I believe that Universal will be getting my future Disney business

[borgthe]

My daughter has a 7 day park hopper for her July trip that we were upgrading to a gold annual DVC pass for an August trip, a December trip, and a January trip among others not yet planned. However, Disney has now suspended sales of annual passes. It does not make any financial sense to buy new tickets for each of those trips so we will be canceling. We will go to Universal in August, December and January. We have owned DVC for years and have been going to Disney multiple times a year for the last 15 years. I am extremely disappointed in Disney's recent decisions.

 

[easyas123]

I don't necessarily have any issues with any decisions being made by the WDW Company, although we do feel at the moment that Universal is just a better bang for OUR buck and will give us a easier, more relaxed, less stressful trip. I don't want to have to try to score a reservation for a park, and I'm not going if I can't park hop - that's where I draw the line, and currently I don't have to do that at Universal.

 

[Violetspider]

I need to take some sort of vacation this year, as two WDW trips were cancelled this summer, and I now have an unactivated Platinum AP. I really don't want to activate my pass for a limited experience, shorten park hour, no park hopping, park reservation required vacation. I'm going to bank the pass for activation next summer (if Disney doesn't decide to cancel all unactivated annual passes that is). Anyway, so my choices are DLR or UA. I really would like to go to DLR, but it seems more and more unlikely they will open before the end of the year. So, UA seems like it will win out. Never been there, but I've already read the Unofficial Guide to UA 2020 and believe it could make for a great solo trip toward the end of the year. Now I just have to decide if having the Express Pass is really necessary this year. I could save a great deal by not staying at one of the premier resorts if I don't need the Express Pass. Decision, decisions.

 

[Martie Parker]

This is not a post about Universal versus Disney. We chose to go to Universal for a long weekend trip this past weekend that will culminate tomorrow. It was my 17 year old son and myself. We had previously visited UO 9 years ago. We visit Disney at least 2 times per year. Disney was only allowing AP ticket holders so our decision was easy as my son only had this past weekend available due to mandatory football practice so it was Universal! We were here 2 hours and my son said he would not mind spending a day or 2 at Disney! I told him this was a UO trip only due to the costs and we only had 3 days. These are our experiences visiting Universal:
Resort: Loew’s Sapphire Falls- comparably to a deluxe at Disney ( we regularly stay at GF or Beach/Yacht Club at Disney). There are no balconies which is a biggie to me! The staff has been phenomenal every single person happy we are on property! Also the express pass is not needed as we could finish all the popular rides within 4 hours each day!
Parks: As mentioned above extremely light crowds and very low wait times with Virtual Line access available! This is where my personal preference is going to show I had 2 daughters previous to my son and we love all things princess and sweet and happily ever after....I do not find that at Universal. It is fast and harsher to me. I can’t think of one character I like in the entire Universal park! We are not Harry Potter fans nor Marvel, but with that being said the rides are fun and exhilarating! I can ride most roller coasters. Also the rides such as Superman, Transformers are good too. I feel there are way too many of those type rides though!
Employees: We have encountered the kindest most helpful employees in our 20 plus years of visiting theme parks. Disney seems to just go through the motions, but UO employees seem to be really want you to have a good time and come back!
City Walk food venues:We had good meals at Bigfish and VIVO Italian and everything is extremely close! Boats were plentiful and I love to walk but there was always a boat coming around the corner! That is my perspective on the 2 parks!

 

[schumigirl]

There are a couple of balconies at Sapphire Falls. We had one with the Hospitality Suite, there are a couple of them plus the Presidential Suite. But, yes, regular rooms there don`t have one. Balconies in general are minimal for the Loews/Universal hotels. There are a few at PB, but not many.

You don`t even like Scooby Doo??? That`s a shame as the character interactions at Universal are amazing! Pre Covid the meets were always very personal and had a good length...you never felt rushed with them, even when busy.

But, glad you had a good visit overall.

 

[Martie Parker]

Haha of course I like Scooby Doo, Captain America, etc....
Also I was pointing out the fact that while Sapphire Falls is considerably less than a Disney deluxe resort it was comparable except for the lack of balconies!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Thx for sharing Op

 

[schumigirl]

Haha of course I like Scooby Doo, Captain America, etc....
Also I was pointing out the fact that while Sapphire Falls is considerably less than a Disney deluxe resort it was comparable except for the lack of balconies!

Glad to hear you did enjoy some of the meets

Yes, just wanted to point out to anyone reading that there are balconies at this hotel, albeit not too many.

 

[Malela9]

I am from So. Cal and love Disneyland. But honestly, when I go to Florida, Universal is more fun for me. I get Express Passes after 4 and the parks are not as crowded. The only reason we are going to Florida this month is because Universal has no reservations. I find myself more excited about going to Universal than Disney these days.

