Every time the words “Disneyland” or “Disney world” come into conversation, I still get excited even as a fifteen year-old. I've been to both Disney Parks multiple times and It was always the highlight of my year. I feel like I could go every year and I wouldn't get tired of it. Everyone has a maximum amount of fun when they go on a Disney trip, but which Disney park is the best to go to?: Disneyland or Disney world. Most people just think to go to the closest one from where they live, but if we had the choice, we would probably do more research to see what each park has to offer.

I've only been to Disneyland once when I was five, but I remember that it was almost too much fun. I cried when I had to leave which is kind of normal for a five year-old. Disneyland was the first Disney park that Walt Disney designed so people of all ages could experience their imagination on a whole new level. He had the idea in 1953 of only 8 acres where his employees and family could relax. As his ideas grew, he realized that was definitely not enough space. So, he finally came up with 160 acres and started making his dreams come to life. He wanted to build rivers, waterfalls and mountains. He would have flying elephants, giant tea cups, and to top it all off, a giant fairy-tale castle in the form of the fairy tale castle in the Disney classic cartoon, “Sleeping Beauty”. All of these features still stand today as the original ideas of Walt Disney himself. There are many places to explore while on a trip to Disneyland.

At the very front of the park after the main entrance, is Main Street U.S.A. This is where Walt wanted to relive the typical turn of the century city Main Street. At the end of Main Street U.S.A., you will find the beautiful Sleeping Beauty castle at the end of the street. There is also the train station which takes you on a tour through every land in the park, where people may stop at their destination. One of the places this train will take you to is Adventureland.

Adventureland was planned to be an “exotic tropical place” in a “far-off region of the world”. This part of Disneyland is meant to resemble the remote jungles in Africa, Asia, South America, and the South Pacific. Attractions and entertainment there are A Pirates Adventure~Treasures of the Seven Seas, the Jungle Cruise, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Swiss Family Treehouse, Aladdin’s Oasis, and my favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean. Right next to Adventureland is Frontierland.

Frontierland was made to relive the pioneer days of American frontier. Attractions and entertainment there are the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Big Thunder Ranch, Fantasmic! which is an amazing display of fireworks and water with a show acted out by all the Disney Characters, Frontier Shootin’ Exposition, Mark Twain Riverboat, Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, Country Bear Jamboree, the Sailing Ship Columbia and my personal favorite, Splash Mountain. Next to Frontierland is everyone’s favorite, Fantasyland.

Fantasyland was created with the goal to “make dreams come true” from the lyrics of “When you Wish Upon a Star”. This is the place that’s usually the most crowded because it’s where everyone can see their favorite characters and it has the largest amount of attractions and entertainment of all of them. Those attractions and entertainment include Alice in Wonderland, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Frozen Royal Reception, It’s a Small World, King Arthur Carrousel, Mad Tea Party, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Merida “Meet and Greet”, Mickey and the Magical Map Inside Fantasy Theatre, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Pixie Hollow, Princess Royal Hall, Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Storybook Land Canal Boats and Story Plays inside the Royal Theatre. So, there’s obviously a lot to keep anyone busy in Fantasyland. If you wanted to go to all the attractions and entertainment, you’d probably have to spend a whole day in just Fantasyland alone! - But, it’s definitely not the only place to check out because last but not least is Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland was created as a look at the “marvels of the future.” Walt Disney had trouble with this particular part of Disneyland. He thought that once he got done with the attractions and entertainment, they would already be outdated. Sure enough, Tomorrowland is still going strong and has some family favorites. In this futuristic land there is the Astro Orbiter, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, Captain EO Starring Michael Jackson, Disneyland Monorail, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Innoventions, Starcade and my two favorites, Star Tours - The Adventures Continue and Space Mountain.

Disneyland is Walt Disney’s original theme park. This is what started it all. This park came before Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong DIsneyland, and the soon to come, Shanghai Disney. Anaheim, California has the perfect withstand-able weather in my opinion with a range of about 75 to 90 degrees in the late spring or early summer. So Disneyland is the place to go if you want the original works of Walt Disney himself and beautiful weather. Although, it is quite small compared to what Walt Disney World has to offer. While Disneyland has everything all in one area, Walt Disney World has it all sorted out into 4 parks where you can enjoy the things you want to do with less clueless people confused on where to go. Walt Disney makes it simple by dividing the entire Disney park into 4 theme parks. This is great because people can visit a different park each day: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

Magic Kingdom is basically just a smaller version of Disneyland. It consists of all the same main four lands in Disneyland such as Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. Disneyland has smaller “lands” that Magic Kingdom doesn't have which are New Orleans Square, Critter Country and Mickey’s ToonTown. These are much smaller areas than the four main lands. Magic Kingdom also consists of lands that Disneyland doesn't have. Liberty Square is not something you will find at Disneyland along with two mini lands inside Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom which are the Storybook Circus and the Enchanted Forest. It is represented by the Cinderella Castle, a replica of the fairy tale castle in the 1950 film. It may seem odd for there to be a Magic Kingdom in Florida when there is practically the same exact thing in California. Well many people aren't able to make it to both places easily and it’s a much better experience when we can get the chance to see the main thing Walt Disney wanted to share with everyone in more than one place. He also wanted to make new ideas come to life specially for the location in Orlando, Florida so people had something to look forward to. One of those ideas was Animal Kingdom.

Animal kingdom is the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely around animal conversion, a philosophy pioneered by Walt Disney himself. It is separated into 7 different areas: Oasis, Discovery Island, Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia, Dinoland U.S.A., Avatar: World of Pandora and Nighttime Entertainment. Animal Kingdom is represented by the tree of life which is the main feature of the park. Alone, it is the second largest theme park in the world behind six flags in New Jersey covering 500 acres. Even though it’s big, time needs to be made to visit the other parks like Epcot.

Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture. In 2011, the park hosted approximately 10.83 million guests, making it the third most visited theme park in the United States and the sixth most visited theme park in the world. Epcot is divided into two main themed areas: Future World and World Showcase. There are four smaller areas within the two main areas. Part of Future World is Corporate Sponsorship and the three smaller parts of World Showcase are the International Gateway, the Alcohol Policy, and the World Showcase Adventure. Epcot is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere that also serves as an attraction. Epcot is great, but it’s almost wrong to go to Disney World without a trip to Hollywood Studios.

Hollywood Studios is dedicated to show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930’s and 1940’s. In 2011, the park hosted about 9.7 million guests, making it the fifth-most visited amusement park in the United States and eighth-most visited in the World. Hollywood Studios is separated into six different areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Streets of America, Animation Courtyard, Pixar Place and Sunset Boulevard. It is represented by the Sorcerer’s Hat, a stylized version of the magical hat from from the Disney film Fantasia. It replaced Earful Tower as the park’s icon in 2001. Hollywood Studios definitely completes a perfect trip to the four parks of Walt Disney World.

Disneyland and Walt Disney World are both great family fun places for any occasion or just a place to have fun, but the problem is which one is the best to go to? Well, if the goal is for nice weather and a smaller easy area to walk around, or if you want to see the original Works of Walt Disney, Disneyland is definitely the place to go. If a broader image of Walt Disney’s thoughts and ideas and a chance to go to four theme parks in one trip is what sound best, Walt Disney World is the better option. I've been to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World and I can honestly say they both have features that have more than lured me to coming back. So, whether Disneyland or Walt Disney World sounds better than one another, think about it first because it’s all a matter of opinion. No matter which choice is made, it will without a doubt be the trip of a lifetime.