Disney VS Universal

[JoyfulHeart]

So we just visited Universal for the first time and I was asking all kinds of questions before we left. So many people were kind and helped me with my questions. We are a Disney family and have gone to world several times and I grew up going to Disneyland. These were just a few things we picked up. We brought DD12 & DD9. This is not a one is better than the other post, just informative.

App
Ok, Disney totally win with the app. It does more and is smoother. HOWEVER, the main thing we use it for is checking wait times. And it worked great for this. We never used it for meals, as there was never a line ( see food for more details on this). Lowes owns the hotels, so they are not in the app.

Hotel
We stayed at Cabanna Bay. Great Hotel, priced at $140 a night for a family rooom/suite with a Pool view. Now, I say pool view loosely as we had a view of a building but faced the pool. Price point and Hotel amenities waaaay out did any value we have stayed at Disney as did the price. In fact I think it's the cheapest hotel we have stayed at anywhere in the last 2 years. The rooms were clean and were cleaned every day, we had upgraded pools ( kids loved the lazy river) and the food was pretty good. HOWEVER, we had issues with getting a room. We broke our driving trip in 2 days, so we got their a little before lunch. I checked in, but our room wasn't ready. But we were headed to the parks, so no biggie. I told him I didn't want to be on the first floor with my light sleepers I have. No problem, we were on the third floor. Then we went to the parks. When we came back we had to get new keys as are old ones were not connected to the rooms. This took 30 minutes. When he came back we had a first floor room. Long story short, they gave away our room. So we after another 30 minutes they finally got us in a different building with a room looking at a building. We were tired and at that point as long as we weren't the first floor I didn't care. anything else we had to deal with was great ( like the keys he made us stopped working). They fixed it within minutes.

Food
Ok, so food is cheaper. yay! Not really. The in-park quick service was bad. Like typical park food- think 6 flags 20 years ago bad, my youngest hated it all and I had to re-buy her dinner at the hotel 2 times. That being said the sit downs in park ( Mytho's) we ate was really good and SOOOOoo much cheaper than Disney. We ate city walk several times, but its a pain to walk out to City Walk when its meal time. No mobile ordering, because there is never a line ( outside of Harry Potter), but you know why? it tastes bad. The Hotel food was great for a value hotel, better than the values at Disney. The prices were about the same, maybe a tad cheaper. One of our biggest issues: Most places are not open for dinner. This threw me for a loop. We had a diabetic with us and they needed to eat. I would say 1 out of 5 was open. I never guessed this would be an issue. After that I started looking at operating times. I also had a super picky eater with us so... Food was not great.

Refillable cups
AWESOME! Loved these, we used them all day in the park. We would pay at a stand when we got in. The girls got Icee's every day. The first trip where my oldest didn't get headache from not drinking enough. We only bought 2 for our family of four and shared... this is probably bad, but we did it. we switched from gatorade to soda to keep them drinking with water at meal times. This did make my youngest a little hyper when we got back. We brought a backpack primarily for these, next time I think we will bring those cup holders with straps and loose the backpack. Oh, and I did bring some silicone straws. This was a big help with the icees.

Free Water: Just to compare to Disney- 1st the free water is way better at Universal, my kids would drink it. Due to taste they will not drink it at Disney. 2nd its more convent with the freestyle machines.

Backpack vs fanny/waste pack
The fanny pack rocks. It was easy, the girls could wear them. We really only used the backpack for the cups. I loved having my hands free without my back sweating all the time.

Rides
So my kids are scared of a lot of rides. and I have one that gets car sick (DD12). So I was a bit worried about this. I knew we would skip the big three roller coasters and ended up skipping Mummy & Hagrids ( Dh & I went on it- its great, but too much for my girls). They love Mine Train at Disney and Avatar but that's about as extreme as we get. First, everything is a bit more at Universal, even little 'ol ET goes faster with (very minor) drops compared to peter pan- girls loved it. The screen rides were a hit. I thought these were where you sit in a car with a screen (star tours type). No, you go in a car room to room with different screens and of course movement and vibrations, usually a sprinkle of water for the "4-D" effect. DD12 did all of them BUT Forbidden Journey (YDD favorite ride) and Simpsons. We never had an issue with Motion Sickness. She LOVED the screen rides. We went on them multiple times. We even got her on Gringotts which is now her favorite ride. Oh, and they Loved Harry Potter Lands. Theaming was great, ppl always say how great Disneys is, but I thought Universals was up to par. Even had ques that were done up great. Note on Wands: This was a costly waste for us. The girls did a few of the windows, but they ended up waiting in line for most of them and saw the "magic" many times before they got to do it. We never did all of them, because they decided it was better to wait for rides.

