This doesn't happen at Disney World!

[LauraAnn630]

We are doing US, IoA and the 4 Disney parks this December for the holidays!

Disney HAS messed up our tickets, not cleaned our room and given us terribly wrong info on early and late entry times!

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

Just had to respond with a positive for UNI.People - you can love both - you don't have to pick only one!

I totally agree, we always try to do both when we visit. Why limit your fun? Both places have their strengths and in the end we always have a good time.

 

[macraven]

i have been doing both parks on the same vacation since 1993.

i could not imagine going to orlando and missing one of them.

 

[smidgy]

boy, I WISH univ. had just one "tacky" hotel, like pop century! we just spent a week at pop for free dining. we were not planning a trip again but couldn't turn down the dining offer, and could only afford a value resort. It was really very nice. we prefer the moderates at disney.. even a moderately priced resort at univ. would be great. we do love UR, and with fotl, can't see staying offsite.
they could compete better with wdw if they had at least one lesser expensive resort.
we are spoiled... only stay onsite at either place. we have stayed at 3 disney deluxe resorts. are considering hard rock this time at UR, but gee, that's so pricey. It's just that we've been to RP 3 times, and enjoy new and dif. experiences.
anyhow, we love both places, and the competition between the 2 is good for all of us! I cracked up at the gory, gruesome makeup show when the actor said to a kid "this isn't disney kid, I don't have to be nice to you" every one in the audience cracked up.. (PLUS, I got to kiss the guy to "revive" him, just an extra perk)
I love spider man, mummy is great. walking to the parks is great. love to pool hop at UR. city walk is a gas - love the dueling pianos at pat o'briens. but...I love renting boats on bay lake at WDW, learning to ride a segway, enjoying a pina colada while listening to flower power concerts at epcot (wdw is for families with little kids? our kids are grown, we go ourselves ) OMG! there's SO much in orlando, um, hubby, can we take THREE weeks next time- can we, huh, pleeeaaase?!

 

[BettyBoop.IOA]

The last few posts have been pretty good responses. But really, come on guys. This topic should have been called "WE HATE UNIVERSAL" Half of you have been brainwashed into thinking Universal sucks, and yeh whatever, I dont like MK THAT much but I dont make topics about it. I say half the people on the boards here are snobby and don't give Universal a chance. Call this Harsh, but come on guys, Get over it.

 

[macraven]

 

[Chuck S]

Half of you have been brainwashed into thinking Universal sucks, and yeh whatever, I dont like MK THAT much but I dont make topics about it. I say half the people on the boards here are snobby and don't give Universal a chance.

I gave Universal a fair chance...twice. I grew up in Los Angeles and always enjoyed visiting Universal Hollywood. But judging by our experience with the USF CM, food service and overall park cleanliness, I have to say that Universal Florida is, IMO, the Six Flags version of Universal Hollywood.

 

[BettyBoop.IOA]

Your reply makes a whole lot more sense, hence the term "In my opinion".
Alot of posters on here imply(sp) that "I speak for the whole board when I say.."
I mean Universal is great in MY opinion its better than DW, in fact I've spoken to more people who prefer Universal rather than Disney!
I've heard the comparison to Six flags, many times. But I am English, but I've heard your Six Flags is our Alton Towers! So I get what you mean.

**May I quickly add, that Disney is like the cleanest place on earth. And it's not the parks fault that Universal is like 'less clean'. It's the fact that Universal appeals to teenagers more than disney world, and teenagers do litter!

 

[damo]

I gave Universal a fair chance...twice. I grew up in Los Angeles and always enjoyed visiting Universal Hollywood. But judging by our experience with the USF CM, food service and overall park cleanliness, I have to say that Universal Florida is, IMO, the Six Flags version of Universal Hollywood.

Could you elaborate and back up this opinion with references to Six Flags and Universal? I'd be interested to hear exactly how they compare. I have visited most Six Flags parks as well as both Universal locations as well as both American Disney locations. I don't quite get the comparisons, especially foodwise considering that Mythos in IOA has been voted the best theme park restaurant consistently. The only real comparison I see is the use of superior roller coasters by B&M when Universal Hollywood has no large coasters. If the inclusion of B&M coasters makes Universal like Six Flags then I say, "Bring it on!!!"

