WDW or Universal?

[Disneyhead'71]

My happy place is having a Scotch Egg and Black and Tan at Finnegan's at USF.

 

[JusticeDisney]

My happy place is having a Scotch Egg and Black and Tan at Finnegan's at USF.

Finnegans is awesome, we love that place too! But I have to tell you, it is simply no match for Raglan Road.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Finnegans is awesome, we love that place too! But I have to tell you, it is simply no match for Raglan Road.

The difference is Ragland Road is at The Mall@WDW and Finn's is between Mummy and Transformers.

Don't get me wrong, I love The Mall@WDW, we went to see Jurassic World at the Dine-in AMC last night and Thursday we had dinner at HoB. Their Voodoo Shrimp are epic. But there is just something about chilling in a park with a drink that I like. I'm not much a "Drink Around The World" kind of guy. More like 3 rides then 2 drinks and an appitizer, rinse/repeat kind of guy.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Opening up a poll on Disney vs Universal on a Disney forum board is like those math problems that ask you what is the worst way to get a random sample on Disney vs Universal.

 

[celluloid]

The difference is Ragland Road is at The Mall@WDW and Finn's is between Mummy and Transformers.

Don't get me wrong, I love The Mall@WDW, we went to see Jurassic World at the Dine-in AMC last night and Thursday we had dinner at HoB. Their Voodoo Shrimp are epic. But there is just something about chilling in a park with a drink that I like. I'm not much a "Drink Around The World" kind of guy. More like 3 rides then 2 drinks and an appitizer, rinse/repeat kind of guy.

Yeah, and you never wait long for a seat at FInn's and I feel the discounted price is much better if you have an Annual Pass compared to Ragland.

 

[JusticeDisney]

Yeah, and you never wait long for a seat at FInn's and I feel the discounted price is much better if you have an Annual Pass compared to Ragland.

I was just talking about the quality of food as between the two. And in that regard, Finn’s is like fast foot compared to RR.

 

[KINGLOUIS1993]

I did Busch for two days last month. It was really rather good! I hadn't been in ages because it is a bit out of the way, but am happy I manned up and made the trek.

+ Busch has the finest collection of coasters in Florida.
+ Surprisingly, Busch has the better animal enclosures. The better safari too.
- To ride the safari is $30
- Busch' animals feel like amusement. Some elder cages are way too small. Also, animals don't need to be petted by 14000 hands every day, birds don't need to be handfed all day long. Or both, as in the kangooroo petting zoo.

+ DAK for its turn has gotten its act together recently, and on a good day nowadays offers perhaps the best Disney experience of any of the four parks.
+ Seeing Busch makes you re-appreciate the dense themeing of DAK. Busch is great, but it does look like so many other theme parks out there, it just misses that Disney quality and immersion.
- DAK has forgotten it is an animal park. I don't see nearly enough animals.
- DAK still lacks rides. Still needs to add, say, another complete A to E roster.

Bang on! I agree with these points exactly. The coasters at Busch are so so so so so good.

I also like the cable cars.

 

[KINGLOUIS1993]

Both.

Or Chester Zoo

 

[OG Runner]

I voted WDW, but Universal does have some good points beyond Harry Potter. I stayed at the Portofino in May and had express pass.
Access to all of the rides was great, even though the wait times, even in standard lines were mostly under 30 minutes. The park itself was also less crowded, which leads to a more relaxing atmosphere. During the same trip, in May, we went to Animal Kingdom for a day. We were in the park as it opened, (though they had EMH that day), by the time we got to Flight of Passage, there was already a 2 hour wait.
We went on the Safari and still waited for 45 minutes. The crowds were wall to wall.
Also just to through in my two cents, I know Universal has Rockit Roller Coaster & the Hulk Coaster, for thrills, but Disney has Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster. You can get thrills at Disney also.

 

[SpaceCoast]

Universal is owned by Comcast, a cable TV company. I was a Comcast customer when I lived in the Washington, D.C. area. They were the only cable provider. The word Comcast only brings to mind rate hikes and very poor service. Say Universal and I think Comcast - I can't separate the two.

 

[JusticeDisney]

I voted WDW, but Universal does have some good points beyond Harry Potter. I stayed at the Portofino in May and had express pass.
Access to all of the rides was great, even though the wait times, even in standard lines were mostly under 30 minutes. The park itself was also less crowded, which leads to a more relaxing atmosphere. During the same trip, in May, we went to Animal Kingdom for a day. We were in the park as it opened, (though they had EMH that day), by the time we got to Flight of Passage, there was already a 2 hour wait.
We went on the Safari and still waited for 45 minutes. The crowds were wall to wall.
Also just to through in my two cents, I know Universal has Rockit Roller Coaster & the Hulk Coaster, for thrills, but Disney has Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster. You can get thrills at Disney also.

If you’re gonna count FOP as a thrill ride (and I certainly do), then you have to count Universal rides such as Transformers, Forbidden Journey, Jimmy Fallon, Simpson’s, Despicable Me, etc, not to mention The Mummy. I prefer WDW all day every day, but when it comes to thrill rides under this definition, Universal wins handily.

