We’re pretty familiar with Disneyland Park in CA and taking our first trip to WDW. There’s surprisingly little information on the differences between the Magic Kingdom and DL. I know about 7DMT, but what other differences in attractions are there? (I don’t especialy care about dining)
Here’s a solid starting point:
Overall the biggest difference is that DL is 2 parks you can walk between while WDW is 4 parks, plus 2 water parks, that you have to bus in between. So park hopping is more difficult and you’re certainly not alternating rides between parks. Big picture, the planning is much different as ADRs are 180 days, FP+ 60 days, a ton of on-site resort options etc.
Attraction wise lots of stuff is similar, but a little different. Some examples: Splash is 2 per row versus 1, Space is 1 per instead of 2, Pirates has slightly different scenes (DL longer), Haunted Mansion is a little different, Buzz the guns are attached to the car. Other rides are similar but with different overlays: Test Track and Radiator Springs are the same ride system, but radically different rides; Indy & Dinosaur use the same system, but much different story; TOT is still the Twilight Zone overlay and not Guardians; Kali & Grizzly River Run are similar (Kali is bigger rafts that spin slower) but totally different setting.
Unique only to WDW stuff: Safari, Flight of Passage, 7DMT, Slinky Dog Dash, Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, People Mover, Spaceship Earth, Mission to Mars, Living with the Land, 3 Caballeros, Frozen Ever After, Rock N Rollercoaster, Muppet Vision 3D, Expedition Everest, Na’vi River, Primeval Whirl.
Thanks for all that info. I was specifically looking at MK vs. DLP and trying to plan out how much time we’d need at MK and how much we should invest in parks that are more divergent from the CA offerings. I hear there are slight differences between the 3 mountains and their counterparts and HM and PotC. Is it that important to ride them in FL, given that we’ve ridden them about 10 times each in CA?
I think the answer is “it depends”. I really enjoyed checking out the rides I knew well from WDW at least once at DL to be able to compare & contrast the rides. Checking out those differences was a cool feature for me. YMMV of course.
At MK proper you’re only looking at 7DMT, People Mover, Country Bear Jamboree, Carousel of Progress and Swiss Family Robinson, and MiLF that aren’t in DL, at least anymore. That’s not a huge list of attractions, and is really short on headliners there - personally I’d hit all the rides that are favorites from DL and spend a lot of time at MK as it is the park with the most attractions. Now a lot depends on how many days you’re spending at WDW etc., but I wouldn’t give MK short shrift just because of knowing DL…
We did DL last summer for the first time after may trips to WDW.
Overall, I preferred the DL versions of things that were in both parks. We definitely got a lot more wet on the WDW Splash Mountain, BTMRR was slightly different. Space Mountain was so much smoother in DL (and I liked the music during the ride). Small World was SO much nicer in DL. The queue in WDW is very generic and hidden away as compared to its CA cousin. I also think there are more rooms that are smaller in DL than WDW. Haunted Mansion seemed cooler in DL, I know that the haunted pictures are in a different location and there are other minor differences.
Definitely do Toy Story Midway Mania in DHS. While the rides themselves seem identical to me, the theme of the queue in DHS is amazing. You are walking amidst Andy’s toys…including board games on the walls. I was very disappointed to not see a similar set up in DL.
Enjoy!!
To me, the main difference is that DL has pieces of three wdw parks embedded in DL, while MK is just one park . When I walk around DL it can confuse me because I see pieces of EP and HS in DL. Does that make sense?
1 Like
Of course, DL has the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which MK does not, which is a disappointment.