Disneyland v. Disney World: Is West Best in 2022?
The Walt Disney World versus Disneyland debate has raged among fans for years, with each swearing allegiance to their “home park” and declaring it superior. As the phased reopening continues in California and Florida, normalcy slowly returns, and pent-up demand fuels crowds and price increases, we thought it’d be worth taking a fresh look at the topic.
For starters, we think the contrived fan rivalry between the two is a bit silly given that they’re owned by the same company. Having lived in both Florida and California–and the respective Orange Counties that Disney’s theme parks call home–our view is that each have their own pros & cons.
Beyond that, our general attitude is why not both? Seriously, it doesn’t need to be “Walt Disney World v. Disneyland.” Each has its own strengths, will appeal to different types of visitors, lengths of stays, and varying types of trips. Moreover, the calculus can differ from year to year…
To that last point, we think it’s worth emphasizing the specific strengths of Disneyland in 2022. For one, this blog’s audience definitely has a Walt Disney World bias. In general, WDW-centric fans often overlook the resort in California with “only” two parks and the “toy castle.” While we think this is a huge mistake, it’s also one we made ourselves until seeing the error of our ways years ago.
Rather than having this post be a rehash of the common comparison with pros & cons of each, we’re going to focus on five advantages Disneyland offers this year. To be clear, this is not comprehensive–it overlooks a lot that makes Walt Disney World great, like unique transportation, a vast array of dining, the debut of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and even the 50th Anniversary as a whole. (In other words, it’s not really a “versus” comparison.)
In so doing, we’ll discuss the glacial return to normalcy, what has changed since each have reopened, and also address how Disneyland is the ‘antidote’ to common reader complaints about Walt Disney World…
5. More Normalcy
Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland are still in the midst of their respective “phased reopenings” nearly two years after their temporary closures. In the case of California, that lasted over a year–Disneyland’s post-reopening still amounts to less time than the closure itself. By contrast, Florida’s parks were closed for a few months and the the reopening has been drawn out over the course of the year-plus since.
Despite this, the comeback of Disneyland Resort has occurred at a more accelerated pace. A new land, character dining, all hotels, parades, regular events, and more all returned to the California property first. Free-roaming superheroes are out and about in Avengers Campus, and other atmospheric acts have returned, too.
Nighttime spectaculars are also back at Disneyland Resort, with World of Color, Disneyland Forever, and Main Street Electrical Parade now performing. Next up is Fantasmic, which returns Memorial Day weekend. That leaves only Magic Happens Parade, Mickey and the Magical Map, and Frozen – Live at the Hyperion as the big question marks–and those last two are probably gone for good.
Similarly, Walt Disney World has announced entertainment returning in 2022. This includes Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Finding Nemo: the Musical at Animal Kingdom, both of which will return sometime this summer (hopefully).
However, there’s also a lot still missing, including but not limited to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Jedi Training Academy, Star Wars Launch Bay, Star Wars: Galactic Spectacular, plus numerous atmospheric entertainment acts, restaurants, dinner shows, and other experiences.
The respective lists may not seem that different, but our (subjective) take is that Walt Disney World feels further from “normal” than Disneyland. The degree to which the guest experience differs as compared to pre-closure is far less pronounced at Disneyland than Walt Disney World.
In fairness, Disney’s presence in Florida is a sprawling complex with far more moving parts and things to do, and that’s true even with less normalcy. Disneyland is smaller scale and undoubtedly easier to get back up and running. So there is that, too. But if we’re comparing on the basis of each coast’s version of normal–and assuming you’d want to visit both Walt Disney World and Disneyland at some point in the near-term–the California parks are currently closer to their 100% and will be doing even better when the aforementioned entertainment returns in Spring 2022.
4. Disneyland Is Easier, Less Stressful, More “Vacation-y”
Walt Disney World is often praised for its “blessing of size,” a phrase Walt Disney used when pitching his Florida Project. As intimated above, it’s true that there’s absolutely more to do at Walt Disney World than Disneyland. However, referring to the scale and scope as an unconditional “blessing” is disingenuous.
