Question For Those Who Didn’t Enjoy Universal...

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Well, if you don't like the Universal IPs and you don't like motion simulators, I would definitely suggest staying away from Universal. No matter how nice the hotel, pool, or Express Pass, you won't like it. All Express will do is get you onto a ride you don't like faster...we are season pass holders at Cedar Point, but if you don't like going high, fast, and upside down, not the place for you. If you are a Disney apologist, and feel the mouse does no wrong, you won't like Universal. It's in your DNA. My niece is a Disney focused travel agent, and I love to get her going - swearing to me that there are cute parts in the Stitch ride. Really?

For my family, and I am only speaking about my family, we don't feel the magic at Disney World. There are parts that are great, but not enough to justify the expense, and even more so, the time, for us. We love Toy Story Mania, because there isn't anything like that near us, but after Fast Pass one time, the wait is awful. In all honesty, we may like that better than Men in Black (although Buzz is a better comparison), but I can ride MIB almost 10 times with Express in the amount of time to ride Toy Story Mania once with FP, then once in standby line. And it's not that much better.

Again, as soon as Disney offers a similar perk for their best resorts, I will budget, save and go.

HP does get crowded, that is for certain. But so does Magic Kingdom, especially around fireworks/castle show in the summer, we got stuck near the carousel with two strollers, took almost 45 minutes to get to the front of the park to wait again for an overcrowded bus. And every Disney expert will say, "Well, you shouldn't be back there with 2 strollers at that time of day!" and they are right. But, I know I have had wonderful strolls in HP world at dusk where I felt like I had the whole place to myself, and it's blissful! Never would've happened for me staying offsite.

I was introduced to Universal by my now wife of 20 years when we were engaged, and it was about "riding the movies." Although that has changed a bit, we still really love that, and we did love Hollywood Studios as well. Keep in mind, I go to see all of these movies in XD - 3D with a top notch sound system, most on opening night. I have a 3D large screen TV at home. So, being able to "ride" these movies in a 3D screen setting is great for my family. Heck, I've seen Rocky 4/Shawshank/Willy Wonka (original) a thousand times and never bore with them, so I can sit on Transformers a hundred times and still get chills when Optimus calls me a freedom fighter!

Quite honestly, first park that puts me on a boat ride on a real chocolate river with 3D screens all around and a holographic Gene Wilder singing to me has my vacation money!
 
We went to Universal the first week of May a few years back. It was SO WEIRD. Like no one was there! I have pictures of the streets and we were the only people! I'm not exaggerating.

This was maybe back in 2015 or 16 and my husband was recovering from the flu. He was so exhausted and most all of the rides were making him motion sick. We didn't do the other side with all the coasters because we don't do intense coasters any more. That mostly left Harry Potter.

The rides we DID ride were fine for me, but with so few people, it had an odd vibe and we walked and walked and all the drink stands weren't open yet. The energy was just so different from disney. Disney, to me, has a magical feel and taps into that child back in 1967 laying on the shag carpet watching The Wonderful World of Disney on the black and white TV.
 
I'm a Disney lover who is trying to wrap my mind around a universal trip next summer. We did a one day visit last summer during a Disney trip. I did not like that I couldn't carry a backpack and take it on each ride. They have these lockers you are required to use and man was it crowded and sweaty trying to get a locker and then get stuff out of a locker after the ride. Other than that UO just didn't have that magical feel to me. I'm referring to the parks. My family was pretty happy there but even my daughter felt like something was missing. HPotter land however was amazing. I think the two parks are just very different in what they are going for. Hulk coaster feels very Six Flags to me and I can't stand Six Flags anymore. So now I'm trying to figure out how to plan an affordable trip next summer. It's an 8 hour drive and two universal parks then home feels so short. A split stay is so much more expensive for us. But I don't think my teenage son wants an all Disney vacation next summer. Oh the joy of trying to please everyone and being the only planner.
 


Summer2018 said:
This.

