Disney World vs. Universal Orlando: Which is Better for Your Florida Vacation?
Wondering about the pros & cons of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando? This post compares and contrasts the two most popular Florida theme park complexes, with a look at the strengths and weaknesses each to help you determine which is the “better” option for your vacation. (Updated January 25, 2024.)
Walt Disney World versus Universal Orlando. Mickey Mouse. Harry Potter. The debate has raged since both entered the theme park scene in Florida, and is hotter than ever with Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida adding thrilling rides that capture the attention of theme park fans and vacationers. In this battle royale, TWO THEME PARK COMPLEXES ENTER, ONLY ONE WILL LEAVE.
Okay, actually, not really. This does not engage in the typical fanboy arguing over which is better. If you already have a favorite, nothing I write is going to change that (probably) passionate opinion. I will say that any supposed rivalry is mostly an artificial creation of theme park fans, and not something that actually exists between the parks themselves. Rather, this post is for those who are not diehard fans of either, but rather, are simply trying to determine how to allocate their limited vacation time between the Central Florida theme parks.
For us, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom are all like children. Sure, we might have preferences and personal favorites, but we ultimately love them all. To that point, we’re Annual Passholders at both Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World, but we’ll be the first to admit that we spend far more time at the latter.
However, that might start to change next year when Epic Universe opens and the new Super Nintendo World debuts. As a huge fan of Mario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong, I’m anxiously awaiting this new land and know that it’ll be a huge hit with guests. (We’ve already experienced the Mario Kart attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, and the Yoshi ride at Universal Studios Japan.)
This new park has also led some Walt Disney World fans to openly ask: Is Universal Beating Disney? It’s not just the new park–Universal has been doing a lot in the last decade to position itself as a bona fide ‘destination’ resort and not just diversions from Disney. There’s also the new Minions mini-land and an upcoming DreamWorks Animation Land Opening in 2024 at Universal Studios Florida.
When it comes to Universal opening blockbuster additions, Disney’s public position has been that “that a rising tide lifts all boats” and that a stronger Universal is beneficial to Disney. In other words, if you’ve ever thought that a visit to Universal Orlando would be tantamount to “betraying” Walt Disney World, banish the idea from your mind. Besides, these are for-profit, publicly-traded companies and not actually family members. You can’t “betray” them.
Anyway, this is written to compare and contrast Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, to give those of you who haven’t recently visited both an idea of how you might want to allocate your vacation time in Central Florida. Hopefully it’s reasonably fair in doing that. Ultimately, I think the two resort complexes are better as complementary destinations rather than competitive ones, so I don’t have much interest in that “battle,” anyway.
We receive a number of questions about whether Universal is “worth it?” That’s an incredibly loaded and subjective question, but I feel like this type of comparison post is the best way to answer it. The fact is, each brings a lot to the table, and has its strengths and weaknesses.
For many of you, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando might work well in tandem, and it might make a lot of sense for you to spend some time at each resort complex. For others, only one may hold any appeal due to your party’s demographics, advantages of staying on-site at one or the other, cost, or for a variety of other reasons.
As preliminary info, Walt Disney World Resort includes four theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, plus Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon water parks, over two-dozen on-site resort hotels, and the Disney Springs shopping area.
Universal Orlando Resort has two theme parks: Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay water park, 8 on-site resort hotels, and the CityWalk shopping area. Although it’s often mis-portrayed as a theme park, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is not one of the parks at Universal Orlando–it’s two lands within the above-mentioned parks.
We will cover all of that in this post, as we take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resorts…
Rides
According to some, Walt Disney World is for families with kids and Universal Orlando Resort is for teens and young adults. At least, this is what has been perpetuated. The reality is a bit more nuanced.
It’s a statement that you can take at face value and more or less know what is meant by it, even if it’s incomplete. Universal Orlando does skew more towards teens and adults. A total of 24 attractions at Universal Orlando have height requirements, for an average of 12 per park. At Walt Disney World, there are 22 attractions with height requirements, for an average of 5.5 per park.
