Disney die-hard back from Universal

[boomhauer]

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.

 

[ckay87]

Hey!
First of all - completely OT - I am in love with your new avatar! Have you seen this tour? Post anything on the CB?

Anyway....that was a very fair and accurate comparison to Disney. I am, in many ways, partial to Universal. I always say that US/IOA is like WDW on steroids!

Happy to hear that about front of the line, too. We're staying at RPR in June - can't wait.

Welcome home.

 

[pixeegrl]

Woohoo! Can't wait for our trip now. Glad you had a good time!

 

[coastermom]

We love universal and well we love anywhere there are rides ..

I LOVE BONJOVI !!! boomhauer and ckay87 have to say we seen him opening night at the ROCK in NJ ... Which is the new arena in newark ... He was amazing as usual . I even gave up the chance to be on TV on a rollercoaster shoot to be there that night to see Bon Jovi .

So guys ..HAVE A NICE DAY ....

 

[goofy!]

Welcome to the Dark Side Loved your report.

Glad you had a great time! Another convert who can love both destinations, woohoo

If you are planning on making several weekend trips, you may want to look into getting one annual pass. That would give you some great hotel discounts and the discount in the stores and restaurants. You only need one for your family, so the rest could just get the power pass or the day passes.

We were there the weekend before you and Margaritaville was shutting down at 3pm for a private party. Waitress told us that since the Bay Hill PGA tour was this weekend, that many of the PGA pros were holding private parties at the restaurants. We did see a few of the PGA pros wandering around the Portofino (Furyk, Watney and a couple others we didn't recognize) when we were there.

Rhea Perlman, Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernies), Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) were also there the weekend we were there filming a movie. Apparently, Margaritaville was being shut down that afternoon for a production crew party.

Anyway, Welcome back! And stick around to share pointers and your views of Universal. Especially that a Disney addict can love the Dark Side too.

 

[K&KsMom]

I am so glad to read your post. We are starting to panic because like you we are die hard Disney fans(DVC members) and for the first time going to US instead of Disney in April.
Do you have any tips?

 

[kirbsam]

glad you had a good time. we took the plunge to universal last year, and never regretted it. we plan our long vacations for disney, and our long weekends for universal. going again at the end of april.

 

[boomhauer]

Rhea Perlman, Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernies), Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) were also there the weekend we were there filming a movie. Apparently, Margaritaville was being shut down that afternoon for a production crew party.

I thought that was Jonathan Silverman. I saw him near New York filming a scene.

 

[ky07]

I thought that was Jonathan Silverman. I saw him near New York filming a scene.

Welcome to the darkside and knew as long as you didn't compare Universal to Disney that you would see they also had stuff you would enjoy and at first I didn't think I would like the mummy but its one of my favorite rides

 

[boomhauer]

Welcome to the darkside and knew as long as you didn't compare Universal to Disney that you would see they also had stuff you would enjoy and at first I didn't think I would like the mummy but its one of my favorite rides

Funny thing is, I did find myself comparing some things to Disney, and I found several things I liked better about Universal:

Fast food
Universal Express
Clubs of City Walk

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Boomhauer, I'm so glad you had a great time.

Believe me, I've made plenty of trips to Universal and I've never paid that much for a room. I'm pretty flexible with my dates though. The most I've paid is $350 for Portofino Club Level. (Can you blame me? ) But for your next trips, you can have a great stay with FOTL access for as low as $150 a night at Royal Pacific.

As for the gift shop problem, I'm guessing you were at the Universal Studio Store or Island Market Traders. I've done the same thing. Sometimes they can't keep up with the amount of people trying to purchase at the same time (usually towards the end of the day). Actually, I've put back merchandise at Disney too. Next time you can take a look around at the smaller registers near the front and back of the store too (not sure if those were open).

Other than that, thanks for letting us know how it went.

 

[phamton]

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.

Well that ain't good! For future reference, you can go to guest services at either park and they will let you access your email to get the confirmation number and print off the boarding passes.

Glad you had a good time! I was worried because the days you went were really busy! Next time, we'll help you plan a little sooner so you can get a cheaper rate on the hotel.

Did you get motion sickness on any of the rides? Jimmy Neutron sometimes bothers me but the other rides are fine for me.

 

[boomhauer]

It was really busy, which made the Universal Express all that much more amazing! I mean it - I was shocked. You guys weren't kidding. I can't imagine going there without it. It made fastpass look slow.

Only ride I had a bit of a problem with was Jimmy Neutron. Didn't do well with that, but it was also 1st thing in the morning after breakfast. Everything else I was fine with.

I would really appreciate any tips on getting better rates at the hotels. I plan on making a weekend trip there at least a couple times a year. I was that happy with it. I was really and truly impressed with just how much they've done with Universal.

 

[darboymom]

We too have a room reserved for $359, best we could get during Easter week. Since you were there during a busy time, could you give me an idea of how long you waited for the major rides? Still trying to convince hubby the added cost is worth it. (We have a timeshare for the whole week, so we don't really need the hotel to sleep in. Getting on rides faster, being able to take a break, letting 9 year old swim while brothers are on Mummy....seem worth it to me). Anyway, the more info I have, the easier it is to justify.
Thanks,
Karen

 

[boomhauer]

Karen - Longest wait with Universal Express was about 6 minutes. Worth $400 per night - ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

 

[phamton]

Easter week will have some lines as long as 1 1/2 to 2 hours. You will be very glad you are staying onsite.

Boomie, did you stay and watch the 360 show last night?

 

[mslclark]

I loved reading your review - thanks for sharing! I liked the fact you were honest about the good and bad. I also have to say that I've never paid nearly that much at the HRH. There's discounts out there, AAA, AP, etc. An AP isn't nearly as much as WDW's, so the discount could easily be worth the cost of the pass. I've gotten postcards in the mail from Universal with discounted rates, so be sure you're signed up for their newsletters.

I had the same experience at the Universal Studios Store. I put stuff down because I couldn't get any help.


darboymom - it's worth it - your wait time in the Express line will probably be 10 minutes or less. We've been during Spring Break with FOTL, and that is what we experienced. And the convenience of being so close and having the option to go back to your room, the pool etc. is great. My DH says staying onsite is like the Mastercard commercial "Priceless!!".

 

[boomhauer]

No, we had an 8:30 flight back.

 

[boomhauer]

As for the gift shop problem, I'm guessing you were at the Universal Studio Store or Island Market Traders. I've done the same thing. Sometimes they can't keep up with the amount of people trying to purchase at the same time (usually towards the end of the day). Actually, I've put back merchandise at Disney too. Next time you can take a look around at the smaller registers near the front and back of the store too (not sure if those were open).

Bingo - It was at the US Store at Universal. Back registers weren't open. Just 2 registers open. One couldn't find a barcode. The other was moving in slow motion. It was around 4:00PM. I'm very impatient though to be fair.

 

[disneyfan67]

Glad you enjoyed your trip, but I would recommend you going when the room rates aren't so high. I agree about the $400 dollar a night for a room being too much and the days of paying that type of bloated rate is over for me. I stayed at the PBH last July and the AAA rate was only $239 a night which is a lot more affordable, IMO. There's deals to be had you just have to look for them and the time of the year you go has a big impact on that as well. I also agree that Universal Studios is a better park than Disney's Hollywood Studios. There's just so much more to do and MIB is my favorite ride there because the theming is fantastic. The FOTL feature can't be beat, but there's no way Disney could ever duplicate that with the amount of onsite rooms they have. It's one of the drawbacks to getting so big that you can't offer your guests innovations like FOTL.

I look forward to going back to Universal and hope to be a regular visitor for years to come.