Disneyland Park vs California Adventure: Pros, Cons, and Everything in Between
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Sprawling out in Anaheim is Disneyland Resort, which consists of both Disneyland Park and California Adventure. As you’re planning your Disney vacation, whether it’s a 1-day park hopping trip or a multi-day extravaganza, you might be wondering which is better? Which park has which rides, shows, and food? Well, I grew up in Los Angeles and went to Disneyland multiple times a month. Now, I still closely following current Disney news and just returned from my own Disneyland Park and California Adventure visits, so I’m confident I know all the deets. In this breakdown, I’ll share the pros, cons, and everything in between for Disneyland Park vs California Adventure.
Park Locations
Luckily, navigating Disneyland Resort is super easy (unlike the massively spread out Walt Disney World in Florida 👀). Each park is literally right across a quad from each other — it’s called the Disneyland Esplanade. You can walk between the parks making park-hopping super easy.
History of Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure
Disneyland opened in 1955 and was Walt Disney’s first theme park, so you just know that the Disney magic is felt here. Some rides from the 1955 opening are still around today including Autopia, Mad Tea Party, and Casey Jr. Circus Train.
If you didn’t know, the park literally changed the game and even though they had some serious ups and downs (like rides breaking and crowd management problems), Disneyland remains the most iconic amusement park to ever be created. Cue the chills.
California Adventure was a late addition and took over the 55-acre parking lot area of Disneyland. This California-themed park opened in 2001 where the goal was to allow visitors to experience all of California’s diversity and beauty in one place including Southern, Central, and Northern California with areas dedicated to Hollywood, the mountains, and beaches, for example.
Over the years each park has had new attractions and lands added to them as well as ride updates, complete revamps, and new technology implemented.
For example, California Adventure recently added Avengers Campus in what once was A Bug’s Land (based on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life) and both parks now use the MagicBand technology that originated in Walt Disney World (although you can get by without a MagicBand and just use your phone).
Lands you’ll find in each Disneyland Resort park
Disneyland has the classic lands that you’re likely familiar with — Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Main Street USA, plus the newly redone Toontown, Critter Country, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
California Adventure has been undergoing lots of changes over the years. What was once a California themed park with lands matching regions and cities of California, has now shifted to include modern updates to include recent franchises. In California Adventure, you’ll find Buena Vista Street, Hollywood Land, Paradise Gardens Park, Grizzly Peak, and the newer lands — San Fransokyo Square, Pixar Pier, Cars Land, and Avengers Campus.
Rides at Disneyland and in California Adventure
There are a ton of attractions at each park, after all, they’re designed for you to spend days there discovering and rediscovering every nook and cranny.
Here’s a breakdown of the rides at each park:
| Disneyland Park | Disney’s California Adventure |
|---|---|
| Adventureland Treehouse | Golden Zephyr |
| Alice in Wonderland | Goofy’s Sky School |
| Astro Orbiter | Grizzly River Run |
| Autopia | Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT |
| Big Thunder Mountain Railroad | Incredicoaster |
| Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters | Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind |
| Casey Jr. Circus Train | Jessie’s Critter Carousel |
| Chip ‘n’ Dale GADGETcoaster | Jumpin’ Jellyfish |
| Disneyland Railroad | The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure |
| Dumbo the Flying Elephant | Luigi’s Rollickin Roadsters |
| Enchanted Tiki Room | Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree |
| Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage | Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue |
| Haunted Mansion | Soarin’ Around the World |
| Indiana Jones Adventure | Silly Symphony Swings |
| “it’s a small world” | Toy Story Midway Mania! |
| Jungle Cruise | Pixar Pal-A-Round |
| King Arthur Carousel | Radiator Springs Racers |
| Mad Tea Party | WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure |
| Mark Twain Riverboat | |
| The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | |
| Matterhorn Bobsleds | |
| Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway | |
| Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | |
| Monorail | |
| Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride | |
| Peter Pan’s Flight | |
| Pinocchio’s Daring Journey | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | |
| Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin | |
| Sailing Ship Columbia | |
| Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough | |
| Snow White’s Enchanted Wish | |
| Space Mountain | |
| Star Tours – The Adventures Continue | |
| Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance | |
| Storybook Land Canal Boats |
As you can see Disneyland has double the rides of California Adventure in terms of quantity.
