Choosing US over WDW again, because of FP+

[damo]

Oh I know. But I thought I read an article recently with a new higher end resort coming. I may be mistaken. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Universal. I'm just interested to see how they grow and maybe learn from some of their competition's mistakes over the next 10 years or so. Because I do believe that Disney has made some big ones. I just don't believe its anywhere near as tragic as some folks make it out to be.

The higher end resort is more of a mod and it isn't supposed to have express included.

Are you aware of the Florida resident premier pass for $384 that give express pass after 4pm?

 

[kbelle8995]

I went to Universal at the end of September and stayed at a Cabana Bay. Didn't have express pass and quite frankly didn't need it.

I had a great time. Did not miss Disney period

 

[schumigirl]

I just don't believe its anywhere near as tragic as some folks make it out to be.

Im glad it works for you......but for many, many people it just isn't. And for people who are spending a fortune on their vacation and it's not working.......sorry but that will feel tragic to them, and there are plenty of people for whom that is the case.

You are lucky you live so close and can go every weekend, your way is not available to many, for whom their trip may be a once in a lifetime.

 

[macraven]

Sapphire is a step below the deluxe hotels and a step up from Cbay.

 

[Trixie Belden]

shortnsassy730 - are you local enough that you don't stay onsite? We're not, we could go for a day trip, but we're about 2-3 hours away depending on traffic. Our trips to WDW in the last 15 years have always been for at least 2 nights, preferably at an onsite resort for EMH.

Also, the restaurants you can get into after deciding for an hour, are those table service and/or character dinners or quick service? I'm great with doing primarily quick service, but we truly like 1900 Park Fare and it's very difficult for us to get ADR's there even starting to try 3 months out, the last time we tried was in December 4 years ago for an ADR midweek early in the December (formerly low season). It was such a hassle we gave up because I don't have the time to sit and refresh the website hoping to catch a cancellation. Now if some rides and BOG go to FP+, it doesn't work for our family. Apparently we fall in some sort of "sweet spot" where we go more often than people who plan a year out and not often enough for us to not care where we eat or what we ride.

 

[RMulieri]

Im glad it works for you......but for many, many people it just isn't. And for people who are spending a fortune on their vacation and it's not working.......sorry but that will feel tragic to them, and there are plenty of people for whom that is the case.

You are lucky you live so close and can go every weekend, your way is not available to many, for whom their trip may be a once in a lifetime.

agree..For my family, it DOES NOT work .I am glad for many it does.But it doesn't for all..I will spend my time and money at Universal Orlando and Disneyland if I need a Disney -fix

 

[Rebekkap]

We have not been back to WDW since the addition of FP+. AT this point, I don't know if I ever will. In July, we chose Universal instead for the first time, and loved that it required virtually no planning.

EVERYTHING I have read and heard about FP+ sounds like a nightmare, and I want no part of it. Guests arguing with CMs, without satisfaction, about apps and systems that don't work? What would Walt have to say about that?

Used to be that you would stroll through the park, and if something looked interesting, you'd go investigate. Now it becomes nothing more than running around and park hopping to make it to certain "appointments". If I wanted that, I'd stay at home and go to work.

Too much aggravation and competition. We're sticking with Universal next year.

Just to give you the other side of the story, I was at Disneyworld in late April, and although I was dreading fastpass+ and the magic bands, having read so much about how terrible they were, I was pleasantly surprised. I was a power user of the old fastpass, and thought it wouldn't let me do everything I did with the old system - but it actually did more, and with less wait time. One day in Magic Kingdom I managed to use 11 fast passes ( four of them for space mountain), with basically no wait between - the only park hopping for appointments we did was for dining reservations! Neither the app nor the bands had a single glitch either - all worked perfectly and was very handy not having to carry a purse in the parks to pay for things!

 

[tony67]

I will say I noticed a change in Universal between my 2009 trip and my 2013 trip. My 2009 trip would have been about Dec 18-20. So, the weekend before Christmas pre-Harry Potter. My 2013 trip was January 4-5. The weekend after New Years. The Crowds and the lines in 2013 were much worse post HP than they were in 2009 Pre-HP. Most of my trips are solo so I use the SRL frequent and I still noticed the difference and didn't get as much done as in the past.
But, it was still more than Disney with FP-. Looking at attendance, Universal is about 4-5 years behind Disney. Disney's attendance started growing after several years of decline in 2005 with MYW tickets and Free Dining. Universal attendance continued to decline until 2010 with the opening of WWOHP.