 

[Dockside Bayer]

Am I the only one happy to support both? Not really a competition in my mind.

 

[easyas123]

It’s not a competition to me, just the right fit for us given current circumstances and offerings at both parks at moment.

 

[borgthe]

Correct. Not a competition. Disney is making it impossible to support them.

 

[tony67]

Correct. Not a competition. Disney is making it impossible to support them.

I felt this way for quite a while but to be honest the Disney boards have always made it a competition - right or wrong. "More room at Disney for me." whenever you call something out. it's not unusual for a Disney Troll to pop up and try to stir the pot every once and a while.
People on this board tend to ignore them and that why I tend to stick to the Universal boards only.

I think the way Disney has handled this has opened a lot of eyes - maybe Disney will realize they have to do more that provide the bare minimum and people are not going to accept whatever Disney throws at them. At the same time Universal has bent over backwards to make things right during the closer - they have gone above and beyond IMO.
The folks that defended Disney no matter what said Disney could do no wrong have dried up for the most part (some of them stopped getting paid by Disney from what I understand).
I've been attacked many times over the years for pointing out the issues at Disney and the downward spiral of the experience. I've been to Disney at least 30 times (that's 30 trips - each multiple days) - but I have seen no need to go back for 4 or 5 years now.
For some folks it has always been a competition - some of the attacks over the years on universal and the "type" of people that go to Universal have been disgraceful.

There is room for both and if Disney improves its experience to bring people back I will be back.
I do think this is going to be a reset for Disney and hope to return to an improved experience at some point

 

[kbelle8995]

I have annual passes for both Disney and Universal. I have to say that Universal made the process stress free as possible. Disney not so much various phone calls, email and a letter to get my pass postponed and extended. What a pain. So yes I'm staying with universal for the foreseeable future.

As a kid who was born in the 70's I Love Scooby-Doo

 

[cfoxga]

Unless you are willing to spend significant money on both, you have to make some choices. It doesn't mean one is good and the other bad.

When our daughters were small, our only option was Disney. They (and my wife) loved the princesses. We even did a Disney Cruise. But the costs for a single trip were very high and Annual Passes were prohibitively expensive. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge once, but typically rented a condo to save money. This limited us to once trip every year or two.

As the kids got older, the princess stuff was replaced by Harry Potter and Spiderman. So we decided to give Universal a shot, and fell in love. With the cheap Seasonal Passes, we were able to squeeze in multiple trips before they expired. We started with CB but quickly found that the EPs were with spending more on the Deluxe Hotels. But the great part was the planning; there really isn't much to do other than show up and enjoy.

My wife really wants to go back to Disney. I'd like to see how things have changed in the 8-9 years, but began to dread the planning process almost immediately. It is way more complicated now and tough to figure out the most cost effective way to visit.

 

[Skywalker3]

We love both! In fact, this fall./next spring were supposed to be the Universal time, after finishing our 'year of Disney,' We're DVC, and usually get an annual pass for Disney, and try to do 2-3 trips in a year, then take a break. usually during that break, we go to Universal. Can't afford both in one trip. Now that our summer WDW trips were cancelled, we rebooked there for the fall. So, Universal will have to wait. I sure wanted to go this summer tho, after reading the blogs/watching the vlogs. We love Harry Potter, and I think the theming at Universal is great. Kids are older now, 13 and 16, and want more thrill rides. Disney will probably be put on the backburner for awhile, so we can do places like Busch Gardens, and places with more roller coasters, when it's safer to go there. I dont' seem to see as many safety protocols in place at the other theme parks (non Disney/Universal.)

 

[andieb0602]

We love Disney but Universal just gives us more bang for our buck. We were able to buy APs for the same prices as a week's tickets for Disney which then gave us a discount on the hotels. Provided covid doesn't shut things down again we'll get 4 trips out of our passes. Like PP said, there's no planning. You just show up and go and it's so relaxing. It's even easier right now because, if you're on property, you don't even have to rope drop to get a spot for Hagrid's.

 

[Dockside Bayer]

We are going to Universal for the first time next summer. We are excited to go. We have gone to Disney many times. We loved our trips there. We have gone to lots of other places for vacations and have always had a good time. Do what works for you and let others do likewise.

 

[patster734]

Am I the only one happy to support both? Not really a competition in my mind.

I used to support both until Disney’s massive AP price increase last year. Sadly, that priced me out which is a shame because I do enjoy the Epcot festivals.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

So we alternate the parks each trip.. under normal circumstances we catch a after hours party to get our Disney fix.
For the money we definitely get more out of US they have deals of free days when you buy one or so. I think you will like the change up.