As a long time Disney fanatic and occasional Universal visitor, I thought I would share a few thoughts on last week's trip.
We stayed at Loews Royal Pacific Resort. Room and resort were very nice. There is currently no maid service, but you get a text contact and they will bring you whatever you need...this should continue post-COVID. Just my opinion, but I think the lack of maid service has more to do with maximizing profits than any real risk to customers and staff. The room was definitely getting a "lived-in" look after four nights with no cleaning. Proximity to the parks and Express Pass were the best parts of this resort. The pool was nice, but lacked the water slide and some of the activities that Disney provides. They had a pretty cool splash pad, but small children may like the feature slides and activities provided at Disney resorts better. The hotel really needs a destination Signature Dining spot at this price point. Jakes is OK to satisfy hunger and the Island Dining room is decent food and follows the hotel theme, but I would not go to either if I was not staying there.
As for the parks, it is really nice to have one self-contained bubble. Once you go through security you have access to City Walk and both parks without any additional screening. That said, the morning crowds are much better managed at Disney. There are significant lines in multiple places to get into the parks at opening. Disney does a much better job at spreading things out.
At least two of the days, the parks were at capacity. With Express Pass, this was a non-issue. We did pretty much everything we wanted when we wanted. The biggest impact of crowds was on food and dining wait times/availability. If you want ice cream in Diagon Alley, it is best to get it for breakfast. The lines can be really long in the afternoon. Same with butterbeer.
Online ordering was hit/miss. It seems to be implemented differently at each location and you really have to figure out if that is the way to go each time. In many cases it is not clear where you pick up for online orders. In others, it is a huge benefit.
Overall IT and Virtual Line is a poor substitute for Disney's integrated system. There is no cohesive online reservation system on the top menu...you can get to it for some restaurants, but you have to drill down quite far and I believe it runs through a third party service. After four days, I never did figure out the virtual line process. I got reservations for Hagrids 2X, but it was by sitting on the app for extensive periods of time. There seemed to be some general rule as to when reservations slots would drop, but it was by no means a definitive process. At Disney, you know exactly what to do, and it is up to you to execute. Universal is a lot more guesswork and refreshing your phone for long time windows. At Disney, your reservation means you will show up and be on RoTR in fairly short order. At Universal you are getting access to the line. Our waits in that line ranged from 75-105 minutes. Bring water and make a bathroom stop prior. It did not look easy to leave the line and return at any point.
IMO, Hagrids is the best roller coaster in Orlando. I was disappointed with the loss of Dueling Dragons, but Universal hit a home run with Hagrids. It is well themed, decent thrill level, and long enough to be worth the effort....are you paying attention Disney? This is what Mine Train should have been. Velocicoaster was in testing while we were there. The theming and ride look really good, but from the outside, it looks like a very short ride. I'm not sure you will be moving for much more than a minute unless there are parts I did not see.
All the other Universal attractions are as expected and well documented. Lots of screens. I am not anti-screen, but they don't really age well and you start to see the similarities. I was left with the impression that Transformers and Spider Man are nearly the same ride differently themed. They could really use updates, but I have no idea if that is technically feasible.
I can't figure out the hours plan at Universal. The parks closed at 6:00 pm most days. There were still a ton of people in the parks and plenty of demand. The nighttime experience in theme parks is unique, but Universal seems to be passing on this except for Sat night when they were open until 9:00 pm. Big edge to Disney on this. The only thing I can come up with here is, are they attempting to force people into City Walk to spend more money there?
Speaking of City Walk, it is not a great post park experience. Closing two parks within an hour, right at dinner time means there is really no place you can go without advance reservations. I read several times prior to my trip that Universal is not Disney and you don't been much advance planning for dining. The caveat to that should be that popular places and times should absolutely be planning at least a week or two in advance. If you want Toothsome Chocolate Emporium at park closing, book it at least a week but probably several weeks out. Maybe this will improve when restaurants are at full capacity, but right now, plan ahead.
Happy to answer any questions. Disney has a ton of planning information and experts to answer questions. I am not a Universal expert, but with fewer resources available, I am happy to help where I can.
