I may have to rethink my dislike of Universal Studios...

[joy]

because they are going to make Nintendo themed rides!

www.polygon.com/2015/5/7/8564475/nintendo-universal-rides

[housecarder]

Looks like I'll be planning another trip

[longhornwino0907]

joy, Universal is amazing! My H was skeptical, too, and thought we should spend our time in Orlando at Disney instead. But he was blown away by Universal. And Nintendo-themed rides would only make it better! The level of detail in their current "worlds" is astounding, and I'm sure they'll do just a great a job with Nintendo! Guess we better get to planning our next trip.

[Deleted]

I saw that too! I will be making a trip when that is in the park

[ironbaby]

Heck yes! H is from near Orlando, so we can easily find an excuse to go and friends to stay with.

[joy]

May 7, 2015 9:10:02 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

joy, Universal is amazing! My H was skeptical, too, and thought we should spend our time in Orlando at Disney instead. But he was blown away by Universal. And Nintendo-themed rides would only make it better! The level of detail in their current "worlds" is astounding, and I'm sure they'll do just a great a job with Nintendo! Guess we better get to planning our next trip.

No.  We went to Universal.  I loathed it.  I won't go into why, but it sums up nicely to while Disney is classy, Universal is not.

EDIT: But, I'll go to pet a Yoshi.  I lurve Nintendo.

[goldenlove3]

Umm that is amazing! I would totally be down for a Mario themed ride!

[longhornwino0907]

May 7, 2015 9:11:00 GMT -5 joy said:

May 7, 2015 9:10:02 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

joy, Universal is amazing! My H was skeptical, too, and thought we should spend our time in Orlando at Disney instead. But he was blown away by Universal. And Nintendo-themed rides would only make it better! The level of detail in their current "worlds" is astounding, and I'm sure they'll do just a great a job with Nintendo! Guess we better get to planning our next trip.

No.  We went to Universal.  I loathed it.  I won't go into why, but it sums up nicely to while Disney is classy, Universal is not.

Hmm, now I'm curious! I know you've talked about your dislike for Universal before, but I wasn't sure why. I didn't find anything loathsome about Universal, but I also hadn't been to either Disney or Universal in probably 15 years.

[joy]

May 7, 2015 9:13:35 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

May 7, 2015 9:11:00 GMT -5 joy said:

No.  We went to Universal.  I loathed it.  I won't go into why, but it sums up nicely to while Disney is classy, Universal is not.

Hmm, now I'm curious! I know you've talked about your dislike for Universal before, but I wasn't sure why. I didn't find anything loathsome about Universal, but I also hadn't been to either Disney or Universal in probably 15 years.

Haha.  I realize that my opinion is minority and definitely influenced by circumstance.  This is why I'm willing to give it a second chance.

However.

Day 1: We went to the Magic Kingdom on a day where it would reach peak capacity.  We got there around 1pm, parked and got in the park easily.  It was a breeze.  The park was crowded but the staff kept everyone moving, kept you entertained in lines, and generally made sure that everything went smoothly.  The only problem was leaving, which was right after the fireworks.  Wait times for the monorail back to the parking lot were around 20 minutes, but once we got to our car, we drove right out.

Day Two: We went to Universal.  Waited for nearly 45 minutes to make a turn into the park due to traffic.  Then wove down those small streets to the front of park for another hour.  We finally did valet parking to just get the fuck out of the car.  Then we waited another twenty minutes while one guy was checking bags.  One.  Finally got in the park, got our ticket to get into Harry Potter World (timed entrances that day) and wandered a bit.  When it was time to go to HPW, we went to the entrance through the world right next to it (can't remember the name - it has a big log flume).  It was like standing in a scary frat party line.  Wall to wall to wall people all shoving to get to the entrance.  Some Universal people were holding thin ropes to keep traffic flowing, but it wasn't helpful.  The Universal people mostly barked, yelled, and were telling everyone to shut up.  Once we got in HPW, it was okay.  I will say that.  After we saw HPW, we got the fuck out of Universal.

Both days were very crowded in both parks.  But, one park handled it with grace and care while the other didn't give two shits about the people in the park.  That really really rubbed me the wrong way.  I would be hard pressed to return to Universal when Disney was just so much ...better.

I would be willing to go to Universal again on a very low capacity day.

[summerdonna]

That website is blocked at work but that is awesome! I have been wanting to go back to Disney for a long time. I haven't been in 15 years but I really liked Universal when we went.

[longhornwino0907]

May 7, 2015 9:25:27 GMT -5 joy said:

May 7, 2015 9:13:35 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

Hmm, now I'm curious! I know you've talked about your dislike for Universal before, but I wasn't sure why. I didn't find anything loathsome about Universal, but I also hadn't been to either Disney or Universal in probably 15 years.

Haha.  I realize that my opinion is minority and definitely influenced by circumstance.  This is why I'm willing to give it a second chance.

However.

Day 1: We went to the Magic Kingdom on a day where it would reach peak capacity.  We got there around 1pm, parked and got in the park easily.  It was a breeze.  The park was crowded but the staff kept everyone moving, kept you entertained in lines, and generally made sure that everything went smoothly.  The only problem was leaving, which was right after the fireworks.  Wait times for the monorail back to the parking lot were around 20 minutes, but once we got to our car, we drove right out.

Day Two: We went to Universal.  Waited for nearly 45 minutes to make a turn into the park due to traffic.  Then wove down those small streets to the front of park for another hour.  We finally did valet parking to just get the fuck out of the car.  Then we waited another twenty minutes while one guy was checking bags.  One.  Finally got in the park, got our ticket to get into Harry Potter World (timed entrances that day) and wandered a bit.  When it was time to go to HPW, we went to the entrance through the world right next to it (can't remember the name - it has a big log flume).  It was like standing in a scary frat party line.  Wall to wall to wall people all shoving to get to the entrance.  Some Universal people were holding thin ropes to keep traffic flowing, but it wasn't helpful.  The Universal people mostly barked, yelled, and were telling everyone to shut up.  Once we got in HPW, it was okay.  I will say that.  After we saw HPW, we got the fuck out of Universal.

Both days were very crowded in both parks.  But, one park handled it with grace and care while the other didn't give two shits about the people in the park.  That really really rubbed me the wrong way.  I would be hard pressed to return to Universal when Disney was just so much ...better.

I would be willing to go to Universal again on a very low capacity day.

Ahh I totally understand the loathing, then!

I will say that we went Easter weekend this year, and while it was projected to be a very crowded day, and it was, everything went so smoothly. From the bag check line to the lines for rides. Wait times always ended up being shorter than the posted times. The worst parts were when we had to go put stuff in lockers prior to getting on rides. Our stuff was even stuck in a locker once because their credit card machine to pay for the locker decided to quit working. We got the attention of a staff member, who promptly opened the locker for us, free of charge. I would recommend a second chance, definitely on a lower-capacity day. But I completely understand your horrible experience leaving a bad impression!

[hydrangea1019]

Disney is by far the superior park of Orlando, IMO. However, that being said, I've never really been a fan of Universal Studios, until they added the Mummy coaster. I haven't been there in tears, whenever we get back to Orlando we always head to Disney.

I grew up and went to college in Orlando. DH and I had year round passes to Un. studios/ Islands of Adventure (much cheaper at the time than Disney). We'd ride out, hop on the mummy a few times and head back to campus lol

I am intrigued by HPW and now Lego. Maybe we'll have to try it one more time.

[jags8]

But Universal has Harry Potter world!!!!!!!!!

I also went on a random Monday in January so crowds were not bad at all.

[longhornwino0907]

Totally off-topic, but joy, your siggy is my current front-runner for favorite! It made me literally laugh out loud

[pinkcat]

This is amazing. My husband will be sooo excited!

[thelittleredm]

This is awesome! I want to go when they have it finished and I've never felt a desire to go there.

[Ruca]

I'm still bitter about them removing the Back to the Future ride... This may redeem them though

[ohinvrtedworld]

I'm intrigued! I hope there is something Zelda-related. I have fond memories of when my dad was a gamer on the original Nintendo and I'd watch him play the original Zelda.

[kawaiikitsune]

While I am excited and intrigued by this, I am also a bit fearful. I really hope they don't only go with Mario & Zelda themed stuff because Nintendo has a lot of other great games/characters to choose from.

[badwolf]

I'm a big fan of Universal but more for the customer service we received than anything else.  We took DS there when he was about 10.  I'll never understand why but while we were taking a picture somewhere he took off his pin lanyard (full of Disney pins and a couple of Universal pins) and laid it down.  We walked off without it because H and I didn't realize he'd taken it off.  He realized it not long after but, of course, the lanyard was gone.  We went to lost and found and when DS discovered no one had turned it in he was crushed and started crying.  The young lady at lost and found called a manager and he went above and beyond to replace DS's lanyard.  Took him into the closest store with pins, had DS pick out any lanyard he wanted, made sure it was filled with pins before he left the store and then handed over his own staff nametag.  DS was thrilled and I was one happy mom who promptly wrote and glowing thank you letter and sent it to every address I could find for Universal.

