Disney!! Let’s go! Now for the hard part – all the planning. Before you can even schedule those dining reservations and pack your bags, you have to figure out the most fundamental question. Which Disney park should I drop my vacation dollars on?
While there are 6 Disney Resorts spanning the globe, we are going to focus this series on the US resorts in Florida and California. Some day we will venture out to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Paris. For now we are going to discuss East versus West across the continental US.
There are a million blogs, videos, and guide books to help you plan your magical experience. However, do you know the basics between visiting the California and Florida parks? Let’s take a brief look at what awaits you in the 2 Orange Counties – Orlando and Anaheim.
Weather
Ahh…the California Climate. Sun dappled days of mild temperatures and warm tropical breezes. Surfers with blonde hair sunning in the afternoon breeze. So true, during October as long as the Santa Ana winds aren’t throwing palm fronds around. Or June, unless of course May Gray has melted into June Gloom in an endless month of gloomy skies. Over all, California has a milder climate than Florida. It’s drier with more rain free days. Keep in mind, though, that when a winter storm rolls through Southern California, you will enjoy days full of cold, drenching rain. In August and September the daytime temperature in the parks can top 100 degrees. Yup. It’s hot. But don’t worry. It’s a dry heat!
Florida…the Sunshine State. Oranges ripening under bluebird skies. Unless a tropical storm blasts through. Or an Arctic Front plummets the overnight temperature into the 30’s in January. And then there’s the rain. Florida sits in the tropics and that means daily cloud bursts through much of the year. And it’s humid. Much more so than Southern California.
Having spent time in both parks at all times of year, I’ll say, just plan for whatever weather you “should” have. Pack those ponchos in Florida. Take a sweatshirt for California evenings. Check the weather before you leave. The beauty of living in the 21st century is, weather prediction is much better than when the parks opened decades ago.
When all else fails – you can always go shopping!
Location
Now that you’ve contemplated the weather options, let’s discuss location. The California Parks are located in northern Orange County California. This is a massive population base. In fact, if you count the residential population living within 90 minutes of Anaheim, all 17 million of them, you almost eclipse the entire population of the state of Florida. What does this mean? There are more people holding more annual passes. Overall, the crowd levels day-to-day in Anaheim are higher than in Florida. You will never experience a day in California when you can walk on all the rides. Never.
That 17 million only includes people living within a comfortable day’s trip to the parks. If you extend that population through Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, you have a massive population that might decide to plan a weekend getaway and you’ll be walking, shoulder-to-shoulder, through the park wondering how this many people even exist.
“Yes, but does it really matter how many people have annual passes if I want to visit mid-week?” Well, a few years ago, I headed down to the Anaheim for a Tuesday quick trip and some Christmas Shopping. I arrived and was parked at the convention center across the street. This means all the parking lots for Disney were full. OMG. When I asked what happened, one cast member told me that Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest is California and the second largest district in the country, had shutdown due to a bomb threat. 500,000 students sent home. And every mom with a sudden school holiday and Disney passes did the exact same thing. They headed to the parks.
Airports and Arrival
While there are more airports surrounding Anaheim, not one of them is an easy Uber ride to the parks. The closest airport is Orange County is 15 miles away from the parks. Or up to a 90 minute drive in typical Southern California gridlock. In contrast, Walt Disney World is a little over 20 miles from Orlando Airport. But…there’s that Anaheim traffic. A lot of traffic. It’s legendary. And Orange County Airport doesn’t have great flight options. So you will more likely fly into LAX, Los Angeles’ huge International Airport. Or Burbank might be your arrival airport. Yes, Burbank is Disney’s “home” airport, but that’s because it’s close to Disney Studios and Imagineering. It’s not anywhere close to the parks.
If you fly into Los Angeles, Orange County, or even San Diego, be prepared to spend time in a rental car. Or you will shell out some serious cash on an Uber. Then there’s that legendary traffic. It can take 45 minutes to get from LAX to Disneyland. Or it could take 3 hours. And it’s completely unpredictable. So plan accordingly.
In the other Orange County – Florida that is – Disney has contracted with a local company to operate a complimentary bus service from the airport. While that service is changing to a pay service in 2022, Disney offers a convenient way to get to and from the airport to the resort without having to use Uber or a car rental. And you won’t need a car once you arrive. So why incur the costs of a rental when a trained driver can whisk you to Animal Kingdom upon landing?
School Holidays
Finally, when planning a trip to either park, be aware of school holidays. Sure, you might be taking advantage of your own children’s holiday schedule, but there is a world of difference in East Coast and West Coast school schedules.
On the east coast, school starts somewhere in late August or early September and runs into June. There are variations for snow days and each district is slightly different. But that is the basic academic calendar in the eastern US. Spring Break varies depending on when Easter falls, but most schools take the week leading into the Easter Weekend as their spring break.
Then there’s Jersey Week. We learned about this when we found ourselves at Disney World immersed in the unique Jersey Accent. “Jersey Week” is actually a state-wide professional development conference for teachers across New Jersey. It happens annually around Halloween and it’s a very popular time to head to the Mouse.
On the West Coast schools start in early August and are all out by Memorial Day. Spring Break starts sometime in mid-March and runs through the week after Easter. The later Easter falls in April, the more spread out spring break is across the region.
Spring break in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah is a popular time to pack up the SUV and head out to Anaheim. So the parks can be crowded with ”spring breakers” for up to 6-weeks.
If you want to visit California in spring, check to see when Easter is. Then do a quick google search on a select number of school districts around the western US. You’ll quickly see what weeks are looking crowded and which are less crowded.
In Florida there are a lot of youth competitions as well. Spring and Fall are prime time for Cheer Competitions, Youth baseball, soccer, even gymnastics. Disney encourages these big competitions during their low season for tourists. Spring is more popular than fall only because most school districts and parents are more focused on academics at the beginning of the school year. But you can run into big groups of dance teams almost any time.
Now that you are equipped with some basic information on the different weather and population dynamics of the 2 Orange Counties, we will dive into how the resorts themselves differ.
