Disney World & Universal?

[tboss]

I'm getting a little nervous reading some of the boards. We are planning to go MK, AK, MGM, Epcot and then a 2nd day to MK. Then we were planning on 1 day each for Universal and IOA in the middle of the trip. I see that some people hate Universal and IOA. Are we wasting 2 days?? Input and opinions please!!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

If I took everyone's opinion here on the DIS, then I would NEVER visit the AK, I would also hate the Allstar resorts, I would NEVER do EE, and I would waste my money doing E-Nights if they were available, I would have NEVER dined at Nine Dragons...and liked it, and I would never use a travel agent to help me plan my trip...Dreams Unlimited to be exact.
We all have different opinions and generally I will only ask questions here on the DIS if I'm totally unsure about something.
You are only going to know if going to Univeral and IOA is a waste of your time by going! I loved each park both times I visited and would do it again despite what I've heard about the resort's guests excessive use of FOTL access. Universal is not Disney and nor is it meant to be....that's why it's called Universal Studios. For me, because I enjoy Disney so much more, I went to Universal in the middle of visiting Disney parks so if I didn't like it, I could end my trip with Disney and be happy. I did enjoy it and everything worked out well.
Visit the Universal boards here on the DIS and read up one what DISers are saying there. Make your own decision based upon how you feel, not on how me or any other DISer feels.
HAVE FUN NO MATTER WHAT!

DENISE

 

[laceemouse]

I have to agree with the previous poster. It cracks me up to read a rotten review of , say, the Coral Reef at EPCOT and then at the end the person says "But I don't really like seafood anyway!" I say "Why did you go?" We will be trying it out for ourselves in a couple of weeks, we are a seafood loving family. As far as US, a lot of the rides are scary (Jaws, Twister) for younger kids kids. Our kids are not scared of anything at Disney but we will not try US until they are older. 8 of the top 10 rides are IOA are MEGA COASTERS!!! If you like that, great... DH and I are not thrill ride people so we really have no desire to spend time/money going there. It really depends on what you like. We are not "Disney exclusive", we love Sea World as well as other attractions all over the country, but US/IOA is just not our cup of tea.

 

[Poohbear Fan]

I have been to both many times, and I think they are great parks! They are well worth your time and compete very well with all the Disney attractions. In fact, Universal Studios especially has some rides that are unlike anything at Disney (like Terminator 3-D and Shrek 4-D). IOA has a lot of roller coasters, so if anyone in your party loves them, they'll be in heaven! And the Spider-Man ride is not to be missed!!

I highly recommend giving these parks a try and forming your own opinion. I think they are great, world-class parks and you'll have a great time!

Have fun!



Poohbear

 

[damo]

Check out the Universal Studios forum and you will see that it has a lot of devout fans. There is a new ride opening the spring as well.

 

[damo]

At IOA there are two mega coasters. There is also a great water flume ride, a water raft ride, a sky shot ride, a water adventure ride, the amazing Spiderman ride, a kiddie coaster, some neat shows, a few kiddie rides and amazing playgrounds and a very good Cat in the Hat ride.

At Universal Studios there is a Jimmy Neutron simulator ride, a Shrek 3-d ride, a Twister immersed show, the Revenge of the Mummy which is a psychological thrill ride with coaster elements to be opening soon, Earthquake ride, Jaws, Men in Black Alien Attack which is like an immersed video game, Back to the Future which is like Star Tours, ET, The Animal Planet show, a big kiddie area with shows, coasters and water areas, the Horror Make-up Show and Terminator 2.

 

[kcarp]

I don't take sides on Disney is better than US/IOA , but I will say this, there is alot to do at US/IOA. They also have some great shows and rides. I think some of the best. You can't see US/IOA in half or 1 day. You need 2 days if you really want to see and do everything in the parks. Just my Opinion.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

We try to do both parks every trip. They both have so much to offer!! The only drawback for us is that 5 days @ WDW and 2 @ US & IOA makes for a fun time, but not a very exactly a relaxing vacation. We need to take an extra week off once we get home to rest up from our vacation. These parks are HUGE and both places require a lot of walking!!!

 

[Goofyzgurl]

I fell in love with Disney never having been to Universal. Last year we went for the very first time and I love Universal too!!! Both places are great. I go to both for different reasons. I find Universal rides more exciting than say, MK, but MK is geared towards the family as a whole. Riding together in Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. Universal appeals to the roller coaster lover in me, like the Hulk. I like both parks, but I would've never found out if I hadn't gone, so like the other posters said, GO and have fun!!

 

[RescueRanger]

I have to agree with everyone else. We are WDW fanatics but we love Universal as well. In fact, we just returned from 8 days at WDW this past weekend and we have a 7 day trip to Universal planned for June. They are great parks with alot to offer. I have to say that it is much nicer to see a thread about Universal and Disney where there is no bashing going on. Disney and Universal are different types of experiences but I think that they actually complement each other very well. Where but Orlando can you go and get so many different experiences in one place. Go to Universal and enjoy!