This is compounded by the fact that most of Universal Orlando’s best attractions–Revenge of the Mummy, Men in Black Alien Attack, Transformers, Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Jurassic World VelociCoaster, and Incredible Hulk Coaster–have height requirements. Oh, and don’t forget the three flagship Harry Potter attractions: Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
A lot of rides are eliminated for families with by virtue of this height requirement alone. While there are still plenty of attractions that kids can do in the Universal parks, these attractions are not Universal’s strong suit, whereas many of Walt Disney World’s classic attractions are aimed squarely at kids.
If you have small children and are contemplating a trip to Universal Orlando, you will definitely want to consult height requirement charts to make sure that they are tall enough for at least a chunk of them. The good news is that Universal is making a concerted effort to improve its family-friendly offerings.
Universal’s newest attraction, Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast, is for almost everyone (aside from infants). Universal now has more kid-friendly characters, a new daytime parade is likely coming in 2024, and there’s other entertainment aimed at families. Then there’s the new DreamWorks Animation Land, which is aimed squarely at kids. Next up, Super Nintendo World and other additions in Epic Universe. To be sure, there’s still room for improvement, but Universal is adding more for families with kids.
Even if you don’t have small children, you might find many of Universal’s headliners simply too intense. Motion sickness is only an issue with a handful of attractions at Walt Disney World–things like Expedition Everest, Star Tours, and Cosmic Rewind. Pretty much every thrill ride and/or simulator at Universal can present problems for guests with motion sickness.
The flip side of this is that Walt Disney World is weak when it comes to thrill rides. Sure, there are some options but most of Disney’s rollercoasters are tame by normal standards, and there are fewer of them (hence fewer height requirements).
Exciting, well-themed attractions are squarely in Universal Orlando’s wheelhouse. With the exception of coasters, almost all of these attractions are brilliantly executed, and are not just cheap, amusement park thrills. Transformers, Spiderman, Revenge of the Mummy, and the Harry Potter attractions, among others, are some of the best attractions in Orlando.
These attractions are not too intense for average guests–to the contrary, they command lengthy wait times, so they’re clearly appropriate for most people. If you can handle Expedition Everest or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, you can probably handle anything at Universal Orlando.
In addition to that, they wonderfully fuse thrills with thematic delivery. These action-packed attractions are Universal Orlando’s definite strong suit, and if this is your style, you will be particularly impressed with what they have to offer. Many of these fast-paced, action-packed attractions are unlike anything that exists at Walt Disney World.
One myth that exists about Universal Orlando is that it leans entirely on screen-based attractions. There are definitely several instances of screens being used (and more than at Walt Disney World), but in nearly every such case, screens are used in lieu of animated figures (Audio-Animatronics in Disney parlance) because the situation simply dictated as much.
In fairness, recent highly-popular Walt Disney World attractions are also trending in that same direction. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and TRON Lightcycle Run have a combined total of 0 Audio Animatronics but tons of screens. In both cases, screens are used purposefully and as appropriate. In fast-paced, action-heavy thrill rides (among other scenarios), animated figures simply wouldn’t be pragmatic.
Transformers wouldn’t be possible with huge Autobots scaling buildings and bouncing all around a city leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Same goes for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, among others. Also to Universal’s credit, but the attractions that do utilize screens don’t utilize only screens. They are all mixed-media, and there’s enough variety that I don’t think you ever really feel that you’re just “watching a video.”
It’s worth pointing out that the gap has been closing between Universal and Disney in the last decade. Walt Disney World has seemingly followed Universal’s lead and placed a greater emphasis on thrilling attractions. If you look at some of the biggest recent additions–both rides in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Avatar Flight of Passage, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, TRON Lightcycle Run, and Slinky Dog Dash–all have height requirements and offer varying degrees of thrills. And as discussed above, Universal is doing more to cater towards kids.
