2 thumbs down for Universal Studios, but Disney is awesome as usual!

We just got back from a WONDERFUL 6 days in Disney yesterday morning. I just love being down there around all the friendly people soaking in Disney Magic and it was so great to share it with my kids for the first time.

Unfortunately we spent the 7th day of our trip at Universal Studios. I haven't been there in 10 years and I don't know if I will ever go again. It was AWFUL!! I couldn't wait to leave. But I do miss Disney like crazy.

You can read about my entire trip in more detail and see all the pictures on my website here:
http://photogreetingsgalore.com/family/disneypictures/disneypics.htm

 

[AEfx]

Wow, loved your report! Great website design, too.

AEfx

 

[Stinkbug]

It seems you are bashing Universal Studio's simply because it was busy? People are going to be cranky and tired when it's hot and rainy out, and lines are going to be long.

Also, how you can blame Universal Studio's for having rules like they do on earthquake is beyond me, a baby under 3 has no business on that ride in the first place.

 

[Laura]

Wow you're awfully opinionated and rude.

I wasn't bashing Univeral because it was busy. I was complaining because they don't seem to do anything to try and make their guests have a good time. They just pack them into the park like Sardines. The queues are terrible, just rows and rows of queues and nothing else, no theming, no A/C, garbage all over the place. After a week of nice comfortable clean queue lines at Disney, Universal just felt terrible. Also they let all their resort guests skip to the front of every line so that leaves all the other guests waiting for 1-2 hours for each ride. There was no hospitality at all. I can't imagine that anyone other than the resort guests enjoyed themeselves.

As far as Earthquake, if a baby under 3 has no business being on that ride then why isn't there a height requirement? I hadn't ridden it in 10 years and couldn't remember anything about it. There's no warning sign outside that says lap sitting is not allowed and there's no age limit or height requirement. It's awfully stupid on THEIR part to allow parents with infants to board and then to tell them not to let them sit on their laps. It would have been dangerous for me to follow their rules and let my baby try to sit on her own in the seat in a ride that was lurching all over the place. But when she sat in my lap she was perfectly safe and fine. So yes, I do think that rule is ridiculous.

 

[Joy]

Just a quick note in Universal's defense. I think it's AWESOME that they offer front of the line access to hotel guests. When you are paying that much for a hotel room you deserve some perks- I truly believe that Disney should offer this perk for guests of their high-end deluxe hotels (Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, Polynesian, ect).

My husband and I ONLY go to Universal when we are staying at their hotels (which are all 3 AMAZING), and it is so cool to get "VIP" treatment. It really feels like such a vacation when you can see all the rides and attractions without lines and get priority seating in the restaurants. For anyone who wants a great, relaxing Universal vacation, staying on-site is the ONLY way to go.

But, don't get me wrong- I like Universal, but I LOVE Disney World!!!! :sohappy:

 

[KevinPage]

Just a quick note in Universal's defense. I think it's AWESOME that they offer front of the line access to hotel guests. When you are paying that much for a hotel room you deserve some perks- I truly believe that Disney should offer this perk for guests of their high-end deluxe hotels (Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, Polynesian, ect).

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I'm glad Disney doesn't do this. You are only catering to the ELITE or RICH then. People spend enough on a vacation. The hotel they stay in is what they are paying the price for. Once inside the park it should not be a CLASS system. Everyone pays the same price to enter the park and you should be treated equally. FastPass can be used by everyone, unless Universal where you can get "more" depending on what type of ticket you purchased. We know they are in it to make money all these companies, but do you have to be soooo blatant about it?

I'm not surprised the 2 companies that do this and charge people are Universal and Six Flags, since Universal is basically a "glorified" Six Flags.

Sorfy if I come off angry, this is a "hot button" topic with me. Change music or an attraction I can deal with, start putting people in a CLASS system inside an amusement park based on income, very wrong

 

[Legacy]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I'm glad Disney doesn't do this. You are only catering to the ELITE or RICH then. People spend enough on a vacation. The hotel they stay in is what they are paying the price for. Once inside the park it should not be a CLASS system. Everyone pays the same price to enter the park and you should be treated equally. FastPass can be used by everyone, unless Universal where you can get "more" depending on what type of ticket you purchased. We know they are in it to make money all these companies, but do you have to be soooo blatant about it?

I'm not surprised the 2 companies that do this and charge people are Universal and Six Flags, since Universal is basically a "glorified" Six Flags.

Sorfy if I come off angry, this is a "hot button" topic with me. Change music or an attraction I can deal with, start putting people in a CLASS system inside an amusement park based on income, very wrong

I think that Disney awarding front-of-the-line access to just luxery resort guests would be forming a class system. However, Universal doesn't have different classes of hotels. All three of theirs are priced the same as a luxary hotel, and for that reason VIP Express works. It isn't catering to the people who "spend the most money", but is awarding guest for staying on property.

