Funny thing happened after I cancelled our WDW trip...

wendysue

wendysue

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Last month I had to cancel our WDW trip due to a knee injury. Minor surgery and now healing well...
Since then, we have received 2 pin codes for future trips. One is for the free dining in the fall, which I believe everyone gets, (except I think there was some extra dates attached to pin code) and the other was for 30% off rooms for Nov. and Dec.
The funny thing is..we no longer want to go to WDW. Prices have now gone past what we are willing to pay at WDW.
I never thought I could break the Disney habit, but tossing the pin code was strangely liberating!
Cannot wait for our UNI vacation!
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the "Converts Club".

Uni, even with it's more energetic feel is, is more relaxing than WDW these days.

Disney is fine, the parks are packed. There is just something about the place that doesn't appeal to me any longer. I'm glad that folks are enjoying the place. But it's just not my cup of tea any longer.
 
Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
Welcome to the "Converts Club".

Uni, even with it's more energetic feel is, is more relaxing than WDW these days.

Disney is fine, the parks are packed. There is just something about the place that doesn't appeal to me any longer. I'm glad that folks are enjoying the place. But it's just not my cup of tea any longer.
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But you haven't fully let go.
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member
I still love wdw. And we will still go every few years, each of us having about 18 non-expire hopper days left. But at this point we are going to universal every year and twice this year. We purchased APs and love them and the discounts we get on hotels. We love the hotel express passes. We love not taking busses anywhere. We love not needing to book meals 180 days in advance.

I want to see avatar land, Star Wars land, etc. and I love the magic kingdom. But universal is now our go to vacation with or without kids.
 
NeedMoreMickey

NeedMoreMickey

Well-Known Member
Do you usually drive or fly into Orlando? We have been thinking about staying a few nights at Universal but trying to figure out the best way to get there from the airport. We don't really need a car for the entire trip.
 
Tinkerkelle

Tinkerkelle

Well-Known Member
NeedMoreMickey said:
Do you usually drive or fly into Orlando? We have been thinking about staying a few nights at Universal but trying to figure out the best way to get there from the airport. We don't really need a car for the entire trip.
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We fly because we're UK! But you certainly don't need a car for Uni and I believe you have to pay for parking at the resort hotels. I think it's about $20 a night.

wendysue said:
Cannot wait for our UNI vacation!
Click to expand...

I know! Still love WDW but have switched up from 4 nights Uni and 10 WDW to 7 nights each this trip. Can't beat express passes, not relying on buses and not having to plan everything 6 months in advance. (But I do still love WDW -I did say that, right?!) :happy:
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member
NeedMoreMickey said:
Do you usually drive or fly into Orlando? We have been thinking about staying a few nights at Universal but trying to figure out the best way to get there from the airport. We don't really need a car for the entire trip.
Click to expand...

Always fly (we live in boston). Sometimes for just a weekend and only to uni. Then we just take a cab both ways. If we are going somewhere else, Sanibel Florida this summer, for example, we'll rent a car the whole time and just pay to park.
 
Iwerks64

Iwerks64

Well-Known Member
NeedMoreMickey said:
Do you usually drive or fly into Orlando? We have been thinking about staying a few nights at Universal but trying to figure out the best way to get there from the airport. We don't really need a car for the entire trip.
Click to expand...
I flew my family in to Orlando over Easter week. We booked the airport transfer service through the Uni website when I booked the entire stay. It worked flawlessly. Driver was waiting for us at baggage claim when we landed with a sign with our name on it. They picked us up from Portofino at the end of our stay exactly when we wanted.
 
jloucks

jloucks

Well-Known Member
We were at Universal the week before last for the first time ever. While I/we did enjoy it, it was a significantly different experience.

Since this is the Uni forum, let me hammer home what they did far superior to WDW.