Which park has longer wait times?
Rather than one park being worse than the other, it’s really specific rides in each park that are the culprits. Of course, since Disneyland has more rides by quantity, you’ll be spending more time in line there regardless.
In Disneyland, the highest wait times typically go to Rise of the Resistance, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. For Rise of the Resistance and Indiana Jones, you’ll see wait times on the app pass 100 minutes.
In California Adventure, the culprits are Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Incredicoaster, Soarin’ Around the World, and occasionally Web-Slingers. Radiator Springs Racers is always bad with wait times frequently over 90 minutes.
Overall, Disneyland has more rides with longer wait times, but California Adventure has Radiator Springs Racers, which seriously always has a horribly long wait time. Disneyland also has way more options for rides with short wait times just based on the sheer number of rides.
Shows at Disneyland Park versus California Adventure
Shows at Disneyland Resort at both Disneyland Park and California Adventure range from on-stage performances, character experiences, live entertainment including parades, and staged shows like fireworks.
At Disneyland Resort, you’ll find iconic performances including The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quarter found on Main Street. They perform classic Disney numbers including Jolly Holiday, Grim Grinning Ghosts, and the Bare Necessities, among many others. The Fantasmic! show is part fireworks and part live entertainment with Mickey defeating several Disney villains with the help of your favorite characters. The fireworks show is a classic and Mickey’s Mix Magic is a fun projection-based show that happens on Main Street.
Parades occur daily and vary by season. At the time of writing, they’re doing the Magic Happens parade, but they’ve had others over the years like the Main Street Electrical Parade and the Frightfully Fun Parade during Halloween.
At Disneyland, they also have Queen and the Jambalaya Jazz Band, Storytelling at Royal Theatre, and rotating musical performances in the theatre between Fantasyland and Toontown.
At California Adventure, they have great shows as well. In fact, the Hyperion Theatre puts on big musical performances often. I’ve seen Rogers: The Musical there and it was amazing!!
Avengers Campus has a number of character experiences including Dr. Strange at the Ancient Sanctum, Spider-Man, Avengers Headquarters show, Wakanda Forever Dora Milaje, and Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Dance Off.
In Cars Land, there isn’t a specific show, but you might consider the nightly tradition of turning on the neon a show as everyone gathers for it and even dances together to Sh-Boom!
At Disney Theatre in Hollywood Land, there’s a Disney Junior Dance Party and at Animation Academy next door, there’s Turtle Talk with Crush and the Animation Academy interactive drawing class itself.
Five and Dime is a jazz quintet that plays on Buena Vista Street while outside musicians are brought in to play at Paradise Gardens Bandstand.
And of course, parades occur daily and are often themed for specific times of the year. For example, in February, they celebrate Lunar New Year at California Adventure and the parade reflects that.
Finally, California Adventure is home to World of Color, a magnificent water show where projections from your favorite movies are displayed on walls of water with colorful lights and accompanying music and inspirational dialogue.
Overall, in my opinion California Adventure has more shows to enjoy during your time at the park, which makes up for the fewer rides.
Characters you can meet in each park
If you’re into meeting characters, you’re in luck at both parks. While you can find more classic characters in Disneyland, you still have lots of choices in California Adventure.
In Disneyland you can meet princesses like Cinderella, Snow White, Mulan, Moana, and Elena, and sensational six characters including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, and Daisy, where the former and latter two have houses in Toontown. You’ll also spot fairy characters in Pixie Hollow, namely Tinkerbell. In Batuu, you can meet Rey, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Ahsoka Tano, Chopper, Kylo Ren, and more!
