Welcome back to another edition of My Disney Top 5. Thanks again for all of your responses and for keeping the discussions going. This time, I’m going to venture a little bit out of the Disney realm. I hope you all don’t mind a little discussion about the competition down there in Florida – Universal Orlando.
The Universal Orlando icon. Photo by Samantha Barry.
I’ll still be discussing Walt Disney World, don’t worry, but we just returned home from 9 days in Orlando and for the first time…we stayed and visited someplace else besides the Mouse for a few days! Heresy! Traitorous, you say? Maybe a little, but there’s a big world out there isn’t there? We thought we’d check out another piece of it on this latest excursion to the world’s busiest tourist destination. Plus, our 11-year-old daughter has been rather consumed with a certain boy wizard and his stories the past year or two, so it seemed like a good time to see what all the fuss was about over at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Rather than stay on Disney property and actually leave to head over to Universal, which to me is really out of the question, we thought we’d spend a few days on Universal’s property and then head home to Disney for a few more days to cap off our trip. It was a good plan and everyone approved. We weren't sure of what we were in for, but we knew we had 5 days at the Polynesian to look forward to, so why not give the other guys a try. What did we think? Read on and you'll see. Here are the Top 5 Ways We Were Pleasantly Surprised with the Universal Orlando Resort.
5 – The Royal Pacific Resort
The Royal Pacific Resort. Photo by Chris Barry.
We checked in for 4 nights at the Royal Pacific located literally alongside of Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park and weren’t really sure what to expect. The other two Universal resorts didn’t really fit us. Despite my love of classic rock and roll, I didn’t think The Hard Rock theme would appeal to the kids. The Portofino Bay Hotel certainly seemed nice enough, but the price tag was a bit more than we were looking for. The lushness of the Royal Pacific’s setting was more our style and we were not disappointed. The grounds are beautiful, very well themed and taken care of. The pool is huge and offers a great water play area for us kids. The very attentive staff at the poolside bar will bring great food and drink right to your lounge chair. Throughout the day the pool staff would also bring out free extras like chilled towels, frozen grapes and fruit smoothies to help keep you cool. There’s a nice selection of restaurants on hotel property including one with character meals, a pub, a sushi bar and one owned by Emeril Lagasse. Overall, it was a great resort experience and one we would like to return to someday soon.
4 – It’s Easy
The walk to the parks from our hotel. Photo by Chris Barry.
I always champion staying on-property at Disney. There’s really no other option as far as we are concerned. It’s immersive. The service is incredible. The resorts are all fantastic. It’s easy to get around on Disney transportation and, not too mention…it’s just more magical. From now on, if anyone asks me about our stay at Universal, I would highly recommend staying on-property there as well. Being able to walk along the beautiful path alongside the canal and be at the gates of Islands of Adventure in ten minutes was a dream. Another five minutes and you’re at Universal Studios. If we were really tired, there was a constant launch service back and forth. If we missed the launch there was almost always an Orlando Rickshaw bike waiting and for a few dollars we were driven to our resort. The kids loved what they referred to as the “bike guys.” Everything is right there. Granted, they have the advantage of being much, much smaller than Disney, so there’s not that far to go, but it still made for a very easy trip with three kids. One morning my wife wanted to get on the new Harry Potter ride as the park opened. She walked over at 7:30. The park opened to hotel guests at 8. She rode the Harry Potter attraction and the small coaster Flight of the Hippogriff and was back in our room waking us up by 8:30. Super easy.
3 – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
The packed main drag of Hogsmeade. Photo by Chris Barry.
The other castle in Orlando. Photo by Chris Barry.
This new themed “land” is everything a major theme park attraction should be. It’s completely immersive. The attention to detail and the design of the land really does transport you to another place. This is something that Disney has mastered and does better than anyone, anywhere. The Wizarding World is really on par with Disney’s design standards. I’ve only seen the first film and I’m sorry to say, I haven’t read the books. That didn’t matter. I was blown away by the attention to detail, the small cramped shops, the characters completely lost in their roles and the awesome presence of Hogwarts Castle. The Forbidden Journey attraction is amazing. The different rooms that you walk through in Hogwarts are a masterpiece of queue design and the ride itself is a blast. My daughter, the fan, rarely stopped smiling and that’s the goal, isn’t it-to bring the stories alive for her? And the Butterbeer is cold and yummy.