 

[shadowfyr]

My wife and I went to WDW IN 2014 and Universal the following year. I can say without hesitation that we would never go to Universal again. The staff were so rude and unhelpful that we left early.

 

[Disneyworld_here_we_come]

For me, the downfall for Universal is that many of their rides have seating that is too small for the slightly larger people in the world. It isn't always size but also build. I am not large by any means, height or weight, but the seating can be tight. I have read many people complaining about this for rides at universal.

WDW, I have never heard this complaint with maybe a few exceptions like Astro Orbiter. Disney's attractions seem to cater to many more types of builds.

Universal does have some awesome rides, though as helenabear points out, they do overuse some of their technology, the 4D rides seem to all be the same, just with different imagery.

The other thing that bothers me, but I understand and definitely is not a deal breaker, is the necessity of lockers for all belongings. At Disney World I can carry my camera on every attraction except FoP, and even on this ride, I probably could but there is no need or it, you know, the 3D thing.

This exactly. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time at Universal but my husband and I commented about the same thing. He's pretty tall and I'm pretty chubby so the seats were definitely smaller than at Disney. But having to put our stuff in lockers was the least enjoyable part for us hands down. It was packed and disorganized and rushed and don't get me started about how the lockers are timed.

 

[Mickey shaped world]

When I think about it, a significant reason I prefer Disney is the different nice scents and soundtracks around the parks, it just makes me happy

 

[OG Runner]

If you’re gonna count FOP as a thrill ride (and I certainly do), then you have to count Universal rides such as Transformers, Forbidden Journey, Jimmy Fallon, Simpson’s, Despicable Me, etc, not to mention The Mummy. I prefer WDW all day every day, but when it comes to thrill rides under this definition, Universal wins handily.

Okay I will throw in Transformers, Forbidden Journey, The Mummy, Gringott's and Spiderman, but then I have to add in Test Track, Mission: Space, and Star Tours. (same level at Transformers). I like Universal, I honestly do, but in comparing to Disney, even if you
just consider the size, Universal doesn't win anything handily.

 

[JohnyKaz2078]

Also just to through in my two cents, I know Universal has Rockit Roller Coaster & the Hulk Coaster, for thrills, but Disney has Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster. You can get thrills at Disney also.

There are other thrill rides in USO. If you consider FOP a thrill ride then Transformers and the Forbidden Journey. Space Mountain can also be compared to the Escape from Gringotts and the Revenge of the Mummy.

 

[JusticeDisney]

Okay I will throw in Transformers, Forbidden Journey, The Mummy, Gringott's and Spiderman, but then I have to add in Test Track, Mission: Space, and Star Tours. (same level at Transformers). I like Universal, I honestly do, but in comparing to Disney, even if you
just consider the size, Universal doesn't win anything handily.

Agree to disagree.

Oh, and Star Tours being the equivalent of Transformers, now that’s funny!!!

 

[eddieginsburg]

These two theme parks are rivals. Is Disney good at some things Universal isn’t? Vice-versa? On this thread I am here to as you...
Do you prefer Walt Disney World or Universal Studios?

I feel as if Disney is so much better at crowd control and the park itself is better setup. The directions to get to Harry Potter were so confusing that once I went on the great ride, I haven’t been back. BTW, Avatar is so much more exciting a ride.

 

[EngineerMom]

I love WDW. I have loved it since I was a kid and I will always love it.
Last Thanksgiving week we stayed 5 days at Disney then 3 days at Universal. We stayed at the Boardwalk and the people were OK but did not go out of there way to be nice or helpful. We then went to Royal Pacific at Universal they were WONDERFUL. Every person was nice and helpful, in the way things USED to be at Disney. The housekeeping at Disney was NOT great. They might as well have not bothered they did so little.

Rides well they both have rides I love.
Food - I loved the comment that the best Universal food was worse then the worse Disney food. NO WAY. We have food we love at Disney but we have had good food at Universal. I consider the Three Broom Sticks better than the counter service at Disney. Mythos has been rated one of the best places in a park. Finnigans, I could go on and on. Also folks include the places at the resorts when talking Disney so then you have to include city walk and the places at the hotels. We had great food at the Royal Pacific.

I liked the comment that variety is the spice of life. These days our family wants to go to both each time. Our only debate is which one first but yes Disney gets MORE time. My family wants to go to Universal but seem to always feel 2 days is enough. We have even had a 3rd day free and they don't want to leave the hotel and go back to the parks.

 

[Bairstow]

The way I see it, as distinct themed lands, the two Harry Potter areas at Universal are better than anything Disney has ever had to offer in the United States (although Pandora, Harambe Village, and Sunset Boulevard come close).

Other than that, Disney is superior in pretty much every other regard.
That's what's sort of disappointing about Harry Potter and Universal- Hogsmeade and the alley prove that IF Universal was sufficiently motivated (ie, they had a notoriously persnickety author with high standards and veto powers looking over their shoulders) they could and probably should be able to build and operate a park superior to Disney, or at the very least, would motivate Disney to raise their standards to match their output. As it is, Universal is only as good as they can be when they're forced to be, and Disney is only as good as the need to be to keep their base coming back.