Carnut12
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 15, 2010
As the title states we just got back from 5 days at Disney followed by 3 (3 day park to park passes) at Universal. We have been to Disney several times, but this was our First trip to Universal as a family.
It was an absolute blast, we loved it. We are a family of 5 (Twin 12 year old boys and a 8 year old girl).
We stayed at RPR in a Club Room, the Club option worked out well for us, we took advantage of breakfast before we left and dessert each night as well when we got back. One day we took advantage of the mid-day snacks when we came back and hung at the pool for a few hours, in addition we brought snacks and drinks down to our room to have. I only have 2 things I would have liked better about RPR, one is the rooms are rather small, about the size of a regular Hampton Inn, maybe even smaller. Second is we ended up on the 6th floor when most Club Rooms are 7th, that was a slight inconvenience going up and down, I would request 7th floor next time for sure. The Club Room was NOT cheap (About $500 a night), BUT with a family of 5 it included 5 Express passes for all 3 days and we only stayed at the RPR 2 nights, I had originally booked 3 nights, but thanks to this forum I saved $500 and booked a Hilton with points the night before I flew out, this forum made me aware you could go to the Hotel at 7am and get your keys and utilize them for Express Pass on the day you Checked in as well as the day you checked out. So between the Express Pass, Food, and being able to walk to the Parks I thought the $500 was well worth it. Keep in mind $500 was due to being a Holiday week, based on what I have seen it is usually cheaper then that.
The parks were amazing, I did not realize how many of the rides were Virtual, I have to admit both my wife and I were Virtual Rided out by the 3rd day, after a few of them each day they definitely gave us the start of motion sickness, we thought about taking some Dramamine, but forgot the last day, does anyone know if this would help? It did not seem to bother the kids as much. With the Express Pass our average wait was between 5-10 minutes, in many cases it was even less. We loved all of the rides, the Harry Potter was probably our favorite, but I was also surprised how much I liked King Kong. We went to Mardi Gras 2 nights and it was a blast, the kids Loved it!!!! It was a great way to end the night and I enjoyed the fact the parks closed with enough time to relax before starting the next day.
Food Reviews- We ended up doing 3 lunches at the park, we started with 3 Broomsticks and I was blown away with the quality of food for the cost, we got the Feast for 4 and my daughter got a kids meal. The restaurant was very cool to look around and it was extremely organized compared to anything at Disney. The "Feast" was Amazing, this will be on our list every time we visit going forward. I am used to everything being Fried at quick serves, this was far from it, Highly Recommended!!! Our next lunch was at Cowfish and it was equally amazing, once again our expectations were exceeded. We went during prime time for lunch and had Zero wait time, I noticed with all the restaurants around you do not have to wait like you do at Disney, BIG win IMO. Everyone gloated about what they ordered at Cowfish and the service was excellent, I ordered the Sushi American Cheeseburger meal and it was Outstanding!!! The Kids meals were fantastic for the price, the carrots and apples for example appeared to be freshly cut, by comparison in Disney they come in little prepackaged bags. The last place we had lunch was Leaky Cauldron, I ordered the beef stew in the bread bowl. Honestly I think it was OK, but my expectations were set at 3 Broomsticks and I do not think the food at LC compared to 3 Broomsticks. I was hoping they had a similar "Family Feast", but it appears they only do so during the Thanksgiving/Christmas Holiday time period. We did like the setting and the service was fantastic, as stated above MUCH more organized then anything at Disney. The last place we ate on at the parks (Besides Snacks) was The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, we only ordered dessert here. Oh my gosh it was absolutely incredible. The kids all ordered shakes and they all said it was the best ones they have ever had, my wife and I shared a triple chocolate brownie sundae they we could not finish between the 2 of us. We will absolutely return here for dessert, next time we will probably order 2-3 sundae dishes to share, they all look so good, the most difficult part was picking one. We also ordered Butter Beer, it was Fantastic, I ordered the Frozen and the kids the Cold, I preferred mine. Last quick note on food is I enjoy a nice salted pretzel, it is my "Go To" snack, the ones at Universal blow away Mickey Pretzels, they are not as big, but they were Hot and Fresh and had a good amount of salt on them. The ones at Disney do not taste as fresh and rarely have enough salt on them.
Quick comparison to Disney- They are MUCH different parks, I do not think it would be fair to pick one over the other. I enjoy shows and I have to say Disney Shows blow away Universal. But from a pure ride standpoint I give the edge to Universal. From a food standpoint Universal blows Disney away, the only exception I would give is Epcot due to the countries, but then you are paying a significant amount more to eat at those restaurants. Universal appears to be more organized as well, I thought they handled lines much better, same with bag checks. They were MUCH more organized at the food places, one thing i dread about Disney is going to eat. A quick example is our last day at Disney we were at Animal Kingdom, I ordered my food online (I do LOVE this option) and waited to be called. My wife and kids went to find a table and 50% of them were being saved, in Universal they make it so this is not possible, you have to have your food to sit and eat. This may seem small, but to me it makes a big difference, you not only get your table promptly, but while you are eating you do not have to deal with the crowds of people wandering around trying to scarf up a table for someone that just got on line.
Sorry for the long winded post, I could keep going, but I will end with this- We upgraded our 3 day passes to AP Power passes before we left and we intend to start planning our next trip soon!!! We will skip Disney for a few years and stick with Universal for now........
