Hi all -
We just returned from three days at Universal and you all were so helpful while this newbie was making her plans that I wanted to write a quick "just back" post.
First things first, we really lucked out with weather and crowds. We were there 4/12 - 4/14. The weather Thurs and Fri was amazing. Warm and sunny but low humidity. Saturday was definitely hotter and more humid but it was manageable and not miserable. Crowds on Thursday were very light considering it was spring break time. Friday a bit more crowded but still not awful. Saturday, the most crowded but really still not unpleasantly so.
There were a lot of pros to Universal. We loved how compact and easily walkable both parks are as well as their proximity to Citywalk and our hotel (RPR). It was so nice to bounce back and forth quickly and easily without a lot of hassle. We also enjoyed the more "grown up" vibe. It was still very family friendly but there was an edge to both the rides and shows, and atmosphere in general. Our kids are 11 and 15 so this was appealing. The food at both parks, the hotel AND Citywalk was better, IMO, than anything we've had at the Disney parks, the resorts and/or Downtown Disney. And more reasonably priced as well. Not cheap by any means but for what we got, the prices were more worth it. We loved the resort, it was very nicely laid out, manageably sized and extremely accommodating. Compared to a Disney resort, it felt tiny.
We enjoyed both parks pretty equally and in our three days, did pretty much everything there was to do, both shows and rides. Some rides were better than others but none were awful (except Shrek, I found that to be a total yawn-fest. Oh and Dr. Doom. Another big ol' yawn there). We had UE and with that, definitely did not need three days to do everything but it allowed us more downtime at the hotel to enjoy the pool, which was nice. Loved UE. So nice to not wait in line pretty much at all and so nice to use it over and over again without designated times to return. The hotel stay was not cheap by any means but worth it in my opinion for proximity to the parks and UE.
Even not being HP fans, we really enjoyed the HP areas in both parks. Forbidden Journey was awesome as was Escape from Gringotts. We enjoyed the nighttime Hogwarts show as well. Not such big fans of the Hogwarts Express. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what it was. Another screen...We did it once in each direction and then walked between parks after that. I know we're in the minority on that one but it was just ok for us.
The biggest cons were the number of simulator rides. I knew beforehand, thanks to this board, to expect that but really did not grasp the shear number of simulator rides we'd encounter until we experienced it ourselves. My least favorite rides were Minions, Jimmy Fallon and The Simpsons. No one in our party had issues with motion sickness but to me, they were far too similar and far too manic. The scenes jerked around all over the place, I felt almost like it was out of focus the whole ride. I did enjoy Kong and Escape from Gringotts and even enjoyed Transformers and Spider Man. There was much more "ride" and far less jerking around so even though they were all fairly similar as well in structure, they were different enough to be appealing.
The only other real con that I can think of was the entries at each park. We had so many problems scanning our tickets and reading our fingerprints. They had to be reset almost every time we entered the parks. Not a big deal but it was irritating. Also that we had to scan every time we entered...the tickets that is. If I'm not mistaken, before magic bands at Disney, didn't you just use your fingerprint after the initial scan? Maybe I'm wrong but if I am, we did not encounter the same scanning struggles we had at Universal.
Oh and one more con...Popeye. Never have I gotten so wet on a non-water park ride in my life. We were literally soaked to the skin, every inch of our clothing drenched. Not wet. Sopping, squeeze water out wet. We saved the water-based rides for the end of the day knowing we would get wet. We went on Popeye first, which was our biggest mistake. Getting so incredibly soaked and then going on two more rides where you get wet would, in theory, be fine. But feeling like we'd been hosed down and then riding two more was just unpleasant. If we go back to Universal, unless it's on the hottest day of the year, I would never again go on Popeye. It's not worth getting so wet, even just to go back to the hotel right after. IMO...
All in all, it was a very nice visit. We enjoyed ourselves immensely! It's not Disney but I don't think it's fair to compare the two at all.
We just returned from three days at Universal and you all were so helpful while this newbie was making her plans that I wanted to write a quick "just back" post.