First and foremost having both parks reasonable walking distance from each other is super awesome! A huge chunk of my WDW stress was centered, to one degree or another, on the cattle car, err,,, 'bussing' system employed by WDW. Why not have more busses with freakin' seats? You know, like touring busses? What evs, WDW went cheap with their cattle system and is stinks.

Second, having the resorts walking distance from the parks was possibly even more awesome. Everything I said above plus no park closing mad rush to buses and horrible bus lines. Also,in the middle of the day, no big deal to walk back to hotel for little break or whatevs.

Third, all day unlimited fast passes. This almost worked too good. I almost felt guilty always wisking to the front of every single line. ...well... no fast pass for some Harry Plopper stuff.

Fourth, package delivery to room! Not to loud noisy give shop, but right to your bed! Spent way more money on crap because of this.

Fifth, vertical resort layout. It is not what feels like a 4 hour walk from the bus to your room. ...or from the lobby to your room for that matter.

Sixth, Prices. Yea, way less gouging going on. Still gouging, sure. But not quite a deep, and they don't salt the blade before violating you like Disney does. (exception, charging for parking, seems completely uncool to me, still rubbing me the wrong way on this topic).

Good job Universal, WDW has lost the monopoly on our visits to Orlando.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
jloucks said:
We were at Universal the week before last for the first time ever. While I/we did enjoy it, it was a significantly different experience.

Since this is the Uni forum, let me hammer home what they did far superior to WDW.

First and foremost having both parks reasonable walking distance from each other is super awesome! A huge chunk of my WDW stress was centered, to one degree or another, on the cattle car, err,,, 'bussing' system employed by WDW. Why not have more busses with freakin' seats? You know, like touring busses? What evs, WDW went cheap with their cattle system and is stinks.

Second, having the resorts walking distance from the parks was possibly even more awesome. Everything I said above plus no park closing mad rush to buses and horrible bus lines. Also,in the middle of the day, no big deal to walk back to hotel for little break or whatevs.

Third, all day unlimited fast passes. This almost worked too good. I almost felt guilty always wisking to the front of every single line. ...well... no fast pass for some Harry Plopper stuff.

Fourth, package delivery to room! Not to loud noisy give shop, but right to your bed! Spent way more money on crap because of this.

Fifth, vertical resort layout. It is not what feels like a 4 hour walk from the bus to your room. ...or from the lobby to your room for that matter.

Sixth, Prices. Yea, way less gouging going on. Still gouging, sure. But not quite a deep, and they don't salt the blade before violating you like Disney does. (exception, charging for parking, seems completely uncool to me, still rubbing me the wrong way on this topic).

Good job Universal, WDW has lost the monopoly on our visits to Orlando.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, the paid parking thing is a Loews thing. They do it at all their properties. The good part is, if you don't have a car, you don't have to pay it. At Disney, you pay it no matter what. It is just rolled into the room rate.
 
jloucks

jloucks

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
Unfortunately, the paid parking thing is a Loews thing. They do it at all their properties. The good part is, if you don't have a car, you don't have to pay it. At Disney, you pay it no matter what. It is just rolled into the room rate.
Click to expand...

Hiding parking in the room rate is just good customer service/manipulation in my opinion.

Barely related, when we drug off our flight at midnight the rental car line appeared to be about an hour long! At midnight, after a day of travel, this feels more like 4 hours. Anywho, the non-deposit (thank goodness) reservation was going to cost us $120 for the trip. Faced with such a nasty line I just checked on a whim, what a taxi would run. $45 plus tip. Sold! Saved 20 bucks and no lines, car, gas, shenanigans. Also never renting a car again for universal.
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member
jloucks said:
Hiding parking in the room rate is just good customer service/manipulation in my opinion.

Barely related, when we drug off our flight at midnight the rental car line appeared to be about an hour long! At midnight, after a day of travel, this feels more like 4 hours. Anywho, the non-deposit (thank goodness) reservation was going to cost us $120 for the trip. Faced with such a nasty line I just checked on a whim, what a taxi would run. $45 plus tip. Sold! Saved 20 bucks and no lines, car, gas, shenanigans. Also never renting a car again for universal.
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$45 would be good. I've had it closer to 60. But still, you saved money without a car!!
 
