michellej47
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2011
- Messages
- 433
I'm not a trip reporter, but I did want to share my thoughts after getting back from our trip. We are usually a Disney family, but with the increase in cost and decrease in services I'm constantly reading about, we decided to try Universal. After experiencing Disney once over Spring Break, I promised myself that I'd never do another Orlando theme park during Spring Break. Then there was a chance that my daughter was going to dance at Universal this week. When that fell through, we decided to still go. I could talk about this trip in grand detail, but here are my top thoughts, experiences, and observations.
I have been to Universal twice before this, but only for a day or two. This was our first full vacation there.
1. We stayed at the Loews Portofino Bay Resort. With it being Spring Break, I wanted to have the Express Passes. The resort is beautiful and the water taxi to the parks was so convenient. I didn't realize that you go through security at the resort before boarding, so that was really convenient. Great place to stay, and the pool area was neat. The early entry to the park was also helpful.
2. I know there is a lot of back and forth on the boards on the usefulness of Express Passes, but on this trip, they paid off. Saturday and Sunday were the least crowded of the days we were there, but still pretty crowded, and we never waited more than 10 minutes for anything but Hagid's Motorbike and Velocicoaster. Monday and Tuesday were packed, but with the Express Pass, our longest wait (again with the earlier exceptions) was 20 minutes. We saw standby wait times of 55 minutes up to 240 minutes, so we'll worth the cost.
3. Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure is my new favorite ride of any park ever. I rode it 3 times, but could have done it 300 times had the wait not been so long.
4. Early entry - I'm an early bird and so is my son. My husband and daughter, not so much. My son and I were in the park and in line for Hagrid's by 7:18 on Sunday and we waited 2 hours. On Monday, were were in line by 7:03 am and waited an hour and a half. We rode it again that evening so that my husband and daughter could ride and again waited 2 hours. We left on Wednesday morning, but had friends who stayed. They were in the park by 6:30 and in line by 6:45. They waited 30 minutes. So definitely get there well before 7am to avoid the wait. But to me, the wait was worth it! My son walked on to Velocicoaster at 6:58am on Sunday. But we never saw that wait over 55 minutes.
5. Crowds....With the exception of both Harry Potter areas, Universal wins here. There are so many ares in Disney where there are just wall to wall people. We didn't experience as much of that at Universal, except in both Harry Potter areas. Those places are a zoo and moving around was a challenge, especially in Hogsmeade.
5. When it comes to food, Disney wins, hands down. We aren't big foodies when it comes to vacation (except for snacks and sweets) but we thought that the quality of food for what you get is far better at Disney. We spent way too much $$ on food that wasn't that great. Plus, Universal needs a lot of help in the allergy department. They sent me a supposed guide to allergens, but in every restaurant we ate, it was wrong. One really helpful cashier told us that they are changing vendors on a lot of products. While I get that, people with allergies rely on the pre-provided info and had we not spoken to a chef at every restaurant, my son would have ended up sick.
6. I swear they must have turned up the water affects on the 3 water rides. I remember getting a bit wet, but never soaked. We got drenched on all 3. My son and I got stuck on the barges and had to be evacuated, so that was fun.
8. I could spend an entire day just in Harry Potter. I went into every store and watched every show. No one else in my family is a fan, so I sent them off to do other things while I just explored.
9. I get mild to moderate motion sickness, so I stay drugged up most of the time with Bonine. I rode everything in Islands fine with no issues except Hulk and Velocicoaster. I did have to close my eyes on a few of the screen parts of Forbidden Journey. Universal was another story. I rode Rip Ride Rockit (made me a tiny bit woozy) but then immediately went to Transformers. That one did me in. I didn't even attempt any of the other screen rides the rest of the day. I read a lot of folks say that Transformers and Spiderman are the same ride....they were not for me. Spiderman didn't bother me at all. Transformers was rough for me. Gringotts didn't bother me at all. I didn't even attempt Hulk (rode it years ago and it made me ill) or Velocicoaster (I really wanted to try, but decided against it).
10. All in all, we had an awesome trip. While there are still some things that I prefer at Disney, my favorite thing about this trip was how relaxed it was. We had 4 days, and we never felt rushed to get it done. We actually never spent a full day in a park and still rode everything multiple times. At Disney, we have to schedule so much of our day and be in the parks from open til close. Express Pass at Universal is far superior to Fast Pass or Genie/Lightening Lane at Disney. Also, with a premier resort, you also get priority seating at restaurants, so we didn't even have to pre-plan our meals. We will definitely be back!