Staff & Park
I keep hearing how bad the staff was and how dirty the park was. I notices less staff, but everyone was friendly and kind. I never noticed anything that was trashy or dirty. I smelled more vomit than at Disney, but they were always already there cleaning it up and putting thing on it to reduce the smell. that just can't be helped its an amusement park- I see it at Disney too.

Bus
We did take a brake each day for the kids to play at the pool and rest my feat and get out the heat. This of course is easy with it being only 5 minutes away. I think 15 minutes may be the longest we waited for a bus and it was a middle of the day pick up at the Hotel. Most days it was a 5 minute wait of less. Since the hotels are so close, it was really, really nice. The bus system since its close to the park is far above Disney - UNLESS you are staying at a premier hotel at disney, we have never had to wait for a bus then.

Lanyards
Worth it for kids. My kids loose EVERYTHING and it was big and easy to keep up with. By no mean do you need it. And I think the biggest help is probably for the EP.

Water Park Note.
I have never been to a Disney waterpark, but we did universal. The kids enjoyed it, we just did a few hours one morning, but liked the fast river the best. However, this is the first time I have ever been to a water park that allows thongs and super skimpy bikini's. This is just a mom warning. I didn't know, and maybe its a FL thing. But we had to talk about it and saw more flesh than I would have liked. We stayed at the hotel pool mostly, anyway.

All in all we had a great trip. I can honestly say we would go again. Due to the price point, at this point, it is more likely than Disney. We did 4 1/2 days with park to park and no express. they got to ride their favorite rides multiple times and I think 45 minutes was the longest we waited. But we skipped the long lines until later. The evening was the best time. Wait times were down and since everything is so tall it was shady. OH, and I wouldn't skip park to park. We switched parks multiple times a day and the kids liked the hogwarts express. Hope this helps others on their trip planning!

 

[Kit Jackson]

I am curious, where did you eat? I have been to Universal Orlando multiple times and I never had a problem with the food or thinking it was gross/inedible. Granted, I'm an adult and not a kid, but there are quick service places that are not generic bad theme park food. I am asking because you said you there thinking about going again, and if I know the places you ate that you didn't like, I (and other people here) may be able to reccomend better places within the parks.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Thank you so much. That is thoughtful! I just added it to my original post, but one thing I forgot to mention was how many places were closed for dinner. I had looked at menu's and had plans for my little one, she's super picky, but they were not open for dinner. I never-ever thought this would be an issue in early June. We ended up at chicken fingers and hamburger joints most of the time. between what was open and what she would eat, that was it. I had planned on eating at jurassic park area - they were all closed. Harry potter was always an hour wait. even the fantastic 4 place...closed. We did eat at the pizza place in New York and it was fine. We ended up just getting a whole pizza and sharing. Mel's- she wouldn't eat the hamburger and my ODD told me it was pretty bad, she ate maybe 1/4 of it. there was only one place open in the super hero area. She got chicken that time, but it was so hard she could barely bite it. After that we ate outside the park if we could. Mytho's was great.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Very interesting about the Cabana Bay room issue because the exact same thing happened to me. I had booked a standard Volcano Bay view room and when I went to get my room keys, they had given my room away and I received a first floor room in the Thunderbird area. I waited about 20 minutes at the front desk for them to assign me a Volcano Bay view room. Thought it was a one off but am surprised to see that it had happened to someone else.

I agree that the in park, non Harry Potter area quick service places are awful. In that regard Disney is way better. I end up eating at City Walk or eating somewhere offsite before coming into the parks in the evening.

