Disney "Money Grab" and the future of Universal

[BingoJoe]

Universal already has no magical express and paid for fast passes that cost more than Disney ones. So some of the reasons for people moving to Universal seem more emotional than rational.

But frankly Universal isn't in the same league as Disney on multiple fronts. The food is inferior, the parks are dirty, the theming outside of Harry Potter is often bad, the bins are smelly, there is noticeable wear and tear all over the place and there are lots of copy and paste simulator rides.

 

[tony67]

Universal already has no magical express and paid for fast passes that cost more than Disney ones. So some of the reasons for people moving to Universal seem more emotional than rational.

But frankly Universal isn't in the same league as Disney on multiple fronts. The food is inferior, the parks are dirty, the theming outside of Harry Potter is often bad, the bins are smelly, there is noticeable wear and tear all over the place and there are lots of copy and paste simulator rides.

Disney's latest rides are mostly screen type rides - the argument now is its all coasters.

I recently had my first to to Disney in about 5 years - Ive done at least 8 trips to Universal in that same time.
The amount of rides not working at MK at various times on the same day was ridiculous - ended up having to change my plans to do a second day at MK because you need a reservation.
The reservation system is ridiculous.
No park hopping till 2PM is ridiculous.
AP are way overpriced - especially with reservation system - people have had to resort to making reservations at Epcot - going in at 1:30 and then park hopping to MK - very convenient.
Its not anywhere near as clean as it once was.
The food is in no way anywhere near where it once was.

Hey more room for you at Disney if we are not going right - most of the folks who are done with Disney would go back if it was returning to its former glory. Its not.

 

[C&Jx2]

Universal already has no magical express and paid for fast passes that cost more than Disney ones. So some of the reasons for people moving to Universal seem more emotional than rational.

But frankly Universal isn't in the same league as Disney on multiple fronts. The food is inferior, the parks are dirty, the theming outside of Harry Potter is often bad, the bins are smelly, there is noticeable wear and tear all over the place and there are lots of copy and paste simulator rides.

When staying at the premier resorts the Express Passes can be pretty cost effective for a family of four and the price is the same, if not less than Disney deluxe resorts. I think they’re just as nice too, and I’ve stayed both pre and post COVID.

I think UOR table service restaurants are lacking (with the exception of the resort restaurants), but I find their fast food to be better than Disney. Their salads are more fresh, the pizza is better quality, etc.

While I haven’t found any cleanliness issues, I’m sure others have so I won’t argue there… But I agree with everything else.

 

[BingoJoe]

When staying at the premier resorts the Express Passes can be pretty cost effective for a family of four and the price is the same,

I have actually booked a room in a premier universal resort, checked in and never stayed because it is cheaper than buying the express pass directly sometimes. Top tip

 

[C&Jx2]

I have actually booked a room in a premier universal resort, checked in and never stayed because it is cheaper than buying the express pass directly sometimes. Top tip

I have heard of that! We really like RPR so we enjoy staying there, but it is a good workaround for people.

 

[DuskKodesh]

I don't get the comparison of the Disney deluxe to the UO deluxe in this thread. I'm paying about $230 a night AP rate for RPR (Before that I had a $260 an night deal, non AP), free express passes. To stay at a Disney deluxe last time I looked was $600-$800 a night, tiny room and then I'd have to pay for genie + and LL on top of that for each member of my party. Last time I did Disney we stayed at a value resort and that was $220 a night on sale (Pop Century), and that was when we still had little bonuses like early and late hours, fast passes, and free magic bands. Things we'd not get now.

Apples and oranges.

 

[tony67]

I don't get the comparison of the Disney deluxe to the UO deluxe in this thread. I'm paying about $230 a night AP rate for RPR (Before that I had a $260 an night deal, non AP), free express passes. To stay at a Disney deluxe last time I looked was $600-$800 a night, tiny room and then I'd have to pay for genie + and LL on top of that for each member of my party. Last time I did Disney we stayed at a value resort and that was $220 a night on sale (Pop Century), and that was when we still had little bonuses like early and late hours, fast passes, and free magic bands. Things we'd not get now.

Apples and oranges.

I cant imagine spending 220 for Pop Century - Can often get Swan or Dolphin for that price, but all depends on dates of course

 

[DuskKodesh]

I cant imagine spending 220 for Pop Century - Can often get Swan or Dolphin for that price, but all depends on dates of course

I had checked them and they were slightly more for my dates so I decided to be thrifty. I admit this was a mistake. Never doing that again.

 

[kbelle8995]

If you compare Disney to Universal, you are setting yourself up for a bad trip. Also many of the pluses Disney has dropped. Magical Express is being phased out. They are charging as of tomorrow for what is essentially FP and no on has a out for it. Not even the deluxe. Disney doesn't clean like it used to either. First time I went to toy store land, one of the newer rides already had paint peeling everywhere

Whether you find Universal acceptable is up to you. I've never had problems with the cleaniness of the park. I see people constantly cleaning at Universal especially in often used restroom like Diagon Alley.

