Disneyland Resort

Disneyland Resort is the compact one. Two theme parks face each other across a single esplanade, the three resort hotels are a five-minute walk from both entrances, and dozens of off-site hotels sit directly across Harbor Boulevard. You can be through a security checkpoint and on a ride within fifteen minutes of leaving your room, which is simply not a thing that happens in Florida.

That density changes the shape of a trip. Park hopping at Disneyland is a genuinely casual act — walk across the plaza, tap in, keep going — rather than the logistical commitment it is at Walt Disney World. Going back to the hotel for a two-hour afternoon break costs you almost nothing. Three days here delivers roughly what five days in Florida does.

Disneyland Park also holds the deepest catalog of classic attractions anywhere, including several with no Florida equivalent at all: Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Storybook Land Canal Boats, and a version of Pirates of the Caribbean that runs nearly twice as long as the Magic Kingdom one. Disney California Adventure next door has the best food and the best bar scene of any US Disney park, and Radiator Springs Racers is arguably the best-looking ride Disney has ever built.