I would agree - one of the advantages that Universal has is they are not as big as Disney.
With HP that is changing, probably one of the reason they can't give express pass at the new hotels.
Anyway - I've gone the last three years and not needed a fast pass.
I did not find things getting really busy until later in the afternoon - there was a handful of times (even as a single rider) where express may have been useful

The other big thing for me is the food is much better at Universal.
The Taco truck is really good. Emeril's is really good.
I am really looking forward to CowFish.
In general the food options at Universal are far more interesting and varied, like Disney used to be.

That being said I've seen a few sign that concern me....the hot dog rolls seem to be the same awful ones that Disney started using - kind of surprised Nathans would go that route.
I always looked forward to a Chicago dog there - and it was disappointing last time.
I'm hoping that Hot Dog Hall of fame will be better, but I;ve already seen complaints about the rolls.

Finally lets talk about entertainment..Disney has bands at the F&W festival that are played out...and they play there every year...even on the same days...I didn't want to see these bands 5 years ago...and I still don't, but they are there the same time as me every year.

Universal is going to have One Direction. Now I don't like them, but the under 20s sure do - and I'm sure that a fair number of people will go to Universal just for them.
Very few people are making a special trip to Disney just to see Starship.

At this point in time it seems to me that Universal is making all the right moves and Disney is not.

It would not shock me to see Off Kilter pop up at Universal outside of Finnegan's pub at some point in the future - just to thumb their nose at Disney
It would be no issue for them to switch to a more Irish rock sounds, how many of the members are Irish born?
I'm not a fan of Off Kilter, but I;d love to see that.

 

[EvilQueenLiz]

Very few people are making a special trip to Disney just to see Starship

Maybe because it's the "Eat to the Beat" concert series so they don't want you to eat to a fast beat and choke on your food. Choking leads to lawsuits. Keep it mellow.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/epcot/food-wine-eat-to-the-beat-concerts/

 

[johde]

At this point in time it seems to me that Universal is making all the right moves and Disney is not.

It's interesting, Universal today reminds me of 1990's WDW. The number of innovative rides that were born around that decade is staggering. Tower of Terror, Test Track, Countdown to Extinction (Indiana Jones), Winnie the Pooh (kidifying CDTE), Rock 'n Roller Coaster, Buzz Light Year, Splash Mountain (although Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knotts was built in 1969). And going slightly into the 2000's adds Soarin, and Mission Space.

Most of the "New" classics were built in that era along with a couple (Mission Space) that may have pushed things a little too far.

From Everest in 2006 till today, Disney has acted more like Universal during the dark days of multiple ownership changes just prior to WWOHP. Looking at major additions to the park, prior to NFL the last major additions to the MK was Either Buzz Light Year in 1998 or Splash Mountain in 1992. Alien Encounter was switched to Stitch in 2004 and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor replaced Time Keeper in 2007. But those are fairly minor replacements. At Epcot you have Sum of all Thrills in 2009, and Nemo in 2006. Everything else is retheming. And Disney keeps trying to convince people they are getting a "value". Their add all seem to end with "A family of 4 can visit WDW for 7 day for Just $XXXX including theme park tickets.

Looking at Universal from 2000 - 2009 you had MIB in 2002, Revenge of the Mummy in 2004, Sky High Seuss Trolly in 2006, HRRR in 2009. Everything else was rethemeing Hanna Barbara becomes Nicktoons becomes Dispicable me. Back to the Future becomes the Simpsons (just a ride Springfield comes several years later). Earthquake becomes Disaster. This was the era of the $99 (or less) 7 day ticket.

From 2010 till today, and possible starting a little bit early, Universal seems to be focusing on bringing New innovative rides to the parks Forbidden Journey and Gringotts. Sprinkled with New rides based on existing technologies in Transformers. All combined with a new caring about theming and detail. WWOHP, and Springfield. Most Universal commercials don't focus on price. They focus on we have what you want to see.


With DHS closing a third of the park at this point. American Idol, Back Lot Tour, Pirates of the Carribean Curse of the Black Pearl. Disney is either setting the stage for a major expansion (Cars Land/Pixar Place Expansion?) or has taking cost cutting to a whole new level. Either way, I think the park is in for a couple of rough years starting in 2015. That is unless the Frozen exclusive shows remain hot now that the parade and fireworks are going away. I could see 2015 being a year where a Universal park beats a Disney Park. With Universal having a full year of Diagon Alley and DHS being a giant construction zone.

 

[Trixie Belden]

Adding on to what Tony67 said above about entertainment, Universal is doing some really great things with bands.

At Christmas, you have Grinchmas in IoA where you can watch a live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, have pictures taken with the Grinch and interact with Whos in Seuss Landing. At USO, you have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which is scaled down but still a cool thing for people who haven't seen it in person. My son was super excited to get to talk to Tom Skellington at Universal. Then you have the Mannheim Steamroller concerts in December as well, which is a super deal considering they tour in other cities as well with tickets running about $45 each.

