Spent 2 days, not a fan

[medeng99]

My family spent a week in Orlando, two of which we spent at both Universal parks. We were pretty excited to go. My wife and kids had never been and the last time I went to Universal Studios was in 2000. I had never been to IOA as well.

I am not going to say the parks were bad. We just found them to be really loud; smokers seemed to be everywhere and honestly there just wasn’t much to see. IOA was ok. The Harry Potter area was nice, but gets packed fast. The other areas were ok as well. I was disappointed with Universal studios. I miss the King Kong and Jaws attraction.

For my family, I thought it was overpriced for what there was to see and do. We have agreed to spend our time at WDW (which we did for 4 days).
Anyone else leave disappointed with Universal?

 

[GreenCntryGirl]

I was but it was quite some time ago.

The main thing we didn't care for was roaming groups of high school kids with no obvious supervision...it allowed for a lot of line jumping.

I am not suggesting line jumping never happens in WDW...I'm sure it does but it was not our experience.

There also seemed to be less cast members working.

What I realize typing this is that the social aspect and/or interaction with other guests and/or cast members is what was lacking. Because we very much enjoyed the attractions.

 

[medeng99]

We didn’t notice any line jumping, and the lines we not bad in the morning. As the day went on they got longer of course. We liked most of the attractions, but it just seemed that there wasn’t that many. Of course I am comparing to WDW. It was hot too (Oct 7-8). We were surprised. We went last year the same time, and it was much nicer. Can’t predict Florida weather though.

 

[damo]

Nope, I love Universal. It's my favourite place to be. Second favourite is Disneyland. WDW is down the list as there are only a few rides I like at each park and it is such a hassle getting between parks.

I love that I can walk to the parks from the hotel and from park to park. I love that I can get an annual pass for $250 and then renew it annually for $160. I love that I can stay at a deluxe hotel for $170 with my AP discount. I love the food at the parks and the hotels. I love the re-ridability of so many of the rides. I love butterbeer. I love the complexity of the rides and the way that the parks are building and improving. I love staying onsite and getting early admission to the parks every day as well as unlimited express access for all but a combined 3 rides in both parks.

 

[LUVIOA]

Ditto what Damo said. I love it all!

 

[Squirlz]

I checked in to RPR one week ago today for 5 nights, first time visit. We absolutely loved it! We rode Forbidden Journey 14 times. Making plans to go again next year.

 

[JessicaR]

Not us. We much prefer Universal over Disney. There is construction going on at Universal maybe that played a part and I was there just prior to you and it was SO HOT!

The parks, hotels, restaurants, entertainment that comprises Universal is just perfect for our family.

 

[Planogirl]

I sure wasn't disappointed. I went not really knowing what to expect and I was blown away.

I can lately for the most part take or leave WDW but Universal is a keeper for me. To each their own.

 

[macraven]

i do both parks.

spent 18 days at them and returned 10 days ago.


I had a great time at the darkside.
there 10 days and wished i had more time to spend at UO.


staying onsite at UO enhances my stay.


we all enjoy different things.
nothing wrong with that.

 

[Metro West]

I let my Disney AP expire last year but my Universal AP is still going strong.

 

[RMulieri]

I sure wasn't disappointed. I went not really knowing what to expect and I was blown away.

I can lately for the most part take or leave WDW but Universal is a keeper for me. To each their own.

Me too
Had no idea what to expect ,went in with completely open minds and DH and I ( and our 8 yr old ) were completely blown away..We can't wait to go back..

 

[cbsnyber1]

For us, we're done with Disney. Too much advance planning needed, too crowded, too hard to get around between parks, the ginormous parking lots, the long tram/boat/bus/monorail rides, and - drum roll please - worst of all, the waits. You wait for everything at Disney. Not saying you don't wait some times at Uni, it just seems worse at the Mouse parks and restaurants. FOTL and the proximity of the parks to each other really helps cut down waiting at Uni.

Our last two trips were exclusively Universal, and our next trip (for HP2 and Transformers) will also be only at Uni. Just spent five days there, coulda used a couple more. . .

 

[Csaks]

I love them both. The two (Disney and Universal) are apples and oranges, you can't compare them. Totally different experiences. Once we got into that mindset our Universal trips became more fun.

 

[2BigKIdz]

We love Universal, it's my husband's favorite park ever, I prefer IOA over US but love them both. I think the theming at the US/IOA parks is really terrific. IOA can be done fairly quickly if it's not busy but I think the majority of their attractions are fantastic! FJ and Spiderman are 2 of the best rides ever IMHO. FOTL is an awesome perk for onsite guests!

We also love WDW especially now that we have a little one. We took him last year @ 18 mos. for his first visit and he had a ball at all of the parks but I think he enjoyed IOA and AK the best. Before we had our son we spent the majority of our time at US/IOA, we went to a WDW park every couple of years. Looking forward to our trip next month as our son now knows the Disney characters!