Walt Disney World does have more variety and classics than Universal Orlando, with the latter placing a stronger emphasis on contemporary movies and what’s popular now. Disney’s attraction lineup has been refined over the last 4 decades, and many of the world’s most iconic and classic theme park attractions exist at Walt Disney World.
Depending upon your perspective, this could be a good or bad thing. These classics will appeal to your sense of nostalgia along with the youngest and oldest members of your traveling party. Many have absolutely stood the test of time, but the teens and young adults in your group may find them lame or dated.
Covering the attraction roster at Walt Disney World is beyond the scope of this post (and you probably know it, anyway), but if you’re unfamiliar with Walt Disney World’s ride lineup, we cover it park-by-park in our Walt Disney World Ride Guides. Suffice to say, Walt Disney World has a lot of ‘Fantasyland’ style attractions that will appeal to kids, and a lot of slow-paced attractions that will appeal to an older crowd looking for leisurely things to do.
Entertainment
Historically, Walt Disney World has offered more and better entertainment. Stage shows, atmospheric performers, character meet & greets, and nighttime spectaculars have all been superior at Walt Disney World. Production values are usually higher and Disney has access to more beloved characters along with a deep well of nostalgia.
To that last point, Disney intellectual property is a lot stronger than Universal’s. While the latter does have Harry Potter and will soon have Nintendo, Walt Disney World otherwise has a near-monopoly on beloved animated characters from the last half-century. Characters from Frozen, Encanto, Moana, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, etc.
By contrast, Universal’s big name characters that appeal to children are the Minions and Spongebob. That’s not everyone–other characters include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron; The Simpsons; Shrek, Donkey and Princess Fiona; Scooby-Doo & Shaggy; Trolls; Blue the Velociraptor; Kung Fu Panda; and Marvel Comics characters. It’s a long list, but the sheer volume of popular characters in the Disney vault dwarfs Universal.
Additionally, Walt Disney World has an incredibly robust lineup of scheduled entertainment with purpose-built venues. Here, we’re referring largely to stage shows with live performers, such as Finding Nemo: The Big Blue & Beyond, Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, Frozen Sing-Along, Festival of the Lion King, just to name a few.
In addition to this, there are more tech-driven productions. These include Country Bear Jamboree, Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, PhilharMagic, and a number of other 3D films.
Then there are daytime and evening entertainment and spectaculars. Universal has nothing like the Festival of Fantasy Parade in Magic Kingdom, and even smaller-scale cavalcades are quite popular with families–a good way of seeing favorite characters without committing much time to it.
Then there are the nighttime spectaculars, which are currently the Happily Ever After fireworks at Magic Kingdom, Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT Forever. (Sadly, there’s nothing at Animal Kingdom.) Fantasmic and Happily Ever After are truly iconic, and both have been recently refreshed.
Where Universal Orlando really excels is with streetmosphere. You can’t walk more than a few hundred feet without stumbling upon an entertainment act of some sort—musicians, stage shows, characters, or atmospheric performers.
Whether it’s the Blues Brothers, Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, Bart Simpson, Marilyn Monroe, or Mardi Gras bands, you can’t go far in either of the Universal parks without seeing something. Universal also has access to more Marvel characters, albeit the comic book versions.
On-Site Benefits
Right from its opening in 1971, Walt Disney World positioned itself as a vacation destination rather than a day-trip theme park. Disney has strengthened its position in this regard, not just with the opening of 3 additional theme parks and all of that other stuff, but with perks and packages that make it an all-inclusive vacation.
For many people, this has been the ultimate hurdle in visiting Universal Orlando. Even those with interest in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter might favor being in the “Walt Disney World Bubble” on vacation. For many diehard WDW fans, that’s an intangible that has been very difficult to overcome.
This is another area where the tables have turned “thanks” to the end of free FastPass+ and Disney’s Magical Express, plus the ongoing suspension of the Disney Dining Plan. While on-site perks have improved at Walt Disney World as of 2024, there are still fewer incentives to stay on-site at Walt Disney World than there were 4 years ago, and more to stay on-site at Universal Orlando.
