Thoughts from our quick Universal/Disney trip

[BrerGnat]

Trip Dates:
October 16-18 at Universal Orlando
October 18-21 at Disney


Cast: Me and a longtime friend, A

We flew in late on the night of Thursday, October 16 and out early the morning of the 21st. We spent 2 nights at Cabana Bay and 3 nights at Coronado Springs. This was our first stay at both of these hotels.

Cabana Bay:
Was awesome! We booked a Standard Tower room for $150/night directly through Universal. We were "upgraded" to a Family Suite in the Castaway building in the courtyard. Our room faced the parking lot, which was convenient, as we had a rental car. Everything at this resort looked great! We did not use many of the amenities, but our room was great as was the food court and the gift shop/lobby. Overall, I found this hotel MUCH more enjoyable than either Disney's Value or Moderate resorts, as a whole. Bus service to the parks was good, but actually did take longer than I thought it would, and the drop off area is far from the park entrances. One of our buses had NO A/C. That was uncomfortable, to say the least. Overall, I find it very hard to compare this resort "family suites" to AofA suites. I have stayed in a Cars Suite. The suites at AofA are actual suites, and the room separation, extra bathroom, extra t.v., and table and chairs justifies the much higher price tag. Our Cabana Bay room was only about the size of one of Disney's deluxe rooms. The kitchenette was very small and the sitting room would not be a very comfortable place to sleep, and it would severly limit the overall room space if that couch had to be pulled out as a bed. The room was comfortable, but not really large enough for 6 people. We were only 2 and it felt like JUST enough space for us. The split bathroom area was awkward, with a sink in the bathtub room where it would have been better to be in with the commode, IMO. Some light switches were in awkward, counter intuitive places too. Housekeeping was great and our A/C worked just fine (I had read complaints about both of these things online). Overall, HIGHLY recommend this resort. For the price, it is a stellar place to stay, even without express pass.

[BrerGnat]

Universal Orlando:

We visited for two days, using the latest Military Ticket offer of 3 park to park days for the price of one. So, we paid $136.50 for 3 days of PTP access.

We had intended to use the EE for Diagon Alley Friday morning but found out it began at 7am. After a late arrival the night before, we said forget that! We were actually up at 7am but didn't get to the park until about 8:15. Once there, we waited quite a long time to activate our military tickets. Upon getting to the window, the guy began his incessant "we expect to be VERY busy today, so you should definitely shell out an extra $99 each for Express Pass." This guy did not want to hear "no thank you." He kept on and on. Finally, I said to him, "All we care about is the Harry Potter stuff...we are not here to ride anything else, so unless that Express Pass will get us on the HP rides faster, we are NOT interested." He gave us that "well, okay, but we are going to be VERY busy today..."

We finally got into the park around 8:40 or so and headed straight to Diagon Alley via the Simpsons area, which was pretty cool.

Diagon Alley blew us away! We are both huge HP fans and I was not prepared for the emotional response I had to this area. Without going into too much detail, I will just say that this whole area is FLAWLESS and incredibly enjoyable. We went into every store, looked around every corner, and loved it all! We tried as many of the drinks and food items as we could. Loved butterbeer ice cream, didn't love the drink. The pumpkin juice was but my friend loved it. We shopped, bought some souvenirs, and just relished everything about it.

We rode the Hogwart's Express both ways, visited Hogsmeade and rode FJ which we loved as well. We ate at the Three Broomsticks and the Leaky Cauldron and thought both places were fabulous! Great food and good prices all around. We rode FJ and Gringott's once each of the two days we were there. Gringott's was broken down a LOT, including the first day where it broke down while we were in line. Total wait ended up being 2 hours. We did single rider the next day on both FJ and Gringott's. Both great rides, but I liked FJ better. Gringott's ride experience is VERY different when you are in the front row of the first car vs. the last row of the second car. Preferred the back row.

Overall, we thought Diagon Alley was a MUCH more immersive place than Hogsmeade, but loved the Honeydukes store in Hogsmeade. I think it was my favorite store. I waited for DA to be done before I visted the Wizarding World. I think I would have come away disappointed in JUST the WWoHP at IOA, which seems kind of lame compared to Diagon Alley.

