Hollywood Studios vs Islands of Adventure

[Marc Davis Fan]

Exposed track shouldn't be a big deal. IMO the more you do to hide the track the less thrilling it becomes. To me coasters don't work that great for a story telling ride. They are made to be thrilling.

Right, the issue is their breaking the immersion of the surrounding environment. It's the same issue with carnival rides, spinners, etc. High quality theme parks put a lot of care into making sure their environments transport visitors to other times and places. The presence of visible ride mechanisms damages that holistic effect (in Disney parlance, it's "bad show").

But if course, it would be a huge mistake if amusement parks (Six Flags, Cedar Fair) tried to hide their exposed steel roller coasters and thus reduced their thrill-level. That's what those rides are for.

 

[Shiriki_Utundu]

Slinky Dog Dash is themed to be a roller coaster,

I disagree,
its theme is not a rollercoaster.

Its theme is a moving Slinky Dog toy. The track(coaster) is merely a conveyance to get the toy to move like a slinky.



now you were 100% right about Pixar Pier and something like that California Screamin which is, well, supposed to mimic a seaside California coaster.

 

[Weather_Lady]

To me, there's almost no comparison.

The biggest difference is in scale (both in terms of geographic size, and numbers of attractions): HS has more immersive theming as a whole, in that its massive size better prevents one from seeing into other "lands" (although the whole park, with the exception of Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge, has the same theme anyway). At the same time, HS's large footprint and dearth of attractions means you spend large swaths of time wandering through well-themed wastelands of gift shops and behind-closed-doors character meets and empty facades to reach the next attraction, which is all but guaranteed to have a ridiculously long line.

At IoA, you have the opposite issue: compact, claustrophobic lands with visually overwhelming theming often visible from elsewhere, jam-packed (exception: The Lost Continent) with attractions and outdoor character meets, spreading out the crowds and resulting in more reasonable waits for attractions, some of which outdo their closest WDW comparators in quality. I daresay WDW has nothing that can even compare to Hagrid's or the Velocicoaster.

As for me and my house... we'll choose the latter (Universal in general, and IoA in particular) almost every time.

 

[bhg469]

For me, it comes down to IOA simply because it has some of the most innovative and entertaining rides in Orlando. Theming is incredible for 3/4 of the park and has my favorite ride in Orlando by far, Hagrids... It is not the most thrilling attraction, but it is a highly themed coaster with a good amount of dark ride elements and surprises through the whole thing. Hagrids puts everything Disney has built in the past decade to shame.

 

[graphite1326]

This one is very close for me. If The Great Movie Ride were still around, I would have went with Hollywood Studios. But its not, so the scale has tipped to Islands of Adventure.

What I was going to say. When we first went many years ago my kids asked me what my favorite ride was and I said The Great Movie Ride. I love old movies and the animatronics back then, since I am an engineer, amazed me. The ending use to give me chills and goose bumps. loved it. Now the ride there eh.

 

[TQQQ]

Well based on yesterdays data, looks like the publics choice is IOA.........both Universal parks beat out every Disney park last year except for MK.......

Wait until Epic Universe opens........

Disney, keep charging more! You are losing right now and it's only going to get worse!

 

[jloucks]

Oooo, tough call. The Harry Potter area tho, wow. And then the rides. And food. And more for adults. Gatta go with IOA.

However, with little kids in tow, HS. Galaxy's edge also awesome, if it wasn't butt crowded every time I have ever seen it.

 

[TQQQ]

Oooo, tough call. The Harry Potter area tho, wow. And then the rides. And food. And more for adults. Gatta go with IOA.

However, with little kids in tow, HS. Galaxy's edge also awesome, if it wasn't butt crowded every time I have ever seen it.

HS is so crowded and so expensive........even if i liked it better, it would lose out for those 2 factors alone

 

[TQQQ]

For me, it comes down to IOA simply because it has some of the most innovative and entertaining rides in Orlando. Theming is incredible for 3/4 of the park and has my favorite ride in Orlando by far, Hagrids... It is not the most thrilling attraction, but it is a highly themed coaster with a good amount of dark ride elements and surprises through the whole thing. Hagrids puts everything Disney has built in the past decade to shame.

Agree 1,000,000%......

But then Disney charges you 2x to experience their rides and it's still crowded as hell

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I disagree,
its theme is not a rollercoaster.

Its theme is a moving Slinky Dog toy. The track(coaster) is merely a conveyance to get the toy to move like a slinky.



now you were 100% right about Pixar Pier and something like that California Screamin which is, well, supposed to mimic a seaside California coaster.

The theme of SDD is that Andy attached Slinky Dog to his "Dash n' Dodge" toy roller coaster...

(by wrapping Slinky Dog's coils around the Dash n' Dodge coaster train, and then sending it along the Dash n' Dodge coaster track)

 

[bhg469]

The theme of SDD is that Andy attached Slinky Dog to his "Dash n' Dodge" toy roller coaster...

(by wrapping Slinky Dog's coils around the Dash n' Dodge coaster train, and then sending it along the Dash n' Dodge coaster track)

Sid would have come up with a better abomination

 

[cheezbat]

While Tower and Rise are amazing and much of the theming of Studios is great, IOA overall has the superior lands and attractions.