I have been to Universal twice before this, but only for a day or two. This was our first full vacation there.
1. We stayed at the Loews Portofino Bay Resort. With it being Spring Break, I wanted to have the Express Passes. The resort is beautiful and the water taxi to the parks was so convenient. I didn't realize that you go through security at the resort before boarding, so that was really convenient. Great place to stay, and the pool area was neat. The early entry to the park was also helpful.
2. I know there is a lot of back and forth on the boards on the usefulness of Express Passes, but on this trip, they paid off. Saturday and Sunday were the least crowded of the days we were there, but still pretty crowded, and we never waited more than 10 minutes for anything but Hagid's Motorbike and Velocicoaster. Monday and Tuesday were packed, but with the Express Pass, our longest wait (again with the earlier exceptions) was 20 minutes. We saw standby wait times of 55 minutes up to 240 minutes, so we'll worth the cost.
3. Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure is my new favorite ride of any park ever. I rode it 3 times, but could have done it 300 times had the wait not been so long.
4. Early entry - I'm an early bird and so is my son. My husband and daughter, not so much. My son and I were in the park and in line for Hagrid's by 7:18 on Sunday and we waited 2 hours. On Monday, were were in line by 7:03 am and waited an hour and a half. We rode it again that evening so that my husband and daughter could ride and again waited 2 hours. We left on Wednesday morning, but had friends who stayed. They were in the park by 6:30 and in line by 6:45. They waited 30 minutes. So definitely get there well before 7am to avoid the wait. But to me, the wait was worth it! My son walked on to Velocicoaster at 6:58am on Sunday. But we never saw that wait over 55 minutes.
5. Crowds....With the exception of both Harry Potter areas, Universal wins here. There are so many ares in Disney where there are just wall to wall people. We didn't experience as much of that at Universal, except in both Harry Potter areas. Those places are a zoo and moving around was a challenge, especially in Hogsmeade.
5. When it comes to food, Disney wins, hands down. We aren't big foodies when it comes to vacation (except for snacks and sweets) but we thought that the quality of food for what you get is far better at Disney. We spent way too much $$ on food that wasn't that great. Plus, Universal needs a lot of help in the allergy department. They sent me a supposed guide to allergens, but in every restaurant we ate, it was wrong. One really helpful cashier told us that they are changing vendors on a lot of products. While I get that, people with allergies rely on the pre-provided info and had we not spoken to a chef at every restaurant, my son would have ended up sick.
6. I swear they must have turned up the water affects on the 3 water rides. I remember getting a bit wet, but never soaked. We got drenched on all 3. My son and I got stuck on the barges and had to be evacuated, so that was fun.
8. I could spend an entire day just in Harry Potter. I went into every store and watched every show. No one else in my family is a fan, so I sent them off to do other things while I just explored.
9. I get mild to moderate motion sickness, so I stay drugged up most of the time with Bonine. I rode everything in Islands fine with no issues except Hulk and Velocicoaster. I did have to close my eyes on a few of the screen parts of Forbidden Journey. Universal was another story. I rode Rip Ride Rockit (made me a tiny bit woozy) but then immediately went to Transformers. That one did me in. I didn't even attempt any of the other screen rides the rest of the day. I read a lot of folks say that Transformers and Spiderman are the same ride....they were not for me. Spiderman didn't bother me at all. Transformers was rough for me. Gringotts didn't bother me at all. I didn't even attempt Hulk (rode it years ago and it made me ill) or Velocicoaster (I really wanted to try, but decided against it).
10. All in all, we had an awesome trip. While there are still some things that I prefer at Disney, my favorite thing about this trip was how relaxed it was. We had 4 days, and we never felt rushed to get it done. We actually never spent a full day in a park and still rode everything multiple times. At Disney, we have to schedule so much of our day and be in the parks from open til close. Express Pass at Universal is far superior to Fast Pass or Genie/Lightening Lane at Disney. Also, with a premier resort, you also get priority seating at restaurants, so we didn't even have to pre-plan our meals. We will definitely be back!