At California Adventure, you can meet Baymax and Hiro in San Fransokyo, Mater and Lightning McQueen in Cars Land, Spider-Man, Captain America (Sam and Steve), Loki, Ms. Marvel, and so many more in Avengers Campus. Plus, meet Raya in the Redwood Creek Trail and for Lunar New Year, you can meet Mei and Ming Lee just around the corner from The Little Mermaid ride. I’ve also seen meet and greets with the Incredibles, Toy Story characters, and Goofy!
Given the size of the parks, it feels like there are so many more characters to meet in California Adventure, mostly because of Avengers Campus and Cars Land. I certainly stumbled upon more meet and greets without trying in California Adventure.
Things to do in Disneyland
Some unique things to do in Disneyland include seeing original Mickey Mouse cartoons on Main Street, exploring Pirate’s Lair at Tom Sawyer’s Island, going inside the castle for Sleeping Beauty’s walkthrough attraction, and riding the Disneyland Railroad around the park where you’ll see dinosaurs!
Things to do in California Adventure
California has some fun, unique things to do like learning about California’s redwoods at the Redwood Creek Trail, learning to draw your favorite character at Animation Academy, witnessing the neon lights turn on at sunset, and seeing one of the most technologically advanced animatronic Spider-Man freely swinging in Avenger’s Campus, and touring Boudin Bakery, a true San Francisco staple.
Best food exclusive to Disneyland
In my experience most foods can be found at both parks.
For example, churro toffee can be found at candy shops on Main Street in Disneyland, on Buena Vista Street in California Adventure, and even at Marceline’s Confectionery at Downtown Disney.
While most foods can be found in both parks, there are some that are exclusive to either Disneyland or California Adventure, so let’s cover some examples.
First, the garlic cheesy bread found at Eidelweiss Snacks and Maurice’s Treats in Disneyland is so delicious and the perfect afternoon snack. It pulls apart and is super easy to eat because of that.
Another good example are all the foods unique to specific lands, namely Galaxy’s Edge. You can only find all the themed drinks at Oga’s Cantina, Ronto wraps, blue and green milks, and flavored popcorn in Batuu, so those are great ones to try if you’re looking for something unique.
Lastly, some of the restaurants serve unique dishes that you can’t get elsewhere including Bengal Barbecue with their meat skewers, enchiladas and cauliflower tacos at Rancho del Zocalo, and gumbo and lemon filled beignets from Tiana’s Palace.
California Adventure’s best food
The most unique part of California Adventure from a food and drink standpoint is that you can get alcohol more readily in California Adventure. Technically, you can find a bit in Disneyland, too, namely at Oga’s Cantina and fine dining restaurants, but in California Adventure it’s everywhere and there’s options!
Many of the vending carts have beer and you’ll find wine at Wine Trattoria, craft beer from Karl Strauss Brewing Company, and mixed drinks, cocktails, floats, and more! Seriously, so many options in California Adventure.
Not to mention that they host foodie events each year including Lunar New Year and the Food and Wine Festival, where there are themed food and beverages.
Some unique foods to try in California Adventure is quesabirria from Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, chile cone queso from Cozy Cone Motel (number 3), Jack Jack’s Cookie Num Num from the namesake booth near Incredicoaster, and both tiny and huge items from Pym’s Test Kitchen (I love the quantum pretzel and choco-crunch bar).
The vibes in Disneyland vs California Adventure
I’m sure this is different for everyone, but I’ll share how I feel in each park and you can comment down below and tell me if you agree!
Disneyland is classic, magical, and busy. Busy in a good way and busy in a bad way. On one hand it’s often more crowded, especially because it’s the classic park, but on the other hand there’s simply more rides and more to do and see in Disneyland. It’ll keep you more busy and you won’t run out of things to do for the entire day from rope drop to park closing.
Disneyland ultimately feels like a typical theme park to me. Yes, still completely magical, classic, and iconic, but busy.