Also about the water park aspect - I saw similar swim suits at Typhoon Lagoon so that's not Volcano Bay specific.

 

[georgina]

Try eating lunch at Cafe La Bamba at Universal next trip!

 

[Skywalker3]

Thanks so much for the summary/comparisons. We just did another combo trip, and had fun too.
We've experimented so much over the years, lots of trial and error, with the food. The 4 of us this last trip, actually split up totally for lunch in IoA. DH did Thunder Falls (which I think is the best overall QS in IoA) I did a quick snack from a cart in Hogsmeade, DS did a burger from Burger Digs-meh, standard not so great theme park burger, and DD tried the ramen from I think Comic Strip Cafe. She said it was awful. I've had good tots from Green eggs/ham, and a good enough gyro and chicken nuggets from Fire-eaters grill.

2 days we left park and ate on City Walk- Bread box, and Bend the Bao. both do mobile order, Even my Mr Picky kid likes the Bread box sandwiches.

I do hope they keep improving the app. IT's way better than it used to be, but there's a lot of room for improvement.

So wonderful they had such fun and discovered new rides, and loved the screen rides and all the HP areas. The theming is beyond incredible, just so detailed/well done. Thanks for sharing all the fun!

 

[UOAP-Naples]

Both Harry Potter restaurants are good but you're right about the long lines. I'd recommend planning to eat at one of them next time at an off time. Maybe try right at 11 am or closer to 3 pm if your family can do that.

Studios:
We really like Today Cafe, Bumblebee Taco truck in Simpson's, and the Crepe place by the park. The pizza at Louie's is pretty good and shareable. We used to like the Monster's Cafe because they had steamed veggies and fruit for some healthier sides than just fries. Hopefully the new Minions Cafe that is replacing it is good.

I'd avoid Mel's Drive-In, all of the restaurants in Fast Food Blvd in Simpson's, and Richter's Burgers. There is nothing special about those places.

IOA:
Croissant Moon Bakery is smaller but similar to Today Cafe. We like the tots at Green Eggs and Ham, the Kabobs in Lost Continent, almost everything at Thunder Falls Terrace, and the burgers at Wimpy's. I've heard Wimpy's is the only quick service spot in the two parks that has fresh burger meat. That would make sense as it's definitely my favorite quick service burger in the two parks. We do like the sandwiches at Blondie's. It's hard to screw up a lunch meat sandwich. I like a colder sandwich instead of hot food sometimes when it's really hot at the parks.

We aren't really fans of the Comic Strip Cafe. Circus McGurkus in Seuss has some good food but some of it I'd definitely skip. I'd also avoid the two restaurants in Marvel. We've had disappointing food at both of them. If Cafe 4 was closed at night, it might have been for the character dinner. I think they restarted that. You have to reserve that ahead of time and it would be closed for regular guests.


I'm glad your family enjoyed the trip overall. Sorry you weren't happy with the food. I think there are great places and mediocre to bad quick service spots at Universal. Look for advice here or on YouTube and make notes of what you liked and didn't like. For example, we got a foot long hot dog (thinnest, most shriveled, boiled hot dog you've ever seen) one time at a stand in Marvel for $11.99. Then we saw Auntie Anne's had giant pretzel dogs for $12.99 right across the courtyard. They're way better and only $1 more. Wimpy's has better burgers than Burger Digs or Richter's. Louie's has better pizza than Pizza Predatoria and Cafe 4. You can find good food but you have to know where to go.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Note on Wands: This was a costly waste for us. The girls did a few of the windows, but they ended up waiting in line for most of them and saw the "magic" many times before they got to do it. We never did all of them, because they decided it was better to wait for rides.

This has sorta been the thing ever since HP opened up although trust me the crowds were worse in the past like hours long wait just to get into the wand shops. But being able to actually cast a spell tends to hold a lot of appeal and fun to people and TBH I've actually seen some kids get very frustrated at not being able to complete the spell but then seeing someone else do it and then figuring it out so it kinda has two sides to it. I get it though it can "spoil" the effect if you see others do it.

