DL was where Walt started it all - but he wanted to grow, and ran outta land. ; He went to Florida and started buying up parcels of swamp land without using his real name. ; So, WDW is the dream he had for DL realized.
DL is small - 2 parks vs. 4. DL is much smaller scale (castle is tiny compared to WDW). ; Many of similar rides. ; Same Disney feel - but on a much smaller scale.
You have to remember how large WDW is - 47 square miles of theme parks, recreation, etc. etc. ; Disney itself has 2 dozen onsite resort hotels in Florida - DL has, what, 3? ; (Of course, good neighbour hotels seem to be more prominent in folks' minds because of that at DL.)
One thing most people don't appreciate is that the actual dining plans are very different between DL and WDW. ; If you know the WDW one, don't expect the DL one to run the same way at all.