 

[hockey mom]

We wouldn't think of going to Florida and not doing both. Disney is that fairy tale feeling, and Universal is more about thrills. Spiderman to me is the best ride ever. Do both, you won't be disappointed.

 

[LoveToDisney]

We do both Universal and Disney. I think they are both great...totally different. We have teenagers and they really love the thrill rides at IOA. Many times we will do IOA/US in the morning and then head to the Disney parks for the afternoon and evening. Universal doesn't stay open late and Disney does. I agree with hockey mom that Spiderman is an awesome ride! Go and see for yourself. Don't let the naysayers spoil your fun!

 

[Mickey76]

I think it all depends on how much time you think you need at WDW. I went for 12 days in 2002 and one of those days I had a ticket for IOA. I didn't use it. $60 down the drain, but I don't regret it. I got to spend an extra day at WDW that I hadn't planned on having. Although I wanted to go to IOA before I left for my vacation, once I was there I realized that it didn't matter to me if I made it to IOA. In the future, I will not make the same mistake.

Mickey76

 

[newholiday]

This Oct we're planning on:

AK/EpCot
MNSSHP
Universal
IOA
SeaWorld
Kennedy

 

[Ms. WDW]

Personally I think it depends on how much time you have. For years I would never go "off world". But then again, I'm a WDW Fanatic.

But about 3 years ago we decided to hit US/IOA. My son was older and we had friends down with us and thought "why not??"
Now, we always plan 2 days for Universal/IOA.

If you have the time go for it. It's an amazing place; both parks have wonderful rides/attractions. Spiderman is awesome and the Men in Black ride is one of my favorites!!

If you have the days and you won't feel that you've missed something special in WDW that you've wanted to do....then try it. But be warned...the place is big. Personally I don't think you could see all of US/IOA in one day.

Have fun!

 

[WDWFOREVER]

I can only agree with the previous posters. Both WDW and US/IOA are brilliant in their own right, and for different reasons. We (I'm 45, DH is 49 and DS is 10) find something for all of us at all of the parks. Because we travel from England, we usually have a 14 day holiday so that we can justify that long journey! On average we spend about 8 days in WDW and 3 in US/IOA. We have a whole day at US, whole day at IOA and then on the third, we hop between the two doing our favourite rides again.

For me, it is like comparing the individual parks at WDW. MK is special because of its family fantasy aspects, Epcot for its educational slant, AK for its animals (not surprisingly!) and MGM for the sheer fun. I love all of them equally and could not pick a favourite if my life depended on it!

If you visit US/IOA with an open mind and no preconceived ideas, I am sure you will love both parks.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Well, I know some people who love US/IOA.

I for one, do not. I don't despise it either, but it's not somewhere I will ever take time out of a Disney trip for again.

I think one day split between the two US parks is plenty of time, even if you are not staying onsite. We feel like we wasted 2.5 days when we were there in Feb. We literally finished up every thing we wanted to do at IOA by 1 pm on Saturday, and everything we wanted to do at US by noon on Sunday. Monday was our departure day and we had a very late flight that evening, but were so bored at Citywalk and US that we decided to go and hang out at the airport instead.

I did not like US for a number of reasons, and I am sure I will be flamed relentlessly for them on this board (thus, I'm not going to respond to anyone who flames).

My traveling party is two young adults (late 20's early 30's). We like Disneyworld for it's little touches and the expereince of being able to let go and feel like a kid again. We also like the nice places to eat and meeting the characters and simply did not see that at US/IOA. We do not like thrill rides.

IOA was ok. We got there early on a Saturday and went on Spiderman about 5 times in a row. Spiderman is the best ride I've ever seen , anywhere. It might scare young kids however. Dr. Dooms Fear Fall was not thrilling at all. It was actually just very boring after being on Tower of Terror. Its just outside and more like a carnival ride than a theme ride. Hulk Coaster has nothing to do with the Hulk, it's just a big coaster that is green. The other rides here was very carnival like.

Then we went on Dueling Dragons 3 times. Although we are not fans of coasters, we love dragons and fantasy and so we enjoyed the theming of this coaster. Then we saw the Sinbad show and it was ok, although not something I feel any need to do again. Enjoyed watching the Mystic fountain in front of the Sinbad theater. It mocks people passing by and squirts people. It's amusing.

After that , however, our day started to go downhill. First off, I had been really looking forward to Posidens Fury. I was very dissapointed in what I saw. We had an Express pass but had to wait over 30 minutes anyway. By then, they smooshed so many people into our tour group, and I was stuck in the back and could not see anything. Even in the final room where most of the action takes place up high, I was so smooshed into a huge group that I barely saw a thing. It was terrible.

Then we ate lunch at the Enchanted Oak tavern, which is a nice idea for a resteraunt, but the food was greasy and awful and the tables were all filthy. It's counter service, they only have one non counter service place in the park, Mythos, and that place is kind of pricey & had nothing on the menu that appealed to us.

Anyway, The Jurrassic Park ride was pretty bad. The dinosaurs were ok, but the few that moved, move as you by them, then they stop (even if you can still see them. Lame. The ones inside the building were better than the ones outside.