In the latest updates to our Off-Site v. On-Site at Walt Disney World article, we’ve covered this shift in detail. That also covers recent additions at Walt Disney World, including Lightning Lane priority booking windows, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, and more.
All Universal hotels offer Early Park Admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Volcano Bay water park one hour before the theme parks open to the general public. Guests staying at Universal’s Premier Hotels get free Unlimited Express Pass to skip the regular lines at most popular attractions in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
Express Pass is Universal’s equivalent of FastPass (retired) or Lightning Lanes (current), but better—and it normally costs money. We absolutely love Express Pass, and would strongly recommend a split stay between Walt Disney World and Universal’s hotels if you’re planning a visit to both solely for the sake of “free” Express Pass. (See Universal’s Express Pass v. Lightning Lanes & Genie+ at Walt Disney World for more info and a comprehensive comparison.)
While beyond the scope of this article, Universal Orlando resorts offer many of the same advantages of Walt Disney World hotels. Universal’s hotels also feature great themed design, transportation to the parks, and a great location—most are within walking distance of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. (See Universal Orlando v. Disney World Hotels for more on the pros & cons of each complex’s resorts.)
Another benefit to staying on-site at Universal Orlando is the layout. Universal Orlando can be likened to Disneyland Resort in California. Much like Disneyland, the Universal Orlando parks are situated adjacent to one another and CityWalk is also close by. As is the case with the Disneyland Resort hotels, almost all on-site hotels at Universal Orlando are all within walking distance of the two theme parks and CityWalk.
Each of these hotels and CityWalk offer various forms of entertainment, shopping, and dining, and Universal Orlando has been aggressively expanding these non-theme park offerings within the last few years, with an eye towards making Universal Orlando similarly viewed as a vacation destination. This has been aided by resort entertainment options, like the lazy river and bowling alley in Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
While Walt Disney World still has more to offer beyond the parks, Universal Orlando is gaining ground, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Additions at Walt Disney World have been coming at a snail’s pace, whereas Universal Orlando is building at a break-neck pace.
In terms of vacation type, they really both could be viewed as catering to similar demographics. Still, if you are looking for a single-site destination for a longer vacation, Walt Disney World has the advantage. Universal Orlando has the edge if you want to do a variety of things, and only want to spend a couple of days at theme parks.
If you are considering a theme park-centric trip to Florida with multiple destinations, the best idea is allocating some time at each and doing a split-stay between an official Universal Orlando hotel and an on-site Walt Disney World hotel.
Theme & Atmosphere
One department in which Walt Disney World has a clear advantage is theme and atmosphere. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands (Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade) are brilliant examples of themed design that you do not have to be a Harry Potter fan to appreciate. Both of these lands blow me away, and I know many of the Harry Potter references were lost on me. These lands aren’t just on par with the best of Orlando, they are Tokyo DisneySea caliber. Likewise, Port of Entry is a very well done land.
Unfortunately, once you get past these three lands, the wheels sort of fall off. Universal Studios Florida gets a bit of a pass on this, as it’s a studios park, and even Disney sort of punts on theming on its studios parks, letting them function largely as collections of attractions that don’t fit elsewhere. In terms of theme, both Universal Orlando parks fall short of Walt Disney World’s parks. This is not to say every land at Walt Disney World is a thematic masterpiece (I’m looking at you, Dino-Rama), but overall, its lands are superior.
As someone who loves being in immersive theme park environments, Universal’s thematic missteps are a letdown for me. Again, Wizarding World of Harry Potter does a lot to excuse this–Hogsmeade is a great land and Diagon Alley is next-level. There are also flashes of brilliance in Jurassic Park, San Francisco, New York, Hollywood, Springfield, Lost Continent, Seuss Landing, and other areas. However, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure are not as consistently strong thematically.