True Disney fans feel this way exactly. It’s okay if others can’t relate. It is what it is.
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Nostalgia is a huge part of enjoyment for lots of things. However, nostalgia varies for each person. "The overall magical feeling in WDW does not exist at Universal" isn't necessarily true. I have extremely fond memories of my son and his Jurassic Park passion as well as the complete immersion of both my kids into Harry Potter books. So, for me, walking through the gates of Jurassic Park and hearing the theme music gives me the warm and fuzzies as does walking into each of the Harry Potter areas. I also have very fond memories of our first trip to IOA when it opened in 1999 and subsequent visits since then. Those memories make me love Universal today. The magical feeling very much exists at Universal for my family.

I'm definitely not saying that everyone should enjoy Universal the way that I do but many, many people do and to us, the magic truly exists.
 
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Summer2018 said:
We went to Universal after a blissful week at WDW, which was the first mistake. We really didn't want to leave WDW and were sad about it. Our second mistake was that we stayed off-site at Universal, so even though we were there early for the opening, the crowds of on-site guests had already taken over the park. Harry Potter was beyond overcrowded, so we didn't get to do what we wanted. We aren't thrill riders which limited our options. The Dr. Seuss area was cute, but that was about it, certainly not worth the high price of admission. The overall magical feeling in WDW does not exist at Universal. We blew a lot of money and really couldn't wait to leave, basically the exact opposite of how we feel when we go to WDW.
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I get so, so tired of hearing this. If Universal isn't for you, fine. But please don't say there's nothing magical about it.
 
VacaPlanner2012 said:
Well, if you don't like the Universal IPs and you don't like motion simulators, I would definitely suggest staying away from Universal. No matter how nice the hotel, pool, or Express Pass, you won't like it. All Express will do is get you onto a ride you don't like faster...we are season pass holders at Cedar Point, but if you don't like going high, fast, and upside down, not the place for you. If you are a Disney apologist, and feel the mouse does no wrong, you won't like Universal. It's in your DNA. My niece is a Disney focused travel agent, and I love to get her going - swearing to me that there are cute parts in the Stitch ride. Really?

For my family, and I am only speaking about my family, we don't feel the magic at Disney World. There are parts that are great, but not enough to justify the expense, and even more so, the time, for us. We love Toy Story Mania, because there isn't anything like that near us, but after Fast Pass one time, the wait is awful. In all honesty, we may like that better than Men in Black (although Buzz is a better comparison), but I can ride MIB almost 10 times with Express in the amount of time to ride Toy Story Mania once with FP, then once in standby line. And it's not that much better.
Click to expand...

:thanks: You said exactly what I wanted to, just much better. :thumbsup2
 
damo said:
Nostalgia is a huge part of enjoyment for lots of things. However, nostalgia varies for each person. "The overall magical feeling in WDW does not exist at Universal" isn't necessarily true. I have extremely fond memories of my son and his Jurassic Park passion as well as the complete immersion of both my kids into Harry Potter books. So, for me, walking through the gates of Jurassic Park and hearing the theme music gives me the warm and fuzzies as does walking into each of the Harry Potter areas. I also have very fond memories of our first trip to IOA when it opened in 1999 and subsequent visits since then. Those memories make me love Universal today. The magical feeling very much exists at Universal for my family.

I'm definitely not saying that everyone should enjoy Universal the way that I do but many, many people do and to us, the magic truly exists.
Click to expand...
I can understand your point of view.
 
I agree with PPs - we usually do our Disney stay first in a Disney resort, and then hop over to a Universal hotel for a shorter stay at the end of our trip. For us, I like starting with Disney so we can take Magical Express from the airport and allow Disney to handle our luggage without having to wait at baggage claim. I'm also fresh and excited for the go-go-go pace at Disney and have everything planned to a T. When the time comes to leave Disney, it hurts a little less knowing I have Universal to look forward to. We take a cab or Uber there, and then can start to relax since we are able to go at a slower pace with fewer plans at Universal.

