First trip to US\IOA ...Very upset and disappointed...

[BoyLovesBuzz]

that I have been to Orlando 10 plus times, and have never been to either of these parks. We had an AWESOME time !!! We were there 10/29 - 11/2 on 2 + 3 Free days + kids Free passes. We stayed off-site (gasp) about 25 mins away. We did not buy express passes (gasp again).

Based on what I had read here, I expected something akin to those carnival's that pop up overnight in the mall parking lot. Instead it was 2 wonderfully themed, very clean, very kid friendly, very well staffed by friendly workers, all for the best value that I have had on a vacation in..well ten plus trips to Orlando.

For the entire week, we had one 35 min wait for Pterodon Flyers. One 25 minute wait for Jaws, and one 25 minute wait for Revenge of the Mummy (because it broke down for about 15 mins). Everything else the entire week was 10 minutes or less, and most were walk-ons.

Favorite rides: Hulk, RotM, MIB. Also, the under 6 crowd, loved Suess Landing.

Had wonderful meals at Finnegan’s and Confisco. Great counter service food at Louie's and Enchanted Oak. Average counter service at Mel's

Ask me any questions, if you have any.

 

[Stinasmom]

HA! This is exactly the post I hope to be writing after our trip!
Thank you for illiterating just what I am expecting to experience.

 

[damo]

Nice!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Sneaky lure.

 

[goofy!]

Great title for your thread

Glad you had a such a nice time

And welcome to the group that can find wonderful enjoyment in all the parks of Orlando!

 

[Melisa1]

glad you had a great time!

 

[Rabbitlover]

that I have been to Orlando 10 plus times, and have never been to either of these parks.

Boy do I know how you feel...lol!! I grew up a "Disney kid"..going to disney world, on disney cruises ( even before it was DCL) so imagine my shock when we visited Universal in Sept. for 5 days.... I am in love!! I dont know if I will ever go back to Disney again ( unless of course its a package deal with a cruise ) We had a blast at UO & IOA.

 

[macraven]

blb, when i saw the heading i thought, here we go again and passed on it.

after seeing who posted on the thread, i took a look.


whew, so nice to hear you enjoyed your visit there!.....


my purpose in life is not to convert the disney fans to give it up for universal.
i enjoy sharing my personal experiences and hope others too will give universal a chance and have fun there.


great catchy title.
really grabbed my attention

 

[TinkHappy]

YAHOOOOOO!!!!! I love to hear great stuff like this. This will be our first time at US/IOA and I have to say I am a little nervous.

We have been to Disney for the past 15+ years, (we honeymooned there and have been back ever since) I know nothing about US/IOA, but I am learning.

Thank you so much for the positve response!!

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

YAHOOOOOO!!!!! I love to hear great stuff like this. This will be our first time at US/IOA and I have to say I am a little nervous.

We have been to Disney for the past 15+ years, (we honeymooned there and have been back ever since) I know nothing about US/IOA, but I am learning.

Thank you so much for the positve response!!

I did no planning and very little research before we left. We had 5 days in the parks, so I thought that even with heavy crowds we would be able do mostly everything (that may or may not be a smart assumption). Turns out there were virtually no crowds, and we did mostly everything about 10 times. However, the by product of no resarch or planning is that I walked through the gates and on to every ride, having no expectations. When was the last time you got on ride and had no idea even what it was? That is feeling I haven't had since I was kid, and was really an extra bonus to the trip.

 

[mslclark]

Instead it was 2 wonderfully themed, very clean, very kid friendly, very well staffed by friendly workers, all for the best value that I have had on a vacation in..well ten plus trips to Orlando.

I feel the same way about Universal - but your thread title had me going! Glad to hear your family enjoyed your trip there.

 

[Angel1]

I'm going for the first time in January. We'll be in Orlando for 5 days and plan to do USO, IoA and SeaWorld. My kids love Disney (as do I), but we also love good rides. I am so hoping for a similar reaction!

I'm a planning freak as well, and don't plan to do much planning at all for this one, hoping that in Jnauary, crowds won't be an issue.

Thanks for the report!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I was pleasantly surprised too! We went to IOA right when it opened and I was in love! My favorite park by far! Of course Disney is great too and now that we have kids we'll be spending the majority of our time there for a while! We do have a US/IOA only trip planned in February though.

 

[yaytezIOA]

Everyone mentions Seuss Landing for the kids, but no one mentions the other little areas. The Mystic Fountain, Flying Unicorn, Camp Jurassic, the Discovery Center, The Olive.....Explore people! Its an adventure!

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

Everyone mentions Seuss Landing for the kids, but no one mentions the other little areas. The Mystic Fountain, Flying Unicorn, Camp Jurassic, the Discovery Center, The Olive.....Explore people! Its an adventure!

Little ones loved Flying Unicorn and The Olive (Best photo in the park). In Camp Jurassic if you take really little kids in there, make sure you have a 2 to 1 adult ratio. We sent a 3 year old down a slide, and we still don't know what happened to her. Awesome for 6 and up. We didn't give a Discovery Center a fair shake, unfortunately

 

[jme829]

This year was our 6th trip to Orlando and our first to US...We loved it!!..WE were there on Sept. 15 we had no waits for anything except Jaws (about 15 minutes, not so much because of the crowd, but of how fast they would send the boats to the loading dock) and BTTF (which ended breaking down and we couldn't ride -end of the day so we we getting ready to leave anyways) Evertything else was a walk on or a 5 min wait while the show in progress was finishing up. OUr 3 kids (5, 7, 13) loved it. I personally liked how you could just walk in one big circle and hit each ride as you came to it. Very easy walking, the next attraction was close to the last one. The ONLY disappointment we had was at NBA City...Way overpriced for what you get (moreso than just regular high theme park food prices), you are definitley paying for the NBA name. (the food was good, just extremely overpriced) All in all we loved every ride . The only one the younger 2 didn't go on was Mummy because they were too short, but everything else they went on (twister and jaws freaked the 7 year old outa little but she got through them).
We stayed offsite and drove over and had no problems ( a little bit of a walk through the garage but that was because of where they were parking us..wasn't a big deal) All in all we really liked US and next time we will probably try IOA and see how that is.

WE love WDW too but we also love Sea World (which in my opinion has the best ride in the world with Journey to Atlantis), Cedar Point, Kings Island.(with the Beast as the best coaster ever!)..They all are different and have different things to offer. We don't go to any of the parks expecting them to be like the others. They are all unique and you get a different experience at each. You don't go to Taco Bell and expect the same food, prices and service as say Don Pablos. The same should be for theme parks.

 

[macraven]

:

. In Camp Jurassic if you take really little kids in there, make sure you have a 2 to 1 adult ratio.


We sent a 3 year old down a slide, and we still don't know what happened to her.

 

[t-and-a]

I'm so glad to hear that you had a great time! I almost didn't open this one up, as I have gotten tired of reading the negative comments on this board.

It really would be nice to get on rides and not have a clue as to what you were about to experience! Sometimes we do plan too much and it takes away some of the magic!

 

[TinkHappy]

It really would be nice to get on rides and not have a clue as to what you were about to experience! Sometimes we do plan too much and it takes away some of the magic!

I couldn't agree more!! I have been quilty of this myself many times. Being prepared is good, being "over prepared", sometimes...not so good.