We (DH,DB and I) like to call WDW our second home, but this time we had a short vacation time frame(1 week including travel) so we opted for Disneyland. We are from the West coast of Canada so same time zone.

Clear, warm and wonderful weather! Definitely no complaints there. We stayed at a good neighbour hotel (Grand Legacy at the Park) just about a 5 min walk from the park gate. Great location and nice room. We generally stay in onsite in Florida but the cost of the Disney hotels in California is ridiculous. Food was really good, but goodness - also very expensive!

The one thing that DL has over WDW is the Haunted Mansion Skellington overlay. It was freakin' amazing!! LOVED IT! I also think that the POTC is much better in DL too. The Paint the Night parade was one of the best parades I have seen since SpectroMagic. Fantastic music! Guardians of the Galaxy - both the day and night versions - were great. One of the best re-imagined rides that I have seen from Disney. In DCA, loved the little areas that had piped in Halloween sounds - the headless horseman's horse walking around, bats circling in the trees. Really cool.

Biggest disappointment was the lack of fireworks and Photopass opportunities. We were there Sunday night to Saturday morning and there were NO fireworks that we could attend unless we had a Halloween party ticket (which we did not). We could see the fireworks on Wednesday from the hotel, but that is not the same as being in the Park. HUGE thumbs down! Also found very little in the way of Magic shots and Photopass photographers.

Overall, a nice trip, but missed the ambiance and feel of "our" Disney in Florida. I don't think any of us will be hurrying back to DL anytime soon.