MaddieinWonderland
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2003
- Messages
- 103
The Disney portion of my trip report can be found on the appropriate board. This will deal with our time at Universal.
UNIVERSAL PROPERTY:
- We found drainage to be a problem in a lot of places and were traipsing through puddles that were 5" or 6" deep in places.
- Okay, so the boats don't run in thunderstorms, leaving only the option to *walk* through a thunderstorm? Thanks, but no. I saw brief mention of shuttle buses somewhere, but more information was impossible to come by.
PARKING:
-The parking garage was a necessity because Universal has no room. I get that. But, yikes! There has to be a better method of getting people out to their cars than the system they have in place. In particular, getting to the garage during a rainstorm was a nightmare because there's so little cover in Citywalk.
-Why are there moving sidewalks and escalators if Universal isn't going to bother to turn them on?
- We were accosted by people hocking free bags if we submitted a credit card application. Quite tacky and a very poor first impression.
HOTEL:
- Check in went fast at about 10 AM and our room was ready at that time.
- Room was big and clean. The window looked out over a tree. Beyond that, we could make out tiny slivers of the putting green.
- Requested a room an upper floor to avoid pet dander and odors and was placed on the 3rd floor of Tower 2. I'm not sure if this tower allows pets or not, but we were a little unhappy with the location of the room.
- The paths around this hotel, particularly to the boats and to the walkway, are hard to find and bit extravagant in their length. It wasn't convenient at all.
- I wouldn't have been happy here had we paid much more than we did - $150.36 with 3 adults.
- Room service dinner for four was $80! Yikes!
CITYWALK:
- Walking through Citywalk to the parks seems like a big commercial. I prefer that someone try to sell me a high quality product that I want to buy because of its quality than to be overwhelmed with everything and milked for what money I have.
ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE:
- Will Call was helpful in finding out that I transposed some numbers in my PAP Confirmation Code.
- Processing of my pass was quick and painless.
- There was *one* ticket window open at our arrival. The frustration of this was compounded by a family who asked questions about the parks for 15 minutes with complete disregard for the people waiting behind them. I would expect that you should have decided on what admission media to buy before you get in line.
- The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man's effects were all working on Thursday and Sunday. On Monday, the dump truck was not working. It's a better ride than I remember and I only experienced minimal discomfort on Thursday -- probably Mission: SPACE related.
- If a ride closes due to inclement weather, it would be courteous of Universal to make people going into the Express line aware of this. Particularly, at Dueling Dragons we weren't informed of its closure until we walked all the way up into its station.
- How can they maintain Express lines of 15 minute waits or less when Poseidon's Fury runs once an hour?
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS:
- Saw a cockroach in Schwab's while drinking a milkshake. Threw that away promptly and left.
- Traffic flow through the International Food and Film location is terrible and tripled waits to eat lunch.
- Shrek 4D is probably the best 3D theater presentation I've ever seen. The pre-show was a little long, but it was a great overall experience. We waited, with FOTL access, for one show -- about 10 minutes.
- Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast was fun, but I can't relate too well to the Nicktoons.
- T2:3D was new-to-me and really quite good. I can see why this was considered one of the best theme park attractions when it opened. By the time I saw it, though, I was a little movie-d out.
- Twister was great -- and I'm not usually a fan of special effects extravaganzas. If they hadn't been so assured as to try to include an indoor tornado, this attraction would be top notch.
- Didn't get to see the Ghostbusters show.
- Men in Black: Alien Attack is on par with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, but has entirely different highs and lows. Rode twice. We'd hoped for many more rides, but the FOTL access wasn't as efficient as we'd been expecting, and we waited as much as 25 minutes.
- Jaws needs more water, less fire.
That's about it. We spent 2.5 days there, approximately, but we dealt with a lot of rain -- and rides closed because of it. Still, I didn't leave feeling as if I'd missed anything, but rather, feeling like there wasn't enough to occupy my attention. Because I bought the Preferred Annual Pass and because I have friends who live in Florida, I'm likely to return there soon, but it's not because I was astounded by the parks or the hotels.
