Compare and Contrast: Disney World v. Disneyland

The Happiest Places on Earth
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” This is a direct quotation from a man whose life’s work has carried on showing this is true. Walt Disney is an international icon who is widely known for his creation of the theme parks Disneyland and Disneyworld. While he proposed for many of the same concepts and themes to be embedded into both parks, there are just as many differences as there are similarities. Both were built with the intention to ignite the dream in all of us, but differ when it comes to things like history, location, and attractions. The history of Disneyland started with Walt Disney’s vision of a place where parents and children could have a magical time together. According to Just Disney, he started dreaming of creating this place in 1944 but World War II put his plans on hold. In 1953, he had the Stanford Research Institute conduct a survey for a 100-acre site, outside of Los Angeles to find out what people would like to see in this enchanted place. Walt Disney found out he needed space to build rivers, waterfalls, and mountains. He would have flying elephants and giant teacups, a fairy-tale castle, moon rockets, and a scenic railway; all inside a magical place he would call "Disneyland” (Wingert.) Chris Wingert stated that Disneyland was very expensive to build but Disney said “I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral”. Construction for the park began on July 21, 1954, a year before opening was scheduled. After construction begun, the history of Walt Disney would never be the same. Since the area was an orange grove, 160-acres of citrus trees had to be cleared and 15 houses were moved to make room for the park (Wingert.) After spending close to $17,000,000, Disneyland finally opened on July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California. Wingert identified that opening day was a complete disaster, with the temperature over 110 degrees, thousands of counterfeit tickets were used, and many of the attractions not being opened. Even with this, the park gained great popularity, with over 50 million people visiting the park within the next ten years. Although the history of Disneyland changed American culture forever, the history of Disneyworld would continue to expand the dream of Walt Disney. After the success of Disneyland, Walt Disney wanted to take on a bigger project. Frommer’s stated Disney had found that only 5% of Americans traveled over the Mississippi River to vacation, and more than 75% of the population of the United States was on the east side of the country. In 1964, he flew over a rural area in central Florida and chose that area for the location of “Walt Disney World”. For the next three years Disney secretly bought acres of very expensive land where he wanted his park. After obtaining over 5,000 acres, Walt wanted his vision to be completed in two years, so he hired over 9,000 worked to complete the job (Frommer’s.) Later that year, the construction for Walt Disney’s larger and more complex park had begun. Walt Disney pasted away from lung cancer during construction, his brother and business partner, Roy O. Disney, continued out his brother’s vision (Frommer’s.) According to Frommer’s, after spending close to $400 million dollars, on October 1, 1971 in Lake Buena Visit, Florida Disneyworld opened the Magic Kingdom and two hotels surrounding the park. Within two years of being open, 20 million people visited the new Disney Park (Frommer’s.) Even though the histories of Disneyland and Disneyworld have many similarities and differences of how they developed, Disneyland and Disneyworld show even more similarities and differences in the locations.
The location of Disneyland was a top priority to Walt Disney to create his vision. Walt wanted the property to be within the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and to be easily accessible by freeway. Go California writer Betsy Malloy stated the search for the best spot ended in the countryside of Anaheim, California near the junction of the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) and Harbor Boulevard. This location is in highly populated Orange County, which brings many tourists just for its location. Orange County offers a lot of attractions aside from Disneyland, such as shopping, museums, restaurants, and parks (Malloy.) Disneyland is also neighboring to Orange County’s famous beach, Huntington Beach. Robert Vaux of USA Today said California offers warm and sunny weather all year round, with very low humidity, and almost never rains. 215.1 million people visited California in 2011 and 16.4 million visited Disneyland (Vaux.) The California Disney location will forever remain popular because it is the original location. While Disneyland’s location was carefully selected, Disneyworld’s location was chose for a different reason. Disneyworld’s location was chose to be accessible to the people on the east coast. The property would have to be in an area where the park could continue to grow over time. The chosen spot was in Lake Buena Vista because it was in a rural area, but had a well-developed network of roads, including Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike (Frommer’s.) McCoy Air Force Base which is now Orlando International Airport is to the east, allowing easy travel. With Disneyworld being land-locked, the attraction to the waterparks is plentiful. According to Robert Vaux, Florida offers sunny weather in all seasons, but has very high humidity. The summer is considered the wet season, with the amount of rain almost being tripled from winter. Although many would say that California is a more desirable vacation, 86 million visited Florida in 2011 and 52 million visited Disneyworld which is three times more than Disneyland (Vaux.) In central Florida there aren’t a lot of attractions besides the theme parks; therefore, people travel there with the intention of going to either Disneyworld or a competing park that is nearby. Granit Disneyland and Disneyworld have quite a few similarities and differences in location; they also show resemblance and uniqueness in attractions. Disneyland has many popular attractions. Two of the top attractions are the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Indiana Jones Adventure. Tom Bicker of Disney Tourists states The Pirates of the Caribbean is a boat-ride that takes the rider back to the days when pirates ruled the Caribbean. The attraction features an audio animation of pirates engaging in adventurous chaos (Bicker.) This is one of my favorite attractions at Disneyland, and it is significantly longer than the attraction at Disneyworld sharing the same name. This attraction has a great amount of detail to it, and even has a memorable song. Bicker discusses the Indiana Jones Adventure as an exciting ride aboard a carriage vehicle into the Temple of the Forbidden Eye that takes the rider on a daring journey in search of unthinkable rewards. Along the way the rider will experience the wrath of Mara, where they will be forced to encounter caverns of bubbling death, screaming undead mummies, erupting lava, evil wraiths, and giant snakes (Bicker.) Everything about this attraction is superb; it is also one of my favorite rides. Although Disneyland has attractions that are fun and thrilling, Disneyworld has attractions that appeal to the whole family. Disneyworld has attractions that are known around the world. Two of the most popular and highly rated are the Mickey's Philharmagic and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Disney Tourist journalist Tom Bicker reported that Mickey’s Philharmagic is a 12-minute 4-D film that is watched on an indoor 150-foot-wide screen that gives guests a break from the humidity. Donald Duck is the host, and he creates mischief and a hilarious setting while traveling through classic Disney movies (Bicker.) This attraction is so popular because it is fun for both children and adults. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster has a high-speed launch that sends the rider from 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds, three flips, rock-concert lighting, and a specially created Aerosmith soundtrack that blasts from on board speakers (Bicker.) This is the second fastest rollercoaster at Disneyworld. It is very thrilling and gives the rider an experience of being a rock star. Disneyland and Disneyworld are both very popular attractions in the United States. They both have many things to offer someone who attends. The history of Disneyland created a phenomenon that changed American lives. Disneyworld’s history expanded on Walt Disney’s dream, and eventually went above and beyond. The location of Disneyland was important for creating a vision, but the location of Disneyworld was important because it benefited more people. Both Disneyland and Disneyworld have attractions that appeal to everyone. The two happiest places on earth have very different histories, locations, and attractions, but are still very similar.