Disney Lover..BUT....There are things about Universal I think are superior to Disney

[case88]

My family loves Disney, but the draw of HP sent us over to Universal and IOA last May. FJ is by far the most incredible ride I've ever been on..I couldn't get over it and rode about 4 times in a row. We enjoyed the rest of the attractions a lot as well. However, on our last day at the parks we looked at each other and agreed that it was fun but it lacked the *magic* that we feel at Disney. Maybe this is due to the way our child reacts when at Disney as opposed to the lack of excitement he had at US/IOA (the lone exception being One Fish, Two Fish - that we could not pry my son away from).

When it comes to small children, Disney can't be beat...however US/IoA has Disney completely beat when it comes to the Child Swap. The little rooms off to the side of each loading area are great, plus you swap immediately as opposed to having to go through the FP line at Disney...which can take a long time depending on the ride (Soarin' anyone?).

 

[draybook]

I've also found that in our experience, the Universal workers seemed happier and much friendlier. In 4 trips to US/IoA we have yet to come across a rude or unhappy worker.

 

[Communicore]

Universal's food is pathetic. I prefer Disney food any day. :sohappy:

 

[ShookieJones]

is the front of line access with room keys. You just CAN NOT beat that. Again..knowing that it comes with high cost of their hotels, all seems worth it when you bypass hundreds of people to front of line with your key...anytime of day/night..right to the front ..AWSUM!!!!

I agree with this 100 percent. I've never stayed at a onsite Uni hotel but I always thought this as a huge perk to staying there and wish it was something that Disney would have adapted instead of the FP system we have today.

 

[real mad hatter]

Hmm.

You folks in Florida are so lucky,you've got WDW and Universal/Islands,Sea world,Bush Gardens,Kennedy Space Centre,The Everglades,etc,etc,While here in Bonnie Scotland we've got the,wait for it,The Loch Ness Monster Centre. :ROFLOL:

 

[Cold71]

I had a good chuckle at this. Disney's maintenance has been notoriously terrible on many of its attractions the past few years - see Splash Mountain for the best example.

Granted, Universal's maintenance is by no means perfect, either. Revenge of the Mummy, Cat in the Hat, and parts of ET need a lengthy refurbishment. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls has always looked terrible IMO and needs a complete redo. Jurassic Park River Adventure needs a massive overhaul to bring it up to the standards of its older Hollywood cousin.

That said, individual effects seem to be fixed MUCH faster at Universal. As some around here have explained, Universal operates on a pretty effective maintenance & points system (in which a ride can go down if enough effects aren't operating).

As I've stated many times before, I'm done giving Disney my vacation dollars until their maintenance standards significantly improve and they stop relying on the nostalgia pixie dust to get repeat guests - that only works for so long. If I'm going to drop hundreds to thousands of dollars on a theme park vacation, I want a destination that has a desire to improve and innovate. Right now, Universal is that destination. The amount of projects they've already announced, and others that are in the works (Potter 2.0 anyone?) is absolutely staggering. (Still upset about Jaws, though.)

I honestly think your kind of splitting hairs here, you've taken one thing that you think Universal does better and pretty much have shunned Disney for it. Don't get me wrong I love the rides at Universal but from a visual stand point the place is a dump. Go stand in the line for spider-man or hulk and count how many props, etc. that need to be repainted or just thrown in the trash. I can't really criticize Disney for any sort of maintenance issues with Universals log ride last year randomly bursting in to flames.

 

[marni1971]

The only thing Universal does better than Disney is offering the fastpass for people staying at one of their onsite deluxe resorts. Thats the only thing I feel Disney should steal from them for their deluxe resorts.


Otherwise, breaking down my personal favorites:

Best Ride

Disney: Tower of Terror
Universal: Spider-Man

Winner- Tower of Terror

Best Resort

Disney: Bay Lake Tower
Universal: Portofino

Winner- Bay Lake, hands down, no contest.


Best Restaurant

Disney: O'Hana
Universal: Mythos

Winner-O'Hana

Best Coaster

Disney: Rock N Rollercoaster
Universal: Hulk

Winner- RnR, hulk has very little themeing, leaving a lot to be desired.