Sure, if you’re going to take a 2 week vacation, immersing yourself in nothing but Disney, then Walt Disney World is the unequivocal winner. If you only have a few days, the size and scale of Walt Disney World can be both a blessing and a curse. You’ll lose hours just to getting around, whereas you can easily walk everywhere at Disneyland Resort.
There’s also the comparative complexity of Walt Disney World. If you can master visiting Walt Disney World, you can travel anywhere on earth. Without question, Walt Disney World is the most complicated destination we’ve ever visited–it makes navigating byzantine railroad networks or overcoming language barriers feel like a cakewalk. With Walt Disney World, there’s so much to know and do in preparing for a trip–a lot of which regulars take for granted as “common knowledge” because it’s become second-nature to them.
Disneyland is less stressful, more laid-back, and allows for greater spontaneity. The comparative ease of planning a trip to Disneyland is really worth stressing…er, reiterating. In general, the more free-flowing nature of the California parks makes it easier to slow down and enjoy atmospheric entertainment and simply appreciate being there.
The overwhelming majority of the time we visit Disneyland, we don’t make any plans (beyond park reservations) until we arrive. No clue where we’re going to eat, which rides we’re going to do, or how our days will unfold. If you love to plan, there’s still room for that, but it’s less essential, with far more room for spontaneity.
As an illustrative point, one common complaint we’re seeing more and more is that the Genie+ start time of 7 am at Walt Disney World forces families to get up too early. At Disneyland, Genie+ selections cannot be made until guests enter the park.
This might seem similarly stressful, but it’s really not. Guests staying in Anaheim off-site hotels can leave their room less than an hour before official park opening time, walk over to Disneyland, buy and book Genie+ selections, and be among the first guests to rope drop the standby-only Fantasyland dark rides. (That sentence should illustrate several ways Disneyland is easier and more laid back.)
There’s also the reality that if you live east of Nevada, the time change and your body’s natural clock will be in your favor. That can also be a double-edged sword on nights when Disneyland is open until 11 pm or midnight (did we mention that the California parks are back to their normal operating hours?), but that’s a good problem to have!
3. Cheaper Walking Distance Hotels
One of the most common impediments we hear with regard to visiting Disneyland is that airfare from [insert location in the Midwest] is more expensive to Los Angeles or Orange County than it is to Orlando. We’ll concede that this is mostly true. (By waiting and watching for deals, we seldom pay over $250 roundtrip, which is not too far off from airfare pricing from the Midwest to MCO.)
However, it’s pretty easy to make up that cost difference in other areas of the trip budget, particularly hotels and food. There are about a dozen hotels on Harbor Boulevard that are as long of a walk to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure as the Contemporary is to Magic Kingdom. It’s impossible to compare these “real world” hotels to on-site options at Walt Disney World. Suffice to say, each have their pros & cons–and a lot of WDW diehards are going to find the “Disney Bubble” punctured this year, regardless.
The pricing of hotels at Disneyland v. Walt Disney World is a bigger point in Disneyland’s favor than ever before, as Walt Disney World resort discounts are scarce. Right now, there are several options from the top of our Disneyland Area Hotel Reviews & Rankings that are priced under $150 per night in May 2022. Even the new JW Marriott and Westin Anaheim luxury hotels are under $250 per night for many dates. Those are real world nice, not just Disney nice.
During that same timeframe, availability and prices on-site at Walt Disney World are all over the place. There are some nights when the All Stars are available at a discounted rate of $122 per night or Pop Century is an option at $168. The problem arises when trying to book multiple consecutive nights (you know, as one does when booking a vacation as opposed to a single night stay).
You might luck out with those same resorts having availability at those prices, or might find only multi-bedroom villas and suites priced at $700 and up are options. Walt Disney World availability and pricing for your travel dates will largely dictate how this comparison shakes out for you–if I could book Pop Century for $168/night for my vacation, I’d jump on that. (I remember the days of paying under $100/night for Pop Century, but those days are gone. Hotels are more expensive–everywhere. Plus, Pop Century has added the Skyliner, which is an absolute game-changer for its value proposition. But I digress.)
