General Observations and Comparison to Disney

[mirak]

Went to Magic Kingdom last year - Universal this year. We spent Day 1 at IOA. Pros and Cons:

Pros
- Staying at Royal Pacific, and it is a beautiful resort. Several notches better than Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Amazing pool, great staff, tons of free conveniences (love the free water dispensed pool side), and being able to walk less than 10 minutes to IOA along that beautifully landscaped trail is awesome. Score one for Universal.

- IOA is a gorgeous park. The theming is incredible in every land. Again, superior to the dated Magic Kingdom. Now there's definitely something to be said for the nostalgia of the old park and the old rides at MK. I love that I can still take my kids on rides like the Haunted Mansion and Pirates. But the rides at IOA are newer and nicer overall, and the park just feels fresher and prettier.

- Express Pass is SO much easier and better than Disneys fastpass. Of course it costs a lot of money - but it makes staying on-property a great value in addition to the convenience.

- I was expecting the crowds to be a nightmare in late June. They were fine today! Much lower crowds overall than Disney. The crowd was also more "domestic" - for what it's worth.

- Mythos was indeed an a surprisingly good meal and a surprisingly good value for a theme park. I was impressed.

Cons

- This one isn't really a con, but I was a little underwhelmed by Hogsmead and the HP ride. It was neat but I wasn't blown away.

- The ticketing is a mess and unduly complicated. If they take and store your fingerprint the first time you use your tickets - why can't you just use your finger every time thereafter? Instead, you have to hang onto your tickets. Plus your room keys. Then express pass is yet another little scrap of paper you have to hold onto and present at every ride. Disney definitely has the upper hand here with its all-in-one magic bands.

- Too many of the IOA rides are height-restricted, and too often those restrictions make no sense. My youngest is exactly 36" tall in shoes, which qualified him to ride the pteradon flyers. After doing that ride, my wife and I agreed that it felt unduly dangerous for our 2yo to be swinging back and forth in an open, solo chair 20 feet above the ground with nothing but a seat belt. By contrast, my son didn't meet the 40" height requirement for the Sneetches, which was as tame a tram ride as they come. And they are STRICT about measuring heights!!

So overall, Universal has been the clear winner so far.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

The Royal Pacific several notches above WL... How so? Theming, service, restaurants, pools??

MG

 

[mirak]

The Royal Pacific several notches above WL... How so? Theming, service, restaurants, pools??

MG

All those things, plus RP's more convenient location.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

All those things, plus RP's more convenient location.

Okay.... I LOVE the WL (especially the quality of theming). Now if you say RP is much better, I must go scope it out. We live about three miles from the resort, so perhaps we should check it out for dinner and drinks.

MG

 

[macraven]

Loved your review

Fingerprint set up slays me some days too when entering the park

 

[damo]

Ya, I don't understand some of the height restrictions either. I think they are set by their insurance provider, though, so they don't have a ton of say in the matter.

I prefer RPR to WL as well. WL rooms are so dungeon-like.

I think you have to have your ticket in case your fingerprint fails to scan. Rumour is that an all in one band is in the works. I think because Universal doesn't own and operate all its resorts, it has been longer in the making.

 

[mirak]

So it dawned on me today why the crowds are so much better here than at Disney - the stroller traffic is WAY less!

Did Diagon Alley this morning and Gringotts. I thought both were significantly better than Hogsmead. Very impressive.

Train ride is also very well done.

Back to the studios now. Looks like my 36-incher can't ride most of the studio rides, which really doesn't make sense for a bunch of seated screen sims.

 

[damo]

So it dawned on me today why the crowds are so much better here than at Disney - the stroller traffic is WAY less!

Did Diagon Alley this morning and Gringotts. I thought both were significantly better than Hogsmead. Very impressive.

Train ride is also very well done.

Back to the studios now. Looks like my 36-incher can't ride most of the studio rides, which really doesn't make sense for a bunch of seated screen sims.

Make sure you take him to the Playzone at Universal. It is awesome. Go back into the ball area. It's one of the most fun things at Universal.

You can do Shrek and Minion Mayhem (on the non-moving seats). Do Kang's and Kodo's, Woody Woodpecker Coaster and ET.

 

[avic77]

Take him to Curious George area...Its so much fun...prepare to get wet

 

[nkereina]

The ticketing is a mess and unduly complicated. If they take and store your fingerprint the first time you use your tickets - why can't you just use your finger every time thereafter? Instead, you have to hang onto your tickets

Probably the same reason you have to scan a Magic Band AND your fingerprint at WDW, too. It's my understanding that the fingerprint scan at WDW simply marks that ticket as belonging to you, but does not store data such as length of ticket, park hopper, expiration, etc. It's just an identifying scan. I'd assume Universal's is similar or the same.

 

[mirak]

Probably the same reason you have to scan a Magic Band AND your fingerprint at WDW, too. It's my understanding that the fingerprint scan at WDW simply marks that ticket as belonging to you, but does not store data such as length of ticket, park hopper, expiration, etc. It's just an identifying scan. I'd assume Universal's is similar or the same.

That's right, but since it can "Mark" the ticket as belonging to you, it should be relatively simple to remember the data from the barcode on that ticket and store it with your fingerprint.

The way things currently are, it's a nuisance both because of all the papers you have to carry around and the longer lines at the turnstiles.

 

[cbsnyber1]

The way things currently are, it's a nuisance both because of all the papers you have to carry around and the longer lines at the turnstiles.

Unless something's changed from a few years ago (our last visit) everything fits nicely in a lanyard plastic holder: park ticket and fast pass facing out, anything else like room key and cash in between.

 

[nkereina]

That's right, but since it can "Mark" the ticket as belonging to you, it should be relatively simple to remember the data from the barcode on that ticket and store it with your fingerprint.

The way things currently are, it's a nuisance both because of all the papers you have to carry around and the longer lines at the turnstiles.

But it's not scanning your actual fingerprint, per se. It's not that sophisticated, which means it's not sophisticated enough to store more important data like your specific ticket info This technology isn't capable of that. The ones in place, at least at WDW, scans various points on your finger and converts it to a numeral formula that is associated with you. Each time you scan the ticket, it recognizes these points on your finger to confirm it's the same individual using it. It's not recognizing your actual fingerprint (like the police would for instance).

I do agree that there's a lot of paperwork when you go to Uni between the tickets, EPs, room key. More if you attend HHN. We use a lanyard to contain it all and eventually technology will catch up!

 

[mirak]

And we're out. Off on the next leg of our trip.

One final observation - I think I may have discovered the best food value at the resort. It's about $15 for a massive TROUGH of nachos that could comfortably feed a family of 4.

 

[imprint]

Bula Bar nachos? Yep we get that family meal every trip too!