OrlandoGuy
Veteran Member
So yesterday, after having had relied on Frequent Fear Passes and comps from old TM friends to get my UO fix over the past few years, my gf and I went to the parks as Annual Passholders. Having worked for the parks and then moving out of state (until permanently relocating here post-COVID), I haven’t been a passholder since I was maybe…14? Needless to say, I was very excited, but unfortunately I came away with a sour taste. Some of these are just me venting, but I think there’s discussion to be had about some of the more disappointing parts of the visit.
But first, it wasn’t all bad…as far as positives:
Now for the bad, starting with our arrival and lasting as the day went on…
I will say, my expectations may have been too high. I adore these parks and took great pride in them when I worked there. But it really sucked to have such a disparity between what I had envisioned in my mind when we bought the passes and what we ultimately got.
I know we love Universal for their aggressive expansion philosophy and that’s a huge positive for a community like this one that likes to visit frequently. With that being said, I’d love to see a year or two where significant CAPEX got dedicated to building up the infrastructure, doing some training, giving everything a dust and fresh coat of paint—it could do wonders. Right now, I get the sense Comcast is sort of pimping the parks out for dollars, cramming as many people in and enticing them with shiny new rides while ignoring the overall guest experience once you’ve paid your admission (and $27 parking fee).
In getting passes, the idea was we’d go for a couple hours at a time, hang out, chill, try new stuff during Mardi Gras and the holidays, etc. But it feels like if you’re not in a queue or riding a ride, you’re not “doing” Universal properly. Which is kind of disappointing because I can ride a bunch of rides with a 1-day pass and be good for the year without needing to come back.
To caveat all this, the passes are MUCH cheaper than Disney’s. You could very well say “you get what you pay for” and that’s completely fair. But I really do hope to see positive strides taken in investing in things OTHER THAN new rides. As of now, for what I’m looking for (a place to chill outside for a few hours with a drink and an option to get on a ride if I want), Disney is the better experience. I’m fully aware that’s a personal preference based on OUR style of touring, but it doesn’t make yesterday any less disappointing.
Hopeful that the next year brings some improvements before these passes expire.
But first, it wasn’t all bad…as far as positives:
- I have to say everything inside of a ride or queue generally looked good.
- Special shout-out to IOA which genuinely looked great and clean with a few exceptions.
- Velocicoaster is still my favorite roller coaster ever.
- The park was busy, but the Hagrid’s line consistently hovered around 90 minutes every time I saw it which seems to indicate smoother operations.
- They’re taking clear steps to improve the food offerings, and we left with a list of things we want to try in future visits throughout the year.
- The Hallows Eve store in IOA was surprisingly cool.
- Cowfish food is still delicious
- Citywalk drinks don’t mess around—best alcohol value in the Orlando theme park world.
Now for the bad, starting with our arrival and lasting as the day went on…
- PARKING: Still a cluster after the “toll booths.” I ended up taking the last spot in the row we were directed to but there were still three to four cars behind me…not sure what they had to do.
- The biggest issue was that, as a new AP, I still had to pay to park. I knew I’d have to pay at the booth, but Guest Services was unwilling to validate it when I picked up the physical passes from the window because “I didn’t have a valid pass at the time of parking.” How is that the case? I paid for them three days ahead of getting there on Saturday…so after dropping however many dollars on two Preferred Passes, I’m welcomed in with a total penny pinching move. I didn’t argue because the Guest Services rep was just doing what she was told, but it really bugged me all day. Terrible first impression.
- CROWDS: Not really UO’s fault…but crowds were insane. It’s January and Gringotts got up to 145 (!!) minutes. That’s worse than “Hell Week”…what happened to the off season? I’m hoping that a filming for a Premier League show yesterday morning was the cause of the crowds…otherwise, I’m in for a long year.
- To add insult to injury, several wait times were underreported which only made the problem feel worse.