2 – Universal Express
How many times did we ride this thanks to Universal Express? Photo by Chris Barry.
As someone who has waited in lines his whole life, in theme parks, water parks, ski lift-lines, concert admittance, you name it, Universal Express was a long overdue gift. The privileges come along with staying on-property, yet another reason to seek out one of the three official resorts. Unlike Universal Express Plus, which any guest can pay for but limits you to one trip per attraction, the resort version of Express is unlimited. I waited on one line in 4 days and that’s because of technical problems on the attraction itself. Never a line? Not at all. Anywhere. Traveling with three kids and never waiting on a line made it incredibly easy to see as much as we wanted to, whenever we wanted to. I know this has been much discussed out there with regards to Disney. I actually think FASTPASS is a fair system, giving every guest the chance to avoid a line. I don’t particularly want a version of Universal Express at Disney, but if Universal was offering, I was taking and it was good…real, real good.
1 – Seuss Landing
A view from the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. Photo by Chris Barry.
I’m such a big kid at heart aren’t I? Well, I guess my wife is as well, because the two of us were just so happy walking through Seuss Landing. Yeah, The Mummy was cool and so were Men in Black, E.T. and The Simpsons, but truth be told we spent most of our time in Seuss Landing. Having kids along helped, but I think it was the two big kids on the trip who grew up reading Dr. Seuss books that were most impressed. It shows you where my mind and heart lie, but, as far as I’m concerned, there are only a few geniuses in entertainment. I’m not dismissing the likes of Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese or George Lucas among other favorites, but to me the big three are Walt Disney, Jim Henson and Theodor Seuss Geisel. Consider the creativity of this man. Just read one story and marvel at the world that he created in his mind and in his pages. Seuss Landing is a fine monument to all the wonder and amazement that poured out of Mr. Geisel. It’s chock full of detail and remarkable Seussian architecture and it’s really 10 acres of wonder and happiness. Seuss Landing is now up there with various sections of Walt Disney World, the beaches of Long Island and the mountains of Vermont as one of my favorite places to be, anywhere, and that’s a pretty strong statement.
The big kids, as happy as the little ones. Photo by Samantha Barry.
I love Walt Disney World. It’s become a second home to my family and I. That’s obvious. We’re there enough and we all feel the same way about it. It’s hard to compare the two and you really shouldn’t. Universal tends to hit you over the head with their attractions. There’s a lot going on at all times. All the senses are firing. They’re very chaotic. There are few awe-inspiring moments like flying over the ocean in Soarin’ or the heartwarming innocence you feel on Peter Pan. They’re different places and they should be.
I always feel that when we’re on vacation anywhere else, even if we don’t vocalize it, we’re comparing it to Disney. Can the level of excitement and wonder compare? How do the hotels stack up? What about the restaurants? Most importantly, how about the service? Are we being taken care of the way the amazing cast members of Walt Disney World take care of us? That last question is always the tough one. You get used to a certain level of care and service when you spend a lot of time at Disney. It’s an incredibly high standard.
Back home at the Poly. Photo by Chris Barry.
When you’re traveling with kids and find yourself at places like Hershey, Sesame Place or Busch Gardens or even a beach or ski resort, it’s tough to get that level of service. If we came away with one thing from Universal Orlando, it was that we were granted phenomenal service by the cast and crew. They were a helpful, knowledgeable, always happy, bend-over-backwards-for-you group of people. They were fantastic and on par with and once in a while even surpassing the cast at Disney. We were expecting another theme park like Busch Gardens, Six Flags or Hershey and we were all pleasantly surprised by what we found.
It was wonderful to be at the Polynesian for the first time and we instantly became wrapped up in the Disney magic for the 5 days we spent there post Universal. I think it’s now our official favorite Disney resort. But, I have to say, and I’m surprised to hear this coming out of my mouth, we’ll be heading back to Universal someday and it’ll be sooner than later.
So let me hear from you all out there. Have you been to Universal Orlando recently? If it was your first time, were you pleasantly surprised as we were? Was it a letdown? How do you compare it to our beloved Walt Disney World? I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say.
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