During the spring, they have Mardi Gras concerts on Saturdays that have bands that cover a pretty wide variety of genres and ages. We went to see KC and the Sunshine Band, Kelly Clarkson, Cher Lloyd, Kool and the Gang, The Wanted, Huey Lewis and the News. Basically there were bands for everyone at one point or another. Eat to the Beat always seemed to have older 60's bands like the Monkees and it wasn't quite a party atmosphere like it is during Universal's Mardi Gras.

 

[Darcy03231]

Count me in.

Last trip to WDW was in August 2012. We actually did a split stay with 3 days at US/IOA and 7 at WDW. Even before the fast pass+ came out we were starting to become disenchanted. Prices go up every year and on our last trip we just didn't see the value for the money. No new attractions, decline in food quality, and the attention to detail just didn't seem to be there anymore.

We did a cruise in 2013 and went to Sandals Whitehouse in 2014 (and we used to be yearly visitors to the mouse). We liked Sandals so much we booked again for 2015.

In planning another trip to Florida we all agreed that we had much more fun at US/IOA. We didn't feel like we had to schedule our entire vacation six months out, we were able to take it at a more leisurely pace, and the food options were so much better. So its back to Florida in late 2015. We're going to US/IOA and SeaWorld, with maybe a day at Aquatica or Busch Gardens.

The tipping point for us was when my brother just came back from his yearly trip with his family and said they aren't going again (and they loved WDW as much as we did). They hated fast pass+ and felt that the food quality had deteriorated even further since 2012 and were disappointed with the lack of new attractions.

 

[angryduck71]

It's interesting, Universal today reminds me of 1990's WDW. The number of innovative rides that were born around that decade is staggering. Tower of Terror, Test Track, Countdown to Extinction (Indiana Jones), Winnie the Pooh (kidifying CDTE), Rock 'n Roller Coaster, Buzz Light Year, Splash Mountain (although Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knotts was built in 1969). And going slightly into the 2000's adds Soarin, and Mission Space.

Most of the "New" classics were built in that era along with a couple (Mission Space) that may have pushed things a little too far.

From Everest in 2006 till today, Disney has acted more like Universal during the dark days of multiple ownership changes just prior to WWOHP. Looking at major additions to the park, prior to NFL the last major additions to the MK was Either Buzz Light Year in 1998 or Splash Mountain in 1992. Alien Encounter was switched to Stitch in 2004 and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor replaced Time Keeper in 2007. But those are fairly minor replacements. At Epcot you have Sum of all Thrills in 2009, and Nemo in 2006. Everything else is retheming. And Disney keeps trying to convince people they are getting a "value". Their add all seem to end with "A family of 4 can visit WDW for 7 day for Just $XXXX including theme park tickets.

Looking at Universal from 2000 - 2009 you had MIB in 2002, Revenge of the Mummy in 2004, Sky High Seuss Trolly in 2006, HRRR in 2009. Everything else was rethemeing Hanna Barbara becomes Nicktoons becomes Dispicable me. Back to the Future becomes the Simpsons (just a ride Springfield comes several years later). Earthquake becomes Disaster. This was the era of the $99 (or less) 7 day ticket.

From 2010 till today, and possible starting a little bit early, Universal seems to be focusing on bringing New innovative rides to the parks Forbidden Journey and Gringotts. Sprinkled with New rides based on existing technologies in Transformers. All combined with a new caring about theming and detail. WWOHP, and Springfield. Most Universal commercials don't focus on price. They focus on we have what you want to see.


With DHS closing a third of the park at this point. American Idol, Back Lot Tour, Pirates of the Carribean Curse of the Black Pearl. Disney is either setting the stage for a major expansion (Cars Land/Pixar Place Expansion?) or has taking cost cutting to a whole new level. Either way, I think the park is in for a couple of rough years starting in 2015. That is unless the Frozen exclusive shows remain hot now that the parade and fireworks are going away. I could see 2015 being a year where a Universal park beats a Disney Park. With Universal having a full year of Diagon Alley and DHS being a giant construction zone.

Two words: Star Wars. THAT'S what's going to happen. And, honestly, they'll probably suck me back then. Until then, I'm relaxing to Universal. And, believe me, I was a Disney CRAZY PERSON. I'm still helping folks plan to go there. I am just too exhausted to do it myself. And my boy wants to go to Universal right now. So, until Star Wars makes more of an appearance at Disney, I'm doing more Universal.

 

[tony67]

Two words: Star Wars. THAT'S what's going to happen. And, honestly, they'll probably suck me back then. Until then, I'm relaxing to Universal. And, believe me, I was a Disney CRAZY PERSON. I'm still helping folks plan to go there. I am just too exhausted to do it myself. And my boy wants to go to Universal right now. So, until Star Wars makes more of an appearance at Disney, I'm doing more Universal.

