through them before and saved a few dollars per ticket, which adds up with a family. After you buy them it’s easy to load them in the Disneyland app and use them.
9. All of The Disney Hotels Are Close To The Parks
There are 3 Disney hotels at Disneyland. They are the Disneyland Hotel, the Grand Californian, and Pixar Place Hotel.
They are all 3 very close to Disneyland park and California Adventure park and are within walking distance of both parks.
10. There Are Tons Of Off-Site Hotels In Walking Distance
We love staying at hotels on S Harbor Blvd because they are all so close to Disneyland and DCA. You can easily walk from your hotel to both parks.
At Disney World the parks are more spread out making this not possible.
We really like staying at the Fairfield Anaheim. We have a list of other hotels we’ll stay at soon including the Hojo and Grand Legacy at the Park.
We like that we can walk instead of taking a shuttle, Uber, or driving and parking.
11. Monster’s, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
I’m super jealous that Hollywood Studios in Disney World is getting a whole Monster’s Inc land, but it looks like the rides will be different than the ride at DCA.
We love Monster’s, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! It’s a really cute, kid friendly ride. I love that it doesn’t have a height requirement so even my babies have been able to go on it.
Monster’s Inc. and Monster’s University have always been 2 of my favorite Pixar movies, so seeing them come to life in this ride is amazing.
Also, did you know Roz at the end is interactive? You can talk to her and she’ll talk back to you! We don’t quite know if someone is in there or managing what she says, but it’s really cool.
One time I asked her if she likes paperwork and she said “I hate paperwork!”