Anonymous wrote:We went Saturday-Wednesday, Memorial Day weekend. (Thank you, private school calendar!) My kids are 14 and 11. It was great and actually not unbearably crowded - have also been to Disney during peak times (Thanksgiving week and President's Day weekend) and it was no where near as bad as that.

Universal is way better for older kids IMO. It's definitely less of a 'bubble' that WDW, but the rides are a lot more thrilling and the theming -- at least in parts of it -- is better done. It's a lot more innovative - I think WDW is really resting on the nostalgia/tradition factor, but some of it is soo outdated (cough cough Tomorrowland!)

Also, there are a lot of amazing non-screen based rides at Universal. Veloci Coaster, Stardust Racers, Bowser's Challenge, Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, Hulk Coaster, Mine Cart Madness, Hagrid's... probably some I'm missing. More than Disney, IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went Saturday during one of the preview days. We have a first grader, so we’re more Disney-focused, but we loved it. The capacity was limited so the lines for the rides were long & some were closed, but what we rode was super fun. The Super Mario world really felt like you walked into a video game.

The one negative I’m interested in seeing play out is how they deal with 40,000 visitors a day. Each world is quite contained and it feels like it may be difficult to move about because of that.

Also can’t wait to stay at Helios & love the onsite proximity which is even closer than Hard Rock or Portofino are to Universal & IOA.

But no express pass. Major miss.

I bet they will add express pass once/if they need to fill rooms.

Wait, the new Helios doesn't come with the Express Pass. Does Portofino still come with it for the Universal parks?

I wanted to bump this anyway because I just booked a trip. I've never been to Universal, but I've been to Disney many times so I feel like I have a lot to learn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot wait to go! I grew up going to Disney World and have only been to Universal once…but oh my god it’s 10x better than Disney. The Wizarding World is so incredibly immersive and you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into every land. Epic Universe is on my bucket list but given it’s one of the newest theme parks to open in the US, I’m going to give it a few months until the hype calms down a bit. I’m thinking a trip in January or sometime in the off season next year

We've stayed at Universal for the last two Florida trips. The hotels are within walking distance of City Walk and all the parks. It's a really great experience. The parks are great. Maybe not quite Disney levels of great, but we have a better time at Universal than Disney, now that my kids are teenagers.

I don’t think the new hotels are walking distance to all of Universal? Epic and the existing lands are not walkable I thought.

Correct. Epic and the 3 new hotels are not only not walkable, they are not even contiguous to the current Universal property. There is private land in between owned by others.

I believe this is the site of the old Wet n Wild. That part down I4/I drive is packed.

I went to Islands of Adventure after the new Harry Potter park opened and while I had a good time it was unbelievably packed. I might wait a bit to let the crowds die down and let them work out the kinks on some of the rides.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went Saturday during one of the preview days. We have a first grader, so we’re more Disney-focused, but we loved it. The capacity was limited so the lines for the rides were long & some were closed, but what we rode was super fun. The Super Mario world really felt like you walked into a video game.

The one negative I’m interested in seeing play out is how they deal with 40,000 visitors a day. Each world is quite contained and it feels like it may be difficult to move about because of that.

Also can’t wait to stay at Helios & love the onsite proximity which is even closer than Hard Rock or Portofino are to Universal & IOA.

But no express pass. Major miss.

I bet they will add express pass once/if they need to fill rooms.

Wait, the new Helios doesn't come with the Express Pass. Does Portofino still come with it for the Universal parks?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot wait to go! I grew up going to Disney World and have only been to Universal once…but oh my god it’s 10x better than Disney. The Wizarding World is so incredibly immersive and you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into every land. Epic Universe is on my bucket list but given it’s one of the newest theme parks to open in the US, I’m going to give it a few months until the hype calms down a bit. I’m thinking a trip in January or sometime in the off season next year

We've stayed at Universal for the last two Florida trips. The hotels are within walking distance of City Walk and all the parks. It's a really great experience. The parks are great. Maybe not quite Disney levels of great, but we have a better time at Universal than Disney, now that my kids are teenagers.

I don’t think the new hotels are walking distance to all of Universal? Epic and the existing lands are not walkable I thought.

Correct. Epic and the 3 new hotels are not only not walkable, they are not even contiguous to the current Universal property. There is private land in between owned by others.

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Can't ride anything at Universal - all the rides are "screen rides" that make us all sick. Too bad, because I love the theming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot wait to go! I grew up going to Disney World and have only been to Universal once…but oh my god it’s 10x better than Disney. The Wizarding World is so incredibly immersive and you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into every land. Epic Universe is on my bucket list but given it’s one of the newest theme parks to open in the US, I’m going to give it a few months until the hype calms down a bit. I’m thinking a trip in January or sometime in the off season next year

We've stayed at Universal for the last two Florida trips. The hotels are within walking distance of City Walk and all the parks. It's a really great experience. The parks are great. Maybe not quite Disney levels of great, but we have a better time at Universal than Disney, now that my kids are teenagers.

I don’t think the new hotels are walking distance to all of Universal? Epic and the existing lands are not walkable I thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot wait to go! I grew up going to Disney World and have only been to Universal once…but oh my god it’s 10x better than Disney. The Wizarding World is so incredibly immersive and you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into every land. Epic Universe is on my bucket list but given it’s one of the newest theme parks to open in the US, I’m going to give it a few months until the hype calms down a bit. I’m thinking a trip in January or sometime in the off season next year

We've stayed at Universal for the last two Florida trips. The hotels are within walking distance of City Walk and all the parks. It's a really great experience. The parks are great. Maybe not quite Disney levels of great, but we have a better time at Universal than Disney, now that my kids are teenagers.

Anonymous wrote:I cannot wait to go! I grew up going to Disney World and have only been to Universal once…but oh my god it’s 10x better than Disney. The Wizarding World is so incredibly immersive and you can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into every land. Epic Universe is on my bucket list but given it’s one of the newest theme parks to open in the US, I’m going to give it a few months until the hype calms down a bit. I’m thinking a trip in January or sometime in the off season next year

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went Saturday during one of the preview days. We have a first grader, so we’re more Disney-focused, but we loved it. The capacity was limited so the lines for the rides were long & some were closed, but what we rode was super fun. The Super Mario world really felt like you walked into a video game.

The one negative I’m interested in seeing play out is how they deal with 40,000 visitors a day. Each world is quite contained and it feels like it may be difficult to move about because of that.

Also can’t wait to stay at Helios & love the onsite proximity which is even closer than Hard Rock or Portofino are to Universal & IOA.

But no express pass. Major miss.

I bet they will add express pass once/if they need to fill rooms.

Anonymous wrote:How many days would you guess it would it take to properly do all of universal now? Three?