Why so much hate for Uni and still such devotion to WDW?

danpam1024

danpam1024

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Let me start by saying- I will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for WDW. My first trip was when I was 11 months old. I went to Grad Nite, spent my 21st birthday at PI. WDW did give me very special memories. My family, for now has moved on. we work too hard to spend our money on a mediocre Disney vacation of today when we know how spectacular it actually was in the (not so distant) past. The "deluxe" hotels are a joke, service has gone downhill, minimal effort goes into maintenance, and expansion has been less than stellar. The DDP has ruined any sort of culinary treat WDW used to offer, and other than Jellyrolls, there's really no place for adults to unwind. Not to mention the cost of passes:jawdrop: (I'm a Fl res and we have BG/SW and Uni annual passes- WDW has become ridiculous)
Now Uni, on the other hand is blowing out attractions left and right, `adding new lands, on time with state of the art projects, revamping CW, adding hotels, and catering to guests in any and every concievible way. The hotels are STUNNING, within walking distance to the parks, offer EP, and are HUNDREDS less than WDW. IMO you get more bang for your buck at Uni. So why is this so hard for people to admit? Do they not know of the Disney of the 90's?
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
danpam1024 said:
it is in the "Universal Orlando" section- I shouldn't get too torn up. It's a serious question- I just don't get it. Maybe because I remember what Disney used to be.
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I know, and I'm not ' ya'. I was just bein' silly ;), and, it definitely is a fair question, especially these days. Although, I didn't work at a Disney Park, I worked for 4 years (and was a lead Mgr. for a year) at our local Disney Store.
Plain and simply (stock prices be darned, 'cause they can tumble in a heartbeat), there are so many things I just don't get that are goin' on with the company right now. I mean, I know who's in charge and know all about the bottom line, but, at what eventual long-term cost? :cyclops:
 
Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
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StageFrenzy

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
Todd H said:
Pixie Dust is a powerful drug.
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I had a rambling post in the Spirit thread taking about nostalgia and how powerful a drug it is in response to a post by @englanddg . Unfortunately the post was part of a pretty nice discussion of fluid, energy and perhaps a bit political so it was cleaned up this morning. I’ll summarize the ending here. I would say that Pixie dust=nostalgia and that Walt understood that. He offered a cleaned up and bright version of his generations Main Street and youth. As many subsequent generations have been going to WDW over the years they associate Disney’s main street as part of their own youth and long for that happy magical time. A lot of people don’t have that childhood connection with UNI yet. I think the young kids growing up now that see all the exciting things that UNI is doing. They will begin to associate Universal with their youth as previous generations associate Disney with that warm magical nostalgia.
 
cheezbat

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
I grew up with Disney. Many family vacations to Florida growing up and nothing excited me more than Disney. I think many people felt the same way, which is why the place is still so darn popular. Thing is, I was terrified of thrill rides and heights until I decided to give them a chance when I was 16 or so.

I visited Universal for the first time with my family And we all loved it! By that time Disney was still full steam ahead, having just opened Animal Kingdom. We realized there was so many great parks in Florida worth checking out. Florida then became so much more to us than Walt Disney World and beaches. Realizing there was Sea World, Universal, Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, and Cypress Gardens was an eye opener.

Too many people get caught up in the love and loyalty to Disney and feel like they are betraying them if they go anywhere else...and it's even worse if they actually have fun! I had a friend who felt exactly this way and I showed her the err and foolishness of her ways. Now when she visits, she likes to see Uni too.

Anyway...seeing what WDW did from 1982-2000 was amazing. Shortly after that, things started to slow down. Prices have skyrocketed, quality has declined, big quality rides are built too few and far between, parks are stale, attractions shuttered and not replaced, lights burnt out, chipped wood, trash on the ground...things I never saw in the 80's and 90's at WDW.

Fast forward to today, and while Uni's prices are high as well, they're at least giving their guests bang for their buck and keeping things fresh. Right now Uni has that 80's-90's WDW expansion excitement feeling. New hotels, new lands, new rides, solid refurbishments, a new parade, nighttime show, citywalk additions, talk of a new water park, talk of a new theme park....they're building the magic like Disney once did.

