New Universal commercial

Disney actually has more roller coasters. They are just generally less intense and better themed than Universal's.

Thank the Lord; I don't do insane stuff or stuff that goes upside down.

Disney speed is my speed, lol.
 
Thinking this was before the best/thrilling coaster in all US and WDW parks was closed for a family ride.

Dragon Challenge was too intense for me, but it was closing so I had to try it.
Thank the Lord; I don't do insane stuff or stuff that goes upside down.

Disney speed is my speed, lol.

I'm with you on that. I much prefer Disney's coasters. I rode Dragon Challenge once only because it was closing. Way too intense. Some people like that, but I'll stick to Disney's level of intensity.
 
Those commercial are cute

I think that they seem to be admitting that there isn't much there for the littles, which is fine. And that some big kids love the jump to Universal. I know my son did and wouldn't go back to Disney ever if he had a choice :)
 
Well this Disney kid... who is a grandmother will never out grow WDW. My BIL works for Universal and we can get tickets when we want, the thing is we will get them for something new or special we want to see, like the Macys parade... But we go see what we want to see then out. While is fun.... Its not magical and just doesn't compare... its not apples to apples....


I also agree. I know we're in a minority but Disney every time for me. Universal gets so much push and praise from so many around here but it's still no contest.

Again...I'm in the minority as the Universal Resort's numbers are exploding and Disney seems to be in retreat on almost all fronts.
 


Disney has a blessing and a curse is that for the vast majority of rides everyone can go on them. Then you have the boy problem a Disney. With the explosion of how popular princesses et all became Disneys focus imo went too far over that direction but they are fixing with Star Wars land. It is socially acceptable for girls to like boy things but not the other way around. Universal have been very clever in choosing their big rides and big theming areas and with every iteration they just get better and better and I cant wait to see what the Nintendo area will bring. We started at Universal studios which was ok, Islands of Adventure improved it further, Harry Potter out Disneyed Disney and Volcano Bay despite its bad start is also very good. Disney rested on their laurels and Universal as basically told them to up their game and they have. If you look at the big projects they have announced they are all gender neutral or slightly more boyish there was no big Frozen or Princess announcements.
 
I also agree. I know we're in a minority but Disney every time for me. Universal gets so much push and praise from so many around here but it's still no contest.

Again...I'm in the minority as the Universal Resort's numbers are exploding and Disney seems to be in retreat on almost all fronts.

I am a Disney fan and could never get myself convinced to spend money to go to Universal. HOWEVER, I was in Orlando for the Micosoft conference and they booked both Universal parks, allowing me to get in for free. There were about 30K people in the park and it was WAY overcrowded since almost all went for the popular rides. Here are my observations:

1> Universal (apart from Harry Potter which I will discuss next) does not have "it". Those who love Disney will get what I mean.
2> Harry Potter land..... Universal hit it out of the (pardon the pun) park. They did not spare any expense. Very immersive and technologically advanced. Was able to ride all the rides and they are simply awesome. They are not intense, but there is no ride in Disney that I would say is better than those.
3> Rode Jurassic, Spider Man, Dr. Doom and a few others. Though fun, they were one and done. I prefer Disney
4> Universal's numbers are exploding since it's orig numbers were (and frankly still are) low. When you are on the top, as Disney is from a numbers game, up and down is expected.
5> Disney does an EXCELLENT job (compared to Universal) in managing and guiding crowds. Universal seemed very disjointed in their approach. One of the Harry Potter rides was down for 20 mins and there was absolutely no communication to people waiting in line. The people managing the rides did not seem to care at all. I don't think I saw a single person even crack a smile.

Universal was a one and done for I. Hopefully this provides some context. The Universal commercial (again, just my opinion) is off the mark.
 
I am a Disney fan and could never get myself convinced to spend money to go to Universal. HOWEVER, I was in Orlando for the Micosoft conference and they booked both Universal parks, allowing me to get in for free. There were about 30K people in the park and it was WAY overcrowded since almost all went for the popular rides. Here are my observations:

1> Universal (apart from Harry Potter which I will discuss next) does not have "it". Those who love Disney will get what I mean.
2> Harry Potter land..... Universal hit it out of the (pardon the pun) park. They did not spare any expense. Very immersive and technologically advanced. Was able to ride all the rides and they are simply awesome. They are not intense, but there is no ride in Disney that I would say is better than those.
3> Rode Jurassic, Spider Man, Dr. Doom and a few others. Though fun, they were one and done. I prefer Disney
4> Universal's numbers are exploding since it's orig numbers were (and frankly still are) low. When you are on the top, as Disney is from a numbers game, up and down is expected.
5> Disney does an EXCELLENT job (compared to Universal) in managing and guiding crowds. Universal seemed very disjointed in their approach. One of the Harry Potter rides was down for 20 mins and there was absolutely no communication to people waiting in line. The people managing the rides did not seem to care at all. I don't think I saw a single person even crack a smile.

