What a terrible review!
I'll address it point for point:
OK, before doing Universal, I had asked many people how it stacked up against Disney. I got many replies, but there didn't seem to be any consensus at all.
I have very strong opinions about it after seeing both and thought I'd share for the benefit of others.
Did you form those strong opinions
before or
after you ever set foot inside Universal?
First of all, I don't think it's "Coke vs. Pepsi" at all. They are very different places. I personally thought WDW blew Universal out of the water. Not even close. But I can see that some people might feel differently.
Well, I certainly feel different. While each place has its strengths and weaknesses, I wouldn't say that either place could blow the other out of the water.
Here's the difference: Disney Magic.
OK, OK hear me out. I'm not your typical "Disney magic" type person. I'm a guy who could care less about "Magic" and pixie dust and garbage. I could care less about the Disney characters. I haven't read most of the classic books, or seen 3/4 of the movies. I don't get teary eyed seeing the castle, Mickey Mouse is just OK, and tinkerbell and the cricket kind of annoy me. In fact, I didn't believe in "disney magic" at all.
Until I went to Universal.
The total lack of magic at universal made me realize that Disney does in fact have something special about it.
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again.
Complaining about the lack of Disney Magic at Uni is like looking for Coke at a Pepsi plant, then complaining that there's nothing to drink - while you're surrounded by thousands of litres of Pepsi!
There is abundant magic at Universal - Movie Magic. If you know how to look for it, and open your heart to it, it flows as strongly as Disney Magic. But it's a different flavor. Just because you don't like the taste doesn't means it's not there; you just didn't try a sip.
But it's not pixie dust. It's attention to detail.
If you care about attention to detail, you'll notice the difference. And if you care about these things, then it all starts adding up and making a big difference. There are a million little ways in which it shows up. For instance:
Did you go to the same Universal that I've been going to for the last 18 years? I see plenty of attention to detail, from the stars on the street to the old Hollywood style street lamps to the Blues Brothers live performance (daily) to the replicas of Doc Brown's train and Delorean... it goes on.
a. The quality of the help is off the charts different. Universal had typical McDonald's-esque type help. Not terrible, but visibly disinterested in being there. Poorly trained, etc. I can give examples. Disney folks were usually nice and helpful (and without being fakey sappy, for the most part).
Did you speak to any TMs while you were there? Because I have not had a bad experience with a Uni TM, in either park, in years. I find the TMs at Uni to be not only just as good at Disney CMs, but happier and more enthusiastic in their jobs. Their smiles aren't forced, and they truly enjoy working for Uni.
b. Sloppiness. At Universal, some things are just sloppy. Sloppy uniforms. Less well tended grounds. Cheesier sets. One great example: I was excited to see Shaggy and Scooby Doo. Then I walked a couple of blocks down and guess what? ANOTHER Shaggy and Scooby! I've never seen that at Disney and can't imagine it happening. Talk about breaking the illusion that these are the "one and only, real" characters. It just seemed sort of dumb and poorly done. I saw characters completely fall out of character in public on numerous occasions. One princess got whinny and started talking to friends.
Again, I think you must have been at a different Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida than I have been visiting for the last 18 years, because I have not encountered any significant difference in "sloppiness" between CMs and TMs. And I have never, ever seen a character at either place step out of character, nor have I seen duplicate characters. I'm sure they do happen; nobody is perfect, and with as many Tiggers and Scoobies as there are, once in a while there must be more than one on the street. On the other hand, AFAIK, Uni only has one Mystery Machine van, which drives Scooby and Shaggy out to their meeting places, so I'm not sure how you could have seen more than one Scoob and Shag at the same time in the same park. Maybe it was the same Scoob and Shag - they move around a lot, and might have repositioned by van while you were walking.
c. Food. Just fewer options, lower quality. Burgers were fattier, Turkey legs were less tasty. (However their lemon and blueberry slushes were awsome!!)
I disagree completely on quality - I think generally, WDW and Uni are about equal, with a few exceptions. And I've never gotten a turkey leg from either place that was more than mediocre.