Outside of the HP lands, we did actually ride Men In Black, Mummy, E.T., Hulk and Spiderman at IOA. EVERY one of these was a walk on. Even during this "super busy" day. It was kind of sad, actually, to see how the crowds were all only at the HP areas. The only other attraction with a considerable wait time was Minion Mayhem, which we skipped due to the wait time. In fact, it was really kind of crazy that on Saturday morning, IOA was a ghost town. I needed to buy a soda and I didn't come across an open stand until the Jurassic Park area (we came in and went around Marvel area/Toon Lagoon). Literally, everything was closed and we walked onto Hulk and Spiderman at close to 10am. On a Saturday.

Everyone was in Hogsmeade, we discovered.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time at Universal due to the HP lands. I would go back just to experience those areas again and again. However, the rest of Universal/IOA was lackluster, to me. The Hulk coaster is showing its age. The ride is very rough now and not too enjoyable (or maybe I am just getting old). Spiderman used to WOW me, but I wasn't impressed this time around, after riding FJ and Gringott's. FJ was a truly unique experience. The Mummy coaster was also VERY good, like a mix between Disneyland's Indiana Jones ride and Rock n Roller Coaster. Rip Ride Rockit was down both days when we were in the area, so we never rode that.

One thing we both disliked was the overuse of fog machines at both parks. Enough already! My throat actually got irritated by the fog and felt scratchy and raw both days.

For the price we paid, we felt like it was an excellent value. However, the price we paid is about as much as I would be willing to pay.

I was impressed with our experience overall, but it is still not on par with Disney for me, and while I might return here and there, I could never imagine spending any more than 3 days, max, at Universal Orlando.

City Walk felt very much like every mall I've ever been to. We felt NO desire to shop or eat there. It was simply a pass through to get back to the bus stop for us.

[BrerGnat]

WDW/Coronado Springs:

We left Universal around 3pm on Saturday to check into Coronado Springs. We had done online check in but there was some sort of snafu with our reservation so we spent way too long at the desk. We had wanted to split the room cost and then link separate credit cards to our magic bands. We might as well have asked them to solve the national debt, as they had NO clue how to process both these requests. 2 supervisors had to be called in and in the end, it was done wrong so the next day, the hotel front desk manager had to step in and she finally fixed it. Ugh. Not a good start.

Our room request of Cabanas was not happening. We were given a room on the first floor of Casitas 4. Room 4120 was a corner room, and I was initially excited, until we entered the room. This was our first stay here and it will be my last, because this room was in very bad shape. First of all, it was musty/humid. The AC wouldn't get lower than 73 degrees even though I had it set to 65. Maintenance was called by us and they showed up and who knows what they did, but the problem persisted. Due to three conventions, there were "no other rooms" so we had to grin and bear it for the 3 nights. Thank goodness it had started to cool down somewhat, so we weren't dying or anything, but I am temperature sensitive and need a COLD room to sleep well. Needless to say, I barely got any sleep.

Other than the AC, the room just looked SO worn out. Everything was gross. The paint and wallpaper was peeling, especially in the bathroom. All the grout in the bathroom (floor tiles and shower tiles) was BLACK, the rod holding the curtain of the main widow was seriously crooked, and I found the carpet and curtain to be just dowright ugly. The wall color was also pretty hideous. The room decor was this strange mishmash of random colors/patterns. The only nice area of the room was the wall the beds were on. Speaking of, I know they are queen beds now, but there is just NO space in those rooms now because of that. The cabinet that holds the fridge is now too small, since they put in new refrigerators. As a result, the door doesn't shut.

We paid $150/night for this room. By the first night, we were wishing we were back at Cabana Bay. This resort was just not doing it for us. All I have read about how the Coronado was "like a deluxe with moderate prices." Uh...no. Not even close. I've stayed in Holiday Inn Express rooms that were nicer than this for the same price. Disney really needs to keep these rooms well maintained and updated because this room looked very dated and well past time for a refurbishment.