Which is fine–they’re different kinds of parks. The Walt Disney World parks are generally more enjoyable places to ‘be’ in and soak up the atmosphere, whereas the Universal parks do action-packed attractions better. My personal opinion is that both resort complexes fill attraction line-up gaps not fully served by the other, and if all of the attractions mentioned above appeal to you, a great vacation strategy would be to spend time at each.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Universal Orlando is not going to be for everyone, just as Walt Disney World is not for everyone. If you have a trio of 4 year olds and are also bringing grandma and grandpa on the vacation, your party is probably going to prefer Walt Disney World by a wide margin. If you’re taking your 13 and 16 year olds, Universal Orlando should definitely be on your radar. That’s doubly true if they’re Potterheads or fans of other franchises featured at Universal.
Moreover, this really just scratches the surface of the similarities and differences of the parks, and what you might want to know if you’re considering venturing to Universal Orlando Resort. Another one is food, which is dominated by Disney. Transportation is yet another; it’s very location-dependent at Walt Disney World, but great across the board at Universal.
The final one is cost. Due to incremental price increases, doing both Universal and Disney will cost more than doing one or the other for the same amount of time. With that said, Universal is less expensive than Walt Disney World in most ways. Park tickets and food prices are not particularly noticeable, but the big one is hotel rates.
Not only is Universal (usually) cheaper, but its resorts include perks that would cost additional money at Walt Disney World. However, even that is not consistent. There are certain times when Walt Disney World offers aggressive resort discounts for the general public, and Universal only has deals available for Annual Passholders and Florida residents. In general, we pay less to visit Universal, but that’s highly variable–and definitely not always true. As with so much of this comparison, your mileage may vary even as to which costs more.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
Your Thoughts?
If you have visited Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure recently, what did you think? Where does Universal surpass Disney, and vice-versa? Is there anything we missed or you think is inaccurate? Do you prefer Universal or Disney hotels? What about rides, entertainment, and food? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Such a great blog!
We are planning our first Disney/Universal trip for early November. We will have 5 days to spend not counting travel (we are driving from a neighboring state). We are torn over how to divide our time. Our kids are 9 and 11. They have never been “into” Disney stuff. They aren’t going to want to wait in lines to see Mickey or any characters. They have no interest in Frozen or anything like that. One of my children is a die-hard Harry Potter fan, and is salivating over the HP experience at Universal. The other kid doesn’t care about Harry Potter. After reading this, I’m unsure how to divide our time and whether or not we need to stay in different hotels during our trip. We are looking to do this as inexpensively as possible and still give our kids a good trip. If we split it up 2 days at one park and 3 at the other, which way should we go? Is 2 days enough at Universal for a die-hard HP fan? And what should we focus on doing at WDW? Should we do WDW park hoppers or just try to do one park per day? What will my kids be most interested in at their ages and given their lack of desire to do a lot of the “typical” Disney things? Lots of questions, but the more I read the more confused I get and unsure of what I want to do.
Don’t bother with Hoppers at WDW, they’ll waste too much time & money on a quick trip.
If you can only go for 5 days, take a full day each to visit MK, AK and Epcot at WDW. Leave out Hollywood Studios because you’re going to another “studios” anyway, lol. Then spend 2 days at the Universal Parks.
Have fun, and make sure you and the kiddos are well rested before the trip, Especially the night prior.
disney is greater then universal
Thanks for your amazing photos. I can relive my Disney memories while looking at them. Thank you:) My husband and I are seniors and we are going to Disney for 10 days in November, 2015. We thought about doing only one day at universal with express pass. We have done IOA with HP attractions, and found that the other attractions at IOA weren’t interesting to us. Therefore, we are not interested in doing a 2 park ticket. We want to see the new HP world area, and do all the awesome attractions/rides on the Studio’s side. Do you think one day with express pass will be enough? I know the EP only lets you ride each attraction once, but that will be enough or us in one day, I think. We don’t want to spend the money on a 2 park ticket just to ride the Hogwarts Express. We are also considering a taxi from WDW vs Mears. I hear Mears takes longer and can make multiple stops before getting to Universal. So will try the taxi and see how it goes. Thanks for your imput!
