My Thoughts: DLR Magic Kingdom vs. WDW Magic Kingdom.

Post by **addlema** » Apr Sun 12, 2009 7:33 pm

Having had the good fortune to be in both parks less then 6 months apart I thought I would compare the two parks and back my hypothesis that DLR has the better Magic Kingdom.

Adventure Land
Tiki Room: DLR has the original and better version. Iago and Zazou do nothing but ruin the feel by adding disney characters to an original Walt attraction that was never intended to have characters from the movies. It was really amazing to see the tiki room in it's original glory having been stuck with under new management for so long.

Indiana Jones: A spectacular ride missing at WDW.

Jungle Cruise: WDW wins here with a longer ride and better thematics.

Treehouse: Ugh. Jungle Book treehouse loses to the original Swiss family robinson. Another shameless change that wasn't needed. WDW wins

New Orleans Square:

Blue Bayou: IMHO the best sit down resturant in either magic kingdom.

Pirates: Come on.. DLR easily wins with 4 extra minutes a better story and a more and longer drop.

Haunted Mansion: A toss up here. They both have positives that the other lacks.

Frontierland:

Tom Sawyers Island with Pirates Lair: DLR is much better. It was very well upgraded and a lot of fun for kids and adults to play in.

Splash: Much better story telling at WDW.

Big Thunder: Same.. Except you can see some historic themes and animatronics from early rides in DLR.

Country Bears: WDW wins because they have it!

Toontown:

DL wins hands down. The toontown at DLR must be seen. It's amazingly themed. Also, it has Roger Rabbits Cartoon spin.

FantasyLand:

Small World: I hate them both now due to the changes against Mary Blair. However, the outside at DL is extremely well done.

Matterhorn: The first steel tube rollercoaster in history. only at DLR

DLR also has Alice, and Toad, Pinochio, a cool little castle walk through, the only original WDW has in Fantasyland is Philharmagic.

Tomorrowland

TL and I have a love hate relationship. Theme wise they lose to WDW big time. WDW also has TTA

The problem I have with the Tomorrowland in WDW is that I think it's lost its way. Its going away from the future and just be drab and boring nowish. Monsters Inc laugh floor? Stitch?

Autopia: is double the length of Indy speedway and much more fun

NEMO Subs: They have the nemo subs again! WOOT

Buzz: Guns are detachable and easier to aim.

StarTours: Great place to put it in DL.

Space Mountain: The big winner here and I think it still will be after the refurb at WDW. They completly replaced the track and put in new cars and redid the entire queue in DLR. ITs amazing.. Pitch black, great audio, and I have never been on a smoother rollercoaster. CASCADE ALARM! BEEP!
NO STAR TUNNEL AT DLR THOUGH.. NEGATIVE POINTS!

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I just wrote this quickly off the top of my head and would love to discuss further..

But my breakdown goes like this.

WDW wins Tomorrowland (minus space), Main Street USA, the Castle, and Frontierland.
DLR wins AdventureLand, New orleans square, Fantasyland (and HOW), toon town, and eating.

This is all my humble opionion and I would love to hear yours.

(next up in a different forum: Why Hans hates fast pass and thinks it should go away forever).

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Apr Sun 12, 2009 8:23 pm

HAHAHAHA, Many good points and I hope to be able to compare just the same on future trips. Did it Cascade with Subsonic there again???? I think he is just BAD LUCK with that ride. Man I wish I was there for that Pirates lair bit.....must have been hilarious to see you in there, how many times did you hit your head?

Post by **addlema** » Apr Mon 13, 2009 9:21 am

We did pirates lair the last time I was there. We spent a good hour on that island playing with all the cool interactive stuff.

It cascaded 2 minutes before we got on.. So we missed it and then had to wait. As we were getting on the cascade warning was going off. They were running 10 cars at 25 seconds.

They did have to push our car off to the back room. too much weight.

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Apr Mon 13, 2009 10:02 am

addlema wrote: It cascaded 2 minutes before we got on.. So we missed it and then had to wait. As we were getting on the cascade warning was going off. They were running 10 cars at 25 seconds.

That's what I mean Subsonic is bad luck on that one. It cascaded a few minutes before the group got on it at DL5 and had a Fire Alarm go off during the ride....lets see what happens in future.

Post by **horizons1** » Apr Mon 13, 2009 12:34 pm

Being a Southern California native who now spends much time in Orlando I agree with all your points. I think Disneyland is superior to WDW's Magic Kingdom, although I like WDW over DLR. I know that's off topic though.

A couple other thoughts:
Frontierland: I like WDW's version at night because you can ride the Liberty Belle. At DL, you usually cannot because of Fantasmic.

Fantasyland: Better themed buildings make the whole land quaint and cozy. WDW's MK needs a facelift.

theBIGyowski · Post by **theBIGyowski** » Apr Mon 13, 2009 3:41 pm

I agree that Fantasyland needs a makeover like the one at DL. I just fell in love with DL when I was there last year. It was my first time to ever go there, though I have been to WDW 5 times I believe.

addlema did a pretty good job of the comparisons. I will have to say this though...I did not enjoy the Matterhorn all that much. Maybe it's because it was hyped up so much, and didn't live up to expectations...I dunno. I just know it was jerky, not that fast, and seemed a tad tame. I appreciated it for being the first tubular steel roller coaster and for being very cool looking. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Certain things like Indiana Jones and Star Tours have their WDW counterparts in Dinosaur and the WDW Star Tours...so you can't really compare too much there. I do agree though that Star Tours does fit in well in DL Tomorrowland. The problem though is that all you have there is Space Mountain and Star Tours. The rest is just a little sad.