Disney COULD do it again...problem is they don't care to try. At least as long as people keep coming back and paying for it. TDO needs a solid house cleaning and the leadership needs to get back to what made WDW so great. Universal isn't perfect, but at least they're trying to give us fans what we want...not just some data mining magic band that cost somewhere between $1-2billion dollars.

Uni can have my money as long as they keep this up. Disney has lost my money for a few years now.
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
IMO it's a natural reaction, and it isn't really about Universal as much as it is about WDW itself.

When people who are Disney devoted and either have never been to Universal, or went 20 years ago, and suddenly their friends/co-workers start talking about how awesome that "other" place is, their first reaction is in defense of their favorite place.

A lot of people also have an unfortunate belief that they're "Cheating on the mouse" by visiting Universal...which is ludicrous, and speaks to a deeper emotional issue, based on the idealized Disney of the era around Walt's time. Disney for the most part is far removed from that ideal, but the problem is there's still a lot of older buildings and attractions that are reminders.
 
jeff59rt

jeff59rt

Member
My 10 year old liked disney but loved universal because the rides are so much better. We have a dvc and spent the last vacation in boardwalk for a week and didn't go to a disney park once. When the younger kids find disney boring and universal fun and exciting they are going to have a bigger problem to deal with.
 
cheezbat

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
ChrisFL said:
A lot of people also have an unfortunate belief that they're "Cheating on the mouse" by visiting Universal...which is ludicrous, and speaks to a deeper emotional issue, based on the idealized Disney of the era around Walt's time. Disney for the most part is far removed from that ideal, but the problem is there's still a lot of older buildings and attractions that are reminders.
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Disney fanbois completely forget that Walt was friends with the Knott family...who also happened to have their own theme park (Knotts Berry Farm) just down the road from Disneyland. They coexisted and even worked their park schedules around each other at times. Going elsewhere isn't cheating Disney. People miss out on so much just because of this whole concept of ''betraying Disney and going to another park is evil."
 
A

Azmyth

New Member
danpam1024 said:
Let me start by saying- I will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for WDW. My first trip was when I was 11 months old. I went to Grad Nite, spent my 21st birthday at PI. WDW did give me very special memories. My family, for now has moved on. we work too hard to spend our money on a mediocre Disney vacation of today when we know how spectacular it actually was in the (not so distant) past. The "deluxe" hotels are a joke, service has gone downhill, minimal effort goes into maintenance, and expansion has been less than stellar. The DDP has ruined any sort of culinary treat WDW used to offer, and other than Jellyrolls, there's really no place for adults to unwind. Not to mention the cost of passes
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Sounds like you're the one doing the hating here. ;)

I try to go to Universal as much as I can, actually excited to get back there soon. But, I just prefer Disney World. Why? I just like it better. :eek:
 
SJN1279

SJN1279

Well-Known Member
I just took my wife and 5 month old to Orlando. We went to Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Universal Studios. While all 3 parks were fun, Disney just was more enjoyable. Food options in Disney are much stronger(especially for someone with allergies like myself). Baby swap was much more organized in Disney than Universal, and Disney actually has attractions I could take my infant on with my wife. I also find Disney's overall atmosphere to be more pleasant than Universal.


BTW, I'm a huge Simpson fan, and loved their new restaurant decor, but the food was atrocious!!! Loved the Simpsons ride, and Despicable Me was a nice surprise. Transformers was overlong and borderline nauseating though.
 
SJN1279

SJN1279

Well-Known Member
Also I HATE that you can see big ugly show building for basically every Universal attraction. With all the giant facades they built for new Potter, they couldn't build a few extra to cover the ride building for the new gringotts ride? I also never knew that Hogwarts castle was attached to a big,ugly white building. It was never mentioned in the books or seen in the movies. :p
 
J

JT3000

Well-Known Member
SJN1279 said:
Also I HATE that you can see big ugly show building for basically every Universal attraction. With all the giant facades they built for new Potter, they couldn't build a few extra to cover the ride building for the new gringotts ride? I also never knew that Hogwarts castle was attached to a big,ugly white building.
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I never knew the entire country of Canada was attached to a (really) big, ugly blue building. Or that Mount Everest was in fact a building and not a mountain. But you learn something new every day.
 

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