Selling DVC Points to go to Universal Studios – My fifth and sixth gate

[johde]

And again, that is okay. Universal appeals to a lot to people who love the thrill rides. Getting JK Rowling on board was genius.

I always think it's interest when people boil Universal down to a Thrill Park. To me, Universal's nitch was finding that midpoint between Disney and the Amusment/Thrill Parks. There rides in general aren't as thrilling as a Cedar Point or Six Flags Magic Mountain but, they are in most cases more thrilling than their Disney counterparts. Conversly, Universal has much better theming than your average Cedar Point/Six Flags and at least initially, not quite to Disney level but in recent years they seem to be meeting and in some cases surpassing Disney.

For example, Dragon Challenge was built in 1999, is 125 ft tall and each side has 5 inversions. Montu at Busch Gardens, Tampa (my personal favorite inverted coaster) was built in 1996, is 150 ft tall and has 7 inversions. Currently, the tallest roller coaster at USF is HRRR at 167 feet in 2009. Cedar Point broke 200ft 30 years earlier in 1989 with Magnum, and broke 300 ft in 2000 with Millennium Force and broke 400ft in 2003 with Top Thrill Dragster.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I always think it's interest when people boil Universal down to a Thrill Park. To me, Universal's nitch was finding that midpoint between Disney and the Amusment/Thrill Parks. There rides in general aren't as thrilling as a Cedar Point or Six Flags Magic Mountain but, they are in most cases more thrilling than their Disney counterparts. Conversly, Universal has much better theming than your average Cedar Point/Six Flags and at least initially, not quite to Disney level but in recent years they seem to be meeting and in some cases surpassing Disney.

For example, Dragon Challenge was built in 1999, is 125 ft tall and each side has 5 inversions. Montu at Busch Gardens, Tampa (my personal favorite inverted coaster) was built in 1996, is 150 ft tall and has 7 inversions. Currently, the tallest roller coaster at USF is HRRR at 167 feet in 2009. Cedar Point broke 200ft 30 years earlier in 1989 with Magnum, and broke 300 ft in 2000 with Millennium Force and broke 400ft in 2003 with Top Thrill Dragster.

I didn't call it a thrill park.

But they are thrill rides. Just because taller coasters are elsewhere does not make it any less of a thrill ride.

I do agree it is a theme park though. That cannot be denied and I never said otherwise.

Rowling on board did provide a big boost.

 

[johde]

I didn't call it a thrill park.

But they are thrill rides. Just because taller coasters are elsewhere does not make it any less of a thrill ride.

I do agree it is a theme park though. That cannot be denied and I never said otherwise.

Rowling on board did provide a big boost.

I'll admit there are more thrill ride and more thrilling rides at Universal compared to Disney. My point, which may have been lost with the term thrill park is that I believe Universal has made a conscience effort to keep the level of thrills in check compared to the Cedar Point/ Six Flags of the world who at times are looking for the most extreme ride they can build. Disney built Tower of Terror, Universal built Dr. Doom. I can't see either one of them building a Falcon's Fury.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'll admit there are more thrill ride and more thrilling rides at Universal compared to Disney. My point, which may have been lost with the term thrill park is that I believe Universal has made a conscience effort to keep the level of thrills in check compared to the Cedar Point/ Six Flags of the world who at times are looking for the most extreme ride they can build. Disney built Tower of Terror, Universal built Dr. Doom. I can't see either one of them building a Falcon's Fury.

Probably not.

My girls do love the Hulk though.

 

[bumbershoot]

FWIW, for many people they see "Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies" and think, crazy as it is, that it's a forum for talking about theme parks attractions and strategies.

You have to go to the main page that lists all the forums to see the description of what that forum is about. To see that it's for WDW.

If I were a board owner I would change it to WDW Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies. Or just WDW Parks Attractions and Strategies.

Because that makes sense now that there other themeparks being discussed on the board.