TubaGeek

TubaGeek

God bless the "Ignore" button.
If you're traveling in Orlando, use Lyft or Uber! The only place they can't pick up is at the airport, and they can't get into the Disney parks. They can do pickups and dropoffs at the resorts and DTD though, and they can drop off and pick up at Universal.
 
TBrooker11

TBrooker11

Active Member
jloucks said:
We were at Universal the week before last for the first time ever. While I/we did enjoy it, it was a significantly different experience.

Since this is the Uni forum, let me hammer home what they did far superior to WDW.

First and foremost having both parks reasonable walking distance from each other is super awesome! A huge chunk of my WDW stress was centered, to one degree or another, on the cattle car, err,,, 'bussing' system employed by WDW. Why not have more busses with freakin' seats? You know, like touring busses? What evs, WDW went cheap with their cattle system and is stinks.

Second, having the resorts walking distance from the parks was possibly even more awesome. Everything I said above plus no park closing mad rush to buses and horrible bus lines. Also,in the middle of the day, no big deal to walk back to hotel for little break or whatevs.

Third, all day unlimited fast passes. This almost worked too good. I almost felt guilty always wisking to the front of every single line. ...well... no fast pass for some Harry Plopper stuff.

Fourth, package delivery to room! Not to loud noisy give shop, but right to your bed! Spent way more money on crap because of this.

Fifth, vertical resort layout. It is not what feels like a 4 hour walk from the bus to your room. ...or from the lobby to your room for that matter.

Sixth, Prices. Yea, way less gouging going on. Still gouging, sure. But not quite a deep, and they don't salt the blade before violating you like Disney does. (exception, charging for parking, seems completely uncool to me, still rubbing me the wrong way on this topic).

Good job Universal, WDW has lost the monopoly on our visits to Orlando.
Click to expand...

1) They didn't have a choice with that. Disney owns so much land they could put them miles apart and still have extra room. Universal is locked into the land that they have with little to no land left for expansion.

2) Never really had this issue when staying at Disney, then again hotel prices at Universal seem to be higher than Disney counterparts. I never stay at Uni so I wouldn't know.

3) As far as these go, they are good but very overpriced. There are so few attractions in each park that you could easily do all in one park or the other in the same day without these fast passes. Not to mention even if you got the overpriced room where they come free you still paid for it.

4) Disney always delivers packages to my room or the front of the park at the very least.

5) Universal uses more of a hotel style, while Disney uses more of a resort getaway style. Hence the long walks to rooms.

6) Having been to both parks I find the value at Disney to be higher. Angus beef for a dollar or two more is a huge difference in my opinion. The only thing Uni has going for them in my opinion is the 10% for passholders which Disney does not do.

However I am not the kind of person to stay at parks a lot simply because I live less than two hours from them and make mine day trips rather than weekends. My biggest thing with Disney is the customer service. Had a ton of terrible experiences with workers at Uni and so far haven't had a bad one yet at Disney (knock on wood)
 
TBrooker11

TBrooker11

Active Member
BrianV said:
Universal is much cheaper as far as hotels are compared. Maybe I misread what you meant.
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Not if you are comparing the value options. If you are comparing the high end options then yes, but when comparing Cabana Bay to Sports/Movies/Pop/Music etc Disney is cheaper. At least for passholders. We paid $75 for a Sunday night at Movies while the same time Cabana Bay was $139.


Of course there are times when Disney's hit $200, but in general when I go to book Cabana Bay is always higher priced.

For example. Stay July 10 at Cabana Bay and it will be $184.00.

Same night here are Disney's rates:
Pop $152.00
Music $126.00
Movies $158.00
Port Orleans Riverside $182.50
 
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