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Author Archives: Robin Swanson

1. Events

Both parks celebrate holidays throughout the year, like Fourth of July and New Years. Both coasts have Halloween and Christmas parties. But each park has different events on the calendar too. Walt Disney World has events like Food and Wine, Flower and Garden (both at Epcot), and Night of Joy (Magic Kingdom). Over at Disneyland, guests can celebrate Lunar New ...

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2. Attractions That Are the Same, But Different

Walt Disney World and Disneyland do have some of the same attractions, but the ride itself is different. For example, both the Magic Kingdom and the Disneyland park have “it’s a small world,” but the ride at Disneyland is significantly longer and has a much grander facade than the one in Florida. The Haunted Mansion is another iconic ride that ...

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3. Different Attractions

The two American Disney parks offer some different attractions, which is a good reason to visit both parks. Attractions like Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, Spaceship Earth, and Expedition Everest are unique to Walt Disney World. But Disneyland has attractions like California Screamin’, Radiator Springs Racers, and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is definitely not just ...

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4. Number of Hotels

Disneyland has three on-property hotels: Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland Hotel, and Paradise Pier Hotel. Meanwhile, Walt Disney World has a very wide assortment of hotels in several price points, from campsites, Value hotels, Moderate hotels, and Deluxe hotels. At Disneyland, guests have many options for off-property hotels, most within walking distance (remember that Disneyland is landlocked and is ...

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5. Fastpass

Disneyland still uses the older system of paper fastpasses. With that system, guests insert their park tickets into the Fastpass machine for the attraction they want to get a fastpass for. The machine then spits out a paper fastpass with the hour-long return time span. At Walt Disney World, the system is called FastPass+ and the fastpasses are stored on ...

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6. Castle

The castles are different in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The original castle in Disneyland, Sleeping Beauty Castle, is much smaller than its successor, and is often described as “quaint.” Over in Walt Disney World, Cinderella Castle is much more imposing. The castles give each park a totally different feel.

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7. Number of parks

Disneyland Resort includes two theme parks: Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Over at Walt Disney World, the resort includes four theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

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8. Space

Disneyland is very small park compared to Walt Disney World. It’s “landlocked,” meaning the park is surrounded by other business and roads. Walt learned a lesson though, and discreetly purchased dozens of miles before building his second park. Walt Disney World spans over 40 square miles (about the size of San Francisco) so there is plenty of elbow room for ...

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8 BIG Differences Between Walt Disney World and Disneyland

A lot of casual guests just assume that Disneyland and Walt Disney World are the exact same thing. So wrong! While there are a lot of similarities, the two American Disney parks have some major differences. There are experiences to be had in one park that can’t be experienced at the other. Here are eight differences between Disneyland (California) and ...

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