Parks
Disneyland has only two parks, Disneyland Park has Main Street U.S.A with the all important 167 feet tall Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Fantasyland, Discoveryland, Adventureland and Frontierland. Meanwhile Walt Disney Studios Park hosts the “bigger” attractions like The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Aerosmith’s Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, it is often compared to Hollywood Studios at WDW. The parks are a few minutes walk apart from each other.
Disney World is on a much larger scale, with six parks. They have two water parks; Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Magic Kingdom with the 189 feet tall model of Cinderella’s Castle and similar to DLP they have lands, except they have six instead of five; Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Main Street U.S.A and Tomorrowland. Epcot is home to future world and the world showcase representing eleven countries around the world. Hollywood Studios is based very much on the films of Disney with the newly opened Toy Story Land, Animation Courtyard and Star Wars : Galaxy’s Edge opening in August 2019. Last but certainly not least is Animal Kingdom, which expectedly is very centred on animals and nature. They have Africa, Asia, The Oasis, Discovery Island with the beautiful 145 foot tall Tree of Life with 325 animal carvings, Dinoland U.S.A and the newly opened Pandora – The World of Avatar.
Size / Transport
The two parks at Disneyland are a few minutes walk apart from each other. Disney Village, the shopping, dining and entertainment area is also very easily walkable from either park.
The Marne-la-Vallée/ Chessy train station is right at the gate of Disneyland.
If staying at a Disney hotel, there is free bus transportation from the hotel to the parks, or it is a relatively short walk from most of the hotels.
Disneyland covers 4,800 acres of land, which is small in comparison to the other Disney parks, however one football field is just over one acre in size, so this puts it into perspective just how large it is.
WDW parks are not easily accessible by foot, hence why they have monorails, buses, boats, ferries, Minnie vans (the only option with a cost, however the most door-to-door service available by Disney), and gondolas opening summer 2019.
It is possible to walk between Hollywood Studios and Epcot, but a bus is usually what people opt for in the blistering heat. Getting from Epcot to Magic Kingdom and vice versa is the most hassle as it requires you to get the monorail to the the ticket and transportation centre and then get another monorail to the park. The other parks are all accessible by one relatively short (air conditioned) bus journey from one to the other.
The complimentary transport is also available between parks and the Disney resorts.
If staying at a Disney resort there is complementary transport from Orlando International Airport to your resort and vice versa on your return on the Magical Express. There are other shuttles available at a cost from Mears, as well as car rental, taxi’s or Uber’s.
Disney World covers almost 25,000 acres of land but only half of this has actually been used.
Resorts
Disneyland Paris is home to six hotels. Disneyland Hotel is unique in comparison to anything Disney World have to offer, the hotel is a Victorian style mansion located at the entrance to Disneyland Park, meaning you can’t possibly get closer. The Hotel New York is currently being renovated to become the Art of Marvel which is expected to reopen in 2020. The Cheyenne and Santa Fe are comparable to Disney’s All Star (value) resorts with their unique cartoonish theming and affordable price point. Staying at a Disney hotel carries the perk of extra hours in the parks which may be in the morning or night.
Disney World hosts over 25 resorts in four categories, there are six value resorts, five moderate, eight deluxe and eleven deluxe villas. Disney’s Contemporary is the only resort which is walking distance to Magic Kingdom, which explains why the room rates start at $461 per night. Animal Kingdom Lodge is arguably the best themed hotel with the chance to see a giraffe from your balcony. It also has three restaurants and rates start at $388 per night. The Grand Floridian Hotel is a luxury themed hotel which is one monorail stop from Magic Kingdom with room rates starting at a staggering $657 per night. Disney Value Resorts include All-Star Movies/ Music/ Sports resorts which start at an affordable $112 per night with food courts rather than restaurants and larger than life theming.
Entertainment District : Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) at WDW vs Disney Village at DLP
Access to both of these areas are free, meaning you can get a free slice of Disney Magic. They both host seasonal events and live entertainment throughout the year.
Both of these areas have multiple dining locations. Disney Springs hosts 63 dining options including the new Chicken Guy quick service restaurant, the coca-cola store and bar, Planet Hollywood, Starbucks and t-rex restaurant.
Disney Village hosts 17 restaurants including Annette’s Diner, Cafe Mickey, five guys, McDonald’s, Planet Hollywood and the Rainforest Cafe.
Disney Springs have a massive 110 shopping options which obviously include shops specialising in Disney apparel, toys, collectibles etc. However, they also have regular shopping options such as Alex and Ani, Basin, Coach, Ghiradelli, Havaianas, Kate Spade, Kiehls, Lacoste, LEGO store, Levi’s, MAC, Sephora and Pandora. Some of these retailers will have Disney exclusive items available at their Disney Springs location.
Disney Village is much smaller on the shopping side with only Disney specialised shops as well as the Rainforest Café boutique, The Planet Hollywood boutique and the LEGO store.
Both areas have a cinema showing regular movies at a cost. Disney Village have a unique character dining experience available at a cost at Cafe Mickey, which is unique as it does not require you to purchase park admission yet you can still dine with Mickey and the gang in true Disney style. They also have a concert/ show at Billy Bob’s restaurant. Both areas have a large hot air balloon that you can pay to go on and get a great view of the area. Disney Springs have a bowling alley “splitsville” and the NBA experience opening in summer 2019.
Both areas have live entertainment scattered around.
Entertainment
Both parks have many varied entertainment options.
Epcot host many seasonal “festivals” and series like the Rock to the Beat concert series with free nightly concerts from various artists, the candlelight processional with celebrities as the lead such as the regular choice of Neil Patrick Harris. There is also the popular food and wine festival and the flower and garden festival.
There are also live shows such as Beauty and the Beast, A Frozen sing-along and Fantasmic at Hollywood studios, and Finding Nemo the Musical and Lion King at Animal Kingdom.
There are evening shows at each park. Animal Kingdom has Rivers of Light, a show of lights in the water, as well as the Tree of Life Awakenings where the Tree illuminates throughout the night. They are the only park not to have fireworks due to the animals in the park.
Hollywood Studios also has a water centred show with Fantasmic and also the fireworks “Star Wars; A Galactic Spectacular”.
Magic Kingdom have the spectacular firework shows Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time. Epcot have IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth which is ending after summer 2019 for a new firework show.
There is also the Electrical Water Pageant near Magic Kingdom Park where you can watch light-up sea creatures in the lagoon.
Magic Kingdom also host the ticketed events; Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. There is a new ticketed event on selected dates for After Hours where guests can experience very very small wait times for attractions at Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom.
All parks host meet and greet events with various characters at multiple locations throughout the day with Memory Maker photographers at most of them there to capture the memories for you. As well as character dining experiences for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As DLP is a smaller park and only has the two parks this means it has less entertainment.
Disneyland do have more “rare” character greetings, for example In Disney World Jack and Sally Skellington are only in the park at the ticketed event : Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, whereas they have a permanent meet and greet location in Disneyland Park during Halloween season.
Parades and shows run regularly through the day either at the castle or down main street, as they do in Magic Kingdom at WDW.
They also have the nightly fireworks “Illuinations” over the castle.
They have shows such as Stitch Live! Which is where Stitch interacts with the audience, unlike anything at WDW. They also have Mickey and the Magician shown through the day in both English and French. Walt Disney Studios Park have “Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular” which is very similar to Lights, Motors Action! At Hollywood Studios.
Overall, DLP is a much smaller and more compact park making it easily accessible and can be completed in a short period of time. Whereas, WDW is a massive park that needs a good few days to do, and even then you will not see all of it and you would need about a month at least to do that!
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