Regardless, the point stands that Disneyland has cheaper walking distance hotels. In addition to that, good real world restaurants can be reached in under 15 minutes by foot. Same goes for CVS and Walgreen’s for groceries and other things. Many Disneyland-area hotels also have very good free breakfast buffets, so that’s one meal you won’t need to buy.
At Walt Disney World, you pay a significant premium for convenient locations that make the trip easier. Beyond hotel locations, there are also countless scenarios where you’re buying your way out of inconvenience. Aside from Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, that’s not really a thing at Disneyland. The bottom line is that it is usually much cheaper to do a convenient trip to Disneyland–even taking into account the more expensive flights.
2. Genie+ Is Better…and You’ll Spend Less!
If you’ve been following our park reports and countless posts about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, you’ve seen the trials and tribulations of the system at Walt Disney World. We’ve tested it many times over the course of several months at Walt Disney World, having inconsistent experiences, to put it mildly. Judging by reader comments, that’s charitable, as others have had far frustrations and problems with Genie+ at Walt Disney World. This isn’t to say the system is broken or unworkable, but it can be a challenge.
Based on those experiences with Genie+ at Walt Disney World, we “budgeted” a lot of time with Genie+ at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. It was totally unnecessary. By the end of our first day using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes in the California parks, it was obvious the system is simple and smoother–not nearly the same level of strategy or planning resources would be necessary.
Even though it costs $20 per day at Disneyland v. $16 at Walt Disney World, you will–without a doubt–get more done with Genie+ at Disneyland, making the per attraction cost far lower. (Genie+ also includes PhotoPass at Disneyland, which is a nice value-add.) As a result, you almost certainly won’t need to purchase as many days of Genie+ at Disneyland, making the total amount you spend on Genie+ lower.
As for the whole 4 parks v. 2 thing? The argument could be made that Disneyland Resort’s 2-park attraction lineup is superior to, or at least on par with, Walt Disney World’s. (This is in large part why Genie+ is easier at Disneyland Resort–a higher per park ride count.) It’s not an argument that I’d personally make, but I do think the gap is far more narrow than most WDW diehards would realize. Walt Disney World certainly does not have double the number of compelling attractions–not even close to it.
1. Fun in the Sun/Snow/Sand for Everyone!
Orlando is the theme park capital of the world. There’s little disputing that. Beyond that, Central Florida offers up the Space Coast, manatees, and…uh…outlet malls? There are a several state parks, farmer’s markets, shopping areas, and downtown districts–but nothing I’d describe as destination-worthy.
To each their own, but our perspective is that Southern California beats Central Florida in terms of fun things to do for visitors. If your singular focus is theme parks, Orlando is the hands-down winner. If you want a well-rounded vacation, with a range of world-class points of interest, there’s arguably nowhere in the world that offers up as much variety as Southern California.
In California, you can surf and ski in the same day, visiting craggy cliffs, beautiful beaches, majestic mountains, and (dry?) deserts in between. There’s the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, diverse culture (and food!) of Los Angeles, and sleepy shoreline of Laguna Beach. Plus, several U.S. National Parks, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Newport, Pasadena, and more all within driving distance.
Most importantly, you can do many of these things on a budget. California has a wealth of low cost tourist attractions. Spend one day at the Getty and Getty Villa, two of the top free museums in the US, before heading to the picturesque El Matador Beach in Malibu. Drive out to Palm Springs to do a self-guided walking tour of America’s best architecture, followed by an afternoon in Joshua Tree National Park, which is also perfect stargazing and seeing the Milky Way.
If all of that isn’t enough to tip the scales in California’s favor, the nearest In-N-Out Burger is 980 miles away from Walt Disney World. There are two within 10 minutes of Disneyland. 😉
If you’re planning a Southern California vacation beyond Disneyland and want other ideas, you’re in luck. We have tons of advice on our non-Disney blog, TravelCaffeine.com. There, we also have a ton of resources dedicated to visiting the state, including a series of blog posts about California points of interest and planning guides.