 

[macraven]

i live 10 minutes from the 6 flags great america/chgo area and go there regularly for something to do in the boring days of summer.

have been going to their fright fest on weekends this month also.

maybe you should not lump all six flags into one catagory. the Great America staff has a majority of 16 and 17 year olds working there. they do the rides, foods, janitorial services and ticket booths.

there are always problems at this park with the employees. they have a high turnover on workers. until this 6 flags hires older workers, i doubt the problems they have will go away. the place can not be kept up and stay clean once their gates open.

i have been to UO in florida and my comparison to that park with 6 flags is impossible. UO is a theme park with well trained staff, our 6 flags is not.

right now, 6 flags is in the process of selling off some of their more prosperous parks to another company. doesn't that tell you something?

universal is unique. i could not compare it to another theme or amusement park. universal, disney and 6 flags are all different in so many ways.

not everyone enjoys universal. i always say, that's one less person in line in front of me then.

we all have our opinions. i just want to point out don't lump all the 6 flags together as one group. that company is selling out some of the parks. each 6 flags park is not the same, they are not kept up as a group.
have also been to the mid america 6 flags in st louis. their problems on cleanliness are not an issue there but, it is one of the smallest 6 flags parks.

 

[Lucky82061]

I think Universal has it's own charm... well maybe not USF but IOA is definitely worth the trip... IOA has some of the best ride's at any park. Spiderman, Hulk, Dudley do-right falls, Bilge barges... all great rides.

With that being said however, you don't get the same feeling at USF as you do at WDW. There really is something to the "magic" of it all... the ambiance at WDW, provided by the CM's is unparalleled... that's what makes WDW that much better.

An example I have is on my last trip at Universal, I was heading into the park at the turnstiles and the one I was in line for broke. Instead of telling everyone in the line that the turnstile was broke, the employee decided to just make everyone stand there for 20 minutes while he tried to reboot it and get it fixed. When people started asking what was taking so long he actually got up and yelled at them.... Just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling when you're getting yelled at on the way in

That's what sets Disney apart from everyone else... But anyways.. just my opinion

 

[damo]

I think Universal has it's own charm... well maybe not USF but IOA is definitely worth the trip... IOA has some of the best ride's at any park. Spiderman, Hulk, Dudley do-right falls, Bilge barges... all great rides.

With that being said however, you don't get the same feeling at USF as you do at WDW. There really is something to the "magic" of it all... the ambiance at WDW, provided by the CM's is unparalleled... that's what makes WDW that much better.

An example I have is on my last trip at Universal, I was heading into the park at the turnstiles and the one I was in line for broke. Instead of telling everyone in the line that the turnstile was broke, the employee decided to just make everyone stand there for 20 minutes while he tried to reboot it and get it fixed. When people started asking what was taking so long he actually got up and yelled at them.... Just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling when you're getting yelled at on the way in

That's what sets Disney apart from everyone else... But anyways.. just my opinion

No warm fuzzies for me at all at Disney, of course, just my opinion. It started right at the parking booth last visit at AK with the attendant charging me $10 for my taxi to drop me off. That would never happen at Universal. All the warm fuzzies went straight out the window.

There are some rides that I really like but even if you put them all together, it would be one small theme park. I always feel like I am being royally ripped off at Disney having to jump from park to park to ride a ride or two.

 

[PinkTink63]

I think DW fell in love with me again when I said that at Universal Studios. As true Disney lovers, we knew we would likely never leave DW to go to US, so we planned a special 1 week trip to go there and SeaWorld. Great prices with a package and Southwest airfares. All going well with planning for a Monday morning flight when, oops, I get sent for a one day seminar in San Francisco on Sunday. OK, plans: I fly out Saturday, stay overnight, then the seminar, then red-eye back Sunday night to Philly, arrive at 6am, wait for DW (is it US-W now? whatever..) DD3 and DD6 who will arrive at airport at 8am. Perfect right?
Well, surprisingly it did work and I even slept on the plane back.

Arrived at Orlando, got the car, drove to offsite hotel. Then to US to pick up our 5 day pass that also included free meals for the kids. Great. Pick up passes and then hit the park. These passes have the free lunch? Absolutely the employee says (they are just not CMs.)

Routine rides, plenty of fun, but just not the ambiance at DW. What was most crazy is that a half hour before the park closed, the shops and food stands closed up! That would never happen at DW!

Ok, next day up and at-em, head to the parks, IOA this time. Luckily both DD3 and DD6 are tall - DD6 can go on anything and wants to. DD3 not far behind, but of course more limited.

We head for lunch (free remember) and go to check out - no free lunch. How to fix it? Head all the way across the park to guest services. That's it, I blow and yell out 'This doesn't happen at DW.' I know it might, but its never happened to us.

Rest of the trip was fine, Sea World was great (free beer). Oh don't give me that look, if you have kids you must understand the overwhelming desire to drink in the middle of the day.

But, we kept looking southwest. Its not too far is it? DW and I drop hints then finally just say, want to go get dinner at Big River? Our eyes light up! And breakfast at Boma before we fly home YES!