I have been to Disney World/Epcot about 4 times, and Univesal Studios twice. What I find is that both are marvelous, but I would definitely tell anyone that for teens and adults, Universal Studios is better. For Children 11 and under, Disney World is probably better. That’s just the way I see it.
my 17 yr old and i are coming to orlando for 4 days hoping to get the disney/universal experience. i am disabled so a wheelchair will be used (no big deal except maybe important to know in answering my question)…….I can walk just not long distances. He loves harry potter and some of the other universal stuff and also is a disney fan. i really want to streamline our plan of where to stay and what park to visit and what to do in each park so we don’t spend our quick days used up by trying to figure it all out. We are trying to do this on a budget….hotwire can get us to a hotel by either park and airfare from denver at about 1100.00 so we thought this trip might be done less than 1600.00$ is that possible? where to stay considering all the above? which areas to go to and what in each area? big roillercoasters and kiddie stuff is not super important. th ants!
My husband and I are going to wdw kid free after going with kids and grandparents last year. Our trip is Sunday to Thursday.i am a huge Harry potter fan but I am also super excited to do everything at wdw I didn’t get to do during our family trip. Would you still suggesting allocating a day forthe HP lands or just skip it and stick with the mouse? Thanks!
If you’re huge Harry Potter fans, I’d say the Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands are an absolute must-do. Have fun! 🙂
Great Blog…I enjoy this all post…and very intresting and wonderful information…Thanks for sharing with us…
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The family just came back from a trip to Orlando. Three adults, one 10-year old girl. Joined for a day by two more adults and their young teen daughters.
Unmentioned in this article is the clear, slow, depressing decline of Disney over the last two decades. The replacement of interesting shops with generic good stores. The firing of musicians and the WAY TOO LOUD AND OPPRESSIVE OMNIPRESENT MUSIC. The great swaths of Epcot going unused. The dumbing down of Innoventions. The slavish pursuit of movie-related profit at the expense of Disney magic.
Sorry guys. It was a disappointing trip for us.
That said, the day we spent at Universal was amaaaazing. Attention to detail, better queue management, a more relaxed feel, more live shows, less obtrusive music (though still too loud), waaaay more into-it cast members…
I’m not a Disney-phile, but nor have I any great love for Universal. This was my first time. But man… what a contrast. Bathrooms were WAY cleaner at Universal than at Disneyworld. Moreover, as my wife noted, Disney is deadly serious; no shred of irony at all. Universal doesn’t take itself seriously, and it is often hilarious.
In short, while this article is well written, it seems to miss most of the important points. Universal is a fun place, and Harry Potter makers it a must-see, and I’m not even a huge Potter fan. Magic Kingdom/Epcot are shadows of their former selves.
Bottom line: I may someday go back to Orlando for Cape Canaveral and Universal Studios. I will not pay to go into a Disney park again.
Couldn’t agree more. Just got back from 5 days at disney, 2 days at Universal/IOA. I used to go to Disney every year since it opened. I took my son there when he was 4 and again now that he is 9. I don’t think I’d go back to Disney again. The rides/attractions just seemed old. POC, space mountain, peter pan, etc I guess are nostalgic for me, but the awesomeness of those rides were at a time when Atari 2600 was state of the art entertainment. So I guess animatronics were cool back then. But now it all seems severely dated. Universal, on the other hand, was simply amazing. I really don’t care about the theming so much in disney. My son didn’t either. The entertainment of the attractions in Universal though, was just mind blowing. I don’t want to pay $4 for a water and sit in line to It’s a Small World. But I would for Transformers 3D! Crazy ride!!
And yes, both Harry Potter areas (especially Diagon Alley) were incredible. IMHO, Disney has nothing even remotely close to how cool those (and so many other USF attractions) are. What kid relates to Cinderella’s castle anymore? Hogwarts, on the other hand, was just ridiculously cool for both me and my 9 year old.