If I had a little kid I would take them to Universal if the rest of us in the family wanted to go to Universal. I KNOW that I could find plenty of things to amuse them with. While young, or if they weren't skittish, I would enjoy Uni's version of child swap where you don't separate from the family before you even go into the line. If older with the potential for being frustrated at not riding, or if too scared to go into the queue (my 10 year old still won't step foot into the Mummy's queue), I'm still sure we could find things for a little child to do.



The Seuss area also has the Caroseussel, by the way....

 

[CHunterK]

I posted this under the Disney planning forum because the intended audience is traditional Disney fans. I wish it would have stayed there because it would have received a lot more attention. Typically people in the Universal forums already are going to Universal. However I understand why it would be moved, it's just as much about Universal as it is Disney.

Merry Christmas!

 

[FlipHipster]

I've been going to WDW since 1972. My DS9 has now been for a total of 10 weeks over the course of his young life and is the envy of his classmates. We have AP's, always stay on-site, and have never been to Universal.

But we recently bought AP's to Universal and will be going there next Tuesday for 6 nights/7 days, staying on-site.

In March we are headed back to Orlando for another couple of weeks and will be staying off-site for the first time ever. Next summer, several more weeks in Orlando - off site.

Historically, those times would always be spent entirely at WDW. But I think this is a huge turning point for us. I really don't know what to expect next week but I suspect DS will have a great time. It will be interesting to see how WDW and US compare from his perspective. In terms of "Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies", it could mean that US moves to the top of the list with on-site stays there and WDW becoming a secondary destination.

FP+ will help in that regard as WDW parks have been reduced over the years to just a handful (or even just a couple) of "must-do" attractions that we could schedule in advance and eliminate what has become a growing amount of unproductive time in the parks each day.

I don't know if that is the result Disney was hoping to derive, but our touring strategy will most definitely become more efficient which means we could be spending less time and money at WDW.

We were pretty much the same, all of our time spent at WDW. We snuck away a few times to go to SW but it's been several years. The front loaded ticket prices used to keep us away from UO, it was just easier and cheaper to add on days at Disney parks. Now the situation has flipped. We skipped DAK completely this trip and only went to MK 1 day, usually we go 2-3. If I knew then what I know now, we probably would have skipped DHS. Suddenly WDW is reduced to 2 parks for us and I am not sure I can justify the cost or effort for 2 days of Disney. It's really more than just cost for us though. We get 7-10 days to spend in the parks, and some of those will be down days. I hate to burn a day at DHS trying to get on RnRC or ToT 1 or 2 times when we can be at another park with a whole lot more options. We are planning our next trip around UO and trying to figure out how to justify 1 or 2 days of Disney tickets. I regret not buying UO AP's while we were there, we came home with unused WDW tickets......

My dd(4.5) loved Suess land. She calls UO "The other park"

As far as thrill parks, I was watching the Destination channel WDW infomercial a few nights ago. It was a really old one, but they were showcasing the rides at each park. They kept referring to DHS as a thrill ride park and in their own words "Disney's answer for thrill junkies". They even referred to ST as a "thrill" ride so I guess it's all in the eyes of the marketing team

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

We are HUGE Disney fans and DVC members. We have never had much desire to visit Universal. We used to say, " Oh, one day we will get there". But , with the addition of HP World, things are CHANGING fast in our family. We are not going to Disney this year... we are renting out our DVC points and headed to see Harry.

Dear Mickey...please dont be mad but your park tickets are so expensive, your food quality is on the decline and you dont really have any new rides geared towards my kids as they are getting older. And, why are you building Avatar land? No one in our family even saw that movie. And, I have heard so many bad stories about magic bands and messed up reservations and FPs booked 60 days early....


We are getting basic APs (with block out dates ) to Universal.

I have read so many posts about people going to Universal and loving it because of the addition of HP World. Im so sad that Disney was not the one to develop this. I read one post where the lady told her kids they were going to WDW...and the kids begged to go to HP world instead.


It makes me wonder if Disney will continue to be the main attraction in the future.....


ps....Im still ill with them about Avatar Land. Seems like a big waste of money!

Rant over--- sorry!