I love Disney and Universal just the same but for different reasons. Since OP asked about the cons specifically, my cons would be that if we stay for longer than 3 days or so, we tend to get bored. We also tend to get bored at night. We are usually in the parks by 9-10am and are ready to be done for the day by 4pm or so. We'll go back to the resort and shower and then head back to City Walk for dinner, By 7-8pm, after dinner, that's when we struggle for things to do. We aren't big drinkers and not interested in the night life. Last trip, we actually ordered a movie in the room for $20! LOL! I never seem to have a problem with finding things to do at any time at Disney, and often run out of time there!
 
We have been taking my grandson to Universal since he was 2. We just recently took him back at age 6 for a half Universal and half Disney trip. We did Universal first and then went over to Disney for four days. While at Disney he kept asking when we were going back to Seussland (that is what he calls Universal.) He loves everything about Universal and Islands of adventure. He loves toon lagoon and all the water rides there, Super hero island and all the simulators there and for the first time was tall enough to go on all the Harry Potter rides and loved those! We even got him a Harry Potter sword! His favorite ride was the water ride over at Jurassic Park. Over at Universal he loves men in black, ET, terminator, and he loves the water area and rides over at Woody Woodpecker Kidzone. He also loved the Harry Potter ride there. We stayed at Portofino and had express pass which was great. Absolutely worth it’s weight in gold! We never waited more then 5 minutes for anything. We also stayed a couple of days at Cabana Bay and he loved the bowling alley there and the pool. One of the nights that we were there we saw the blue man group. I was worried he wouldn’t sit through it but he loved it. Never took his eyes off them. We also did a day at Volcano Bay and that was fun. We have stayed at universal for up to eight days at a time and never left the grounds. We were never bored. We spent time at the pools and could do everything at a leisure pace unlike Disney. We are taking him back in August and staying at Royal Pacific for 7 nights. We aren’t doing Disney but plan on doing a day at Seaworld. Now don’t get me wrong I love Disney too But with that being said I feel like when I go there I spend half the day in lines and the other half planning. Universal is just more relaxing and you don’t have to plan like you do at Disney. Disney is a completely different experience then Universal. It does have more of that “magical” feel then Universal does. But at the same time I feel like I’m getting a little burnt out with Disney. I think your kids are at a great age for Universal. Not only do you have the 2 parks but now Volcano Bay is there and if you stay onsite you can use the pools at all the resorts. As far as being scared my grandson was a little scared on King Kong but got over it once we were on it. Same with mummy He was so scared getting on it the first time and then as soon as the ride was over asked if we could go on again. He’s a tall six-year-old so he makes the height requirements on most of the rides there. I don’t think if you choose Universal you or your kids will be disappointed at all. Just try and stay at one of the on-site hotels that offer express! Whatever you decide I hope you have a great time!
 
macraven said:
Staying offsite for the darkside parks can be a bummer

Most newbies can get a better feel for the parks when they stay onsite
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I wonder if it also depends if you're an offsite person anyways.

Now granted my earlier trips I was younger so I don't have too much salient memories of it but I always stayed off site...including WDW. This 2017 trip was the first I stayed onsite at WDW (and I did for the whole trip then drove to Universal).

But I could see if you're more used to staying on property and then suddenly you aren't it could already be a mark against it. IDK just thinking out loud.
 
Summer2018 said:
It's a good theory except that the rides at Universal don't appeal to me nor do the characters other than Dr. Seuss. My DD is a huge Harry Potter fan, so I know that she will return one day. If we return, we will most definitely stay onsite and do things better. I will stay at the resort pool.