I so agree with this. My family and I went to Disney World for a long trip in late 2014. Dated, dated, dated. I hadn’t been to Disney World for about ten years or so, and I was amazed that everything seemed exactly the same. Even the much discussed Fantasyland renovation just seemed like more of the same old stuff — no high tech rides like Universal has, just expanded version of the same old same old. Everything about Disney World screamed “1983 technology”. We also spent three days at Universal and my two kids (aged 8 and 5 at the time) both much preferred Universal, even though my 5 year old was too short for some of the rides. We went back to Florida in March 2015 for a shorter trip and skipped Disney entirely and just hit Universal for three days at the request of the kids. Disney really needs to step up its game. I agree with the assessment that Disney has better overall theming, but Universal has way better and more modern rides.
We recently visited Universal for the first time, and we’re quite impressed with the attractions and overall look of the parks. Universal may even have the upper hand with some attractions over Disney like Harry Potter worlds, Spiderman, Disaster, etc. However, Universal falls short when it comes to taking care of the traveler/guests. We stayed on property but check-in was cumbersome. We received 4 room keys from front desk and then had to proceed to a kiosk in the lobby to print out our park passes, then ANOTHER kiosk to print out front of the line passes and water taxi shuttle passes. That was a ridiculous waste of my time and not efficient, and now I was carrying 16 little cards for our family that I had to keep finding/taking out every time we needed them. Also, a complimentary shuttle from airport would be a nice touch for those staying on property. We felt that the employees at Universal, for the most part, were just doing a “job.” We purchased a Harry Potter wand for our son (not cheap) and was not told about using it at store fronts to perform spells similar to Sorcerer’s at MK (we saw people doing it). Signage was lacking to direct people around the parks, and they could use some greeters/information or even photographers to welcome guests. And forget about finding a park map if you didn’t get it when you first walked in … Overall,WDW has the traveler in mind first and foremost with friendly service and convenience. If Universal can master those things, along with a big umbrella theme to carry throughout the parks to tie it all together, they could give Disney some strong competition.
We haven’t visited Universal since Daigon Alley opened so some of our views might change (huge Harry Potter fans). But, on our previous trips, we find Universal to be a park where we like a lot of rides and spend a couple of days. At WDW, we love just being there and usually spend at least 7 days. We enjoy just walking the parks. As I said, Diagon Alley may be like that also, but the rest of Universal never has been for us.
I loved seeing this comparison. I love Disney and have been taking my kids there for 19 years. The first trip my kids were 2 and 6. Now they are both in college. We’ve been to Universal as a family a few times but I still love Disney best.
But one thing we have done for years, since the older one lost interest in Magic Kingdom, we have been renting a house and staying off property. We take the money we save and each kid brings their best friend. Then, we could split up and everyone was happy. Once my son hit high school, we’d drop him & his friend at Universal and take the younger one and her friend to Disney. This was amazing for our trips because everyone had a blast. No whining from the older one about baby rides and no crying from younger one for not going to Disney. We still spent time together as a family on the off park days. And the kids love the private pool at the rental house.
But last year, we went to both parks together. The Harry Potter stuff is very cool and I love, love, love the Hulk rollercoaster. We also went to Mickey’s not so scary halloween and my college aged kids and their friends ran around trick or treating like little kids. We had a lot of fun at both parks, but I agree that the age of the kid can make a huge difference. The thrill rides at Universal are very cool if you like that kind of thing. I haven’t been to Diagon Alley yet, but the ride in the castle is amazing, so I’m guessing the new one will be pretty great too.
Anyway, I think the most important thing is everyone enjoy their vacation, so I feel good about our compromises.
Renting a vacation home off-property definitely could be a good option, especially if your demographics are like yours–probably cheaper than staying on-property at either resort, too!
I’m a Harry Potter fan and was anxious to see the Wizarding World. But Disney just knows how to add more layers to its themed areas. At Universal, I saw, I admired, I left — with no burning desire to return. I’ve been to New Orleans Square at Disneyland a hundred times and never tire of immersing myself in it again. Disney parks seem multi-dimensional; Universal one-dimensional.