Knockturn Alley (in Diagon Alley) can be a spot that might work for the future because while it can get busy it's also hidden as well enough that some may just do the main ones out in Diagon Alley and then in Hogsmeade and forget to explore more in Diagon Alley

One of our biggest issues: Most places are not open for dinner. This threw me for a loop. We had a diabetic with us and they needed to eat. I would say 1 out of 5 was open. I never guessed this would be an issue. After that I started looking at operating times. I also had a super picky eater with us so... Food was not great.

Yes USO typically closes early, quite early for some very used to Disney. There are a lot of places that will stay open til the park closes (or right around it) but when your park closes earlier than you realize that can throw off the "we'll just have dinner" thought. A dietary restriction such that a diabetic may have will complicate the available options.

That said we ate at Today Cafe at night (for us it was dessert). We ate one day around dinnertime at Mythos (which you mentioned). Another night we did actually go to Jake's American Bar at Royal Pacific (where we were staying for that night) and the flatbread was pretty good but yes that is at a resort.

I wouldn't say Universal food is bad as a general, it's just not Universal's focus at all although it's a very fair observation about the food. They concentrate on CityWalk with that in mind. I think people used to Disney are just used to the vast amount of options because Disney has bad food but with all the places including QS to eat it's easier for people to rack up numbers in the amount of places they liked.

We've found the food to be decent enough at Thunder Falls where my husband and I shared the Roasted Pernil platter with rice and beans and plantains last year. I'm not saying it's the most amazing thing out there but it was decent enough; that is not the same opinion as others though. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the HP restaurants anymore (when each of them first opened it was cool but the food to me is just so so these days) other than kicking back and having a beer at Hog's Head.

One thing that is probably a different mentality is unlike Disney, Universal really would rather clear the parks out the best they can at the end of the night. With Disney and ADR places some of those are well known that you'll be leaving long enough after the park has closed. Universal is a bit more efficient at pushing their guests out and with CityWalk right there you don't have far for options. With Disney you're going to have to get to Disney Springs to get a wide variety of options. For us personally we found it very easy to get to CityWalk during the day, we actually use the pathway where you'll see Toothsome to get back and forth between the parks.

Toothsome by the way is probably my fav place, at there back in 2017 and then again in 2022. The chocolate bread is so good and you don't need a dessert then lol.

This may sound tedious but you may the next time you go just before it go to Universal's website (or the app) and look at the menus at all the places available. I still see a lot of "there's only chicken nuggets and burgers" complaints about Disney despite the fact that is clearly not the case and if someone only at that the whole time they were there that was their choice. I just thought of that because of your comment about you having to rebuy your daughter dinner at the hotels twice. Sometimes it's easy to skip over a place to eat without realizing it was there or what it had and of course the last thing you want to do is go searching for food when you're starving. I know you mentioned you looked at menus but I personally find it easier to go to the website and just look at all of them there every single one and then yes double check the operating hours when you're there of the places. According to Universal's website there are 92 places to get food between the two parks (excludes CityWalk and the hotels). Some are carts (likely butterbeer) or dessert places but just to give you an idea there.




I'm so glad you had a great time and you're considering going back!! I'm happy the rides worked out for your daughters too as often that's a stopping point to parents thinking about taking their kids to Universal compared to Disney.

 

[disny_luvr]

Thank you for your post! We are visiting Universal for the first time later this month so this was really helpful. I've made note of all the food places that were mentioned above. Many of them I had already noted, so I'm guessing they must be decent to get recommended from several people. We are only planning on eating quick service, although we may try the breakfast buffet at Amatista one morning. I'm glad you had a great trip!

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Wow, I wasn't expecting all the food posts!

I think I need to clarify. When I said not open for dinner, I mean not open past 2-3pm. We were eating at 5-5:30pm. Some of the places mentioned Like Thunder Falls was closed ( this was a planned place to eat). My YDD doesn't eat bread or cheese... told you she was super picky. So sandwiches were out for us and I wanted places that served meat. The chicken, ribs, etc... that was Ideal, but they were all closed. The mexican place... closed all day. Maybe we were just there on a bad week?

We ate the taco truck and it was ok ( probably one of the better meals), but again only for lunch, it was closed for dinner. For Harry Potter, we tried 10:45-11am and the line was out the door and Looong. Dinner time it was always super long.