 

[Skywalker3]

Just back from a fabulous Universal trip. I'm glad more folks will be checking it out. IT's an awesome destination. We're DVC, and will be returning to Disney, probably many more years, but our travel dynamic has been changing dramatically over the last couple years. We have teens who want thrill rides. Our son tolerates what Disney has, but is not interested in going, older teen likes it for nostalgia, and some rides. We no longer care about parades, late night shows, most any stage shows except Indiana Jones, or meet/greets. we never fly, so wont' miss ME. Many changes don't matter to us. BUT i do hate park reservations, hate! I hope that will one day go away. We typically rope drop, so I don't see us utilizing genie+ except maybe for Rise/Resistance, or on our HS day, as all those rides (ToT, RnRC, etc, ) see long lines.
We like both places for different reasons. They are not the same vibe at all, but both have great positives and some negatives. We usually can't manage/afford both places in one trip. We do go to disney more often, mostly due to DVC, and then go to Universal about every 2-3 years. BUT we did get APs this year for Universal, so maybe during our next summer Disney trip, we'll get over to UA/IoA. HHN was SO much fun. Teens surely liked it a lot more than MNSSHP 2 years ago. If we can manage, I'd plan future trips around that.
As far as food, since our first family trip in 2000, I've not found much Disney food that is all that great, except for unique experiences we can't get at home: Boma, Tusker, Akershus, Satuli. We did the years of character meals when kids were little, but not interested in those any more. Overall both theme parks just offer good enough theme park food, but Universal/IoA has more varied QS options than MK. We love all the Epcot food festivals, and generally plan lots of meals around those. If Universal did more of those, that would be awesome!. I see they often have booths for fall, Mardi Gras, etc. so maybe they're moving toward that. Disney Springs has a few more interesting choices than City Walk, but as far as park food, Disney is not any better than US/IoA.

 

[kingslyyy]

We have passes to Bush/Seaworld/Universal/and WDW.
As much as i love Universal, WDW is a higher end product.

Are they overcharging for the higher end product, absolutely!!!!

 

[Edeyore]

Yup - always love the More for Me argument of the hardcore Disney fans.
I was among the first to start calling out Disney IMO - and as I have said before I took a lot of abuse for it on these boards.
I feel like many folks have finally caught up to me.

If I had a $1 for every time someone said good - more room for me - or I should just be happy to be at Disney no matter how overpriced and bad the food was - I could pay for another week at Universal.

I still recall a women arguing with me that I should be fine with a crappy burger at Coral Reef just because I'm at Disney and the theming is so great. Before the nemo retheme I had one of my best fish meals ever - anywhere - at Coral Reef - and I have been to almost every country in the EU. - one of her comments was "I would eat at coral reef even if all they served where burgers and chicken nuggets. It so nice”

Epcot and Disney have really gone down hill since the DDP started and I started calling this out pre 2009.

Wow you must be really smart Mister. Really think you were one of the first to call out Disney? All the way back to pre 2009? So over all what affect do you think
you have had on Disney operations or their bottom line? Honestly, feel free to stomp your feet and go to Universal. You don't have to be a hardcore Disney fan
to know how that sounds. Glad to hear you will be joining him.

 

[tony67]

Wow you must be really smart Mister. Really think you were one of the first to call out Disney? All the way back to pre 2009? So over all what affect do you think
you have had on Disney operations or their bottom line? Honestly, feel free to stomp your feet and go to Universal. You don't have to be a hardcore Disney fan
to know how that sounds. Glad to hear you will be joining him.

Absolutely no affect at all - and their stock has gone from around 50ish if I recall to $170 today.

Its a discussion board - people discuss - that is sort of the point - but the Disney folks didn't like to discuss at all back then - it was always a personal attack if you questioned Disney - so its just nice to see there being a bit of a discussion around it - but whatever

 

[BingoJoe]

We have passes to Bush/Seaworld/Universal/and WDW.
As much as i love Universal, WDW is a higher end product.

Are they overcharging for the higher end product, absolutely!!!!

This is right.

If you are comparing what you per dollar, Universal possibly comes out of top. But in terms of absolute quality WDW is a fair bit ahead.

And frankly I think per dollar WDW still comes ahead of luxury trips elsewhere. You can easily spend about 20k for a luxury resort on some white beach somewhere and only get a fraction of the content WDW gives you.

 

[Rusty2rules]

There's a lot of discussion about Disney vs Universal here. I'm going to throw in my 2 cents. I went to both in September. I hadn't been to Universal since before they added Harry Potter.