The dino trail with the animatronic dinosaur is pretty cool. I was quite impressed by that.

Suess land was nice. The dr. Suess ride is cute, on par with Winnie the Pooh at Disney, although not as impressive animatronics. The Suess Caroseul is nice too. The one fish two fish red fish blue fish ride looked cute but then we realized it was something that soaked you as you spun around in your fish and we do not like to get wet. The Suess play area for kids is cute.

This is why we skipped the Popeye ride, which I'm told is quite fun by people who enjoy being drenched. We really don't though. We probably would have skipped Ripsaw Falls as well, for this reason, but it was closed anyway.


On to Universal Studios....

US we really did not like at all. Back to the future is ok except you can see all the other vehichles with you and it ruins the illusion. If you just look straight ahead and don't look over to the left or right you won't notice. MIB was kind of cheesy...it's like Buzz Lightyear, except that where Buzz is supposed to be sort of cheesy and cartoony, MIB tries to be "serious" and use animatronics etc. I don't know, they just weren't impressive. For some reason in this area, instead of nice movie themed music, they were playing rap loudly over the loudspeakers.

ET was cute. The only gripe I had with ET was the wait, even with EP, because they take people in in small groups to enter their names in a computer so ET can say bye to them when they leave. I have never seen this work.

The T2 show was cool, but not something I felt like I really wanted to do again. Also, if you have kids, skip this.

The kiddie area was cute but I felt like characters were just not as fun as the ones at Disney. Also, every time we met a character, the person handling the character was quite rude to us, as if two adults had no right to be wasting their time meeting characters

We ate in the diner (counter service) and it was possibly the worst meal I have ever had. It made us both physically ill. I saw three empty tables, all were filthy. The 50's diner was playing hip hop and 80's dance music in between the 50's songs.

Then we did Jaws, which was lame in the same way the Jurassic park ride is lame. The animatronic is just not very realistic. Also, the pyrotechnics are cool, but IMO, too close to the boat. Earthquake and Twister were awful, basically they just show how they do movie effects. During the subway scene in Earthquake, you actually see the "destruction" get picked up again after the ride part and slide back up for the next group.

During one of them, Earthquake I think, the employee running the show picked a man from the audience with the word sh*t on his shirt (in very large print) to come stand on stage in front of the entire group and be the volunteer.

We didn't get to Shrek or Jimmy Neutron because the waits were too long and the EP machine was not working.

The shows...Animal Planet live was cute. The blues brothers was ok, but not what we expected so we left. Ghostbusters is basically 4 teenage boys singing and dancing while a guy in a beetlejjuice costume spouts out bathroom humor to the crowd. Maybe this is appealing to teens , but not to us. I can't really remember what else there was.

We would skip US again entirely if it werent for the Mummy ride opening up this year. We'll probably go check that out. And we'll go back to IOA for Spiderman.

Citywalk was pretty bad. It just seemed...sleazy. I know PI can be that way too at night, but even during the day CW was pretty bad. They were BLASTING hip hop, all morning , even in the shopping areas. The shopping was not on par withdowntown Disney. Stay away from DAPY if you have kids...it mostly sells playboy merchandise and "adult" joke stuff. The Endangers Species Store is nice. None of the other stores looked that interesting.

We ate at Margaritaville. It was very good. We actually ended up eating here twice. Maybe the other dining places at CW are good too, I don't know, as I didn't try them.

We took a boat over to one of the hotels, Portofino Bay. It was pretty and seemed like a nice resort.

So that is what we thought of US/IOA/CW.

I honestly don't think its worth taking time out of a Disney trip for, unless you have teens or are into thrill rides.

 

[damo]

Actually, EsmereldaX, you make it sound pretty good! Your warning about not eating at Mel's Diner is a very good one. There are lots of better places to eat.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by damo
Actually, EsmereldaX, you make it sound pretty good! Your warning about not eating at Mel's Diner is a very good one. There are lots of better places to eat.

I would highly, highly reccomend Margaritaville. I wish we'd discovered it sooner The pasta and broccolli dish they have is excellent. It's definately worth leaving the park and heading out to City Walk to eat. And My mom loves the Italian place on Citywalk.

Like I said, I don't despise Universal , it's just not really my style. But I'm sure I will go back to check out the Mummy (my favorite movie) and Spiderman.

And if you like coasters, Dueling Dragons and Hulk are among the best.

 

[luvaladdin]

I would not let having younger children (ages 5 and older) dissuade me from going to Universal, as some have posted. I took my DD15 last May, along with her best friend, and they rode all the coasters. I don't, and there was still plenty for me to do, and I know my boys DD5 and DD8 would enjoy it too. I'm not going there with my boys this trip for budget reasons. While I don't do thrill rides, I wouldn't call Jurassic Park Adventure or the other water flume ride at IOA a thrill ride - this chicken did both of them, more than once. To me, Spiderman is worth the trip alone. I had a blast, easily going on it a dozen times - DIsney needs an adventure like that one! There was plenty of younger kids rides in IOA, like all of them in Seussland and then lots at US.

I agree on skipping Mel's Diner - yuck!