Going over to the darkside

JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
figmentfan423 said:
:(THNX it's not in the budget:( But we'll have the GAC which will give us a return time, I'm hoping with 4 days that should give us enough time to do almost everything.
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Try getting creative and think outside of the box then with the budget. Since Universal's hotel perks are applicable on check-in and check-out dates, you really only need 2 nights on property to cover your 4 days.

Maybe look into an offsite night or two?

See if you can make it work.

My wife is disabled and even with Universal's flavor of disability access - you will find Express much, much easier to use.

BTW - I'm getting ready to post something in Spirit's thread about the state of disability access at both WDW and Uni. Neither location come out smelling like a rose. The most common issue with Universal - get ready to be told they don't have a wheelchair for you to transfer to more times than you can count. It's very common for attractions to have only 1 or 2 chairs and both of them be in use and the vast majority (including the headlining Potter attractions) require a transfer to a chair.
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Premium Member
Original Poster
JediMasterMatt said:
Try getting creative and think outside of the box then with the budget. Since Universal's hotel perks are applicable on check-in and check-out dates, you really only need 2 nights on property to cover your 4 days.

Maybe look into an offsite night or two?

See if you can make it work.

My wife is disabled and even with Universal's flavor of disability access - you will find Express much, much easier to use.

BTW - I'm getting ready to post something in Spirit's thread about the state of disability access at both WDW and Uni. Neither location come out smelling like a rose. The most common issue with Universal - get ready to be told they don't have a wheelchair for you to transfer to more times than you can count. It's very common for attractions to have only 1 or 2 chairs and both of them be in use and the vast majority (including the headlining Potter attractions) require a transfer to a chair.
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THNX please tag me!
 
BrerJon

BrerJon

Well-Known Member
figmentfan423 said:
:(THNX it's not in the budget:( But we'll have the GAC which will give us a return time, I'm hoping with 4 days that should give us enough time to do almost everything.
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I know you're getting conflicting views, but changing hotel rooms midway just to try to fiddle an Express pass seems overkill to me for that length of stay - I agree if you only had one or even two days, an Express would be useful, but with four days you'll have plenty of time to do everything and have re-rides.

My view is the time spent packing up, moving hotels, checking in etc. is just as much wasted time as that spent standing in line, so might as well save the money. If you make a rough touring plan of which attractions to hit, you should be able to avoid long lines - especially if using single rider lines for re-rides.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
Yea, I'd really advocate sticking with your current plan. Even without Express, with 4 days you'll be able to do everything you need to do comfortably, and get repeats on most everything you'd want to.

Plus, Cabana Bay is a spectacular resort. You'll definitely want to spend some time by the pools and lazy river there
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
Agreed with the others who think switching hotels is more trouble than it's worth.

When is your trip again?

I have been monitoring wait times and they really aren't that bad. Despicable Me is consistently topping out at an hour. The two HP headliners can be an hour each, but I have seen them as low as 20 minutes several times a day (assuming the times on the Universal app are accurate). You'll have early access to HP 4 times and EP won't even help with those anyway. With 4 whole days, I hardly see EP as a necessity.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
lebeau said:
Agreed with the others who think switching hotels is more trouble than it's worth.

When is your trip again?

I have been monitoring wait times and they really aren't that bad. Despicable Me is consistently topping out at an hour. The two HP headliners can be an hour each, but I have seen them as low as 20 minutes several times a day (assuming the times on the Universal app are accurate). You'll have early access to HP 4 times and EP won't even help with those anyway. With 4 whole days, I hardly see EP as a necessity.
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Universal's rides, for the most part, handle a lot of people an hour. You'll rarely see the kind of lines Disney rides like TSMM get because of that. Minion Mayhem is really the only big name ride with a small capacity.
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
GLaDOS said:
Universal's rides, for the most part, handle a lot of people an hour. You'll rarely see the kind of lines Disney rides like TSMM get because of that. Minion Mayhem is really the only big name ride with a small capacity.
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That's been my observation just from frequently checking the app. Even the big attractions will regularly have 20 minute waits in the mid afternoon. It's been interesting to watch. Every now and them something will spike for no apparent reason. But generally speaking, waits are nothing like at WDW.

