I was from a Disney only family, and have only been to Disney - until last week. We did Universal for the first time on Thanksgiving week. I was prepared for it to NOT be Disney, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The help was wonderful, the parks were clean, I had no issues with anything that made me want to compare Universal to my local amusement park.
That being said, we did stay on site (Hard Rock) and had the Unlimited Express Pass and LOVED IT! The most we waiting was maybe 10 minutes once, I think because the cast member loading the ride vehicles just wasn't too swift, but he was still nice. (Remember Thanksgving!)
I always said you have to stay on site at Disney, and I would say that is even MORE important at Universal. When we WALKED over from the Hard Rock, we had our own bag check (no lines with the parking lot people), then we had early entry, then we had express pass, then we could walk back to the hotel room for a break or a forgotten item, then walk back. It was great!
Other people told me that they think Univesal caters to the Express Pass people more than Disney does to the Fastpass people.