My last comment is THANK YOU!!! to those on this forum, my trip would not have been nearly as fun and well planned out if not for this forum and more importantly the people on this forum, I hope I can help pay that forward to others with questions.
It was an absolute blast, we loved it. We are a family of 5 (Twin 12 year old boys and a 8 year old girl).
We stayed at RPR in a Club Room, the Club option worked out well for us, we took advantage of breakfast before we left and dessert each night as well when we got back. One day we took advantage of the mid-day snacks when we came back and hung at the pool for a few hours, in addition we brought snacks and drinks down to our room to have. I only have 2 things I would have liked better about RPR, one is the rooms are rather small, about the size of a regular Hampton Inn, maybe even smaller. Second is we ended up on the 6th floor when most Club Rooms are 7th, that was a slight inconvenience going up and down, I would request 7th floor next time for sure. The Club Room was NOT cheap (About $500 a night), BUT with a family of 5 it included 5 Express passes for all 3 days and we only stayed at the RPR 2 nights, I had originally booked 3 nights, but thanks to this forum I saved $500 and booked a Hilton with points the night before I flew out, this forum made me aware you could go to the Hotel at 7am and get your keys and utilize them for Express Pass on the day you Checked in as well as the day you checked out. So between the Express Pass, Food, and being able to walk to the Parks I thought the $500 was well worth it. Keep in mind $500 was due to being a Holiday week, based on what I have seen it is usually cheaper then that.
The parks were amazing, I did not realize how many of the rides were Virtual, I have to admit both my wife and I were Virtual Rided out by the 3rd day, after a few of them each day they definitely gave us the start of motion sickness, we thought about taking some Dramamine, but forgot the last day, does anyone know if this would help? It did not seem to bother the kids as much. With the Express Pass our average wait was between 5-10 minutes, in many cases it was even less. We loved all of the rides, the Harry Potter was probably our favorite, but I was also surprised how much I liked King Kong. We went to Mardi Gras 2 nights and it was a blast, the kids Loved it!!!! It was a great way to end the night and I enjoyed the fact the parks closed with enough time to relax before starting the next day.
Food Reviews- We ended up doing 3 lunches at the park, we started with 3 Broomsticks and I was blown away with the quality of food for the cost, we got the Feast for 4 and my daughter got a kids meal. The restaurant was very cool to look around and it was extremely organized compared to anything at Disney. The "Feast" was Amazing, this will be on our list every time we visit going forward. I am used to everything being Fried at quick serves, this was far from it, Highly Recommended!!! Our next lunch was at Cowfish and it was equally amazing, once again our expectations were exceeded. We went during prime time for lunch and had Zero wait time, I noticed with all the restaurants around you do not have to wait like you do at Disney, BIG win IMO. Everyone gloated about what they ordered at Cowfish and the service was excellent, I ordered the Sushi American Cheeseburger meal and it was Outstanding!!! The Kids meals were fantastic for the price, the carrots and apples for example appeared to be freshly cut, by comparison in Disney they come in little prepackaged bags. The last place we had lunch was Leaky Cauldron, I ordered the beef stew in the bread bowl. Honestly I think it was OK, but my expectations were set at 3 Broomsticks and I do not think the food at LC compared to 3 Broomsticks. I was hoping they had a similar "Family Feast", but it appears they only do so during the Thanksgiving/Christmas Holiday time period. We did like the setting and the service was fantastic, as stated above MUCH more organized then anything at Disney. The last place we ate on at the parks (Besides Snacks) was The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, we only ordered dessert here. Oh my gosh it was absolutely incredible. The kids all ordered shakes and they all said it was the best ones they have ever had, my wife and I shared a triple chocolate brownie sundae they we could not finish between the 2 of us. We will absolutely return here for dessert, next time we will probably order 2-3 sundae dishes to share, they all look so good, the most difficult part was picking one. We also ordered Butter Beer, it was Fantastic, I ordered the Frozen and the kids the Cold, I preferred mine. Last quick note on food is I enjoy a nice salted pretzel, it is my "Go To" snack, the ones at Universal blow away Mickey Pretzels, they are not as big, but they were Hot and Fresh and had a good amount of salt on them. The ones at Disney do not taste as fresh and rarely have enough salt on them.
Quick comparison to Disney- They are MUCH different parks, I do not think it would be fair to pick one over the other. I enjoy shows and I have to say Disney Shows blow away Universal. But from a pure ride standpoint I give the edge to Universal. From a food standpoint Universal blows Disney away, the only exception I would give is Epcot due to the countries, but then you are paying a significant amount more to eat at those restaurants. Universal appears to be more organized as well, I thought they handled lines much better, same with bag checks. They were MUCH more organized at the food places, one thing i dread about Disney is going to eat. A quick example is our last day at Disney we were at Animal Kingdom, I ordered my food online (I do LOVE this option) and waited to be called. My wife and kids went to find a table and 50% of them were being saved, in Universal they make it so this is not possible, you have to have your food to sit and eat. This may seem small, but to me it makes a big difference, you not only get your table promptly, but while you are eating you do not have to deal with the crowds of people wandering around trying to scarf up a table for someone that just got on line.
Sorry for the long winded post, I could keep going, but I will end with this- We upgraded our 3 day passes to AP Power passes before we left and we intend to start planning our next trip soon!!! We will skip Disney for a few years and stick with Universal for now........
My last comment is THANK YOU!!! to those on this forum, my trip would not have been nearly as fun and well planned out if not for this forum and more importantly the people on this forum, I hope I can help pay that forward to others with questions.