I keep telling my wife I think she'll like Universal much better than WDW. Everything she complains about at Disney is much less of a factor at Universal. Her best friend just returned from her first Orlando trip and said basically the same thing. Loved Universal, wouldn't go back to WDW on a dare.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
lebeau said:
That's been my observation just from frequently checking the app. Even the big attractions will regularly have 20 minute waits in the mid afternoon. It's been interesting to watch. Every now and them something will spike for no apparent reason. But generally speaking, waits are nothing like at WDW.

I keep telling my wife I think she'll like Universal much better than WDW. Everything she complains about at Disney is much less of a factor at Universal. Her best friend just returned from her first Orlando trip and said basically the same thing. Loved Universal, wouldn't go back to WDW on a dare.
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I know this is getting into a very different conversation than the OT, but this is something Universal should play up in its marketing, in my opinion. It is a far less stressful trip overall. Less planning, no ADRs needed, no worry about booking rides, and it's much easier to spend an hour or two at the pool midday.

I love the bones of WDW. But the experience is just far too stressful now, and UOR offers a really great alternative to that
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
GLaDOS said:
I know this is getting into a very different conversation than the OT, but this is something Universal should play up in its marketing, in my opinion. It is a far less stressful trip overall. Less planning, no ADRs needed, no worry about booking rides, and it's much easier to spend an hour or two at the pool midday.

I love the bones of WDW. But the experience is just far too stressful now, and UOR offers a really great alternative to that
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Shhhhh! Don't let the secret out! ;)
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Premium Member
Original Poster
lebeau said:
Agreed with the others who think switching hotels is more trouble than it's worth.

When is your trip again?

I have been monitoring wait times and they really aren't that bad. Despicable Me is consistently topping out at an hour. The two HP headliners can be an hour each, but I have seen them as low as 20 minutes several times a day (assuming the times on the Universal app are accurate). You'll have early access to HP 4 times and EP won't even help with those anyway. With 4 whole days, I hardly see EP as a necessity.
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Just over 380 days LOL But I'm going to have to book the condo for the Disney part of the trip in the next week or 2. So I'll have to know how many nights to book that for.
 
misterID

misterID

Well-Known Member
The biggest pushback on getting people to go to UNI over WDW for me is the resistance to screen-based attractions. Even the F&F ride commercial is a pain. "Another simulator?" Then you have to explain that it's for Hollywood and all that. It's getting that reputation, though. And that's unfortunate. Especially when you're trying to talk people into going. Kong will hopefully go a long way in helping that.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
misterID said:
The biggest pushback on getting people to go to UNI over WDW for me is the resistance to screen-based attractions. Even the F&F ride commercial is a pain. "Another simulator?" Then you have to explain that it's for Hollywood and all that. It's getting that reputation, though. And that's unfortunate. Especially when you're trying to talk people into going. Kong will hopefully go a long way in helping that.
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That's no different than thinking all Disney rides are really slow and chocked full wax museum-esque 70s era robots. Oooo, so exciting!
 
misterID

misterID

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
That's no different than thinking all Disney rides are really slow and chocked full wax museum-esque 70s era robots. Oooo, so exciting!
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Not really, not when you're talking to people who have been to Disney (and UNI in the past) and know that's not the case. At all. The whole point is that they see Disney as having a wide range of different attractions. That's not the same thinking you get from UNI. Hopefully that changes...
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
misterID said:
Not really, not when you're talking to people who have been to Disney (and UNI in the past) and know that's not the case. At all. The whole point is that they see Disney as having a wide range of different attractions. That's not the same thinking you get from UNI. Hopefully that changes...
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I assume these are predominantly "Disney families"?

Because I've never had this issue at all.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
misterID said:
Not really, not when you're talking to people who have been to Disney (and UNI in the past) and know that's not the case. At all. The whole point is that they see Disney as having a wide range of different attractions. That's not the same thinking you get from UNI. Hopefully that changes...
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Really? I see a lot of slow moving omnimover and boat rides. But they do have a plethora of trains in mountains
 

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