 

[toddinboston]

tough to compare UA with WDW, some things the same, alot more different...

my family went to UA/IOA for 2 days this week...first time for my kids (ages 6-14), my wife and i went once in 1994 (rode Back to Future, Jaws, Earthquake and KK)...

I thought UA was a nice break from disney, nice to do different things for a change. I enjoyed Despicable Me, although the intro is waay to long. Shrek was good. Terminator was ok, a little dated. Simpsons was fun, brought back memories of BTF. MIB was fun, Disaster was awful (does anyone under 40 even know who Christopher Walken is?). Mummy was great, although waay to short. didn't do RRR, Twister wasn't bad although it scared my daughter.

$6 for a miller lite can kinda hurt, though Disney is no better.

We will definitely do again on a future trip.

 

[andyman8]

We just returned from yet another successful trip to UOR. Stayed at RPR for 3 nights and spent 2 days in the parks and a night at HHN. Although I probably won't be attending HHN again (not my kind of event), I absolutely loved the parks. Weather was beautiful and attractions were awesome.

I did notice that UOR has become a bit more bureaucratic recently. Overall, though, we had a blast and I cannot recommend the Wantilan Luau enough. Much, much better than the Spirit of Aloha at Disney (that show was terrible).

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

My husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary this year and decided that the first 4 nights we'd stay at RPR and do Universal/IOA and SeaWorld and the 2nd half of the vaca we'd go to the F&W Festival at Epcot.

WDW is almost like our 2nd home and we haven't been to Universal since 1991 so we were pretty excited to try something new. I HATED it! Although it was good to do other things, I found myself comparing WDW to Universal.

Thought RPR was over priced, worn and slow with cleaning service. We arrived on 9/30 and by 10/2 we were still not given another bar of soap. It was very hot, humid and we were taking 2-3 showers a day, it was really like going in the Summer. I left a nice note asking for soap and shampoo, the housekeeper apparently was being sarcastic when she left our entire counter full of shampoo, soap, body wash, etc. The bed had a box spring which made horrible creaking/squeaky noises . . .No really quick service place to eat and the restaurants were terribly over priced.

Universal was BORING, you only need 1/2 a day to do all you need to do there.. IOA, was OK, disappointed with HP and all the fake store fronts, although the frozen butter beer is yum! And I disliked the HP ride . .I thought I was gonna die . .literally .. . the bar was so tight across my chest and all that movement and rolling around . . .

Did Halloween Horror Nights - JOKE . . .I was really expecting to be scared, they hype it all up and its just dumb . . .although I felt The Walking Dead was probably the best attraction and the street characters were pretty cool.

SeaWorld, was nice to do . . .haven't been there either since 91 . . .had dinner with Shamu which was surprisingly good!

Citywalk . . .did that almost every night . . .can't tell you how many margaritas we had . . .

All in all, I can't see us returning there any time soon.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

I think people are naturally predisposed to side with anything that they are accustomed to/have grown up with.. whether it be their hometown, their favorite store, sports team, or theme parks. Since most people grew up with Disney instead of Universal, it holds all of their memories and nostalgia and whatnot, and suddenly anything that competes with Disney must be compared up and down... as if enjoying Universal is somehow betraying Disney.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I felt like that until my friends convinced me to try Universal many years ago (I had been too chicken to go on many of the rides.. they changed that!), and I fell in love. Now, Universal is my "home", although I love Disney very much as well.

Even the first time I went to HHN I HATED it... thinking: "Oh, this isn't scary... I can predict when they're gonna scare me"; but if you give yourself over to it, to the ambiance and the design and the fear, it's incredible.

Personally I don't understand the concept of limiting oneself to only loving Disney. It's amazing what you can realize you love if you only go into it with an open mind and an open heart.

 

[TwoCortWort]

I have had my share of complaints with Universal/IOA. Mostly due to bad advertising about like the VIP fast pass type thing last year and also crowd control during the busier times. But over-all enjoy the 2 parks and can't wait to go back in December.

 

[bumbershoot]

Anyone else leave disappointed with Universal?

Nope!

$6 for a miller lite can kinda hurt, though Disney is no better.

Definitely no better at WDW. That's one of the reasons we already rent a car, so we can go and get our (um, no, MY...DH doesn't drink) beer of choice and not have to pay hideous sums for it.

I did notice that UOR has become a bit more bureaucratic recently.

Real question; what does that mean?

Universal was BORING, you only need 1/2 a day to do all you need to do there..

Well, *I* need more time there. We spent 4 days (2 half days and 2 full days, really) on our first Universal trip, then about a week the second time. And more the third time. We just keep needing more and more time! But we are BIG ride-repeaters, and have a different focus each day.