Typically most of my visits to Disney parks have been to Walt Disney World. Recently I was lucky enough to visit Disneyland for the first time in 13 years. I had mentally prepared myself for many of the differences, but one difference was striking.
On my visit the biggest difference between Walt Disney World and Disneyland were the character experiences. Disneyland was simply better in every way. Usually I don’t like to compare Disneyland and Walt Disney World because I think they both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I was just so impressed by the Disneyland character experiences that I had to share. Also I typically have a big bias favoring Walt Disney World because it is the park I am comfortable in, but there is no denying how great the character experience is in Disneyland.
Here’s why the Disneyland character experiences are so much better:
1) Shorter Wait Times
In Walt Disney World meeting some characters means using up one of our FastPasses, or it takes up to (or over) an hour to wait in line. I got used to this at Walt Disney World, and would gladly wait because it was what I was used to. On my recent trip to Disneyland I was spoiled. My girlfriend and I met Snow White, Belle, and Cinderella with zero wait. This was also a fairly crowded day in the parks, and I was expecting to be in line for an hour just like it can be in Walt Disney World. The wait was so short it appeared as if the characters weren’t expecting us as we walked in.
My assumption as to why the meet and greets have shorter waits is a guess, but I assume it is because a large percentage of Disneyland guests are annual pass holders. As an annual pass holder I am assuming they don’t need to take the same picture with the princesses, or any character for that matter, over and over again in a short amount of time. Compare that to Walt Disney World where many guests are on their first, or only, Disney park trip as a family.
2) Spontaneous Meet And Greets
Something I had heard about, and loved seeing in person, was how characters seem to roam freely. This gave the park a much more natural feel. It truly felt like this was the characters’ home. In comparison, the cattle herding feel that Walt Disney World has when meeting characters make it feel like Mickey and his friends are at work and are obligated to take pictures and sign autographs. In Disneyland because they could roam freely it truly felt like they wanted to be there. My girlfriend and I had the opportunity to meet Captain Hook, The Mad Hatter, The Evil Queen, and Belle just because we were in the right place at the right time. There is something magical about that.
The spontaneity also plays into my first point of waiting less to meet the characters. If you catch them right as they appear onstage then the wait time to meet them can be very short.
3) Better Character Interaction
Meeting the face characters can be awkward especially when they seem inexperienced. Because the “friends” of the characters live so close to Hollywood the characters seem to fully encompass their roles on a level I rarely see in Florida, which impressed me. This is no knock on Walt Disney World characters as I think they do a great job, but I was just surprised how the Disneyland characters seemed to take it one step further. It felt immersive like how meeting a character felt when I was a kid.
Maybe it was just the characters I met, because it was only a small sample size of 10 to 15 characters, but even still overall I was extremely impressed by Disneyland’s characters.
Largely, I think the character meet and greets in Walt Disney World are great, but to truly experience something extra special I recommend visiting Disneyland, especially if character meet and greets are one of your family’s favorite thing to do in the parks.