California Adventure is more modern and in my opinion, more immersive aside from Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland. With Avengers Campus, Cars Land, San Fransokyo, the Redwood Creek area, and even Hollywood Land, you feel more immersed in each area’s theme, which makes you feel like you’re in that specific land and not in a massive theme park full of crowds. My point is that the “land” separation is beneficial in California Adventure.
To me, California Adventure feels more chill. It’s more open, especially with the open water, and you can find so many little corners to relax and get away. On the flip side, you might be in need of some recommended things to do because you can knock out the rides fairly quickly, especially using Lightning Lanes.
Pros and cons of Disneyland
Disneyland has a certain magic to it since it was Disney’s first park. Still, there are always some drawbacks, so here’s the breakdown.
Pro: It’s magical. And yes, that’s a legit pro. You can feel the nostalgia, the effort, the innovation that went into this park. It feels truly created by pioneers and that’s a pro, if I ever.
Pro: Great for all ages. There are plenty of rides that cater toward younger guests as well as thrill rides for the older guests.
Pro: It stays open later than California Adventure on most nights.
Pro: Star Wars Land aka Batuu aka the best new addition to the park! I love an immersive world (read: the Wizarding World) and this is IT.
Pro: There are so many rides. You won’t be bored here, that’s for sure.
Con: There are so many rides…it can feel overwhelming and it helps to accept that you likely won’t get to everything in one day.
Con: It’s crowded. I mentioned this before but such an iconic park brings the heat…ahem, I mean crowds.
Pros and cons of California Adventure
Okay now California Adventure’s turn.
Pro: Many immersive worlds to get sucked into. I especially love Cars Land at sunset and enjoying a Ghirardelli mocha in San Fransokyo in the morning.
Pro: Lots of great character meet and greets and shows. Avengers Campus really upped the ante on this one.
Pro: Wide open spaces. Walking around Pixar Pier and pulling off toward the water is so lovely. You just don’t get that kind of space and serenity in Disneyland unless you venture to Pirate’s Lair at Tom Sawyer’s Island.
Pro: Dining is better than at Disneyland. Not to say there isn’t great fine dining in Disneyland, but I think California Adventure has them beat with Lamplight Lounge, Wine Trattoria, and Carthay Circle.
Pro: You can easily do California Adventure in a day.
Con: Fewer rides, so if you are looking for only thrills, you may want a park hopper.
Con: Not as classically nostalgic, although if you grew up there in the early 2000s, you’ll be just fine on the nostalgia.
Con: Typically closes earlier than Disneyland Park.
Con (or Pro depending who you ask): Rides are not geared toward younger kids.
Which park is more busy?
I’d say 9 times out of 10, Disneyland is more busy than California Adventure. More people choose Disneyland over California Adventure, especially if they just have one day to spend at Disneyland Resort.
That said, Radiator Springs Racers is always the most busy ride out of both parks and that’s at California Adventure.
When park hopping, which park should you go to first?
I recommend doing California Adventure first. It’s less busy and you can knock out a lot in the morning as most people typically start in Disneyland.
If you only have one day for both parks, I have a full itinerary broken down here.
Which Disneyland Park is better for adults?
California Adventure is better for adults in my opinion and here’s why! First, the rides are almost all geared towards older (and taller) guests. You won’t find any dark rides here except Ariel’s Undersea Adventure.
Not to mention, California Adventure serves alcohol throughout the entire park. Plus, they host a couple festivals throughout the year that include themed food and alcoholic drinks, which are obviously best enjoyed by adults.
Disneyland Park vs California Adventure: Which park is better?
This ultimately comes down to what you’re looking for from your theme park.
If you want classic nostalgia, a full day of rides, innovation and magic, it’s Disneyland.
If you want a chill, immersive experience with thrill rides sprinkled in, it’s California Adventure.
When in doubt, do both! 😉
More time in Los Angeles? Check out these posts:
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