3. Where are your favorite rides?

There's a lot of ride overlap between the two resorts, and no matter which coast you're on, you're likely to find many of your favorites represented. But some rides are missing, some rides are different, and some rides just aren't where you'd expect them to be.

This is all the more confusing because some parts of the parks even look the same. Both the west coast California Adventure park and the east coast Hollywood Studios park have identically designed entrance gates (modeled after LA's Pan-Pacific Auditorium). However if you head through the gates of Hollywood Studios looking for Soarin', which is a staple of the California park, you'll have to turn back and head for Epcot instead. And if you're in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, you might expect to find the PeopleMover or the Carousel of Progress, both of which can be found in Disney World's version of Tomorrowland. These seem like they ought to exist in Disneyland, because, after all, the PeopleMover tracks run over the walkway and the Carousel of Progress building is at the end of the street. However, the PeopleMover closed in 1995 (the tracks are currently unused) and the Carousel of Progress shut down in 1973 to move to Florida (though the building now houses a copy of Epcot's Innoventions).

Beyond which rides are where, you're likely to find that conventional ride wisdom from one park doesn't take you far in the other.  Even when the rides are the same, the rides that offer FastPasses or have long waits might not be. At Disneyland Resort, Toy Story Midway Mania and Peter Pan's Flight — both rides that can also be found at Walt Disney World — have lengthy lines. But unlike Walt Disney World, neither attraction offers FastPasses, so you have to wait in a standby line if you want to ride. (Our recommendation for both: get to the parks early and head there first!) And some rides which you may be used to having to wait for might have no lines at all at the other park. Jungle Cruise is probably the best example of this: at Disney World, you'll want a FastPass, but at Disneyland there's rarely more than a 15 minute wait.

4. Should I stay on or off property?

At Disney World, paying extra to stay at a Disney-owned hotel or skipping the Disney perks and staying off-property can be a difficult choice to make. Staying at a Disney lets you take easy advantage of transportation — which, as we've already said, is a must to get around the large resort — and offers extended park hours, free MagicBands, the option to get a dining plan, and an extended window for making your FastPass+ reservations (60 days instead of 30). There are more than 25 hotels on Disney World property, each with its own unique theme and each in its own price range for visitors with different budgets. This isn't to say that every Disney World visitor does or even should stay on property, but there are compelling reasons to consider it.

At Disneyland, however, there are fewer reasons to stay on property… and more reasons to stay off property. The biggest, perhaps, is that in this walking-friendly resort, two of the three Disney hotels are further away from the parks than off-property hotels. All of these hotels are priced in what would be considered the "deluxe" range at Disney World, which easily prices them out of some budgets. And on top of that, the perks are limited: though Disneyland hotel guests do have access to extra park hours, these are often fewer than are available at Disney World... and though the chance to get into California Adventure early can help you secure a coveted Radiator Springs Racers FastPass, how much money is that FastPass worth? A wide range of third-party hotels surround Disneyland Resort, and most of them beat Disney's prices.

Walt Disney himself often regretted buying too little land for Disneyland, which allowed outside businesses to take up residence on all sides of resort property. Though it offers guests today the chance to stay in cheaper non-Disney lodgings, it's a big reason why Disney bought so much property in Florida — letting Walt Disney World spread out, while Disneyland is locked into a comparably tiny parcel of land.