I grew up on Star Wars. My son grew up on Harry Potter. Don't get me wrong, I loved Galaxy's Edge. Harry Potter World was stunning. Absolutely stunning. We dedicated 2 days to HS and 2 days to US/IOA. I could've used another day at Universal.

Here's a huge thing I haven't seen mentioned here. I'm 5'8" and 250-260 lbs. Most of that is around my belly. I can ride any ride at Disney without even thinking about it. There were several rides at Universal I couldn't ride because the harness/lap bar/whatever couldn't be secured.

Universal's app SUCKS. MDE will plot you a path to where you want to go. Universal, not so much. I could have really used it, too. I felt like Universal's layout was kind of confusing.

For my money, Disney's Rise of the Resistance and Flight of Passage beat anything Universal has to offer.

Both parks have pluses and minuses. I'd have a much more positive opinion of Universal if they took larger sized guests into account and their app was better. For those two reasons, if somebody said okay, you can go to Universal Studios and IOA for two days or HS and AK for days, I'd take HS and AK.

 

[cfoxga]

If you are comparing what you per dollar, Universal possibly comes out of top.

If you can make multiple trips in a year, Universal kills Disney in terms of value (especially with a group of 4-5 people). At UO, an AP costs less than 3-4 days at Disney. That AP gives you access to APH rates at the resorts. For deluxe resorts, that means $200-300 per night for:

- Very nice resorts (PBH, HRH, and RPR). I haven't seen enough of Disney resorts to do a fair comparison but I would guess they are comparable to at least the moderates.
- EPs for up to 5 people to the US and IOA
- Walking distance to US and IOA, with a boat option if you don't want to walk
- And most importantly, almost no planning needed! Just book the room, show up and enjoy. Recently, there have been staffing issues at restaurants, so we will make our first reservations in 4 years on our upcoming trip.

When I price out a week at Disney, I find that can make multiple trips during the year totaling 2-3 weeks at UO for less money. It has been a while since we went to Disney, so I'd like to go back. But when I compare the cost vs UO, it is hard to pull the trigger.

 

[LabMouse]

I know there are people voicing complaints now who are just blowing hot air, but there are plenty who will follow through. When Disney began the intrusive room-check nonsense after the Vegas shooting, we swore off Disney-owned hotels and have stayed only offsite or at Swan/Dolphin in the 4 years since. I refuse to spend my money anywhere that will not respect a "do not disturb" sign.

I hadn't even seen this whole Genie/LL thing until a couple days ago because I hadn't been on the boards since our latest trip this past June. Got back on because we were considering a Thanksgiving weekend trip, and yeah...that is NOT going to happen after the latest news.

I don't think we've sworn off Disney entirely, but before we were yearly visitors at minimum and it's just become too much hassle. It's not even really the money grab, though that is irritating. It's the park reservations. And forcing people to be up at 7 on vacation if they want to try to secure a spot on the most popular rides. And dropping FastPass only to bring in this paid option that...again...you gotta be up at 7 to make the most of. And reduced menu options. And severely limited restaurant bookings "due to COVID" despite the parks being packed to the gills. It's just too much hassle for what is supposed to be a relaxing and fun time.

I had written off Universal for over a decade after the frankly disastrous way they handled crowds and queues on HP opening day in 2009. But Disney's recent choices have me over here reading UO/IOA trip reports and contemplating!

 

[tony67]

Here's a huge thing I haven't seen mentioned here. I'm 5'8" and 250-260 lbs. Most of that is around my belly. I can ride any ride at Disney without even thinking about it. There were several rides at Universal I couldn't ride because the harness/lap bar/whatever couldn't be secured.

Yeah - totally agree - its talked about elsewhere - part of it is the thrill rides are all pretty restrictive

Universal's app SUCKS. MDE will plot you a path to where you want to go. Universal, not so much. I could have really used it, too. I felt like Universal's layout was kind of confusing.

I think both apps need a lot of work - but the Disney one is probably better - the mobile ordering was actually pretty impressive

For my money, Disney's Rise of the Resistance and Flight of Passage beat anything Universal has to offer.

So FOP does blow me away - Im really disappointed I was not able to get over to AK to ride it again.
Was very focused on ROR and was able to get a VQ on my first day - but it was very unimpressed with it overall and dont need to do it again.

 

[kbelle8995]

To Universal credit they do learn from their mistakes. What happened at the opening Hogsmeade never happened again. Diagon alley was much smoother opening. We do had to wonder if we were going to get in to Hogsmeade. With Diagon Alley they just opened it and they put another Ollivanders in and more wand purchase areas. They made Diagon Alley open to everyone and they watched the crowd size.

I like the app at Universal due to the fact that it makes my ap discount easy to use at restaurants at mobile order. Universal has made improvements

 

[Minniesgal]

I don't get how Universl value proposal is that much better. We have always done Disney and Universal but we are done at Universal after 2 days and happily stay 2 weeks at disney