But on options, I agree that Uni falls behind. Uni has made the mistake of putting their best restaurants in CityWalk and the resorts, not in the parks. I guess they wanted the additional opening time (since resort restaurants are not tied to park hours) and the additional exposure (since you don't need a park pass to eat at either CityWalk or the resorts), but it tends to leave the parks short on good dining. Still, if you want some great food, it's a lot easier to walk out of either park to CityWalk than it is to walk out of a WDW park and go to Downtown Disney. Uni's 3 resorts are as close as the Epcot resorts are to Epcot and DHS, as well.
d. Ride theme-ing. I care about this. I love the intricate details and atmosphere at Disney rides. There is little if any of this at Universal. The quality is just not there. Queing areas are usually very boring. For instance, the actual place Sherk 4D is shown is spartan.
Okay, so I guess you missed the Speak and Spell and the man with the keys on ET, and you missed the Wakita signs and Meg's wind chimes in Twister, and you missed the bloody hand print on the Orca's window in Jaws, and the overwhelming details in T2:3D, and maybe you missed the Disney nametag on the shirt that the compys are fighting over on the Jurassic Park River adventure - but you couldn't have missed the sounds of the compys moving through the grass all around JP or the way that the park's theme music comes from speakers disguised as Jurassic Park motion trackers!
Lack of details? Boring? I think NOT! At least, not if you pay attention and are even passingly familiar with the source materials (movies, TV, cartoons, and comics) of the various USF and IOA areas and attractions.
c. Fastpass. Disney's is good, democratic, and works. Universal's had a lot of problems, didn't always work, and was undemocratic.
What sort of problems? And what, exactly, do you mean by "undemocratic?"
Other considerations.
1. The characters. I have zero attachment to Mikey Mouse, etc. In fact I like Universals character set better. Shaggy and Scoobie Doo! Cool. Curious George! Cool! Spiderman - come on! Lots of fun characters. For me advantage Universal. Your mileage may vary...
Ditto, though I was a fan of the Hundred Acre Wood gang as a kid, so the first time I ever saw Winnie the Pooh in the parks I went from 21 to 9 in a half second, practically jumped off a moving bus, and ran up to get a pic with him.
2. Traveling with younger kids. Disney is much better. Universal had some cool stuff for young ones. In fact, I absolutely adored their mini water park at Universal Studios. BUT, most rides not explicitly for kids are inappropriate for them. In Disney most rides are kid friendly, but there are a few rides kids shouldn't do. In Universal it is exactly the opposite.
Uni has always tried to attract an older demographic than WDW. If you go there looking for nothing by kiddie rides, you'll be disappointed. You're dead if you aim only for kids, anyway.
3. Public. The crowd at Universal, particularly on the weekend was... different. There was a much higher "Jerry Springer Audience" quotient at Universal. I'm not saying that's bad, it's just different. What was bad was there was also a significant "thug" quotient at Universal on the weekend. And I'm not using that as code for any particular ethnic group. There was equal opportunity thugishness going on. Not like it was dangerous or anything. Just a lot more tough characters around.
That hasn't been my experience at Uni. I won't say anything more than that.
4. Older kids / thrill riders. Universal is THE place to be if you are between 10 and 25. Everything is louder, faster, etc. I'm a pretty young 37. In fact I was pumped up when I heard the entrance music was the Red Hot Chili Peppers the day I went! Cool! I LOVED the intensity of the drop in the Jurassic ride. Though I can't ride coasters, I can imagine that Hulk and Dragons must be sweet rides. If that's what you're after - if it's all about the rides and intense rides at that - then IoA and Universal will be a great choice. Still, for me, it didn't make up for the lack of quality and (to me) a sort of juvenile sense about things. Every darned ride seemed to try and have some element of scary or "in your faceness". Even Dr. Seuss and ET! It wasn't thoughtful thrills, it was just BAM, in your face. Bigger and Louder. That played well with my 11 year old, but got old with me. Even the sense of humor seemed geared to that age group. Shrek has a fart joke in it. When I saw it I just sighed. I'm not a big fan of fart humor. It just seems dumb to me. My 11 year old, of course, loved it - it's the first thing he mentioned.
Uni's target demographic is families with teens. It's a teen-friendly place, with lots of teen-oriented and teen-appropriate areas and attractions. As a "young 37" (FYI - I'm an OLD 38, myself), naturally you might not fully appreciate or even understand all of the humor, the intensity, or the sights and sounds.
