bwr827
Well-Known Member
My family is one that equally enjoyed WDW and Universal.
Last year (late April/early May) we did a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip:
- Pop Century with 4 straight park days, 1 in each park
- Moved to Royal Pacific for 3 Universal park days
- Then to Cabana Bay resort for a few days’ rest and relaxation
At WDW we bought Genie+ for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, based on common trip advice. We also bought ILLs for our favorite rides once we discovered that we loved them (Flight of Passage, Rise, Guardians).
I didn’t like the constant adding of costs, but hey, it was ‘once in a lifetime’. And it still felt limited because once we discovered our favourites we wanted to ride them more - but LLs and ILLs are one-timers. This capped our repeat riding mostly to 2x, except for 5x on FOP because we realized it was by far our best AK attraction so we devoted more standby time in addition to having rope-dropped and ILL’ed.
At Universal we chose Royal for the unlimited express pass. This perk seemed amazing and we loved how it allowed as much repeat riding of favs as we wanted (except for our #1 ride, Hagrid’s). Lost count of how many times we rode the express-eligible Harry Potter rides. Unrelated: did not lose count of how many times we rode Hagrid’s (14x for my son and me, 7x for wife and daughter).
When we bought 3-day passes for Universal, they had a ‘buy 3 get 2 free days’ promo. So on 2 of our relaxation days, my son and I rope-dropped Hagrid’s and spent a few hours in the park before returning to Cabana for lunch and pool time for the rest of the day.
That was supposed to have been our ‘once in a lifetime trip’. However, we loved it so much that we are planning to do it all again.
We felt more value from Universal, thanks to unlimited express and 2 bonus days, not to mention Cabana Bay being both awesome and cheaper than Pop Century.
We’re also incredibly excited for Epic Universe, so next time we’re shortening WDW to 3 days and expanding Universal to 5 days.
It will be approximately 3 years between trips, to save up money and ensure Epic opens fully. I’ve been watching and reading WDW stuff to see if they’ll be adding anything exciting as well, and it’s disappointing to know they seem to be investing very little in this 3-year period.
This all leaves me with the sentiment that WDW is milking people for all they’re worth without increasing their value prop. Meanwhile it feels like Universal is significantly ramping up theirs.
Next time at Disney I will still buy Genie+ and ILLs, if they exist, because ultimately time is money. But with the amount of money it all costs, having enough money also takes a lot of time. And WDW will feel a bit like the over-priced appetizer before the main course of Universal with Epic Universe.
Last year (late April/early May) we did a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip:
- Pop Century with 4 straight park days, 1 in each park
- Moved to Royal Pacific for 3 Universal park days
- Then to Cabana Bay resort for a few days’ rest and relaxation
At WDW we bought Genie+ for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, based on common trip advice. We also bought ILLs for our favorite rides once we discovered that we loved them (Flight of Passage, Rise, Guardians).
I didn’t like the constant adding of costs, but hey, it was ‘once in a lifetime’. And it still felt limited because once we discovered our favourites we wanted to ride them more - but LLs and ILLs are one-timers. This capped our repeat riding mostly to 2x, except for 5x on FOP because we realized it was by far our best AK attraction so we devoted more standby time in addition to having rope-dropped and ILL’ed.
At Universal we chose Royal for the unlimited express pass. This perk seemed amazing and we loved how it allowed as much repeat riding of favs as we wanted (except for our #1 ride, Hagrid’s). Lost count of how many times we rode the express-eligible Harry Potter rides. Unrelated: did not lose count of how many times we rode Hagrid’s (14x for my son and me, 7x for wife and daughter).
When we bought 3-day passes for Universal, they had a ‘buy 3 get 2 free days’ promo. So on 2 of our relaxation days, my son and I rope-dropped Hagrid’s and spent a few hours in the park before returning to Cabana for lunch and pool time for the rest of the day.
That was supposed to have been our ‘once in a lifetime trip’. However, we loved it so much that we are planning to do it all again.
We felt more value from Universal, thanks to unlimited express and 2 bonus days, not to mention Cabana Bay being both awesome and cheaper than Pop Century.
We’re also incredibly excited for Epic Universe, so next time we’re shortening WDW to 3 days and expanding Universal to 5 days.
It will be approximately 3 years between trips, to save up money and ensure Epic opens fully. I’ve been watching and reading WDW stuff to see if they’ll be adding anything exciting as well, and it’s disappointing to know they seem to be investing very little in this 3-year period.
This all leaves me with the sentiment that WDW is milking people for all they’re worth without increasing their value prop. Meanwhile it feels like Universal is significantly ramping up theirs.
Next time at Disney I will still buy Genie+ and ILLs, if they exist, because ultimately time is money. But with the amount of money it all costs, having enough money also takes a lot of time. And WDW will feel a bit like the over-priced appetizer before the main course of Universal with Epic Universe.
