WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

We have been to WDW like 2 dozen times, and we all love it there. We decided to try out Disneyland this year, as my son's graduation surprise gift. It was AWESOME! I had heard for years and years that it's so much smaller, blah blah. Yes it's smaller, but it has the same amount attractions WDW has in all four of their parks, packed into their 2 parks. It was SO nice to just be able to walk to the parks from our hotel. So nice that you could just walk across the courtyard to get to the other park if you wanted to hop. They still have old school paper fast pass, and you can get as many as you want in a day(with some stipulations of course)! Most times the fast pass return time was like 5 minutes after we pulled the fast pass!

Being that it's smaller space wise, it definitely feels a bit crowded depending on the day. The weekend was less busy than the weekdays because the local annual passes were blacked out on the weekend. The weather was gorgeous. 80 during the day, 60 in the evening. So much better than the heat and humidity in FL! We actually needed sweatshirts at night. Apparently something to do with the marine layer keeping it cool. BUT, I'm not sure if that's an entire Summer thing.

We LOVED the charm of Disneyland. The nostalgia of it. The fact that it was Walt's original park that he built and visited many times. We loved seeing Walt's lamp lit up in his apartment above the Fire Department.

We stayed at the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park hotel, and it was AWESOME! We were initially booked at the Disneyland Hotel, but this hotel was free for our entire stay with points, so I jumped on it. The hotel has a waterpark, rooms that hold 6 with a set of bunk beds, and is clean and modern. We could see Space Mountain and Mickey's Fun Wheel from our balcony. 10 minute walk to the gate, if that. Definitely recommend it! BUT, for our dates, it was almost $500 a night if we were paying cash, so I'm not sure it's worth THAT price. But, most hotels right there are actually motels that haven't been renovated since DL opened, so you get what you pay for. But, for that price I would stay at the Grand Californian, which has rooms overlooking California Adventure Park, with easy access right into the Grizzly peak of that park from the hotel.

Disney's California Adventure was amazing! We LOVED Cars Land, holy cow it was so realistic and soooo cool at night! World of Color show was SO cool...we booked the dessert party for that, highly recommend it.

Overall it was such a nice change of pace from WDW and we will definitely go back! We did 5 days in the parks, and we thought that was plenty! We probably could've done 4 days and been fine (2 for each park). But my kids really like to enjoy the attractions!

Message edited 7/5/2017 9:23:04 AM.

WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

Thanks for this review! I'm a teacher and cannot really go to Disney during the school year and don't want to go over over a vacation. I will definitely be looking into Disneyland!

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

Thanks for the review. I grew up going to WDW so I never had much of an interest in DL but this makes me want to go!! One day, whenever I get to finally see CA, this will be on my list.

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

We went to DL a year ago and also had a great experience. Even though it was in the 90s, it was a dry heat and so much more tolerable than the humid 90s weather at DW. I thought the crowds were totally manageable at DL. We definitely preferred our DL trip. Glad you enjoyed it.

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

If I ever do Disney, it will be Land.
Totally more my speed and then the bonus is I get to tack it on to seeing the west coast- I've never been

I think the only thing that I would dislike is needing a sweatshirt at night. In Southern Cal. In July.
LOL

Message edited 7/6/2017 9:22:37 AM.

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

We loved it too (just not the flight with one of the kids)!
We stayed 30 minutes offsite and would do it again in a heartbeat. Loved the fact that there was so much to do in the area.
Agree the weather was so nice!!!

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

Posted by nycgirl


We loved it too (just not the flight with one of the kids)!
We stayed 30 minutes offsite and would do it again in a heartbeat. Loved the fact that there was so much to do in the area.
Agree the weather was so nice!!!

WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

we went before kids and it was great. We loved being able to walk from the hotel and be in the park, and the parks so close to each other was another bonus.

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

Would you say it's as expensive as WDW? I would think going to CA is more expensive

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for the review - it's definitely on our list!

Re: WDW Lovers, Try Disneyland!!!