And Uni is way better than Six Flags. Busch Gardens and SeaWorld sit between Uni and the Flags.

 

[Superstretch]

I totally agree w/ you ^^^. I never liked the way Universal ran their parks. It always seems like everyone is rude and in a bad state of mind there. I never enjoy myself at Universal. When I was last there, I found myself counting down the hours until I could go back to Disney. I think they have a degrading policy at Universal--no equality--which angers me.

 

[Superstretch]

I agree w/ you Kev, in case there is any confusion. I still think that the policy is not good. What if all that you can afford is an offsite hotel near universal and can't spend the bucks for the luxo hotels they offer. Then you can't take part in the system of bumping the line. As I see it this is still a form of classing and IMO don't care for it.

 

[Frees Fan]

I agree with you Kevin. I don't think anyone is better than anyone else once they get into the parks. Actually, Disney does do this to a certain extent with the E-ride nights. I mean...I have an annual pass but was refused entry when I went to the AK with an out of town buddy of mine a while ago. How do you think that made my friend feel when he learned that I couldn't go in with him because I wasn't paying for a room at the resort? So..in a sense, it's the same thing.

Hi Laura. Sorry you had such a bad time at USO. I agree with you on the crowds. I was over there on Tuesday as well with some friends who were visiting and I've never seen it so busy during the week. I think it's a shame that you had the experience at Earthquake....I really don't like that attraction much at all. In fact, the only rides I go on when I go over alone is ROTM and MIB and I love both. You've got some really cute kids! I love to watch the kids when I go to the different parks...Disney included.

However and I hope this doesn't come across rude, I think people should stop trying to compare WDW with other parks. I was at the MK today and saw trash all over the Buzz Lightyear queue area. BTMR was down when we first got there and the CM's on the job weren't very helpful with the questions they were being asked about the ride status. The HM was great again except they had the sound screwed up today. I personally enjoy going to USO/IOA much more than WDW not simply because I'm 10 mins from the parks but, I'm a coaster freak and WDW is WAY short in that area. That's always been a gripe of mine with Disney...they cater to the families...not to single people like me...which of course, USO and other parks do. I thought the lines on Tuesday at Universal weren't really that bad. We rode ROTM twice and both times the sign out front said 70 min wait times. Both times, we were in and out of the ride in under 40 mins. If you think 1-2 hours is a long wait..and it is...you should stay away from Six Flags, Busch Gardens and Paramount parks where 2-3 hour waits for newer rides and coasters are the norm in the summer. I used to live about 2 hours from King's Dominion in Va and we waited 3.5 hours for Volcano when that first opened.

Basically...there are a lot of factors to everyone's experiences at different parks. I don't believe now or ever in the future that WDW is heaven on Earth simply because of the attitudes of the employees and the contributing work assignments. I've met some very nice workers at USO and other parks..not just at WDW. I agree with you that Disney does some things well like theming but they aren't exactly shooting for the whole of the theme park goers. They are looking for families first and others after...and that's fine...I just won't be going as often as I would if they had more thrill rides. But, that isn't really applicable for you since you have small children. I think WDW is a really nice place to go but, again it's not exactly what I'm looking for...in terms of thrill rides...but that's just me.

I'm sorry for rambling on and I hope I didn't come across rude or disrespectful to you. Maybe you'll give USO/IOA another chance sometime. I think it's a great place to be and they try to cater to everyone...not just a certain area of the population.

Thanks for letting me vent!

:lookaroun

 

[diddy_mouse]

That was a truly awesome trip report...your family is so cute!

i'm sorry that your univeral experience kinda sucked, but from the Disney pictures it looked like you had a *great* time. your kids also seem like those who actually enjoy what's going on, except for the first few character meals i have read about other kids being scared when those giant characters get so close to them...i think i was wary of my first interaction with one when i was little. anywhoo...i'm glad your time at WDW was enjoyable :sohappy:

 

[Number_6]

The only time I got front-of-the-line access was last February at SeaWorld. I signed up for the Adventure Express tour there. It costs extra, but along with the access on the rides, you get reserved seating for the shows, reserved seating at lunch, you order what you want for lunch from a menu when you check-in for the tour and they have it ready for you when you get there. If you go at a time when it's crowded, it's worth paying a little extra to get it. The thing is, since it's a tour, it's not like there are a several hundred people with front of the line access, it's only about 14-20 in the entire park. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Merlin]

It seems you are bashing Universal Studio's simply because it was busy? People are going to be cranky and tired when it's hot and rainy out, and lines are going to be long.

