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[CaptainTom]

My girls and I just got back from Universal Orlando a few weeks ago. We love these parks and go as much as we can. We also got to go this past June for the opening of the second Harry Potter section, Diagon Alley, which is excellent.

The reason I wanted to post this as a topic was to see if anyone on here is a Universal fan and if they are attending anytime soon. Like I said, we go pretty often and we are planning another early June trip and I have also already booked everything for late September for the Halloween Horror Nights 25th anniversary.

Anyone else here a HHN fan or thinking of attending???

[Junior, too!]

My wife, daughter and I made our vacation of a lifetime trip to Orlando in 1996. We did Universal and Disney (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney/MGM Studio) with park hopper passes over 4 days. Loved it all, but there was sticker shock. Three hot dogs, fries, and Cokes were $35 bucks at Magic Kingdom. At the time we paid about $70 for tickets at the 3 Disney Parks, not bad then. (That is $70 times 3.) Total cost, after discounts, plus airfare, about $4 Grand. We can never do that again, but it was fun.

[CaptainTom]

AGREED! Disney is out of control.....we did a 10 day trip in 2004 when my two girls were 4 and 5 and a 5 day visit in 2010. I am sooooo glad they are out of that stage. Super, crazy expensive but they loved it back then.

Universal on the other hand is very reasonable and has much more superior rides in my opinion. It definitely isn't a little kid park like Disney, I always tell people that kids should be at least 9 or 10 to fully enjoy Universal and the Harry Potter portions of the parks. My girls are 14 and 15 now, and have no interest in Disney but love Universal and all the rides. I am a huge Halloween Horror Nights (and Six Flags Fright Fest) fan.....so usually from the middle of Sept until the end of Oct, I can be found at one or the other on the weekends!

[Junior, too!]

Back when we visited Universal, the Nickelodian studios were there. KEENAN AND KELL was a kids show being shot there at the time. Our girl had the chance to be in a Nick game show with some other kids and loved it. She was disappointed she DIDN'T get slimed, though.

[chittlins]

We recently did Disney. A total of 6 day, 5 nights The food is stupid expensive but we only did a couple of sit downs and planned for that. We rented DVC points and got on site studios at Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Renting points is by far the cheapest way to stay on site. We used our kitchenette to the max and used the fridge to save big on drinks. Disney has a liberal policy on snacks and drinks that you get to take in. Use it. I, by far, like Animal Kingdom the most. Just needs a couple more big attractions and animals. It's really too Africa heavy. I hope Avatar provides a couple of rides that wow and overcomes the meh of the movie. I'd really like to see the Indy show move there and a ride based on it. They are about to gain a night show and have night hours. Apparently it's something else at night as well. Junior, I feel good, that's about what I dropped for ours and it's years after your visit WE bought 10 day passes with the nonexpiring option. Used 5 days, have the next visits covered. My kids loved Typhoon Lagoon and my some loved DisneyQuest. Dad did too. With the water parks and more, it wasn't that much extra and I loved playing classic arcade games from the 80s. I spent an hour on Qbert.

Didn't do Universal this trip, got that penciled in for fall 17. Two reasons why. They are building a new waterpark that appears to rival or surpass the Disney ones and the new Kong will be done along with a couple more "rumored" adds.  Disney will have some new attractions to check out without devoting a trip just to them. Rumor is Studios will be nearly completely redone but it'll take to 2020 to finish it all.

I'm trying to take a "Mom less" trip to LA though. gotta catch a good deal on Allegiant tickets.

[History Buff]

Ugh.  The rides might be good and thrilling, but I hate that a good park (Animal Kingdom) is has jumped the shark with the mythical alien animal thing in Avatar land.  They could have done this differently.  I understand the Yeti thing; at least it is a rumored creature on earth.  There is some historical documentation, and people do hunt to discover them, but this Avatar thing, along with their Dino-land (other than the Dinosaur ride, which you would thought they would have themed with their Dinosaur movie) are even worse than GE, where it feels like you are temporarily leaving the park to take a break somewhere else.

Now, we return you to the Universal Thread, already in progress.

[runner1960]

Ugh.  The rides might be good and thrilling, but I hate that a good park (Animal Kingdom) is has jumped the shark with the mythical alien animal thing in Avatar land.  They could have done this differently.  I understand the Yeti thing; at least it is a rumored creature on earth.  There is some historical documentation, and people do hunt to discover them, but this Avatar thing, along with their Dino-land (other than the Dinosaur ride, which you would thought they would have themed with their Dinosaur movie) are even worse than GE, where it feels like you are temporarily leaving the park to take a break somewhere else.

Now, we return you to the Universal Thread, already in progress.

Not to defend Disney but the original plans for Animal Kingdom called for A land Called Beastly Kingdom full of mythical creatures. I believe it was cut for cost reasons and Camp Mickey Minnie was put in part of its footprint. I am actually excited for the Avatar land but I am not the Theme Park Junkie I once was. For the cost of a Orlando Vacation I can go to Paris, Rome or most anywhere in Europe. Fantasy or real ? Ill take the real.

[chittlins]

Ugh.  The rides might be good and thrilling, but I hate that a good park (Animal Kingdom) is has jumped the shark with the mythical alien animal thing in Avatar land.  They could have done this differently.  I understand the Yeti thing; at least it is a rumored creature on earth.  There is some historical documentation, and people do hunt to discover them, but this Avatar thing, along with their Dino-land (other than the Dinosaur ride, which you would thought they would have themed with their Dinosaur movie) are even worse than GE, where it feels like you are temporarily leaving the park to take a break somewhere else.

Now, we return you to the Universal Thread, already in progress.

In my idea world, it wouldn't be Avatar either. I could have seen the Jungle Cruise relocated. It mentioned Indy as it was in search of antiquities that plays into the theming a bit. We didn't mind the DinoLand but we don't mind GE. I just thought it was missing Fred and Barney, one IP Disney doesn't own. It's a park where IPs aren't all that necessary. But like I said, it could have expanded out out to other areas than a heavy dose of Africa and a bit of Asia. Take Australia, they could have had a forced scale version of Ayers Rock with a ride inside along with a host of critters from down under like Koalas.



Not to mention they could have riffed on a place like Yellowstone and the wildlife there and a whole host of other things.

But this is pretty cool outside my window in the morning

[History Buff]

They're definitely missing North America.  Do they think they have covered it with Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad, etc.?

[chittlins]

They're definitely missing North America.  Do they think they have covered it with Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad, etc.?

They certainly went out of their way when it was planned as to not do anything Sea World related. That said, my daughter's experience at Typhoon Lagoon snorkeling with the shark has guaranteed a day at Discovery Cove next trip. It's the first thing she talks about.

[chittlins]

the ride vehicle for the new Kong ride at Uni will be based on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAsiyyexAtg