We just spent two days at Disney and two days at Universal. Never have been to Universal. Overall, I still like Disney more because they have a variety of ride styles. Universal to me was either 3D or a roller coaster, even a combination of the two. I would say that Velocicoaster and Hagrids are the exception, but I don't see myself wanting to go within the next couple of years. I would want to see Epic Universe for sure with the Super Nintendo World, but I would completely skip Universal Studios Park all together on the next trip. Islands of Adventure is a different story. While I found that Disney was more stressful with Lighting Lanes and crowds, Universal this past weekend was pretty insane. At park opening more than half of their rides were closed or delayed due to weather even if they were indoor attractions. I don't understand how that made sense. This made the 5 rides that were open crazy wait times. Like Transformers in US was 150 almost the entire day, Kong was almost 100 minutes, even Fast and the Furious was like 130 minutes at some point. We went during the week to both IOA and US and the lines were a fraction of what they were during the weekend.Throughout the day I compared wait times and would much rather be in the Disney Parks. We ended up paying for a premier hotel to get Express Pass Unlimited and felt that there were too many people that had it. While it did save us time, about 50% of the posted wait time, We were still waiting really long for simple rides while at Disney, I feel like they do prioritize those with
Genie+ (LL or ILL).
Some people rave about the express passes. For those folks, I think the simplicity of getting in whichever queue whenever you feel like outweighs the actual time savings. But, even then, is it worth staying at their deluxe hotels or paying the additional money?
The times I've gone to Universal I have found that a little strategy at IOA and I can ride everything without express, without much stress, and with the exception of Hagrids without waiting too long (a lot of walk ons even). I get everything I would want to do in on a single day without feeling like I left anything behind, and that's including a leisurely sit down at Mythos. I just did this before Halloween on a Saturday, a very crowded day. On the Universal side, different story. Everything feels long and crowded every time I go. I found this to be true on crowded days like Halloween and NYE, but also on the less crowded days, where it seems like their staffing adjustments ensure long lines on a lot of their rides regardless of when you go.
But here's the thing, it's not clear to me what I'm supposed to do at Universal with the extra time. Sure, I don't want to stand in line there all day, but if I'm not, I could probably get in everything I'd want to in about half a day. Other than leaky cauldron, there are no restaurants I find appealing in park. There are no places I want to sit, hang out, catch a view, have a beer (well, other than Moe's, and to have literally a single beer). There are no shops I find particularly interesting outside of diagon alley. And what are the "must do" rides at that park anyhow? It's telling that I find one of the least popular rides, ET, to have more appeal than their most thrilling, the coaster with the stupid name, an interesting lift, and a lame layout where the biggest thrill is provided by the soundtrack. Oh and which constantly has long waits.
To be clear I like going to UOA, thus the repeat visits. IOA is a great park. Volcano Bay is my favorite water park anywhere. City Walk is fun. Don't love USO but it's better than a lot of other theme parks. I'm just saying that if I've decided to spend a day at USO, waiting in line to ride is pretty much the only way to spend time. So with the express, am I supposed to use the extra time to do these screen rides multiple times? Or am I just going to go for half a day and head over to city walk which I could have gone to for free?