The last 2 days we ended up eating an early lunch/ big snack in the park ( we split some crapes). Going back to the room and when we came back would have an early dinner in City Walk on our way into the park and a fun snack or dessert later in the evening. This was the best set up for what we faced.

Yes, we did eat a Toothsomes and it was a hit. We also ate the mexican place and it was good as well. All City Walks food was good. Even when DD wanted to eat at Panda Express ( which we have at home and eat all the time) was fine. it's just a pain to have to leave the park to get food and then go right back in. why not serve that quality in the park? This was just not something I was expecting.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Thank you for your post! We are visiting Universal for the first time later this month so this was really helpful. I've made note of all the food places that were mentioned above. Many of them I had already noted, so I'm guessing they must be decent to get recommended from several people. We are only planning on eating quick service, although we may try the breakfast buffet at Amatista one morning. I'm glad you had a great trip!

I'm so glad it helps!

I would go to Mytho's in a heartbeat again if you are only doing quick service. It really wasn't that much more expensive ( I think $18-25 a plate) for 10x better food. Kids plate were $8-10. My kids got steak. It also breaks up the "parky" food. Hope you guys have a blast!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

When I said not open for dinner, I mean not open past 2-3pm. We were eating at 5-5:30pm. Some of the places mentioned Like Thunder Falls was closed ( this was a planned place to eat).

I'm not entirely certain when you went but at least today the app shows m-f open til 5pm with sat-sun til 6pm although I could see if the didn't have the staff for a particular day could have been closed earlier (it was very sparse in people in there last early May)

Today Cafe over on the Studios side is listed as m-sun open til 8:30pm

We ate the taco truck and it was ok ( probably one of the better meals), but again only for lunch, it was closed for dinner.

I remember eating at the Taco truck back in 2017 and that shows on the app as m-sun open til 7pm



If you found virtually no places past 2 or 3pm that seems to be an extreme anomaly and would be quite unfortunate thing to experience on your first visit to Universal no doubt!

 

[Juventus]

Were heading for first ever trip in august, staying at cabana bay family suite interior entrance. Do most people feel that the first floor is the loudest? Would the top floor be the best for least noise? Just wondering what to request.

 

[keishashadow]

Were heading for first ever trip in august, staying at cabana bay family suite interior entrance. Do most people feel that the first floor is the loudest? Would the top floor be the best for least noise? Just wondering what to request.

There are hotel stickies here. Trying a search in the CB one may be helpful

These were just a few things we picked up. We brought DD12 & DD9. This is not a one is better than the other post, just informative.

I just cringe when I see threads titled of the park vs park threads here, as it often tends to get ugly in one way or another. Good to see this is more of a trip report

 

[JoyfulHeart]

Were heading for first ever trip in august, staying at cabana bay family suite interior entrance. Do most people feel that the first floor is the loudest? Would the top floor be the best for least noise? Just wondering what to request.

That has jus been our experience. People just walk by rooms to get elevators or outside to get where they are going. it could be late at night or early in the morning. I have two super light sleepers, so I just try to avoid it. Honestly Cabana Bay was fairly quiet at night/ early morning. MUCH quieter than when we stayed at Pop Century.

 

[JoyfulHeart]

I'm not entirely certain when you went but at least today the app shows m-f open til 5pm with sat-sun til 6pm although I could see if the didn't have the staff for a particular day could have been closed earlier (it was very sparse in people in there last early May)

Today Cafe over on the Studios side is listed as m-sun open til 8:30pm


I remember eating at the Taco truck back in 2017 and that shows on the app as m-sun open til 7pm



If you found virtually no places past 2 or 3pm that seems to be an extreme anomaly and would be quite unfortunate thing to experience on your first visit to Universal no doubt!

Maybe it was a bad week? It was memorial week So Sunday -Thursday in park. end of May/Beginning of June. I just never thought they would close any restaurants, let alone so many. But, maybe as you suggested, it was a staff issue. A lot of the food carts closed early, too. I just wanted to warn other to look at closing times, so they are not blind sided like us. It may not be an issue now that summer has fully come.