[onesweetworld]

May 7, 2015 9:11:00 GMT -5 joy said:

May 7, 2015 9:10:02 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

joy, Universal is amazing! My H was skeptical, too, and thought we should spend our time in Orlando at Disney instead. But he was blown away by Universal. And Nintendo-themed rides would only make it better! The level of detail in their current "worlds" is astounding, and I'm sure they'll do just a great a job with Nintendo! Guess we better get to planning our next trip.

No.  We went to Universal.  I loathed it.  I won't go into why, but it sums up nicely to while Disney is classy, Universal is not.

EDIT: But, I'll go to pet a Yoshi.  I lurve Nintendo.

So much this post.

[westisleflower]

May 7, 2015 9:31:59 GMT -5 longhornwino0907 said:

May 7, 2015 9:25:27 GMT -5 joy said:

Haha.  I realize that my opinion is minority and definitely influenced by circumstance.  This is why I'm willing to give it a second chance.

However.

Day 1: We went to the Magic Kingdom on a day where it would reach peak capacity.  We got there around 1pm, parked and got in the park easily.  It was a breeze.  The park was crowded but the staff kept everyone moving, kept you entertained in lines, and generally made sure that everything went smoothly.  The only problem was leaving, which was right after the fireworks.  Wait times for the monorail back to the parking lot were around 20 minutes, but once we got to our car, we drove right out.

Day Two: We went to Universal.  Waited for nearly 45 minutes to make a turn into the park due to traffic.  Then wove down those small streets to the front of park for another hour.  We finally did valet parking to just get the fuck out of the car.  Then we waited another twenty minutes while one guy was checking bags.  One.  Finally got in the park, got our ticket to get into Harry Potter World (timed entrances that day) and wandered a bit.  When it was time to go to HPW, we went to the entrance through the world right next to it (can't remember the name - it has a big log flume).  It was like standing in a scary frat party line.  Wall to wall to wall people all shoving to get to the entrance.  Some Universal people were holding thin ropes to keep traffic flowing, but it wasn't helpful.  The Universal people mostly barked, yelled, and were telling everyone to shut up.  Once we got in HPW, it was okay.  I will say that.  After we saw HPW, we got the fuck out of Universal.

Both days were very crowded in both parks.  But, one park handled it with grace and care while the other didn't give two shits about the people in the park.  That really really rubbed me the wrong way.  I would be hard pressed to return to Universal when Disney was just so much ...better.

I would be willing to go to Universal again on a very low capacity day.

Ahh I totally understand the loathing, then!

I will say that we went Easter weekend this year, and while it was projected to be a very crowded day, and it was, everything went so smoothly. From the bag check line to the lines for rides. Wait times always ended up being shorter than the posted times. The worst parts were when we had to go put stuff in lockers prior to getting on rides. Our stuff was even stuck in a locker once because their credit card machine to pay for the locker decided to quit working. We got the attention of a staff member, who promptly opened the locker for us, free of charge. I would recommend a second chance, definitely on a lower-capacity day. But I completely understand your horrible experience leaving a bad impression!

I think when they expect big crowds they make the experience a lot smoother. It is when they get those unexpected rushes that the experience becomes worse for the patron and the employees. 

Source: Went to college in FL about an hour from Orlando. I love Disney, DH loves Universal (he is more a rides guy, I am more overall experience person).

[joy]

May 7, 2015 19:56:00 GMT -5 westisleflower said:

I think when they expect big crowds they make the experience a lot smoother. It is when they get those unexpected rushes that the experience becomes worse for the patron and the employees. 

Source: Went to college in FL about an hour from Orlando. I love Disney, DH loves Universal (he is more a rides guy, I am more overall experience person).

I was December 29th.  They had no excuse for not expecting a crowd.

[westisleflower]

May 7, 2015 20:11:00 GMT -5 joy said:

May 7, 2015 19:56:00 GMT -5 westisleflower said:

I think when they expect big crowds they make the experience a lot smoother. It is when they get those unexpected rushes that the experience becomes worse for the patron and the employees. 

Source: Went to college in FL about an hour from Orlando. I love Disney, DH loves Universal (he is more a rides guy, I am more overall experience person).

I was December 29th.  They had no excuse for not expecting a crowd.

Ah I see... Yeah they just dropped the ball then. Those dopes...