"Random Orlando (Universal and Disney) Musings" Topic

I found my "notes" from my vacation a couple months ago.
We went to Universal Studios for three days, and Disney (Epcot and Studios) for Two Days (Plus a Wet N Wild day). In no particular order:

1. FIRE: Universal loves to make things burn. Some attractions make you really feel the heat. I love when they sprinkle the flammables on water to make it look like the water is burning!

2. Rest Rooms: Why not put them right in the ride lines? I mean, if I am waiting in line for 45 minutes, chances are my 47 YO bladder will need a break!

3. Soaking Wet Sucks: Never really liked get wet rides. Now they seem to get you even wetter. Hate Them!

4. JUST A RIDE: Can't we just let a ride be a ride? A really, really cool roller coaster is good enough. If I am doing 8 inversions, I really don't need a storyline. If you think the flash and storyline make us forget we are waiting in long lines, you are sadly mistaken…

5. Data Analysis: The numbers geek in me would love to see all of the different types of data they collect and how they use it to make even more money. I can only imagine the $/Attendee, $/Minute calculations, not to mention how they correlate how much money they make vs. line wait times and all of the other factors!!!

6. Terrain Ideas: I took tons of pictures of less than extroidaniry things just because they provided great terrain making ideas. (Even things like back-drops to the Indiana Jones show)

7. HULK ROCKS: The hulk coaster is one of the most freaking amazing rides I have ever ridden (thrice)! Rocketed to 60 MPH in seconds, right into a corkscrew. As an aside, I read that it takes so much Power for the initial launch, they have to trickle charge their own batteries, or else the lights in the area would din every time they launched!

8. Spiderman is the best simulator ride: The Simpson's ride in Disney is close, but the Spider Man ride in Universal is an absolutely amazing simulator ride (and you can walk right on it a couple times at park opening if you are not going to Hogwarts)

9. Harry Potter could have been so much better! For what was supposed to be the big draw to Universal, it didn't live up to expectations for me. Visually Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were stunning. The extra visuals sparkled around the castle for the 45+ minute wait for the ride were amazing. The ride itself was so-so. They tried to cram too much unrelated random crap in, without a fluid story. Plus, it was one of the jerkiest simulators I have ever ridden.

The town of Hogsmeade was also really well done, but the narrow streets were not conducive to crowd control. A 2+ hour wait for the Ollivander's Wand Shop "show is harsh! They really need to expand on the "park within a park" concept and limit attendance into the entire area.

Duelling dragons was really cool (and YES the red one is a much more intense ride). It was weird that they had many props in the line (Weasley Car, Hagrid's Hut, Tri-Wizard challenge, etc.) since lots of people probably wouldn't know to look there…

10. Epcot lacks for me: I had been there once before to the "Future World" section. I like many of the rides and attractions there. The "World Showcase" just doesn't hold it for me. I'd much rather go to Paris, Italy, etc. than Orlando and "pretend" I am there. Besides, the Disney version of St. Peter's square was perfectly flat and didn't smell like the sea…

11. Twister was Weird: We were in Florida right after the big mess of tornadoes in Missouri. It just felt really weird having it be "entertainment"

12. Universal vs. Disney – Parking: Covered Parking garages in Florida heat? Brilliant! Although it took a little longer to get to the park from the car (and vice-versa), getting back to a car that had spent the day in the shade was much, much nicer at Universal than Disney!

13. Universal vs. Disney – Crowd Control: Disney is the Hands Down champion here. You can't swing a cat at any Disney property without seeing a "Cast Member" who will help you if you can't find something, help with show times, information, etc. Not so much with Universal. Less signs, less people. It took us 15-20 minutes to find where the entrance to a ride (that was closed anyway) was.

14. Universal vs. Disney – Rides: Hands down Universal has the better rides (If you like to go fast and upside-down).

Last thoughts:
Planning is imperative for a trip like this. I can't recommend the "Unofficial Guide to Disney" for information on tour plans (i.e., how to spend your vacation time most efficiently, instead of waiting on line). With the exception of Harry Potter and Star Tours, we never spent more than 15-20 minutes in any line. Knowing where and when to be certain places is imperative.

We couldn't do anything about the Potter line (except having better knowledge of the park, since we walked around the "long way" adding to our time to get there and wait time.)

We screwed up on Star Tours because I didn't send my wife for Fast Passes for Toy Story while the kids and I went on Tower of Terror. Because of this the timing was off for when we could Fast Pass Star Tours and ended up in a posted hour wait line (only 45 minutes actual time).

Otherwise, this sums it all up:

But you sounded like you had fun, none the less.
So.. how was the new Star Tours?

I'm not sure if I saw the new one or the old one?
I was under the impression that they were redoing it as the Pod Race (which wasn't what I saw).

I saw a bunch of fly-overs/throughs of scenes from IV – VI (Death Star, Hoth, etc.)

Regarding lines – don't underestimate Disney. They are the acknowledged world masters in crowd control and entertaining people in lines. The business world literally comes to them for knowledge.

For Star Tours, if C3PO was your pilot, you were on the new ride.

Epcot World Showcase – each pavilion is purposely designed to be "as an American would envision the country." They are a mix of locations and eras. The one exception is the French pavilion which is only Paris around 1890 (when Eiffel Tower was built).

Check your notes, the Simpsons ride is at Universal.

Note to prospective them park builders – try to avoid building them in swamps.

Wyatt