inconsistent simplexml_load_string

<?php
$xmlData = "<?xml version='1.0'?>
<methodResponse>
<params>
<param>
<value><array><data>
<value><struct>
<member>
<name>description</name>
<value><string></string></value>
</member>
</struct></value>
</data></array></value>
</param>
</params>
</methodResponse>";

$plainParsed = simplexml_load_string($xmlData);
$NoNewLineParsed = simplexml_load_string(str_replace(array("\n", "\r"), '', $xmlData));
$testArray = array($plainParsed, $NoNewLineParsed);
foreach ($testArray as $test) {
     var_dump(
        $test->params->param->value->array->data->value->struct->member->value
     );
}
//first pass (new lines not removed) returns array
//second pass (new lines removed) returns element