Loved your fair comparison’s of the parks. I just visited Universal a few weeks ago. Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen, especially coming from a diehard HP fan. The London facade and going through the brick wall into Diagon Alley was a truly an amazing experience! I completely agree with your justification as to Universal’s lack of animatronics. A Voldemort animatronic just wouldn’t work on HP and the escape from Gringotts. Were you able to catch a ride on Flight of the hippo griff? Even though it’s just a basic roller coaster I love the animatronic Buckbeak!
It is quite impressive how quickly Universal was able to complete this huge expansion without cutting any corners.
Universal’s theming does seem to end there except I think Suess Landing is impressive! I love how they don’t use straight lines like in Dr. Suess’s books.
Disney will always be my favorite but I think Universal’s main advantage is that they use less of the condescend movie plot on a short ride strategy that Disney seems to rely more on. Transformers and HP and other attractions alike are a new adventure for you to experience
Awesome post! I fall into the category that loves both Universal and Disney (yes I am strange) and think they both have their own merits in their own ways. I’m really excited for our trip in Feb when we will be staying on property at Universal for the first time….and then at Animal Kingdom lodge at WDW 🙂 Excited…Also my husband, who is a pretty good amateur photographer, has finally bought a proper DSLR with the sigma lense you recommend so we can finally get some good shots at Disney (and he has also been reading all your photography tips :))
My biggest problem with Universal is that both parks are half day parks unless its a very busy day and the lines are really long. I’ve gone to Universal for Horror Nights every year for the last 14 years and if it weren’t for HHN I would NEVER waste my money for Universal Studios. I went to IoA for the first time in 7 years last year and by 2pm we had done every ride in the park and spent an hour in Potter land exploring, shopping, and eating. The amount of detail is sorely lacking in every land except Potter and maybe Jurassic Park.
If you aren’t a Simpsons or Potter fan half of Uni is wasted on you. Uni desperately needed the new rides and areas but by building intricate Potter lands it just makes the cheapness of the rest of BOTH parks that more glaring.
Disney is not perfect by any means but even Animal Kingdom, which needs more rides, is very detailed and themed well. You can spend much more time wandering AK than both Uni parks. MGM is in the same boat Uni was 8-9 years ago and needs an overhaul, which it will soon get (Star Wars), badly. Once that happens Disney will again be head and shoulders above Uni as a resort.
I’ll keep spending money at Uni for Horror Nights but that’s it until they can bring the rest of the parks near the level of Potter.
I LOVE seeing your amazing photography at Universal. We have little little kids and are many years away from visiting, but I am looking forward to visiting one day nonetheless.
My husband and I just got back from a trip to both Universal and WDW, and I think we are completely in agreement with your opinions. We’re both in our late twenties, and I am a Harry Potter superfan, so it was a MUST to go to Universal. We LOVED the Wizarding World but didn’t spend much time at anything else (we had both been to Universal just before Hogsmeade opened and didn’t feel a huge need to go to anything else). I wish Disney could have something like Harry Potter. Maybe they’ll do something similarly immersive with Star Wars… that’s my hope!
Such a perfectly timed post for me.
We’re planning out our upcoming trip to WDW and our first visit to Universal in February.
Unfortunately I only get 4 days in WDW and 2 in Universal, so I’ll have to make the most of them.
Thanks so much for all the great info. I look forward to more.
If Universal Orlando was really smart, they’d have a free shuttle between WDW hotels and their parks. I am pretty sure that would entice a solid # of WDW guests to come down for a few days (even if they don’t stay at the Universal resorts).
I’m sure Disney would welcome that with open arms! 🙂
It’s true that Uni’s biggest flaw is transit. It’s so hard to schedule even one say there when Disney offers DME. If Uninhad a similar program, I could see doing a long weekend at Cabana Bay and never setting foot at WDW. But then I resort back to the free transit at WDW and end up staying on property and never leaving.