Passing on Potter

[Scarletlancer71]

We (me, my wife and 2 kids, 15 and 8) are off to Orlando at the end of August, staying at CBR for a couple, of weeks and then off on the Disney Fantasy for a 7 nighter in the Caribbean. We have reluctantly come to the conclusion that as cool as it undoubtedly is we are going to have cut back somewhere, and, as cool as it’s would be to do all the Potter stuff, that somewhere is going to have to be Universal. We really only had one, or at most two spare days, and, unless I am doing this very wrongly, to fill one of those with Universal goodness would set us back something north of £500, without even factoring in any sort of express pass, or the cost of getting there. Orlando has never been a cheap holiday, but we seem to be through the looking glass in terms of how expensive everything has become these days.

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

We did a day at Universal last year (mainly for HP) and absolutely loved it. We wanted to do the same again this year but the cost is so prohibitive that we have cut it too. Universal has become a once every 5 years kinda thing affordability wise ... they seem to think that they are worth more than Disney... erm, no!

 

[Scarletlancer71]

The big thing for me is that as we have already paid a small fortune for a 14 day ultimate Disney pass, I just can't justify doing the same for a multi day Universal one to get a better day rate, and every day we spend there is a day in which we aren’t in Disney, so that then effectively makes the Disney days more expensive. It is a shame, as I know the kids would enjoy Potter, but as we aren't really coaster fans anyway, there isn't that much else that they would do over there to make that insane amount of money worthwhile.

 

[Tony Toon]

We used to factor in a trip to Universal every year but haven't been to for several visits now. Coasters just don't do it for us and while Harry Potter is spectacular it's just not enough to justify spending that amount of cash. Throw in the distance you have to walk from the car park to get to the entrance and we now have it crossed off our list.

Mrs TT

 

[marcais]

I can understand people thinking Universal prices are prohibitive.

We've done the same basic itinerary in '17 and '18. 2 week Disney park ticket. 1 week on a Disney hotel, 2 weeks in a nearby villa. Then on the third week we wanted a 2-day Universal ticket. We're a family of 5, so it worked out cheaper for us to stay in one of the Universal hotels and get a package that included tickets, express passes, extra hour at Potter, and dining package than to just get the tickets and express passes for ourselves without the extra hour or the dining plan.

If you're skipping the water park then 2 days is more than enough time to do everything at Universal and those short-duration tickets are very expensive.

 

[matty624]

I'm struggling a little to understand everyone saying that Universal are expensive... I agree that prices have gone much higher in recent years, compared to the flex tickets that were on offer years ago, but if you compare the 2 week price of a Disney ticket to Universal, it's still much cheaper! That said, you're not getting as many theme parks. We're considering getting a 3 park ticket each (2 weeks), with one annual pass for Universal (for the free parking), along with a 2 week ticket for SeaWorld/Busch/Aquatica (also free parking). That combination of tickets still works out cheaper that a 3 week Disney ticket, which wouldn't include free parking, unless we stumped up for 1 annual pass like we did last year.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

We are the complete opposite.
We love Universal, so all three of us have annual passes.

Haven’t been to Disney parks for our last three visits, I’m afraid the magic for us seems to give gone, too crowded and finally, very expensive.
We do go to Disney Springs, but gave found that there is lots to do without the Disney parks.

 

[matty624]

We think the same, and we were Disney annual pass holder for many years... last year with the 'new' (to us anyway) system of booking fast passes ahead of time, drove me mad, going online every day at 12 noon. And even despite my best efforts, we still couldn't get tickets for some rides for the entire time we were there! Definitely spoilt some of the magic for us, and disappointed the kids being unable to get on some rides without the prospect of a multi hour wait! Oh, and to clarify, we're stuck with school holidays, the experience may be different out of the busiest periods!!!!

 

[Scarletlancer71]

I can only speak for us, but in a way it is not so much that Universal is a bad deal, but more that, as we have already spent so much on Disney tickets (which is our primary destination), we just can’t justify the extreme cost of short visit ticket to Universal.

 

[~Piglet~]

I can only speak for us, but in a way it is not so much that Universal is a bad deal, but more that, as we have already spent so much on Disney tickets (which is our primary destination), we just can’t justify the extreme cost of short visit ticket to Universal.

I feel the same way, it doesn't represent good value for money for us at present - we've always included Universal tickets in the past but unless we have a windfall I probably won't buy any for this trip, there is so much to do everywhere else that even the lure of Mr Potter (which I love) is not enough to make want to shell out nearly £1000 for 2 days entry (which is the most time I would allocate to Universal given that we're only going for 2 weeks). Last time we spent just over half a day at Universal until Hubby felt ill, we planned to go back another day but never got around to it, most expensive half day ever ha.

 

[JessicaRabbit13]

Universal does seem to be priced quite high considering they seem to get less footfall than Disney. On our 2016 trip it worked out a similar price for 2 nights at universal as a 4 night Disney cruise. We chose the cruise!

We are going to Universal next year but it’s frustrating that a 2 day ticket is over £200 for 2 parks but a 2 weeks ticket for 6 parks is less than £400.

People seem to always say that universal is better because it’s less busy, but surely universal would want it to be busier? ‍

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

After avoiding Universal on our last few trips, we have bit the bullet & are going this year.
We've booked one night at the Royal Pacific & will buy two day tickets, the park tickets are insanely expensive in our opinion, but as this is going to be our last Florida trip for a few years we decided to go this year.

 

[Jennisney]

We did Universal the first year we went (as a couple) and the HP area... AMAZING!!!!!! Everything else, a huge let down (except jurrassic park). It just felt cheap and nowhere near as nicely themed as disney (in the areas outside of HP). Its also SO expensive just for a 1 day park hopper that in our opinion, its just not worth it. We had bought 2 week passes but we went back to disney at about 4pm and didnt go back. I would like to go just for HP again, but the ticket for 1 day park hopper is just way too high, that its not worth it to us :/

Edit: also the fact that you had to pay extra for fast passes and seemingly had to pay extra for ALOT of things, (like a locker to put your bag in so it doesnt get wet) Left a bad taste in our mouths. We are disney spoilt and used to the magic haha. Although disney try extract as much money as they can from you, theyre more subtle about it, whereas universal it just felt like they were trying to get money from us at every turn.

 

[alanandline]

We did Universal the first year we went (as a couple) and the HP area... AMAZING!!!!!! Everything else, a huge let down (except jurrassic park). It just felt cheap and nowhere near as nicely themed as disney (in the areas outside of HP). Its also SO expensive just for a 1 day park hopper that in our opinion, its just not worth it. We had bought 2 week passes but we went back to disney at about 4pm and didnt go back. I would like to go just for HP again, but the ticket for 1 day park hopper is just way too high, that its not worth it to us :/

Edit: also the fact that you had to pay extra for fast passes and seemingly had to pay extra for ALOT of things, (like a locker to put your bag in so it doesnt get wet) Left a bad taste in our mouths. We are disney spoilt and used to the magic haha. Although disney try extract as much money as they can from you, theyre more subtle about it, whereas universal it just felt like they were trying to get money from us at every turn.

There are still free lockers, just the smaller ones. I think they are trying to discourage people taking in food

 

[princess evie]

My OH is a huge potter fan and we were gonna go so we could do potter but found tickets to be well expensive......last time I done universal (not IOA) was 2004..... if we go we was jua5 going to pay on the gate, is this still possible and also anyone know what a single day price is xx