UNIVERSAL PROPERTY:
- We found drainage to be a problem in a lot of places and were traipsing through puddles that were 5" or 6" deep in places.
- Okay, so the boats don't run in thunderstorms, leaving only the option to *walk* through a thunderstorm? Thanks, but no. I saw brief mention of shuttle buses somewhere, but more information was impossible to come by.
PARKING:
-The parking garage was a necessity because Universal has no room. I get that. But, yikes! There has to be a better method of getting people out to their cars than the system they have in place. In particular, getting to the garage during a rainstorm was a nightmare because there's so little cover in Citywalk.
-Why are there moving sidewalks and escalators if Universal isn't going to bother to turn them on?
- We were accosted by people hocking free bags if we submitted a credit card application. Quite tacky and a very poor first impression.
HOTEL:
- Check in went fast at about 10 AM and our room was ready at that time.
- Room was big and clean. The window looked out over a tree. Beyond that, we could make out tiny slivers of the putting green.
- Requested a room an upper floor to avoid pet dander and odors and was placed on the 3rd floor of Tower 2. I'm not sure if this tower allows pets or not, but we were a little unhappy with the location of the room.
- The paths around this hotel, particularly to the boats and to the walkway, are hard to find and bit extravagant in their length. It wasn't convenient at all.
- I wouldn't have been happy here had we paid much more than we did - $150.36 with 3 adults.
- Room service dinner for four was $80! Yikes!
CITYWALK:
- Walking through Citywalk to the parks seems like a big commercial. I prefer that someone try to sell me a high quality product that I want to buy because of its quality than to be overwhelmed with everything and milked for what money I have.
ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE:
- Will Call was helpful in finding out that I transposed some numbers in my PAP Confirmation Code.
- Processing of my pass was quick and painless.
- There was *one* ticket window open at our arrival. The frustration of this was compounded by a family who asked questions about the parks for 15 minutes with complete disregard for the people waiting behind them. I would expect that you should have decided on what admission media to buy before you get in line.
- The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man's effects were all working on Thursday and Sunday. On Monday, the dump truck was not working. It's a better ride than I remember and I only experienced minimal discomfort on Thursday -- probably Mission: SPACE related.
- If a ride closes due to inclement weather, it would be courteous of Universal to make people going into the Express line aware of this. Particularly, at Dueling Dragons we weren't informed of its closure until we walked all the way up into its station.
- How can they maintain Express lines of 15 minute waits or less when Poseidon's Fury runs once an hour?
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS:
- Saw a cockroach in Schwab's while drinking a milkshake. Threw that away promptly and left.
- Traffic flow through the International Food and Film location is terrible and tripled waits to eat lunch.
- Shrek 4D is probably the best 3D theater presentation I've ever seen. The pre-show was a little long, but it was a great overall experience. We waited, with FOTL access, for one show -- about 10 minutes.
- Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast was fun, but I can't relate too well to the Nicktoons.
- T2:3D was new-to-me and really quite good. I can see why this was considered one of the best theme park attractions when it opened. By the time I saw it, though, I was a little movie-d out.
- Twister was great -- and I'm not usually a fan of special effects extravaganzas. If they hadn't been so assured as to try to include an indoor tornado, this attraction would be top notch.
- Didn't get to see the Ghostbusters show.
- Men in Black: Alien Attack is on par with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, but has entirely different highs and lows. Rode twice. We'd hoped for many more rides, but the FOTL access wasn't as efficient as we'd been expecting, and we waited as much as 25 minutes.
- Jaws needs more water, less fire.
That's about it. We spent 2.5 days there, approximately, but we dealt with a lot of rain -- and rides closed because of it. Still, I didn't leave feeling as if I'd missed anything, but rather, feeling like there wasn't enough to occupy my attention. Because I bought the Preferred Annual Pass and because I have friends who live in Florida, I'm likely to return there soon, but it's not because I was astounded by the parks or the hotels.
Hope your next visit doesn't have as many mishaps. 
You'll just have to see it another time...if you go back (based on your report, I'm not sure you would...
) or I can send you a video so you know what I droo-I mean talk-about... 