Overall, the theming isn't close in most places. Studios is OK, but not great. IoA had my hopes up. The entrance and most of the adventure area is pretty much Disney quality, but it goes downhill quickly as you move around. By the Superhero area, it's just loud, in your face, steel and plastic.
Boy, I can't even begin to address this one. Amity, the various New York streets, the Embarcadero... all of these areas are themed as well as anything WDW has, and all of the IOA islands blow WDW away on atmosphere and architecture. I don't recall Disney ever putting stuff in the grass to rustle it as though there were dinosaurs walking through it, coupled with sound effects of the dinos calls and footsteps - and that's not even a queue, it's just the walkways! The only parts of WDW that are as totally immersive on theming as IOA are the World Showcase pavilions and perhaps Main Street USA.
Again, none of this stuff is that important, but it adds up, cumulatively, to give you an impression of things.
I disagree - ALL of that stuff is important, specifically because it all adds up.
What I will give Universal credit for is creativity. I didn't much like Terminator (3D effects were off and on and the movie itself was boring IMHO) the way it was done was different and creative. And Spiderman - wow! Too rough, but wow - really neat effects. Also, watch the video monitors in the Terminator queue. They show pictures of the waiting crowd, but have some interesting things happen.
If you found T2:3D boring, I would guess that you're not a fan of the Terminator franchise, and thus would not be terribly impressed with the attraction no matter what.
Bottom Line: Kali River Rapids as compared to the Bluto ride at Universal is a perfect microcosm of the difference between Disney and Universal. Bluto is more intense. It gets you wetter. It moves faster. It's longer. But I prefer Kali 100 times over. Bluto is essentially a garish plastic chute. The quality of the "set" is sort of McDonald's Play landish. It gets you wet, but I noticed that TONS of water sloshes around on the floor and your feet get sopping wet (which seems to me to be sort of a poor design - when you may or may not get really wet, but your shoes are guaranteed to be sopping wet). In comparison Kali is just beautiful to look at and be a part of. From the waiting line on its attractive, jungly, mysterious. Just nice. So for me, I love being on Kali and found Bluto sort of boring and ugly. But my son who is 11 loved Bluto.
I don't ride the water rides, so I can't address your comments except to say that Toon Lagoon and its attractions are
supposed to be "McDonalds Playland-ish" because it's a
cartoon-themed land. It's supposed to look like a cartoon - bright, garish, loud, and fake. Cartoonish.
So think about what you like, what floats your boat, and what bugs you and you'll have a pretty decent idea of how you'll feel about each location.
For my wife and I, we ended up leaving early both days we were at the Universal parks to go back to Disney. At Universal we tried to get ride to ride to do each thing. At Disney we just liked BEING there. The cumulative effect of all those things just make Disney a nice place to be. And that is the "Magic" as far as I'm concerned.
Magic doesn't come from theme parks. It doesn't come from rides, or shows, or restaurants or resorts. Magic, whether Disney or any other variety, comes from us, from our own hearts. You can't experience Disney Magic unless you have some within you to begin with - WDW just lets it out and lets it breathe.
The same holds true for Universal. The Uni parks are designed to celebrate movies, TV shows, cartoons, and comic books. They have a more limited appeal, because not everyone likes movies - just like not everyone likes Disney. But for those of us who do love the Terminator movies, E.T., Jaws, the Simpsons, Shrek, the Nickelodeon characters, the Blues Brothers, the Marx Brothers, Scooby and Shaggy, or Lucy and Ricky, Universal lets
that magic out every time.
Do others agree with this assessment?
Not hardly (movie fans - name that quote!)
Side point - what the heck is up with the resorts at Universal. I felt it was way overpriced, and I felt we got nickeled and dimed all the time. Can't believe I spent $240 for one night.
Which one did you stay in? What sort of things did they "nickel and dime" you on? Did you feel anything else was wrong with them? Was service lacking? Was your room not clean? Did you get a bad view?
The Uni resorts all seem comparable to WDW Deluxes to me - at similar or lower prices - and the theming, dining options, and service all seem as good or better than most Disney resorts.
Personally, I can't believe anyone would spend $240 on one night in any hotel, but that's just me; I'm a Value guy and love the All-Stars, and when I stay in the Uni area I stay at an off-site hotel on I-drive and get a good value for my money.
Pound for pound, I'd say this comparisson is about as far off as it can get.
You have them all over the world with each offering different things to different people. 