Overall, you can have a great time at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. While we think the latter offers the specific aforementioned advantages this year, there’s nothing to say you can’t choose to have a more laid-back and spontaneous trip at Walt Disney World. The Florida parks also have a lot going for them in 2022, from the 50th Anniversary to new additions–but we highlight Walt Disney World and its offerings on a daily basis.
Our aim here is not to proclaim Disneyland as the definitively superior experience and California as the better vacation destination. That’s simply not going to be the case for everyone. Rather, our goal is to convince those of you who may be averse to the idea of visiting Disneyland due to your preconceptions–or who have simply become alienated by Walt Disney World for the reasons identified above–to give the California parks a look. You will have a blast, and 2022 is arguably a good year to take off from Walt Disney World if you’re waiting for things to normalize.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
Your Thoughts
Have you visited both Disneyland and Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Which do you consider the superior destination for your vacation style? Do you think each have their strengths and weaknesses? Is one or the other definitively better? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
The article I needed ! We’re WDW diehards but planning our first SoCal trip next month with a day at DL, can’t wait to read all your tips !
Great article Tom. We are going to DL in March and looking forward to our first Food and Wine festival at DCA. And after so many cancelled trips we had enough points and the luck to snag a 1 bedroom at the GCH. We love WDW but the ease of walking between the parks, resorts and DTD is unmatched. Cannot wait!
I’m from NYC and grew up visiting WDW. My wife is from San Jose and grew up going to DL. As adults, our respective childhood parks are still our favorites. I will say though, that Disneyland is cheaper and a lot less exhausting with a lot of the same rides. We stay within walking distance and have no problem walking back at the end of the day. In WDW, just waiting for the bus is too much when the parks close. We actually plan in break days in WDW. In DL, we do two or three days straight without an issue. We also, as you mentioned, hit up other LA based area attractions, spend time at the beach, etc. When we do WDW, we just don’t want to waste our very expensive time not doing something within the Disney bubble. WDW does have much better food at Disney Springs than DL does at their shopping area. Of the two, we were thinking of buying APs at DL for all of the reasons I mentioned.
Great writing as usual Tom. You mention it elsewhere, but it is worth mentioning again I feel, there is a third gate just a short Uber/Lyft ride away from Disneyland – Knott’s Berry Farm. For me the two will always go together. I was born in the South Bay and 50+ years ago when I was a young boy our family would get up early and go to Disneyland for the day and then drive over to Knott’s Berry Farm for Mrs. Knott’s famous fried chicken dinner. We would walk around the Ghost Town and go on the mine ride. I remember seeing the scale model of the Log Ride on display outside of where it was to be built.
Knott’s has grown into a much bigger park over the years, and I think it is well worth a visit. My wife is not as big a fan because there are more thrill type rides there. I have yet to see the new dark ride and I’m guessing she will like that better. For years I told our friends with two teenage boys who regularly visit Disneyland they needed to go visit Knott’s Berry Farm while they were there. When they finally did, they came back raving about it. Their favorite thing? None other than Mrs. Knott’s famous fried chicken dinner!
We are heading to Disneyland in a few days and are really looking forward to the many advantages you mention. In particular I love that we can stay in an “real world” upscale hotel (JW Marriott) and still walk to the parks! (We’re big walkers and aren’t concerned about the .8 miles) The other thing we’re looking forward to is great weather. The forecast is sunny & 70’s, as is typical in SoCal. Our last trip to WDW in June ‘21 was miserably hot and also pouring buckets of rain. Really made it hard to enjoy.
I’ve lived within hearing distance of Disneyland fireworks almost my whole life (within a thirty minute drive since birth). We just did our first WDW trip in January (2022).
If I lived in the middle of the U.S., I would without a doubt do WDW. Epcot’s world showcase was by far and away my favorite part and if I could be a WDW passholder and local, I’d want to go to Epcot weekly. For me, Epcot stole the show and made WDW definitely better. We did five days (although 1.5 of our days were ruined by a pre-DCL cruise testing catastrophe that lost most of our AK day and the second half of our second MK day… but that’s a total digression), MK->DHS->Epcot->AK->MK. If I had it to do again, having been a Disneyland passholder half my life, I would’ve skipped DHS altogether and spent 2 days at Epcot and skipped the second day at MK. They weren’t different enough from DCA and Disneyland to make them worth it to me.