Also, how you can blame Universal Studio's for having rules like they do on earthquake is beyond me, a baby under 3 has no business on that ride in the first place.

I agree!! Everything described in the Universal part of that trip report was stuff that could just as easily have occured at Disney on one of THEIR busy days. (By the way, the baby's diaper incident was really TOO MUCH INFORMATION that I could have done without).

 

[KevinPage]

I agree with you Kevin. I don't think anyone is better than anyone else once they get into the parks. Actually, Disney does do this to a certain extent with the E-ride nights. I mean...I have an annual pass but was refused entry when I went to the AK with an out of town buddy of mine a while ago. How do you think that made my friend feel when he learned that I couldn't go in with him because I wasn't paying for a room at the resort? So..in a sense, it's the same thing

I don't feel it is the same thing. Early Entry & paying extra admission for the park to stay open AFTER HOURS can be a perk. But you should not create a CLASS system during REGULAR park hours,. That to me is unfair. Not allowing non resort guests into the parks before or after hours does not "affect" the price they pay for regulalr admission to the park. Giving hotel guests an "advantage" during the day causes the value of what each person paid to be different. Everyone should have the same opportunity to experience the attractions at that time.

Open parks early or keeping them open late for hotel guests is a very nice and completely ehtical thing to do.

I'm a AP holder, but you won't hear me complaining about those 2 things.

 

[barnum42]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I'm glad Disney doesn't do this....Once inside the park it should not be a CLASS system. Everyone pays the same price to enter the park and you should be treated equally.

I second the motion.

 

[barnum42]

You can read about my entire trip in more detail and see all the pictures on my website here:
http://andrew-laura.com/disneypictures/disneypics.htm

Just tried the link, it currently appears to be down.

 

[TimeTrip]

The queues are terrible, just rows and rows of queues and nothing else, no theming, no A/C, garbage all over the place.

Just a note, I think Universal Studios probably has the same percentage of A/C'ed queues for big rides as MK. MK has space mountain, splash mountain (sort of), small world (sort of), timekeeper, pirates, philharmagic. Major rides that don't have AC queues are BTMR, speedway, astro orbiter, haunted mansion, jungle cruise, peter pan, dumbo, pooh, snow white, etc. The theming on alot of the lines at MK isn't so great either. Look at small world, peter pan, timekeeper, speedway, astro orbiter, dumbo, pooh, philharmagic. The only rides that I consider to have really good theming are Space, big thunder, splash, haunted mansion, pirates and maybe jungle cruise.

Now lets look at universal studios. They have their share of non a/c'ed queues (twister, shrek, jimmy neutron, bttf to name a few), but they have some pretty good themed queues that are indoor and A/c'ed. Look at Mummy, MIB, ET and T2-3d.

I guess I just feel that both parks have an equal amount of good queues and bad queues. I don't think its fair to pan the universal queues like you did.. but that just my opinion . Unless you're comparing it to EPCOT..

 

[Legacy]

Open parks early or keeping them open late for hotel guests is a very nice and completely ehtical thing to do.

But with Universal, they are confined to how often they can open the parks later. They at one point opened up the parks early for resort guests (I'm not sure if they still do), but more guests would benefit from staying open later. Universal being near residental areas causes them to not allow late night outside of holiday weekends or October (and even then, the coasters are shut down no later than midnight). Universal also is trying to draw people away from Disney, so providing more incentive for staying on property at Uni is just another marketing draw. I understand how it developes a class system, but if someone is willing to pay for the experience of staying at Hard Rock or Portifino Bay rather than stay at a motel off-property to save money, then they deserve star treatment.

Universal gets more money off thier resort guest than anyone else. Front of the line access keeps them happy. It's a good plan, and it works well for them.

 

[DisneylandDude]

I'm neither bashing Universal nor Disney because I love those both those parks equally, but in response to the comment of the queues being dirty, yes Universal Queues are dirty but at the end of the Day the Splash Mountain queue is FILTHY. That one trash can on the stairs is awful. The only problem I have with US is a......Universal Cast Member I guess when asked about WDW reffered to Mickey Mouse as a Stupid Rat which has rude and inapropritate at the time. I think both of their attractions are imaginative and entertaining. However City Walk compared to Downtown Disney is all just Theme Resturaunts while Downtown Disney is more diverse. I have a problem with people bashing Universal and People Bashing Disney Parks for being to Cutesy. Thats just my opinion.

 

[Joy]

I had no idea that I would be attacked simply for stating MY opinion about the front of the line system at UO. I guess I will just keep my "privileged, class system" self off of these boards from now on. thanks