I wanted to do one more blog post regarding our trip to Disneyland. In part, so that I could share the links to my haul videos so that you can see all the goodies I picked up both at D23:
And in the parks:
I also wanted to be able to show the above collage I created from all our ride photos of Mission Breakout.
But I also wanted to share some final thoughts about our experiences.
Ever since we've come back from Disneyland, the most common question we've received is "so which park do you like better?" My answer in all honesty has to be Disney World. Disney World is home. It's our enchanted land of magic and all things good. It's our sanctuary, and it has yet to have ever let us down when we go there, even with all the hype and buildup that we go through anticipating and planning for it when we aren't there. Disney World makes me happy. It takes away all my stresses and worries; my anxieties and OCD disappear.
But Disneyland has its own magic. There is an energy you feel when you gaze past the iron gates at the floral Mickey in front of the railroad station, and imagine how Walt stood there. Walking through the entries into Main Street USA, looking to the left and seeing the light lit in Walt's apartment...not the reproduction, but his true and actual apartment. The castle is smaller, yes, and the park is smaller, yes, but every step is rife with nostalgia and sentiment and its own sort of quiet magic. You hear that train whistle blow, and you can't help but smile. You can see how Walt's vision is truly a daily reality. Disneyland has done an outstanding job of making you truly feel the history of the place, while simultaneously keeping things fresh and new.
Disneyland caters to a different sort of audience than Disney World. Although there are still tourists who come there from around the globe, they have a massive number of local Annual Passholders who make Disneyland their lifestyle. Daily, weekly, they stop by Disney on their lunch breaks, ride the carousel on date night, and eat churros on Main Street for a midnight snack instead of raiding the refrigerator. The very thing that prevents Disneyland from existing in the "bubble" I adore, like Disney World does, is the reason for its thriving culture: it is right in the middle of a city. People literally live five minutes down the road, and it's as easy to pop over as it is in my home town to visit a local park. It's largely thanks to this fervent Disneyland subculture that we have the thriving Disneybounding and Dapper Disney fashions (People do also Disneybound and Dapper bound at Disney World and other parks too, yes, but wow...there were tons of people doing it at Disneyland) as well as YouTube and Instagram millennial personalities who are continually making Disneyland a pop culture staple and cult hit among younger potential guests.
Unfortunately, the negative side of all this is that some of the people who have made Disneyland their life get rather protective of it to those who might prefer its bigger, flashier sibling. Comparisons are inevitable; as I mentioned above, it truly has been the single most asked question since our return from people who are genuinely curious. And the wonderful appeal of Disneyland is hard to articulate in words. Because of this some (and I have to emphasize SOME here...not generalizing all) Disneyland-goers exude a vibe of....aggressive protectiveness and dislike of Disney World. It was odd to see, and somewhat distracting from the formation of our opinion on the experience. For example, at D23, when panels talked about Disney World, there was an undercurrent among some panel attendees of grumbling, while Disneyland announcements were met with mad glee. And more specifically, Tom actually heard people refer to Disney World on more than one occasion as "that other place" in a disgusted manner. I'm sorry, what? I understand you have affection for your own park, but I have affection for "that other place" too. For me, it's home, even though I only get there once or twice a year if I'm lucky.
Basically, to entirely sum it up, I just want to respond to the people who seem so aggressive toward Disney World:
Disneyland will appeal to some people more. Disney World will appeal to others. Why is there this need to categorize either of them as objectively better than the other? Even though I may prefer Disney World, I emphatically will point out that that's just my own personal preference. To me, the Disney World bubble of getting away from it all is essentially important. For me, Disney World was the first place I fell in love with on vacation. With our first Disney World trip, Tom and I discovered a shared vacation passion, and something we could both turn into a hobby and lifestyle. We have history, that beautiful Cinderella castle and I. But does that mean that I will turn my nose up at Disneyland and say that my Orlando home is "better?" Not at all. Both are magic. Both offer magical moments...like this one:
It's admittedly fun to discuss which rides you prefer at one park or the other. Tom and I enjoyed comparing notes. And Disney World was certainly not superior at all common rides: we agreed fervently that Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the carousel were superior at Disneyland, (and disagree on the Tiki Room...I think DL is better and he prefers WDW) and Disneyland also now hosts one of my favorite rides at any Disney park. (if you don't know to what ride I'm referring, return to the top of this blog post) But it's important to note that in comparing individual rides and experiences between the two parks, we aren't trying to make a final judgment on which park is "better."
Both can be magical. Both can tug at the heart strings. And sure, some people will prefer one, and some will prefer the other, but dear me, wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same? Disney parks appeal to the heart. We don't all have to choose sides like this is some epic battle or political issue. Aren't we lucky to have magic on both sides of the United States, here to remind us what it's like to be a kid again, to show us new adventures and immersive delights? And to teach us to believe that wishing on a star will truly make your dreams come true?
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