That said, now that I’ve done both, I don’t think I’ll ever make another intentional trip out to WDW unless we move away from Southern California. It’s not enough different to be worth the flight and the hotels and the transportation time when we’re a ten-minute drive from Disneyland. (If we didn’t have carseats to deal with and/or went as a date night just adults, it’s even the same price to Uber from our house as it is to park now, so bonus for having a built-in designated driver…)
All that to say, I had dreamed about WDW since I was a teenager and was slightly let down that there wasn’t more different things to do than what I’ve grown up doing. I’d say do whatever is closest and if you’re in the middle, WDW.
Heading to Disneyland in a few weeks so this post is perfectly timed.
I’m super excited for a superior experience with Genie+! There were so many frustrating things about it that we ran into on our last WDW trip. I think the most infuriating though was when we went to make an attraction reservation, not all members of our travel party would show up! It was me and my husband, and then our two friends and their four children. (We checked 3 times the night before to make sure they were all linked.)
This happened. ALL. DAY.
That morning I got up (earlier than I wanted to on vacation) followed all the suggestions in your post about speed strategy for using Genie+ at DHS, and it worked seamlessly UNTIL I thought I had snagged Slinky Dog but realized I didn’t have everybody on the reservation. Only 3 out of 8 people in our party.
The thing that took the cake was what the cast member told us when we went to guest services right at park opening to try and resolve it. “We can only add the rest of your party to the reservation if 50% or more of you are already listed.”
I’m sorry, WHAT?
So we ended up giving the reservations to 3 of the 4 kids so they could ride. Yes, they could SWITCH the people on the reservation but not ADD the rest of the people.
Between that technical glitch and only getting to secure 3 Lightning Lane reservations for the whole day we gave up and decided that Genie+ is exactly what I thought it would be. Another cash grab for Disney to sneak their greedy hands into our pocket without having to give us anything in return.
Have you heard of this happening to anyone else???
Hope this won’t be an issue at Disneyland since I’ll also be traveling with friends and needing to link up.
Hi Tom, thanks for all your great articles! I went on an impromptu 2 day DL trip last month (tacked on to a business trip to LA) and I was so happy with it. I agree with all your points…
I had a really good stay at an offsite hotel in walking distance. The planning was so easy, i actually bought my tickets while walking to the parks from my hotel the first morning. Using genie+ I got to experience so much. And I visited a lot of other spots in LA as part of my larger trip, like the Getty villa!
I want to go to WDW soon, i love the resort and how much it has to offer, and I haven’t been in 5 plus years, we are east coasters so it’s more convenient… but everything i read makes it sound so tough now, between increasing planning difficulties and the high crowd levels. I’m having trouble facing it. There are a lot of favorites there I’d like to revisit plus lots of new experiences, but I just know it will not be as easy as DLR where I rolled out of bed with no plans and still averaged two attractions an hour (including hitting most of the headliners twice across two days without paying for ILLs, just genie+) plus did photo pass ops and met characters and ate a Monte Cristo without having to make a reservation. I miss WDW but also kind of dread it.
As a lifelong Disneyland girl and West Coaster, I was shocked when I finally got the chance to make it to Orlando and see WDW. Magic Kingdom was like a carbon copy in so many ways, not quite as good as the original. Where is Mr Toad? Alice in Wonderland? New Orleans Square is a much better site for Pirates and Haunted Mansion. My kids were tough critics as well. Once you see Small World in it’s full form, the little indoor one just isn’t the same. To each his own, but Laguna Beach is worth whatever I need to do to get there. I just booked round trip MSP to SNA for $227 Nonstop on Delta for December, so it can be done. I love staying so close to the action, I was stunned how far apart everything was at DW. That said, Orlando has Universal which has one of my favorite hotels (Cabana Bay) and Harry Potter, so we will go back for that, but Disney will always be Anaheim. Thanks for all the excellent analysis Tom!