We stayed at Loews Royal Pacific Resort. Room and resort were very nice. There is currently no maid service, but you get a text contact and they will bring you whatever you need...this should continue post-COVID. Just my opinion, but I think the lack of maid service has more to do with maximizing profits than any real risk to customers and staff. The room was definitely getting a "lived-in" look after four nights with no cleaning. Proximity to the parks and Express Pass were the best parts of this resort. The pool was nice, but lacked the water slide and some of the activities that Disney provides. They had a pretty cool splash pad, but small children may like the feature slides and activities provided at Disney resorts better. The hotel really needs a destination Signature Dining spot at this price point. Jakes is OK to satisfy hunger and the Island Dining room is decent food and follows the hotel theme, but I would not go to either if I was not staying there.
As for the parks, it is really nice to have one self-contained bubble. Once you go through security you have access to City Walk and both parks without any additional screening. That said, the morning crowds are much better managed at Disney. There are significant lines in multiple places to get into the parks at opening. Disney does a much better job at spreading things out.
At least two of the days, the parks were at capacity. With Express Pass, this was a non-issue. We did pretty much everything we wanted when we wanted. The biggest impact of crowds was on food and dining wait times/availability. If you want ice cream in Diagon Alley, it is best to get it for breakfast. The lines can be really long in the afternoon. Same with butterbeer.
Online ordering was hit/miss. It seems to be implemented differently at each location and you really have to figure out if that is the way to go each time. In many cases it is not clear where you pick up for online orders. In others, it is a huge benefit.
Overall IT and Virtual Line is a poor substitute for Disney's integrated system. There is no cohesive online reservation system on the top menu...you can get to it for some restaurants, but you have to drill down quite far and I believe it runs through a third party service. After four days, I never did figure out the virtual line process. I got reservations for Hagrids 2X, but it was by sitting on the app for extensive periods of time. There seemed to be some general rule as to when reservations slots would drop, but it was by no means a definitive process. At Disney, you know exactly what to do, and it is up to you to execute. Universal is a lot more guesswork and refreshing your phone for long time windows. At Disney, your reservation means you will show up and be on RoTR in fairly short order. At Universal you are getting access to the line. Our waits in that line ranged from 75-105 minutes. Bring water and make a bathroom stop prior. It did not look easy to leave the line and return at any point.
IMO, Hagrids is the best roller coaster in Orlando. I was disappointed with the loss of Dueling Dragons, but Universal hit a home run with Hagrids. It is well themed, decent thrill level, and long enough to be worth the effort....are you paying attention Disney? This is what Mine Train should have been. Velocicoaster was in testing while we were there. The theming and ride look really good, but from the outside, it looks like a very short ride. I'm not sure you will be moving for much more than a minute unless there are parts I did not see.
All the other Universal attractions are as expected and well documented. Lots of screens. I am not anti-screen, but they don't really age well and you start to see the similarities. I was left with the impression that Transformers and Spider Man are nearly the same ride differently themed. They could really use updates, but I have no idea if that is technically feasible.
I can't figure out the hours plan at Universal. The parks closed at 6:00 pm most days. There were still a ton of people in the parks and plenty of demand. The nighttime experience in theme parks is unique, but Universal seems to be passing on this except for Sat night when they were open until 9:00 pm. Big edge to Disney on this. The only thing I can come up with here is, are they attempting to force people into City Walk to spend more money there?
Speaking of City Walk, it is not a great post park experience. Closing two parks within an hour, right at dinner time means there is really no place you can go without advance reservations. I read several times prior to my trip that Universal is not Disney and you don't been much advance planning for dining. The caveat to that should be that popular places and times should absolutely be planning at least a week or two in advance. If you want Toothsome Chocolate Emporium at park closing, book it at least a week but probably several weeks out. Maybe this will improve when restaurants are at full capacity, but right now, plan ahead.
Happy to answer any questions. Disney has a ton of planning information and experts to answer questions. I am not a Universal expert, but with fewer resources available, I am happy to help where I can.
