vedamathews01
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2021
I recently completed my first trip to Universal. For comparison, I've been to Disney World over a dozen times, Disneyland twice, Disneyland Paris once, and Disney Tokyo once - so obviously biased 
I found a few things that as a long-time Disney visitor were unexpected. Hopefully this will be of help to anyone else with a similar background.
First the things Universal/IoA did better/different...
Universal/IoA was much more of a traditional park. Coasters, rides that spin and flip, etc. There aren’t really any of the slow boat type Disney rides (think Small World, Pirates, etc.) or even the
rides aimed at children (Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc.). The closest was the Cat in the Hat (which still spun a lot) and the Sneetches train. This isn’t good or bad, just something to be aware
of. Taking a 3 or 4 year old, Disney would have many more things for them to do. Conversely, taking a 15 or 16 year old, Universal might be more exciting to them.
To continue on the above, the coasters were AMAZING. Especially the velociraptor ride. Hagrid’s was probably my favorite overall and both were very different from anything you would find at Disney.
If you like coasters, Universal/IoA is the place to go.
Similarly, I found the water rides to be superior to Disney and BONUS, they have dryers by the rides because you WILL get pretty wet.
Another good thing is that the lines for most of the popular rides snake around inside where you are in air conditioning. This was very welcome on the 95 degree days. We actually found ourselves
looking forward to 60 minute waits.
I am not a Harry Potter fan, but the theming was incredible. In fact, the overall theming of the parks and rides was far superior to anything you would find at Disney except for very few rides
(Everest, Yeti, etc.) I felt very immersed in the different worlds and, especially, the rides.
There are Coke freestyle machines everywhere. The good thing about this, besides getting a free refill without having to stand in line, was water. They all dispensed water free of charge, so it was
very easy to stay hydrated for free.
Crowds are a fraction of what you find at Disney. The parks are smaller. Going off-peak you could see everything in two days if you rush, three taking your time. No need to express pass during off
peak.
Now the things that weren’t as good...
Rain closes a lot of stuff. More than half of the rides seemed to shut down when it rained or there was the threat of rain.
Lockers, lockers, lockers. You have to put your bags into lockers before getting in line for rides. And the Hulk coaster even had a METAL DETECTOR. This becomes a serious pain because a) the locker
areas get very crowded and b) you just get tired of having to dump all of your stuff. Pretty much any fun ride you have to use a locker.
The app was horrible. I know a lot of people don’t like the Disney one, but Universal’s was far, far, worse. The biggest problems were the filters resetting (so if you wanted to just see IoA rides,
and then looked at shows, when you went back to rides, you’d see both Universal and IoA), and the shows defaulted to map view instead of list view.
The characters were...interesting. Many seemed far older than they should be and many were out of shape. Not body shaming, but Thor shouldn’t have a gut. And the quality of the costumes was like a
high school production.
Speed of lines. Disney really has this down to an artform. Universal lines seemed to move slower given the same number of people.
Lastly, an observation that isn’t a comparison. We found the same items in the resorts to be cheaper than the parks. For example, a Simpsons donut in the parks would be $3, but in the resort $2.
Overall we liked Universal/IoA and are happy we went, but there was no...magic like you find at Disney, so for us, that’s a deal breaker.
I found a few things that as a long-time Disney visitor were unexpected. Hopefully this will be of help to anyone else with a similar background.
First the things Universal/IoA did better/different...
Universal/IoA was much more of a traditional park. Coasters, rides that spin and flip, etc. There aren’t really any of the slow boat type Disney rides (think Small World, Pirates, etc.) or even the
rides aimed at children (Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc.). The closest was the Cat in the Hat (which still spun a lot) and the Sneetches train. This isn’t good or bad, just something to be aware
of. Taking a 3 or 4 year old, Disney would have many more things for them to do. Conversely, taking a 15 or 16 year old, Universal might be more exciting to them.
To continue on the above, the coasters were AMAZING. Especially the velociraptor ride. Hagrid’s was probably my favorite overall and both were very different from anything you would find at Disney.
If you like coasters, Universal/IoA is the place to go.
Similarly, I found the water rides to be superior to Disney and BONUS, they have dryers by the rides because you WILL get pretty wet.
Another good thing is that the lines for most of the popular rides snake around inside where you are in air conditioning. This was very welcome on the 95 degree days. We actually found ourselves
looking forward to 60 minute waits.
I am not a Harry Potter fan, but the theming was incredible. In fact, the overall theming of the parks and rides was far superior to anything you would find at Disney except for very few rides
(Everest, Yeti, etc.) I felt very immersed in the different worlds and, especially, the rides.
There are Coke freestyle machines everywhere. The good thing about this, besides getting a free refill without having to stand in line, was water. They all dispensed water free of charge, so it was
very easy to stay hydrated for free.
Crowds are a fraction of what you find at Disney. The parks are smaller. Going off-peak you could see everything in two days if you rush, three taking your time. No need to express pass during off
peak.
Now the things that weren’t as good...
Rain closes a lot of stuff. More than half of the rides seemed to shut down when it rained or there was the threat of rain.
Lockers, lockers, lockers. You have to put your bags into lockers before getting in line for rides. And the Hulk coaster even had a METAL DETECTOR. This becomes a serious pain because a) the locker
areas get very crowded and b) you just get tired of having to dump all of your stuff. Pretty much any fun ride you have to use a locker.
The app was horrible. I know a lot of people don’t like the Disney one, but Universal’s was far, far, worse. The biggest problems were the filters resetting (so if you wanted to just see IoA rides,
and then looked at shows, when you went back to rides, you’d see both Universal and IoA), and the shows defaulted to map view instead of list view.
The characters were...interesting. Many seemed far older than they should be and many were out of shape. Not body shaming, but Thor shouldn’t have a gut. And the quality of the costumes was like a
high school production.
Speed of lines. Disney really has this down to an artform. Universal lines seemed to move slower given the same number of people.
Lastly, an observation that isn’t a comparison. We found the same items in the resorts to be cheaper than the parks. For example, a Simpsons donut in the parks would be $3, but in the resort $2.
Overall we liked Universal/IoA and are happy we went, but there was no...magic like you find at Disney, so for us, that’s a deal breaker.
Don't worry...I have them too lol. I love Disney movies.