Having lived in CA for most of my life and now here in central FL for 6 months I can say there’s room for both. Disneyland is such a great theme park. You can feel Walt himself in it. Being able to park hop by walking is amazing as well. Walkable hotels to the parks a huge plus. In would say that if Magic Kingdom could pack as many attractions into it as DL it could propel it to be “better” than DL.
Now we live 15 mins from WDW and have gotten our system down to where we don’t miss DL at all. Both resorts have things we love and could never say one is better than the other. We could use Radiator Springs here though!!
Tom I was planning a trip with my friends I am an AP at Disney World and they are capping genie+ for us til the day of. Is there any info you have on how early you can purchase it and if it will be available.
We went to Disneyland over New Years and I was braved for WDW crowds. It was busy but nothing like WDW. With Genie we rode everything every day. Truly we only waited in one long line because I refused to buy LL+ twice for my kids 🙂 we are heading to WDW in April and I’m already dreading how limited the Genie+ options are, how fast they go, how long you have to wait between them. We love riding rides and I think we may end up heading west more often now that I have a taste of how easy it is!
Disneyland is wonderful, but it really is such a different sort of vacation for us. We have stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel and the Disneyland Hotel. Disneyland has lots of charm and we truly appreciated the quality of the entertainment and the sheer density of rides. California Adventure is in serious contention as my favorite theme park in the United States. However, DLR does leave a lot to be desired for families as an overall destination. A single hotel room with two queen beds really doesn’t “cut it” for us anymore for a relaxing vacation, and there aren’t many options near Disneyland that offer large, multi-room units. We also loathe LAX which is an incredibly frustrating place to rent a car. John Wayne is a better option, but is usually prohibitively expensive or not worth the inconvenience of having a layover. There is also the time change to deal with coming from the east coast and the longer flight. My wife thinks Dineyland’s castle is a joke and misses EPCOT and finds the crowds to be uncomfortably dense at DL, especially for fireworks and fantasmic. I will say that visiting Laguna Beach a few times was truly special and the beauty of the Pacific Coast is breathtaking. Overall, Disneyland is more of a “once every 5-6 years” destination for us, but WDW is much easier to visit and enjoy.
“…there aren’t many options near Disneyland that offer large, multi-room units.”
This is definitely true of the Disney hotels (unless you count the GC Villas, which I don’t, since they’re impossible to book) but not off-site hotels. The majority of the hotels built in Anaheim over the last ~5-7 years are family suites and/or extended stay hotels. They aren’t the ones right across the street, but there are several within 15 minutes (including a bunch right around that Sheraton).
Can’t disagree with anything else you wrote. Hopefully LAX gets better when the peoplemover and construction are done, but I’m not holding my breath.
There is no debate. California vs. Florida. Doesn’t that say it all?
No, not at all.
People can, and do, enjoy both. I’m a CA native and love my state. Disneyland will always have my heart, due to all of my special memories there and because it has more of a special feel as the original park. But I also enjoy vacationing in Florida and WDW. Not everything needs to be one vs the other. It’s still Disney and it’s all fun, they are just different.
Hey Tom,
Great stuff as always. We just returned from a stay Grand Cal. We own DVC at both Resorts. As a former College Programer from Midwest WDW is my home resort but we prefer DL. As ride junkies/Park commandos it’s not really a competition in my humble opinion. Yes WDW has more total rides but per park slash per footsteps between rides DL is the champ. Plus (although not for everyone) Grand Cal location can only be rivaled by overseas hotels. Even though last week seamed busy at DL including Super Bowl Parades we still knock everything out efficiently. I just suggest all those give a 4 day DL trip a chance. It may surprise you! FYI I love food wine, arts festivals and such and the DCA equivalents are a joke but both parks are worth visits! I would say though for those in the Universal vs Disney debate please try debating there west coast resorts in that conversation.
You had me up until calling the DCA festivals a joke! 😉
Don’t get me wrong–I think Epcot’s are better, but Viva Navidad and Lunar New Year are fantastic. Hoping that Food & Wine takes a couple steps forward this year, because you’re right about that one.