Our first trip to WDW was a whirlwind, and other than staying onsite, we did everything wrong. It was still magical, and it kicked off our 14 year long addiction to all things Disney.
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IDK, I think part of your feeling may be it just wasn't your cup of tea. It's hard to enjoy something if you're not into the place. I can't do simulator after simulator and I do wish that Universal would have more variety nowadays but I still love Universal. I still get just as excited about walking into the gates at Universal as I do at WDW just for different reasons. And I respect the fact that you know now what you would enjoy more which is being at the resort pool--it beats being the person in your traveling party lol (not saying you were just putting humor in it :) )
 
Hisgirl said:
We went to Universal the first week of May a few years back. It was SO WEIRD. Like no one was there! I have pictures of the streets and we were the only people! I'm not exaggerating.

This was maybe back in 2015 or 16 and my husband was recovering from the flu. He was so exhausted and most all of the rides were making him motion sick. We didn't do the other side with all the coasters because we don't do intense coasters any more. That mostly left Harry Potter.

The rides we DID ride were fine for me, but with so few people, it had an odd vibe and we walked and walked and all the drink stands weren't open yet. The energy was just so different from disney. Disney, to me, has a magical feel and taps into that child back in 1967 laying on the shag carpet watching The Wonderful World of Disney on the black and white TV.
Click to expand...
Hmm.. I suppose I should have gotten a weird feeling from WDW too as we went during Irma and it was empty at both parks.

I guess YMMV
 
We always go to Universal and Disney. We like both but prefer Disney to universal because there's more rides and shows for us to do. We don't like roller coasters or big thrill rides so in Universal we tend to only do ET ride, Animal Show and Cat in the hat ride and then wander around the Harry Potter area so in Disney there's alot more for us.
 
We just did our first trip to Universal for 3 days and then hopped over to Disney for 5. While I love the Express pass, pools and general overall relaxed pace of Universal, my heart belongs to Disney. There is just something about there that gives me the warm fuzzies that I didn’t get with Universal. Not saying I didn’t like Universal, just different is all. I personally didn’t care for all the simulators, I much prefer “real” rides. I though the parade couldn’t be compared to the Disney parade nor could the Hogwarts castle show. While all great on their own, I struggled not comparing.

We are going on a Disney Cruise August 2019 and are going to stay at Cabana Bay for a few days prior for some resort time, pool hopping, CityWalk and overall relaxation before the cruise. May do Volcano Bay since we didn’t do it this time but neither of the other parks. I think for the price of this “value” hotel, Universal has Disney beat. Plus we get our Disney fix at the end. Best of both worlds!
 
We have done the split Universal Disney trip twice. Once was in the 90's, lol- we had to go for the show with slime... my oldest was an only child back then and it was also our first WDW trip. We liked Universal and had a ton of fun there but it wasn't Disney and he asked to leave early to go back to Disney on the second day (we did).

Many years later we did it again. Oldest was not on this trip but younger two were 7 and 9 I think. Harry Potter area had opened maybe 2 years before this and the kids were huge fans. They loved it. But my youngest was a timid rider yet too old for the kiddie stuff so we found it hard to keep her busy. That has everything to do with Universal being unfamiliar to us. We also had to constantly use a map! I know! and we didn't know where to go without asking/checking maps when the kids wanted specific food items... we didn't know where the bathrooms were... my point being, we like Disney better but much of that is because Disney is what we know. On the second split WDW Universal trip we returned to Disney after 1.5 days, again at a child's request BUT my 9 year old would have preferred to stay and ride coasters except it was raining and the rain hurt (I can't remember which coaster it was, there was one he had really been looking forward to).

We are going back to Universal in November for our 3rd split stay. Grandma is dying to see the Harry Potter stuff! My daughter who was 7 and didn't love Universal now has an annual pass (she is doing an extended Disney College Program right now). We are super excited to go back to Universal but I suspect that once again the age mix of the group is going to be an issue as Grandma will not ride coasters and gets motion sick... sigh.

TL/DR: Part of the neg reaction Disney fans have of Universal is that it is unfamiliar.
 
Haley you have months to read up on UO and will be fine

Read the trip report threads and check out the online maps UO has

You’ll be familiar with the two parks quickly

Hope you have a swell vacation!
 
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