Which is better, Disney World or Disneyland? I recently had the opportunity to visit both parks, so I thought I’d share my thoughts with you.
1. Comfort:
Disney Land is in the middle of a city. It is surrounded and walled off from the hustle and bustle of Anaheim, CA. That means it’s surrounded by restaurants, convenience stores, and hotels. When I went to visit Disneyland, I was able to walk right from my motel. At the end of the day, we just walked back. Easy. Disney World, on the other hand, is nothing like that. It sits on a large parcel of land that is isolated from everything else. Unless you’re staying at one of the Disney hotels, you’re looking for a minimum of about 30 minutes of driving time to get to Disney World from anywhere in Orlando. Then you have to pay for parking, and it’s usually a pretty long walk from your car to get to the park because the parking lot is huge. In convenience, Disneyland is the clear winner.
2. Variety
On the other hand, the fact that Disney World is located on such a large and isolated piece of land brings its own benefits. There is much more room to spread out, and they can better create the experience of truly being in another “world”. Disney World has 4 main parks: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom. They also have some smaller parks and water parks, but I didn’t go to any of those.
Overall I’d say both parks are worth a look. Disneyland is much more convenient, but despite that, I was totally blown away by the overall Disney World experience.