Just got back last night, and WOW - Had an AWESOME time!!!
Where to start? FOTL access is pretty much the greatest invention in the history of mankind! We walked right on to everything. Got to do the Mummy at least a dozen times. That was amazing! One of the most amazing ride experiences ever created.
Was the Hard Rock Hotel worth $400 per night? No. It was very nice, but not worth that much. Then again, I don't think any Disney resort is worth that much either. However, I would gladly pay it again, as everything was just a 5 minute walk.
I was so happy with Universal. I was afraid I would see a glorified Six Flags. Not the case. Everything was clean, well maintained, beautifully landscaped. Thumbs up.
Universal Studios beats Disney's Hollywood Studios hands down. Way more to do and many more diversions. Beautiful park. ROTM, Shrek, MIB, ET were all great. I was disappointed with T2. All the hype for that and it didn't do much for me. The Jimmy Neutron ride was nauseating and confusing as heck. The fast food (burgers and pizza) were excellent. Far better than Disney's.
IOA was a REALLY cool looking park. Spiderman, Popeye raft ride, Cat In The Hat were all great rides. Dudley Do Right was a lot of fun, but it's a major eye sore. Dirty and cheap looking. Jurassic Park ride was pretty cool, but I was somewhat disappointed in it. Not as much fun as Dinosaur, and didn't look as good as I thought it would. Marvel Island looked amazing. I'm not a coaster fan, so not alot for me there, but a beautiful fun park to be in.
City Walk was great. Though the night we went, all the clubs were closed for private parties until 11:00PM. That sucked. Clubs are better than Pleasure Island's, but shopping is better at Marketplace.
One major problem we noticed pretty much everywhere was slow service at restaurants and shops. At one point yesterday, after waiting in line for 20 minutes with just 1 register open, I put back over $100 worth of merchandise. They need to work on having more people that move a bit quicker at the shops. One other minor thing that ticked me off was the front desk wouldn't let me use the computer to access my email so I could get my Southwest confirmation number which I had misplaced to print up my boarding passes. Instead, I had to spend $10 to use the computer in the business center for 3 minutes. After spending $420 on the room and $42 for parking for 3 days, I wasn't happy about that.
All in all, Universal won me over. I could definitely see myself making 1 or 2 weekend trips there per year, provided I can find better hotel rates. They've done an amazing job creating a whole new resort to compete with Disney.
I wanted to add - Universal Express works MULTIPLE times better than Fastpass. Universal has figured out something that Disney still can't seem to get right. Have to give my hats off to Universal for that.
sadly, we're skipping staying onsite this year due to high rates on the weekend before 