Best 3D attraction

Disney: Philharmagic
Universal: Terminator

Winner- Terminator


Star Wars or Harry Potter:

Star Wars without question.



Universal still has a way to go to beat Disney at the things they created in the first place. While a little better than Six Flags in terms of themeing, Universal still is not in Disney's ballpark.


Jimmy Thick-My opinion, which is paramount, of course.:wave:

In your humble opinion, of course?

 

[Skip]

In your humble opinion, of course?

No no, paramount. Never mind that half of those comparisons don't even make sense. :lol:

 

[xdan0920]

In your humble opinion, of course?

:ROFLOL:Outstanding:ROFLOL:

 

[real mad hatter]

Scratch head.

Must admit,agree with Jimmy Thick, suppose it's all about what you want from your vacation.If I was booked for Universal/IOA.and staying at Rock Cafe I wouldn't be as excited as I am staying inside the magic bubble.:wave:

 

[ChristianG]

Have to agree with the OP, and basically with what almost everyone is saying.

Universal's attraction upkeep is really quite surprising and fantastic, when at the same time, Disney attraction upkeep is very surprising, and not-so fantastic.

I do prefer Disney's food though, except the prices. The price of pretty much EVERYTHING at Disney is ridiculous - especially hotels and food.

If Disney cut all of this next-gen crap and actually used their money for something more useful, such as maintaining their attractions, things would be much better.

 

[spock]

Best Restaurant

Disney: O'Hana
Universal: Mythos

Winner-O'Hana

I think this one is an apple/orange comparison. O'Hana isn't a theme park restaurant. A restaurant located in a four diamond resort would be expected to be superior to a restaurant at a theme park. Just my two cents.

 

[Scuttle]

I think this one is an apple/orange comparison. O'Hana isn't a theme park restaurant. A restaurant located in a four diamond resort would be expected to be superior to a restaurant at a theme park. Just my two cents.

Agreed.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Its funny how the tables have turned on this forum. Any Universal thread used to be met with almost no compliments. Now its quite the opposite and people are now favoring Universal's offerings over Disney.

Universal's food is pathetic. I prefer Disney food any day. :sohappy:

No, it isn't. Maybe their in-park table service is lacking but the quick service food is at least the same, if not better.

 

[trooper1917]

FOTL at US is fantastic. That being said, I have never felt the family environment at US that I feel at WDW. I prefer that.

 

[HenryMystic]

Its funny how the tables have turned on this forum. Any Universal thread used to be met with almost no compliments. Now its quite the opposite and people are now favoring Universal's offerings over Disney.No, it isn't. Maybe their in-park table service is lacking but the quick service food is at least the same, if not better.

It should be refreshing to people who have hungered for competition between the 2 resorts. Universal is doing its part. Time for the WDW to wake up and do its. In the end, the consumer wins.

 

[draybook]

I'd ask you the same thing about Disney. How many times can you do Space Mountain and keep it fresh? It's repetitive no matter which brand you go with. We LOVE Universal. Would we base a trip on just US, no. But we're considering giving them another day on our upcoming trips, if not more.

 

[HenryMystic]

We've always enjoyed WDW and UO; both are extremely well executed. On a park-by-park basis, the two are comparable (IMHO).

However, we tend to give the nod to WDW simply because it's so much larger and has more to offer. We've never had a problem keeping ourselves entertained during week-long vacations at WDW. With the exception of DAK, we can spend a full day at each of the theme parks and water parks. (Including the sometimes maligned DHS, where we take our time and enjoy the atmosphere. My favorites are breakfast at Starring Rolls and a long, mid afternoon lunch at Mama Melrose's.) Usually we'll include stops at DTD and the BW. (Not much of a fan of DQ.) With 4 major theme parks, 2 water parks, and other destinations, a week vacation at WDW sometimes feels too short.

