Busch Gardens or Universal?

[mom of2]

We had Busch Gardens AP and then this year we got Disney AP. We aren't Disney people. On his 5th birthday, DS begged to go to Busch Gardens instead of Disney, LOL. So how does Universal compare? Doing either Busch or Universal next year but can't decide.
Thanks

 

[AJKMOM]

We didn't care for Universal, but we are "Disney people". The friendliness of the staff and the theming just didn't appeal to us. It was a long 2 days, since I pre-paid for the tickets.

 

[mom of2]

We didn't care for Universal, but we are "Disney people". The friendliness of the staff and the theming just didn't appeal to us. It was a long 2 days, since I pre-paid for the tickets.

Would you compare universal to a six flags or cedar point? We are from Ohio and enjoy them.

 

[Chumpson]

I went to Universal Studios in California and Six Flags in California last summer. If they are consistent around the country then Universal is a step up in cast members, a BIG difference is the shows as I didn't see any at Six Flags and Universal has many quality sit down and watch. I seem to remember the Trill rides at Six Flags were the ones we talked about most, but we did enjoy Transformers at Universal in California, but after that one, not so much. Can't speak to Florida, just thought I would give as much info as I could.

 

[Minniesgal]

We think Universal is far superior to Disney for the parks but we massively prefer the Disney resorts.

 

[kathy884]

Would you compare universal to a six flags or cedar point? We are from Ohio and enjoy them.

Gosh -- Not really. It's more of a theme park than an amusement park. I really think you'll need to try out Universal parks for yourselves and see what you think. You might want to post on the Universal board too. You might get a better feel and more responses there. There are lots of Universal Park fans. If you are talking straight roller coasters, Busch would have more and more variety then Universal Studios and IOA. But then for straight coasters Cedar Point IMHO would beat both of those easily.

I love Cedar Point for example (great vibe, great coasters, yummy junk food, friendly staff, nice setting right on Lake Erie and I enjoy staying at the historic Breakers Hotel), but don't really care for Six Flags parks and am not that crazy about Universal (haven't been for a long time, though, and hear the parks are greatly improved from when I last visited).

I think everyone is different though
-- My favorite park is SeaWorld

-- My second favorite park is Cedar Point

-- Coming in third are all the Disney Parks. I get into the Disney vibe and Disney Magic. I like all four of them, actually. And I know you guys don't like Disney really, but do like Cedar Point. And they are very different. I just really like them both.

-- Next I'd go for Busch Gardens -- very nice / beautiful park too, but more to me like a world class zoo with some coasters.

-- Next the Universal parks (not really fair either, as I haven't been for a long time, probably because there are just so many parks I like and the one time I went I just didn't like the vibe there.) My son who is 18 has been to Universal parks more recently than I have and says they are good, but prefers SeaWorld, Cedar Point, and Disney

-- Six Flags, for me, comes in behind these others.

 

[johde]

For me, my favorite park is the one I'm walking through the gate. I've been to several parks and I've enjoyed most of them.

Busch Gardens is more like Cedar Point or Kings Island with much better theming and animals thrown in. In terms of rides, it some of the best coasters in Florida. In my opinion, based on ride itself, Busch Gardens coasters beat universal's coasters in terms of thrills.

Universal is more like Disney with higher thrill rides. The theming is incredible. Comparing parks, Cedar Point has rides, Disney has Experiences. Universal has a combination of both. MIB, Spiderman, Harry Potter and the like are high thrill versions of the type of experience you expect from a Disney park. Incredible Hulk, Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, etc. are Cedar Point style coasters with highly themed Queues.

In terms of theming, I would rank things.
1) Disney
2) Universal only narrowly and in some cases equally or surpassing Disney.
3) Busch Gardens, nicely themed, immaculately manicured gardens but not in the same league as Disney and Universal.
4) Cedar Point, other than the western area, it's nice and clean but primarily a collection of rides.

In terms of Thrills, the order is basically reversed.

1) Cedar Point, 16 roller coasters, many of which were record breakers when built.

2) Tie Busch Gardens - 8 coasters many of the same quality or better as Cedar points, for example I like Montu better than Raptor and Gwazi is better than any wooden coaster at Cedar Point.

2) Universal - 7 coasters between 2 parks, other than Hulk they are a notch below Cedar Point and Busch Gardens, but they also have unique thrill rides the Harry Potter, and Spiderman that go beyond the ordinary.

4) Disney - 6 Coaster between 4 parks. Mostly moderate in the thrill department. For a Cedar Point person, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Mission Space and many Tower of Terror would be the only "High Thrill rides".

To your big question, I don't know which I would choose. Especially if you put Sea World together with Busch Gardens.

 

[Buzz L. Year]

If you choose Busch here's my coaster tips: Cheetah Hunt is our favorite coaster, its a very long out and back configuration, shoots you out 3 times, takes you thru scenery while you're being thrown about. Has the longest wait of any coaster at BG and is more enjoyable the 4th time you do it, than the first. Montu is our 2nd favorite. Kumba is the coaster I think is worth the extra wait for the front row. Cant comment on Sheikra yet.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

That is a hard decision to make if you have never been to either park.

We have season passes to Universal/Island of Adventure, but we have been to Busch Gardens too and it was an awesome park.

If you were only going to go to "UNIVERSAL" and not go to the sister park next door Island of Adventure, I would say go to Busch Gardens. IOA is the better park with the harry Potter stuff. Universal has quite a few good shows but less to do and a bit smaller than IOA. You can actually split the day and do both US and IOA in the same day. If you were going to do that I would say pick Universal.

But I would suggest finding time at some point to see BG. It has a lot of rides and it has more animals than most zoos. i really enjoyed that park.

When we go to Orlando we do 3 days at Disney and 3 days at US/IOA. We have never gone and not done both. If I had to choose and could only go to one set of parks it would be US/IOA. But I don't have to choose.

It also depends on how old your kid is and if he likes to RIDE stuff. Universal has milder rides for younger kids and IOA has some bigger thrill rides for adventurous older kids.

Cheetah Hunt was our favorite ride at BG but the wooden coaster Gwazi was horrible. I felt like I had been in a car accident when I got off of it. It was so rough and jerky I said I will never get on it again. It's worse than Space Mountain.

If you go to Universal try to make time to see the shows. My favorite is the Beetlejuice Rock and Roll graveyard Revue. Music and Dancing. Then there is the Horror Make Up show. (Not scary but very funny) They have a Terminator 3D show and a street show, Blues Brothers. All worth seeing.

Island of Adventure has a Sinbad show and a Poseidon's Fury show./attraction that are both very good.

Busch Gardens has some type of ice skating show that we didn't stay to see. It shows late in the afternoon.

 

[2girlsmom]

I have to agree with the previous poster that my favorite tends to be where I am. We live in Tampa and have passes to WDW, US/IOA, BG and Seaworld. Generally we are at one or another theme park at LEAST one weekend a month. Disney is definitely about the experience more than the rides, but I love the Disney "feeling" as do my kids and hubby. That said, I would also agree that Uni/IOA has at LEAST as good and in some cases better theming of their areas, and we enjoy the increased thrill rides. Busch Gardens/Seaworld both have less theming throughout the parks, but have terrific coasters, animal encounters/viewing, and awesome shows (to be fair, all these have great shows, but BG/SW have MORE shows than the others). I love that BG/SW are owned by the same company and I can have one pass for all that both offer, as well, as far as annual passes go, I feel they are very reasonably priced especially compared to WDW.