So we caved, and saved the vacation. When we made the reservations and the CM ended with 'Have a magical day" then when we got to BW and the guard CM said 'watch out for Donald and his friends' (at was drizzling) we knew we were home.

Back to DW (where we belong) in 4 weeks 4 days.

Offsite 1982, 1987
DL (Honeymoon) 1995
Sports 2004
Swan 2005

In all fairness to US/IOA, Disney has made minor mistakes with us before, but I totally agree with you about the feeling there. It is completely different! There is just a certain feeling we get at Disney that we just do not get elsewhere. Last time we were at US/IOA during the summer they closed at 7 or 8pm on a Sat. night! That really bummed us out!
We really like US/IOA, especially Spiderman, The Mummy(my favorite!), Jurassic Park, Dueling Dragons and The Hulk(families favorites!), and Suess Landing. We stay at there for about 3 days whereas we stay at Disney 10-12 days.
There is no way we would travel all the way to Orlando and not go to Disney, but we we are going to skip US next year, because we are going to the Keys for part of our trip. That is just our feeling on the whole situation!

 

[Fan2CSkr]

I gave Universal a fair chance...twice. I grew up in Los Angeles and always enjoyed visiting Universal Hollywood. But judging by our experience with the USF CM, food service and overall park cleanliness, I have to say that Universal Florida is, IMO, the Six Flags version of Universal Hollywood.

Oh come on Chuck, you drank the kool-aid at the DVC presenatation didnt you? When was the last time you were at USO? The parks are just as clean as Disneys. The TM's have always been helpful, interesting and pleasant to us. Since we visit so often I always make it a point to strike up a conversation with them and its always been a highlight. I have been to all the Disney parks and both USO and USH just for reference. The 6 flags comparison always shocks me. I just do not find any merit to that statement at all. Since you found your way over to this board you must have been researching your next trip there right? I know we all have our intrepretation of things but the general "dirty:, "rude", "six flags" comments sound so silly. Whats wrong with the food? Where did you eat?

 

[rie'smom]

If US/IOA is like Six Flags,then WDW must be as well. I say this because I get the same happy feeling at both resorts. Oh,except for FOTL-that makes me feel a lot better at US/IOA.

 

[Bobb-O]

Why are so many disney-philes kool-aid drinkers?

 

[patster734]

Why are so many disney-philes kool-aid drinkers?

Because alcohol isn't served at the Magic Kingdom?

 

[BettyBoop.IOA]

No warm fuzzies for me at all at Disney, of course, just my opinion. It started right at the parking booth last visit at AK with the attendant charging me $10 for my taxi to drop me off. That would never happen at Universal. All the warm fuzzies went straight out the window.

There are some rides that I really like but even if you put them all together, it would be one small theme park. I always feel like I am being royally ripped off at Disney having to jump from park to park to ride a ride or two.

Thats the employee, not the park. I've been yelled at by Disney Staff because I complained that someone stole our pram. "THATS NOT OUR PROBLEM LADY"
Trust me, it happens every where.

 

[Bobb-O]

There are so many many things that happen at Universal Studios that you just want to describe as "Just doesnt happen at Disney" - probably need a thread of its own but lets get started.

------------------------------
Being able to really "Park Hop" by walking between parks -
This doesn't happen at Disney World

Every Multi-Day Theme Park Ticket includes free admission to all of the clubs at City Walk -
This doesn't happen at Disney World

Resort Hotel Guests enjoy Unlimited Front of the Line priveledges all day long with no machine to swipe or wait at - just show room key.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

City Walk is situated between the two theme parks and has a huge parking garage and three 4 star hotels adjacent and all hotel guests can actually walk to the parks if they want to.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

You are able to get to your hotel quickly if it rains or you want a break from the heat and humidity without long transportation and wait times.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

"Universal tends to be more adult oriented than WDW" - quote from Kelly Monaghan http://www.intrepidtraveler.com/media/uo5release.pdf- but goes on to say that Universal has not abandoned children but has made arrangements for them to have fun.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

Al hotels at Universal are pet friendly -
This doesn't happen at Disney World

100% of all hotels at Universal are Luxury resorts with at least 4 stars.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

Universal Studios Florida has ticket prices that are affordable to families.
This doesn't happen at Disney World

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[BettyBoop.IOA]

You guys are so.. one sided! To make a decent point try to include bad things about Universal and good things.. because anyone could make a list that says "This doesn't happen is Universal" but where's the actual comparison? I don't mean to be insulting, it's just from an outsider, it's how it looks.
(Above post is not what im refering too.)