UO has several outstanding attractions, as good as or better than anything offered by the mouse. Our personal experience is that UO quality and staff are just as nice as WDW. Yet we find we cannot spend more than about 3 days at UO without feeling as if we are repeating ourselves.

We just purchased UO APs and are looking for ways to stretch our days at UO. If you've spent 6 or 7 consecutive days at UO, how do you keep the parks "fresh"?

I'd ask you the same thing about Disney. How many times can you do Space Mountain and keep it fresh? It's repetitive no matter which brand you go with. We LOVE Universal. Would we base a trip on just US, no. But we're considering giving them another day on our upcoming trips, if not more.

Personally, I think 3 days at either resort is the point of diminishing returns. That's the beauty of having Universal, WDW, SW, Legoland, etc all conveniently within driving distance of each other. The problem is Disney has made tickets so cheap the longer you stay. I get that. But there's a whole other world of theme parks just waiting to be explored and most never get get to see them because it's cheaper to spend 10 days exclusively at Disney.

The key, to most everything in life, is balance.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I LOVE Disney as well but I have to agree with the aspect of this post. I don't know about Universal Studios Orlando, but here in California, Universal Studios Hollywood creates a much better guest service than Disney in my opinion. For example as an anual passholder, USH just sent me a free ticket to bring a friend for my birthday. Another example, there was chance of rain a couple of weeks ago and USH promised to give its guests complimentary tickets and FREE HOT CHOCOLATE if it should rain, on any day. Amazing! Disney would most likely NEVER do something like that! Not to mention for just $80, I can go to USH for a whole year AND A HALF everyday. Awesome. I could go on but I think I've made my key points.

 

[dcibrando]

What Disney needs to do:

PARKS

Magic Kingdom
- New Fantasyland (in progress)
- New daytime parade
- New nighttime parade (better than SpectroMagic)
- Update Tomorrowland Speedway with Cars (pixar) or futuristic theming on the cars themselves and to the track/area…make cars electric or battery powered (that recharge as they go) to eliminate noise/odor

Epcot
- Ellen’s Energy needs redone with something? Maybe a large Wall-E or futuristic ride-thru attraction
- Redo Imagination Pavilion (ride, and 3d show)
- Build a new country or 2 with rides


Hollywood Studios
- Turn Sounds Dangerous and American Idol Experience into an indoor ride (AIE I knew wouldn’t be as big or sustaining as they thought)
- Add onto Pixar area (Monster’s coaster)
- Get rid of Backlot tour and replace with Carsland (similar to that in Disneyland)
- Honey I Shunk the kids playground to A Bug’s Life theme (can’t believe this hasn’t already been done)
- Redo the Great Movie ride with all classic Disney and more recent pixar animated films with scenes and animatronics, etc. This IMO would be a hit. Those movies in the ride are not popular with kids and young families
- Replace Beauty and the Beast show with Tangled (sounds like may be in the works already)
- I like Indiana Jones…but it’s going to get old if it hasn’t already. Maybe turn this into a ride or maybe better yet even a pirate themed stunt show?
- Enhance Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom
- While I think Disney could really do cool things with Avatarland…I think this might not be the best path….Disney should add onto Animal Kingdom with a Sea/Ocean theme (like DisneySea) instead
- Within the DisneySea addition to the park, add World of Color (or something very similar) which would be the night show AK needs without firework mess/danger/noise for animals
- Not fond of the Dinoland/Amusement park feel…maybe save a few things from it (Dinosaur ride obviously, the lil Dumbo like ride, and maybe even primeval whirl (if it could be re-themed)
- Bring back some sort of boat ride through the water…could even be expanded into the new DisneySea park section
- Updates to the daytime parade - always thought an African/Asian drummin' kind of show would be cool

All Parks
- Require everyone to carry room key/ticket with RFID tag to enhance rides, queues, and maybe only allow those to use bus service as well

Downtown Disney
- I’m at a loss here… just keep adding more stores, Splitsville may help
- Build indoor mini-golf
- Do NOT add World of Color here – crowds are already bad at night in some places



BUS SERVICE

- Provide bus routes from the theme parks directly to Downtown Disney