- Transformers had a 90+ minute wait all day but the queue never spilled outside…that much wait should mean the extended queue is pretty full. Something broken here?
- Is it just me or are the people at Universal generally more prone to yelling, running around, and getting right up your behind in lines?
- FOOD: While the offerings are expanding, the portion sizes for the more exotic stuff are disappointing given the prices. If you stick to the more standard fare, you’re getting lesser quality (for reference, terrible middle school cafeteria tier burger at Burger Digs).
- USF AMBIENCE: I mentioned IOA looked great—can’t say the same about USF. Lots of stuff looked tattered, worn, dirty, or just tired. I’ve always felt USF is a good hangout park to walk around in holding a beer but that wasn’t the case yesterday because the common areas outside of Diagon look so grungy. It’s disappointing because a few years ago there really was a concentrated effort to focus on show quality but apparently that was a casualty of COVID.
- Basic cleanliness standards seem lower than they used to, particularly at food carts. Cardboard lying everywhere, messes of trash and condiments on the front counters…at Chez Alcatraz there was so much sticky sugar water all over the place it had become home to a group of bees which weren’t fun to deal with while paying.
- The street shows also don’t help. They seem to be constantly back to back to back in the NY/SF section, causing nonstop bottlenecks. In general, USF needs more space to get away with what they’re trying to do with the entertainment here.
- SMELLS: This one is gonna sound weird…but the parks don’t smell good lol. The bathrooms smell terrible (thought maybe I just got unlucky at first with a guy needing to courtesy flush but all of them smelled bad in the many pit stops I needed between beers). The queues also smell gross—could be the people surrounding us, but it wasn’t even a hot or sunny day so I’m nervous to imagine what these will be like in July.
- SPIDER-MAN: this is just a nitpick, but when did they turn this into a water ride?? We seriously got off SOAKED, and the seats are actually accumulating rust which I have to guess is a result of this.
- CITYWALK DINING: Had reservations at Cowfish for 6:45. By 6 we were frankly done with the parks and decided to see if we could check in early—they said they’d text us. At 7, I went to the host stand to see if maybe checking in early had screwed up our spot, but was told “we’re just running behind.” Debating whether or not to just leave, I asked if there was an ETA (wasn’t polite or impolite, just asked exactly that) but the guy got kind of defensive and told me he can’t just tell people to get up and leave their tables. I shrugged it off and by 7:15 we were seated, but we definitely got rushed through and felt like we were being held responsible for their being behind.
I will say, my expectations may have been too high. I adore these parks and took great pride in them when I worked there. But it really sucked to have such a disparity between what I had envisioned in my mind when we bought the passes and what we ultimately got.
I know we love Universal for their aggressive expansion philosophy and that’s a huge positive for a community like this one that likes to visit frequently. With that being said, I’d love to see a year or two where significant CAPEX got dedicated to building up the infrastructure, doing some training, giving everything a dust and fresh coat of paint—it could do wonders. Right now, I get the sense Comcast is sort of pimping the parks out for dollars, cramming as many people in and enticing them with shiny new rides while ignoring the overall guest experience once you’ve paid your admission (and $27 parking fee).
In getting passes, the idea was we’d go for a couple hours at a time, hang out, chill, try new stuff during Mardi Gras and the holidays, etc. But it feels like if you’re not in a queue or riding a ride, you’re not “doing” Universal properly. Which is kind of disappointing because I can ride a bunch of rides with a 1-day pass and be good for the year without needing to come back.
To caveat all this, the passes are MUCH cheaper than Disney’s. You could very well say “you get what you pay for” and that’s completely fair. But I really do hope to see positive strides taken in investing in things OTHER THAN new rides. As of now, for what I’m looking for (a place to chill outside for a few hours with a drink and an option to get on a ride if I want), Disney is the better experience. I’m fully aware that’s a personal preference based on OUR style of touring, but it doesn’t make yesterday any less disappointing.
Hopeful that the next year brings some improvements before these passes expire.