Universal was a one and done for I. Hopefully this provides some context. The Universal commercial (again, just my opinion) is off the mark.

Sounds like you went in with a pre-conceived idea that Universal wasn't very good. Those of us who love Universal very much disagree. And in reference to #5, I have never passed a TM who didn't smile and say "hello" at the least.
 


Sounds like you went in with a pre-conceived idea that Universal wasn't very good. Those of us who love Universal very much disagree. And in reference to #5, I have never passed a TM who didn't smile and say "hello" at the least.
I went last fall with the preconceived notion that Universal was a distant second to Disney, so I was pleasantly surprised. I left thinking Disney needs to step up their game because the gap is closing rapidly.

I'm no Harry Potter fan, but I thought Diagon Alley was amazing. I could have just hung out there all day. The Gringots ride was great. The theming at Hogwarts was also really well done.
 
1> Universal (apart from Harry Potter which I will discuss next) does not have "it". Those who love Disney will get what I mean.
2> Harry Potter land..... Universal hit it out of the (pardon the pun) park. They did not spare any expense. Very immersive and technologically advanced. Was able to ride all the rides and they are simply awesome. They are not intense, but there is no ride in Disney that I would say is better than those.
3> Rode Jurassic, Spider Man, Dr. Doom and a few others. Though fun, they were one and done. I prefer Disney

This ^^^. Universal has a lot of one and done rides. Unless they open something new (Super Nintendo Land/World, Dragon Challenge replacement) before my pass expires, there's a good chance I won't renew my UOAP. I just can't justify the price for the handful or rides I want to ride over and over (ET, MIB, etc...)
 
Sounds like you went in with a pre-conceived idea that Universal wasn't very good. Those of us who love Universal very much disagree. And in reference to #5, I have never passed a TM who didn't smile and say "hello" at the least.

What tipped you off?

The fact they admitted to a preconceived opinion in the first sentence?

...I picked up on that too:jester:
 
On my first ever trip to Orlando (2016), we went to WDW and Universal. I grew up a MAJOR Harry Potter nerd but didn’t get into Disney until college, when I got a Disneyland AP. So, I was equally excited about WDW and Universal for Wizarding World. This predated by knowledge of podcasts/disboards, etc. so I had no idea that there was a “war” between the two and had no expectations.

I really wish I could say I had a better time at Universal. Multiple times the employees either didn’t know basic answers to questions (where is the frog choir?), told us wildly inaccurate information causing us to miss shows, or just couldn’t be bothered to answer us. Gringotts broke down, resulting in a two hour wait for the ride. These things all really bummed me out and distracted me from the immersiveness of it all.

Now, I hear so many others say great things and I’m 100% willing to try again and maybe I just had an “off-experience”. But it irritates me when people just chalk bad experiences up to “drinking the Disney koolaid”. There’s pride and prejudice on both sides of this debate.
 
Anyone see the new Universal commercial that takes a shot at Disney? Tag line is “kids grow up and so do vacations”. Just found it interesting.

Yes, lol. And what I found funny about it is that Disney attracts more kids that have grown up than it does kids.
Nice try, Universal. I'm 57. The magic doesn't grow out of me.
 
On my first ever trip to Orlando (2016), we went to WDW and Universal. I grew up a MAJOR Harry Potter nerd but didn’t get into Disney until college, when I got a Disneyland AP. So, I was equally excited about WDW and Universal for Wizarding World. This predated by knowledge of podcasts/disboards, etc. so I had no idea that there was a “war” between the two and had no expectations.

I really wish I could say I had a better time at Universal. Multiple times the employees either didn’t know basic answers to questions (where is the frog choir?), told us wildly inaccurate information causing us to miss shows, or just couldn’t be bothered to answer us. Gringotts broke down, resulting in a two hour wait for the ride. These things all really bummed me out and distracted me from the immersiveness of it all.

Now, I hear so many others say great things and I’m 100% willing to try again and maybe I just had an “off-experience”. But it irritates me when people just chalk bad experiences up to “drinking the Disney koolaid”. There’s pride and prejudice on both sides of this debate.

I find many more Universal fans to be much more defensive and sensitive about their Universal being critiqued than Disney fans.

Also, there seems to be a much higher level of vitriol aimed at Disney on these boards.

Just my perception, of course.
 
I don't think Universal can be considered just for coasters anymore,I mean right now they're dismantling Dragon Challenge (Dueling Dragons),one of the two original coasters at Islands of Adventure.I'm actually very sad about this as it was a great coaster,the replacement will be a more heavily themed Potter coaster but will definitely not be as thrilling which is what I feel both Disney and Universal are going for in their future projects,coasters but more laid back ones that most people will ride,the days of bigger coasters are gone at Universal.Even Epcot is getting a coaster,I would be surprised if its as intense as Rock n Roller coaster.If Universal were to be classified currently its not coasters but simulator rides,its gotten to the point most of their rides are simulators of some kind.

NOOOOOOOO... that is a bummer, that was a good coaster
 

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