Jurassic Park River Adventure
Velocicoaster
Incredible Hulk Coaster
Popeye and Blutos
Hagrids
Forbidden Journey
(Hogsmeade as a whole)
Spiderman
Dudley Do Right
Skull Island
Camp Jurassic(I love running in there!)

Just love this lineup.

 

[bhg469]

While Tower and Rise are amazing and much of the theming of Studios is great, IOA overall has the superior lands and attractions.

Jurassic Park River Adventure
Velocicoaster
Incredible Hulk Coaster
Popeye and Blutos
Hagrids
Forbidden Journey
(Hogsmeade as a whole)
Spiderman
Dudley Do Right
Skull Island
Camp Jurassic(I love running in there!)

Just love this lineup.

You're spot on.. With the exception of the theming of marvel superhero Island, the park is really amazing to look at and experience.

 

[Prince-1]

Disney, keep charging more! You are losing right now and it's only going to get worse!

Wait, they are losing yet you say:

HS is so crowded and so expensive

Man, we have different definitions of losing.

 

[TQQQ]

Its a function of the park......not enough people working....no Fantasmic.....shorter park hours...........etc

not that hard to figure out

If you normally had 40k people per day and 20 attractions and park was open 8am-9pm with 100 employees but then take same 40k people (or in this case less b more are going to Universal!) and have 15 attractions and have hours 9am until 7pm with only 60 employees then the parks will be more crowded even with less people


See how that works?

Man, we have different definitions of losing

 

[DisneyfanMA]

We're doing both parks in 2 weeks. I look forward to adding more input and a vote once I visit. My only apples to oranges comparison was way back ~1990 when I went to then named and recently opened MGM Studios, and Universal Studios FL in the same visit. I have not been back to either place since. I do remember at the time LOVING US FL, and MGM was only "OK" in comparison. To be fair MGM was still being developed and didn't have a lot.

My highlights from MGM were: Indiana Jones show, back stage lot tour thing. I honestly don't remember much else and I don't think there really was too many attractions then.

US FL had Jaws (broken haha), Kongfrontation, Earthquake, pyscho house prop, some movie makeup show, and a cool ghostbusters show, Beetlejuice character walking around, overall atmosphere was just BIG..... and other things that blew me away.

For this trip, which includes my 3 kids (6.5,7.5,9.5) I'm most looking forward to the following at each park (we chose IoA for the kids over US FL)

HS - MMRR, SDD, Indiana Jones show, Fantasmic! , Sci-Fi dine in

US IoA - Seuss Land, Hagrid's motorbike/HarryPotter area, Jurassic Park.

One minor disappointment is the weaker linup of shows at US IoA....I see Poseidon's Fury which looks cool (I'm not sure what this is exactly but I think its closest to a "show"). Seussland has something with the characters, and there is 1 or 2 small things in HP area....Other than that no parades and no major shows I can find. A little surprising. Still the places looks amazing from pictures and has a very strong lineup of actual rides.

 

[bhg469]

One minor disappointment is the weaker linup of shows at US IoA....I see Poseidon's Fury which looks cool (I'm not sure what this is exactly but I think its closest to a "show"). Seussland has something with the characters, and there is 1 or 2 small things in HP area....Other than that no parades and no major shows I can find. A little surprising. Still the places looks amazing from pictures and has a very strong lineup of actual rides.

Poseidon's fury is a walkthrough experience. There are a few separate rooms, each having their own special effects and its guided by an actor interacting with the story elements. No spoilers but when transitioning from the second to the third room you're gonna be really impressed.

Universal has some really cool perks too.. Missing out on Diagon Alley is sad though. Hogwarts express is super neat and the Bourne stunt show over there is very impressive too. Its like the Indiana Jones stung show, combined with some very high end background technology.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

Poseidon's fury is a walkthrough experience. There are a few separate rooms, each having their own special effects and its guided by an actor interacting with the story elements. No spoilers but when transitioning from the second to the third room you're gonna be really impressed.

Universal has some really cool perks too.. Missing out on Diagon Alley is sad though. Hogwarts express is super neat and the Bourne stunt show over there is very impressive too. Its like the Indiana Jones stung show, combined with some very high end background technology.

Good to know about Poseidon. Universal kind of lists it as a ride/attraction but seems more like a show/attraction. We are also eating a very early supper in the Mythos cave nearby.


It was tempting to buy the multi park to experience the train and both sides but we had to cut some extras as this trip is going to cost me a small fortune. at the age they are at we decided 1 Universal park was enough and we also skipped the express pass (we did buy Genie + for all 4 disney parks). checked and saw hagrids was like 105 min wait today so i hope i dont regret forgoing express pass. I had thought it was would be slow on a wed in nov there. I'm unlikely to elect to stand in any line over 75 minutes TBH. It would have to be really special otherwise we may just elect to skip it. No ride is worth it to me with 3 young kids to burn 90 -120 minutes standing around for.

 

[marni1971]

. checked and saw hagrids was like 105 min wait today so i hope i dont regret forgoing express pass.

We queued a few weeks ago at 110 minutes. We were in and out in 70.

And even I’d say it was worth waiting for.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

We could always elect to buy express pass day of, if the place is insane I suppose. I have 2 who will just barely miss the 48" cutoff so Hagrids would be me and my oldest, and my wife could take the other 2 to something else. It will depend. Saw the forbidden journey is also 48"... We are mostly sticking to stuff all 5 of us can enjoy (and yes I know they offer child swap which is great- does disney offer this)?