Magic Kingdom vs. Disneyland Park

Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, ignoring the 2020 and likely 2021 anomalies caused by the coronavirus pandemic, are the two most visited theme parks in the world. In 2019, Magic Kingdom attracted 21 million guests and Disneyland attracted 18.7 million guests. So, the big question is which park is best? Everyone has a different answer to this question, for a variety of reasons, and our answer to this question has changed frequently over the years.  To try and answer this near 50 year old question, we have come up with 5 categories to compare the two parks. The park which comes out top in the most categories will then be crowned the winner. For this comparison, we’re going to be directly comparing the two individual parks and not taking into account the wider benefits of the two resorts as a whole. 

History

Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California, is the original Disney park. The original park opened on the 17^th July 1955. On the other hand, Magic Kingdom in Florida did not open until October 1^st 1971.  The Disneyland park is the only Disney park ever visited by Walt Disney himself. Unfortunately, Walt died before Disney World opened but he did have a large impact on the plans and designs for Disney World.  Due to Disneyland Park being the original it’s obviously the winner when it comes to history. 

Winner: Disneyland Park

Attractions

The Magic Kingdom was based on Disneyland and so therefore they share many of the same attractions. Major rides like the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain are located at both parks. However, the versions of these attractions, except for possibly Space Mountain, found at Disneyland are slightly better than their counterparts at the Magic Kingdom. Despite the similarities, both parks are home to a variety of different attractions. The major E-ticket attractions found at Disneyland, which cannot be found at Magic Kingdom, are Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. 

Comparatively, Magic Kingdom is home to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and will soon also be home to the fantastic Tron Lightcycle Power Run. Classic dark ride attractions, such as Snow White’s Enchanted Wish (Scary Adventure), Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and Mr Toad’s Wild Ride can still be found at Disneyland. These attractions were removed at the Magic Kingdom during the large expansion and renovation of Fantasyland. However, the Magic Kingdom is still home to classics such as the People Mover, the Country Bear Jamboree and the Carousel of Progress. Overall, due to the larger amount of unique E-ticket attractions found at Disneyland, I believe that Disneyland Park has a better selection of attractions. 

Winner: Disneyland Park

Castles

The Castles are the true icon of both resorts. Located at the end of Main Street USA, in the centre of both parks, the castles draw guests in and have captured the imaginations of millions. At Disneyland, you will find Sleeping Beauty Castle, while at Magic Kingdom you will find Cinderella Castle. Sleeping Beauty Castle is the smallest Disney castle standing at 77ft tall. Cinderella Castle is more than twice the height, standing at 189ft. The Sleeping Beauty Castle was obviously the first Disney Castle and this makes it truly special. However, the first time you see Cinderella Castle is utterly breathtaking, due to its size.

I love both castles and don’t want to ever see either changed (more than a slight change in colour as we’ve just seen at the Magic Kingdom). Despite the historical importance of Sleeping Beauty Castle, I think that Cinderella Castle is the clear winner when comparing the overall  impressiveness of the two structures.

Winner: Magic Kingdom

Food

Food at both parks is fairly similar when it comes to quick service restaurants. There are a few cultural differences when it comes to the popularity of different snacks. At Disneyland, churros are king, whereas at Magic Kingdom it’s all about the cupcakes. The corn dogs at Disneyland are much preferred to those served at the Magic Kingdom. Fruit is also more widely available within Disneyland but food prices are generally slightly higher. The biggest difference between the two parks when it comes to food is the table service restaurants.

The Disney World resort is full of great restaurants but within the Magic Kingdom they’re lacking compared to the rest of the resort. The Be Our Guest restaurant is popular for dinner, but wildly overpriced in our opinion. Another drawback at Magic Kingdom is that restaurants within the park are often fully booked 180 days in advance. At Disneyland, reservations are usually easier to come by, but you should still try and book a month in advance. The restaurants at the Magic Kingdom offer a greater level of theming as much of the seating at restaurants in Disneyland is located outside. However, Disneyland does deliver in regards to food.

Disneyland is famous for its Monte Cristo Sandwich, Mint Julep, Mickey-shaped Beignets, gumbo and fried chicken. If you could combine the food of Disneyland with the restaurant theming of the Magic Kingdom, then you would have the perfect dining experience. Sadly, this is not possible. Therefore, we must decide between theming or food. After much back and forth, and remembering that the selection of Dole Whips at Disneyland are way better than those at Magic Kingdom, we’ve decided that the food at Disneyland outweighs the better level of theming found at Magic Kingdom. 

Winner: Disneyland

Layout

Magic Kingdom is bigger in size than Disneyland and this allows for a more spacious layout. This is of great benefit when visiting the Magic Kingdom on a very busy day. This is especially notable when walking around the Main Street and hub area.

A big part of many peoples trips to a Disney park is meeting the characters. A variety of characters can be found at both parks. However, meeting characters at Magic Kingdom usually comes with a longer wait than those found at Disneyland.

Queuing is a big part of any trip to Disney, so it must be discussed when comparing two separate Disney parks. At Disneyland, the queues are mostly uncovered and much more narrow because of both a lack of space and the gorgeous Californian sun. At the Magic Kingdom, the exact opposite can be found with most queues being indoors. Overall, the Magic Kingdom’s queues are better as they offer more personal space and the additional theming that comes with a covered line or queue.

When discussing queues, we must also talk about Fast passes. The FastPass plus system at the Magic Kingdom allows you to book fast passes in advance whereas at Disneyland you must be in the park to get a FastPass. Personally, we enjoy the ability to arrive at the park later in the day knowing that we have booked three fast passes for our favourite rides at the Magic Kingdom. 

Winner: Magic Kingdom

Overall Winner: Disneyland

You may have noticed that we didn’t discuss shows and parades in this article. We’ve decided not to compare shows and parades because of the current impacts of the pandemic. Disneyland is still closed as of writing and many of the cast members working in the shows have been laid off. Many of the normal shows and parades at the park in Florida are also currently not running because of social distancing requirements. 

Which park do you prefer? Please comment below. 

Please click here to check out our article on the best Disney rollercoasters.