Sound arguments, Tom, every one. But still, we have two World trips and only one Land trip this year (and we planned that Land one just two months out) simply because of the unpredictability of California. Florida will stay open until the apocalypse (and maybe after), but we just didn’t feel comfortable yet booking out a trip to California deeper into 2022. Everything feels like it’s back on track but it’s going to be awhile before California is a reliable destination for us again.
I can understand that perspective and wanting to not hassle with having to change plans, but it’s hard to imagine California backsliding with ‘reopening’ at this point. OC is totally unlike LA County, so no worries on the local level, either.
Having grown up on Disneyland because we lived outside Sacramento, going two to three times a year, without having kids yet. Even after moving to Hawaii, we continued. It was our tradition. One year we decided to try wdw and we fell in love but not only because of wdw, but we loved universal. No comparison to California. The best hands down. It does become a ten day trip for us and as years have come and gone, we continued to go…and we have it to a “T”…I’m a crowd tracker and analyze everything. We would go for Halloween and again for Christmas especially to see Mannheim at universal. A tradition for years. After my husband passed last year and we still made the trip twice a year for holidays we realized it wasn’t the same. Not just because he wasn’t there, but we spent most our time walking, walking and walking. Getting to park was getting tedious.
Restaurants are always hard to get reservations. In seven years we have been unable to get sci fi, castle or beauty. And trust me I will be on the app at bell drop. I can get 50’s, but never sci fi and it started to get stale.
We have gone back to Disneyland…ease of getting around, less time to take everything in and spending time with my family that lives there. Blue bayou is still a favorite and avengers campus is a game changer.
Main things I miss are the restaurants at wdw and our tradition of Mannheim steamroller. Castles are no comparison. Wdw is more stunning. But shorter plane rides, closeness to hotels and ease of park hopping make DL a winner right now
Sorry to hear that about your husband–I cannot even imagine how that alone would change a trip.
Hopefully you’re able to make new Christmas traditions at Disneyland. Something you might want to look into is Knott’s Merry Farm.
Great post, Tom. Thank you so much.
I am going to travel this week to LA, unfortunately I didn’t find tickets available. Is there any other place to buy? We’re do you recommend? Also, I read at the Disneyland site that we need to make a reservation for the parks?
@ Patrick rod, just checked Disneyland site and as of a few minutes ago, other than today, only reservations available this week were one park only ( not hopper) for California adventure on feb 23. This is the holiday week is first time I’ve seen reservations full since Christmas. Good luck.
Gosh Tom , Selfishly hope too many people don’t plan sudden trips for beginning of May. Mine is scheduled for May 10 to 13 and you ,unknowingly, have had huge input on time of year , hotel etc.
I’m hoping the time change should work in my favor for rope drop ( though hadn’t thought about negative affect on late nights till you mentioned it. My 80 year old cousin is native though so rope drop not as appealing for him. Also my 74 year old self will be “techie” on trip so hope I and my Android will be up to challenge.
Any chance of a one or two day park hopper with genie plan? Been scoping out the app but as very old maps used to say “the map is not the territory”
“Any chance of a one or two day park hopper with genie plan?”
Lots more updates and new strategy posts for Disneyland coming soon. (“Soon” for this blog is, hopefully, sometime before May 10. No promises, but they should be done by then.)
Great post. Having spent a ton of time in Southern California pre-marriage and kids, I could not agree with this more, “our perspective is that Southern California beats Central Florida in terms of fun things to do for visitors.”
That being said, with younger kids the ease of a flight from the mid-Atlantic to MCO vs. SAN/LAX was a deal breaker for many years. That flight is loooong with little ones.
I’m really starting to look forward to the Disney days of our SoCal vacation this summer after some of your recent posts. I was dreading it some with being the planner for a multi generational trip, and having to deal w/ Genie+ but you’ve talked me off the ledge. Also- the off site hotel prices are/were killer. Thanks for all your research!
Yeah, that flight can be brutal. Even for us, it’s no-win: either a layover if flying to SNA or nonstop…but to LAX.