We just got back from a WDW and Universal stay. We had a great time, but some things were a little different this time! We are a family of four - mom, dad, and two teens.
We moved over to Royal Pacific from WDW on 8/3, but no parks that day. RPR is where we usually stay (this was our fourth trip to Universal, last one three years ago). Loved the resort - no complaints. Only did the pool one afternoon, but there were plenty of chairs and it wasn't as noisy as past trips (they weren't doing the games that afternoon). The new Tuk Tuk market is a great addition.
First night was dinner at Toothsome - we all enjoyed it and ate way too much chocolate!
Wednesday was our first day at the parks. We had four full park days and one half day at Uni. The parks were far more crowded than I remember from past trips in August. Just wall to wall people everywhere. We did not do Early Entry any days (teens and their sleep
) The waits for rides seemed normal (we had hotel EPs, so really weren't an issue for us, but just noticing the times it seemed normal), but food was a problem - the lines for food were insane. I had made dinner reservations most nights expecting to eat counter service lunches. After waiting close to an hour for Three Broomsticks that first day, we mostly just grabbed stuff at Tuk Tuk in hotel or grabbed snacks at snack stands during the day after that. We also discovered the random food trucks in Universal Studios and ate at the mac and cheese one by fisherman's wharf (no line ever) a couple of times lol.
We visited Volcano Bay a few hours one morning (did do early entry there). It is a lovely park, but lines built quickly.
In addition to Toothsome, we tried Mythos, NBC, and Confiscos. They were fine. Confiscos is one we didn't love from a past trip and still don't love it, but it isn't terrible. We wanted to stay inside the park which is why I tried it again. Service was great at all of them and food came quickly.
I wrote about our Virtual Queue experiences on another thread. I like the idea of it, but in reality there were some problems. Mainly it moving the time around (sometimes by a large amount) without warning and without letting you adjust. The reschedule option just didn't work for most of our trip - yes a team member tried to help and was confused by what it was doing. But we managed to ride Hagrids a lot and loved it!
My teens have discovered large coasters since our last trip. So while previous trips were more about soaking up the HP atmosphere, this one was about running from coaster to coaster. They LOVED Velocicoaster. I did ride it a couple of times also. It is a great coaster. I would say that it and Hagrid go down a lot, so I would do those early in the day if possible.
The Jurassic Tribute Store in Universal Studios was very cool. I have never noticed any Tribute stores before and have no idea what we've missed, but it was fun to check out.
Our trip covered a Saturday this time. I'm not sure if we've always missed Saturdays somehow or if this one was unusual, but Saturday was a madhouse. I had thought it was crowded earlier in the week - but Saturday was just packed. We even left a couple of EP lines Saturday evening (Mummy and RRR) because the waits seemed far too long. But, strangely, Diagon Alley was its least crowded on Saturday night. So who knows.
Overall we had a wonderful time. It felt like Universal was mostly back to normal and far more prepared for people than WDW was. WDW just seemed understaffed and still reeling in a lot of ways. Universal was super crowded and dealing with that, but it seemed more normal and ready to be in operation. Food was our biggest issue - try to have a plan. and a back up plan. lol. I didn't notice any major cleanliness issues. If a bathroom was in need of cleaning there was usually an attendant in there working on it. Really the same as WDW in my opinion.
We moved over to Royal Pacific from WDW on 8/3, but no parks that day. RPR is where we usually stay (this was our fourth trip to Universal, last one three years ago). Loved the resort - no complaints. Only did the pool one afternoon, but there were plenty of chairs and it wasn't as noisy as past trips (they weren't doing the games that afternoon). The new Tuk Tuk market is a great addition.
First night was dinner at Toothsome - we all enjoyed it and ate way too much chocolate!
Wednesday was our first day at the parks. We had four full park days and one half day at Uni. The parks were far more crowded than I remember from past trips in August. Just wall to wall people everywhere. We did not do Early Entry any days (teens and their sleep
) The waits for rides seemed normal (we had hotel EPs, so really weren't an issue for us, but just noticing the times it seemed normal), but food was a problem - the lines for food were insane. I had made dinner reservations most nights expecting to eat counter service lunches. After waiting close to an hour for Three Broomsticks that first day, we mostly just grabbed stuff at Tuk Tuk in hotel or grabbed snacks at snack stands during the day after that. We also discovered the random food trucks in Universal Studios and ate at the mac and cheese one by fisherman's wharf (no line ever) a couple of times lol. We visited Volcano Bay a few hours one morning (did do early entry there). It is a lovely park, but lines built quickly.
In addition to Toothsome, we tried Mythos, NBC, and Confiscos. They were fine. Confiscos is one we didn't love from a past trip and still don't love it, but it isn't terrible. We wanted to stay inside the park which is why I tried it again. Service was great at all of them and food came quickly.
I wrote about our Virtual Queue experiences on another thread. I like the idea of it, but in reality there were some problems. Mainly it moving the time around (sometimes by a large amount) without warning and without letting you adjust. The reschedule option just didn't work for most of our trip - yes a team member tried to help and was confused by what it was doing. But we managed to ride Hagrids a lot and loved it!
My teens have discovered large coasters since our last trip. So while previous trips were more about soaking up the HP atmosphere, this one was about running from coaster to coaster. They LOVED Velocicoaster. I did ride it a couple of times also. It is a great coaster. I would say that it and Hagrid go down a lot, so I would do those early in the day if possible.
The Jurassic Tribute Store in Universal Studios was very cool. I have never noticed any Tribute stores before and have no idea what we've missed, but it was fun to check out.
Our trip covered a Saturday this time. I'm not sure if we've always missed Saturdays somehow or if this one was unusual, but Saturday was a madhouse. I had thought it was crowded earlier in the week - but Saturday was just packed. We even left a couple of EP lines Saturday evening (Mummy and RRR) because the waits seemed far too long. But, strangely, Diagon Alley was its least crowded on Saturday night. So who knows.
Overall we had a wonderful time. It felt like Universal was mostly back to normal and far more prepared for people than WDW was. WDW just seemed understaffed and still reeling in a lot of ways. Universal was super crowded and dealing with that, but it seemed more normal and ready to be in operation. Food was our biggest issue - try to have a plan. and a back up plan. lol. I didn't notice any major cleanliness issues. If a bathroom was in need of cleaning there was usually an attendant in there working on it. Really the same as WDW in my opinion.