Another thing that was underwhelming to me was Sleeping Beauty Castle. I guess I was so used to Cinderella's in WDW MK that I expected Sleeping Beauty's to be just as big. Maybe it was the huge trees around it that killed the effect. I just thought it got a little lost down there at the end of Main Street...unlike Cinderella's which has such a powerful presence in the same location.

Altogether...I loved DL and hope I can get back out there again. Maybe next time I could go see DCA as well.

disneydreamer58 · Post by **disneydreamer58** » Apr Tue 14, 2009 7:39 am

addlema wrote: It cascaded 2 minutes before we got on..

I know this is a stupid question but what is cascading?

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Apr Tue 14, 2009 4:45 pm

Hahaha this was a great read and yes, I do agree with DLR not having Star Tunnel - that's why I listen to it on my iPod while waiting in line.

Post by **addlema** » Apr Wed 15, 2009 7:46 am

disneydreamer58 wrote:addlema wrote: It cascaded 2 minutes before we got on..

I know this is a stupid question but what is cascading?

Subsonic would be best to explain this but in a nutshell: It's when they don't unload or load fast enough and the cars in the mountain get to close or backed up and they have to shut the whole mountain and reset each car by hand (pushing it out of the break zone). It takes like 15-20 minutes to fix this but it would be pretty cool if it happened while you were in the mountain.. They turn on the lights and you get to sit in your car for a while and look around/take pictures

Post by **addlema** » Apr Wed 15, 2009 7:49 am

theBIGyowski wrote:I agree that Fantasyland needs a makeover like the one at DL. I just fell in love with DL when I was there last year. It was my first time to ever go there, though I have been to WDW 5 times I believe.

addlema did a pretty good job of the comparisons. I will have to say this though...I did not enjoy the Matterhorn all that much. Maybe it's because it was hyped up so much, and didn't live up to expectations...I dunno. I just know it was jerky, not that fast, and seemed a tad tame. I appreciated it for being the first tubular steel roller coaster and for being very cool looking. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Certain things like Indiana Jones and Star Tours have their WDW counterparts in Dinosaur and the WDW Star Tours...so you can't really compare too much there. I do agree though that Star Tours does fit in well in DL Tomorrowland. The problem though is that all you have there is Space Mountain and Star Tours. The rest is just a little sad.

Another thing that was underwhelming to me was Sleeping Beauty Castle. I guess I was so used to Cinderella's in WDW MK that I expected Sleeping Beauty's to be just as big. Maybe it was the huge trees around it that killed the effect. I just thought it got a little lost down there at the end of Main Street...unlike Cinderella's which has such a powerful presence in the same location.

Altogether...I loved DL and hope I can get back out there again. Maybe next time I could go see DCA as well.

I honestly do NOT like Dinosaur anywhere near as much as Indiana Jones. Dinosaur feels really rushed and crappy compared. The HUGE Room with multiple cars and the bridge in Indiana is amazing.

Tomorrowland at both parks is sad but WDW does win easily except for space moutain of course. The lack of people mover/tta in DLR makes me very sad.

TTA is the best ride ever.

theBIGyowski · Post by **theBIGyowski** » Apr Wed 15, 2009 9:05 am

addlema wrote:TTA is the best ride ever.

I have to agree with you on that one. Heck...I even bought a DVD set online of Disney rides mainly so I could put in the TTA part and watch it.

keneka · Post by **keneka** » Apr Sun 19, 2009 3:03 am

overall I love WDW better although there are some rides which are better at DLR - but I think it's mainly a space thing - DLR always feels to crowded to me - both with people are the rides and buildings are too close to each other

Post by **horizons1** » Apr Sun 19, 2009 10:37 am

addlema wrote:I honestly do NOT like Dinosaur anywhere near as much as Indiana Jones. Dinosaur feels really rushed and crappy compared. The HUGE Room with multiple cars and the bridge in Indiana is amazing.

Different strokes, I guess. All the reasons you like Indiana better are all the reasons I don't like it as much as Dinosaur. Being in a big room is dramatic at first but then just noisy and distracting. Then being able to see all the cars takes away from the sense that you are on your own adventure. On the other hand, Dinosaur is extremely dark so you can't see much of anything and what you call rushed I call fast-paced. I will admit the time travel effects are pretty lame though and the Indiana queue is unbeatable.

imaginationcelebration · Post by **imaginationcelebration** » Sep Fri 25, 2009 8:48 pm

I've always thought that Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland was far superior to the island at Disneyworld. I haven't been to Disneyland since they redid it so its something to look forward to.

Soarin08 · Post by **Soarin08** » Sep Sat 26, 2009 10:52 pm

Well reading this makes me want to go to DLR even more! Even though WDW will always remain superior to me no matter what.... come on, they don't have the star tunnel on their awesome version of SM?? Ummm...... yeah.