True...Star Wars may be a game changer...if and when.
I'm less concerned about the if than the when.

Hopefully there are still people at Disney that have the creativity to create some amazing experiences from all these acquired properties

 

[kbelle8995]

Adding on to what Tony67 said above about entertainment, Universal is doing some really great things with bands.

At Christmas, you have Grinchmas in IoA where you can watch a live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, have pictures taken with the Grinch and interact with Whos in Seuss Landing. At USO, you have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which is scaled down but still a cool thing for people who haven't seen it in person. My son was super excited to get to talk to Tom Skellington at Universal. Then you have the Mannheim Steamroller concerts in December as well, which is a super deal considering they tour in other cities as well with tickets running about $45 each.

During the spring, they have Mardi Gras concerts on Saturdays that have bands that cover a pretty wide variety of genres and ages. We went to see KC and the Sunshine Band, Kelly Clarkson, Cher Lloyd, Kool and the Gang, The Wanted, Huey Lewis and the News. Basically there were bands for everyone at one point or another. Eat to the Beat always seemed to have older 60's bands like the Monkees and it wasn't quite a party atmosphere like it is during Universal's Mardi Gras.

Oh my gosh. I totally agree. Universal has really stepped in up on entertainment at the parks. Not only for acts they bring in but entertainment they have on a daily basis.

There was a great band at the entrance of the Studios who where great. Celestina Warbeck and her Banshees were amazing. And when I went to the London station there was a musician there everyday. Good for them.

 

[johde]

Adding on to what Tony67 said above about entertainment, Universal is doing some really great things with bands.

At Christmas, you have Grinchmas in IoA where you can watch a live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, have pictures taken with the Grinch and interact with Whos in Seuss Landing. At USO, you have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which is scaled down but still a cool thing for people who haven't seen it in person. My son was super excited to get to talk to Tom Skellington at Universal. Then you have the Mannheim Steamroller concerts in December as well, which is a super deal considering they tour in other cities as well with tickets running about $45 each.

On the entertainment front, Universal got an extra day out of me because of the holiday entertainment. My trip is Jan 2-11. I'm staying at Cabana Bay and doing Universal and Busch Gardens the Jan 6-11. But, because of the holiday festivities I'm adding 1/2 to 3/4 of a day on arrival day the 2nd to see the Grinch, the Macy's Parade, and the other Holiday shows.

On the other hand entertainment wise, I heard the new Beetlejuice show isn't up to world class theme park standards. And in a lot of ways not as good as the original. I haven't seen it myself yet though to form my own opinion.

Two words: Star Wars. THAT'S what's going to happen. And, honestly, they'll probably suck me back then. Until then, I'm relaxing to Universal. And, believe me, I was a Disney CRAZY PERSON. I'm still helping folks plan to go there. I am just too exhausted to do it myself. And my boy wants to go to Universal right now. So, until Star Wars makes more of an appearance at Disney, I'm doing more Universal.

A greater Star Wars presence in the parks I agree would be a game changer. The trouble is when it it going to happen. None of the recent closures are contiguous with Star Tours unless Streets of America and/or Muppet Plaza also hit the chopping block. Most rumors I've read had Star Wars expanding into Indiana Jones Territory and possibly forward towards the entrance over echo lake, and surrounding area.

Most people of the boards here think Stars Wars will be Phase II of DHS reinvention. Which given Disney's current pace puts the opening at maybe 2020 if they rush.

 

[macraven]

On the other hand entertainment wise, I heard the new Beetlejuice show isn't up to world class theme park standards. And in a lot of ways not as good as the original. I haven't seen it myself yet though to form my own opinion.

i watched the new beetlejuice show in mid october and thought it was awesome.
such an improvement from the past years.

new characters, new songs, made it a winner finally for those in my group to watch.

try to catch it next time you are in the park.

 

[johde]

i watched the new beetlejuice show in mid october and thought it was awesome.
such an improvement from the past years.

new characters, new songs, made it a winner finally for those in my group to watch.

try to catch it next time you are in the park.

With 4 1/2 days in the parks I'm hoping to hit almost "everything". I've learned everybody's different on their likes and dislikes. The comments I had hear were from shortly after the new show opened so I wonder if they needed a little more rehearsal under their belts and they are now hitting their stride.

 

[macraven]

there is less chatter and more singing in the new show.
the addition of the 4 dancers made it an improvement from the old show.

i did miss the basic songs the characters used to sing but this show goes into each set a lot smoother than before.

there are some that don't care for the shows especially if they are there for a short visit.

i did 12 days onsite and was able to hit the shows this time without having to give up ride time.