First things first, we really lucked out with weather and crowds. We were there 4/12 - 4/14. The weather Thurs and Fri was amazing. Warm and sunny but low humidity. Saturday was definitely hotter and more humid but it was manageable and not miserable. Crowds on Thursday were very light considering it was spring break time. Friday a bit more crowded but still not awful. Saturday, the most crowded but really still not unpleasantly so.
There were a lot of pros to Universal. We loved how compact and easily walkable both parks are as well as their proximity to Citywalk and our hotel (RPR). It was so nice to bounce back and forth quickly and easily without a lot of hassle. We also enjoyed the more "grown up" vibe. It was still very family friendly but there was an edge to both the rides and shows, and atmosphere in general. Our kids are 11 and 15 so this was appealing. The food at both parks, the hotel AND Citywalk was better, IMO, than anything we've had at the Disney parks, the resorts and/or Downtown Disney. And more reasonably priced as well. Not cheap by any means but for what we got, the prices were more worth it. We loved the resort, it was very nicely laid out, manageably sized and extremely accommodating. Compared to a Disney resort, it felt tiny.
We enjoyed both parks pretty equally and in our three days, did pretty much everything there was to do, both shows and rides. Some rides were better than others but none were awful (except Shrek, I found that to be a total yawn-fest. Oh and Dr. Doom. Another big ol' yawn there). We had UE and with that, definitely did not need three days to do everything but it allowed us more downtime at the hotel to enjoy the pool, which was nice. Loved UE. So nice to not wait in line pretty much at all and so nice to use it over and over again without designated times to return. The hotel stay was not cheap by any means but worth it in my opinion for proximity to the parks and UE.
Even not being HP fans, we really enjoyed the HP areas in both parks. Forbidden Journey was awesome as was Escape from Gringotts. We enjoyed the nighttime Hogwarts show as well. Not such big fans of the Hogwarts Express. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what it was. Another screen...We did it once in each direction and then walked between parks after that. I know we're in the minority on that one but it was just ok for us.
The biggest cons were the number of simulator rides. I knew beforehand, thanks to this board, to expect that but really did not grasp the shear number of simulator rides we'd encounter until we experienced it ourselves. My least favorite rides were Minions, Jimmy Fallon and The Simpsons. No one in our party had issues with motion sickness but to me, they were far too similar and far too manic. The scenes jerked around all over the place, I felt almost like it was out of focus the whole ride. I did enjoy Kong and Escape from Gringotts and even enjoyed Transformers and Spider Man. There was much more "ride" and far less jerking around so even though they were all fairly similar as well in structure, they were different enough to be appealing.
The only other real con that I can think of was the entries at each park. We had so many problems scanning our tickets and reading our fingerprints. They had to be reset almost every time we entered the parks. Not a big deal but it was irritating. Also that we had to scan every time we entered...the tickets that is. If I'm not mistaken, before magic bands at Disney, didn't you just use your fingerprint after the initial scan? Maybe I'm wrong but if I am, we did not encounter the same scanning struggles we had at Universal.
Oh and one more con...Popeye. Never have I gotten so wet on a non-water park ride in my life. We were literally soaked to the skin, every inch of our clothing drenched. Not wet. Sopping, squeeze water out wet. We saved the water-based rides for the end of the day knowing we would get wet. We went on Popeye first, which was our biggest mistake. Getting so incredibly soaked and then going on two more rides where you get wet would, in theory, be fine. But feeling like we'd been hosed down and then riding two more was just unpleasant. If we go back to Universal, unless it's on the hottest day of the year, I would never again go on Popeye. It's not worth getting so wet, even just to go back to the hotel right after. IMO...
All in all, it was a very nice visit. We enjoyed ourselves immensely! It's not Disney but I don't think it's fair to compare the two at all.
) So, he wears a poncho...every.single.time. he ends up under the massive waterfall. He loves it, and at least he's a good sport about it when his hood flies down just before the waterfall occasionally 
I've had the same problems with the scanners - I always joke that I'm a ghost because my fingerprints don't register LOL Thanks for sharing your experiences! 