We ate at Pepper Market twice. It was just okay. Kind of a small selection and it just didn't wow me at all. Prefer the food court at Pop, which is not something I thought I would ever say.

We never used the pool or anything else. Frankly, the pool right outside our room with lap lanes looked very nice, but the main feature pool was just way too far to even bother walking to. This resort IS too big. I know all the moderates are, but this one takes the cake.

We had wanted to go to Rix lounge, but it was PACKED both nights with convention goers, so we passed on that.

Overall, won't return to this resort. Just didn't do it for us. I was disappointed by this, as I really hoped I'd love it.

[BrerGnat]

Thoughts on FP+/Magic Bands/MDE

Okay, so I didn't like it going into the trip. I found the need to schedule the rides ahead of time to be stupid.

That said, it actually worked really well for us, and we had no issues. We got to ride everything we wanted. To be honest, when you are only there for a short time (2.5 days for us), it is actually very beneficial to book 3 FP+ for headliners ahead of time because then you don't waste any time once you are there. The downfall to this is you basically spend your time running from one ride to another, and I noticed that on this trip, I hardly even paid attention to my surroundings. We just went from point A to point B, and the whole time were focusing on where we needed to go next, rather than wandering like we used to. On the plus side (for Disney), we did actually sort of schedule our shopping time for between rides. My friend is a huge shopper and had a list of people in her life to buy for. We probably did spend more money than in the past. I'm ashamed to admit that.

Overall, though, we felt FP+ worked well.

It would be better if:
-NO advanced reservations. Just day of, maybe 24 hours advance for WDW resort guests.
-Ability to make "4th FP" through the app needs to happen. Soon. We could never find the kiosks when we needed one. Poor signage indicating these.
-Need to have the ability to break up your 3 FP over more than one park. This trip was all about park hopping for us. On Sunday, we went to 3 parks. Enough people do this that it needs to work with FP+ and right now, it doesn't.

We rode 7DMT and LOVED it. I do not get the disappointment some people have with this ride. I did not think it was too short at all and felt it was just perfect. LOVED how smooth it was and actually really enjoyed the standby line. We waited during evening EMH around 11pm. Wait time said 60 min, was closer to 40. Thought overall that this ride was BETTER executed than Gringott's over at Universal, although I have to be fair and say that Gringott's NAILED the queue experience/bank building.

We also ate lunch at BoG using a lunch FP. We were supposed to be there when they were NOT letting standby guests in, but they still were. We waited about 15 min in line at 1:45 on a Sunday. Once we got in and ordered, we easily found seats in the ballroom (the restaurant was FAR from being packed as I expected it to be). We had enough time to get our drinks and silverware before our food cart showed up. We had the braised pork, roast beef sandwich, potato leek soup, french onion soup, strawberry cupcake and lemon meringue cupcake. EVERYTHING was very, very good, and served at the appropriate temp. We very much enjoyed our lunch here and spent a good amount of time after eating taking pictures in the other two rooms as well. Very nice job on this place!

Food & Wine Festival:

My second time here, friend's first. We visited the festival center to get a passport and marked down the places we wanted to go. We first rode Soarin and TT using FP+ (a glitch the day before we left for our trip opened up the ability to book both of these Tier 1 rides!). We had SSE for later in the evening. We went around the lagoon stopping at almost every booth. I will spare the details, but say that overall, the food items were all very good. We went on a Monday and NONE of the booths had lines, which was good and bad. Some of the food items had obviously been sitting under heat lamps and were overcooked, like the filet from Canada and the beef slider at USA. My favorites were actually the dessert items from Ireland and France. The Brazil booth overall was the winner.

Tiny Rant: The beer and wine tasting sizes are down to 6oz (for beer) and between 1-3 oz for wine. Prices are WAY too high for such small portions. Beer prices hovered around $4.25/6oz and wine was about the same for a measly 2oz pour, generally. We got annoyed after buying several drinks and being so far in the hole, $$$$ wise. It was just not a good value at all. Next time, I will simply hit up the France pavilion for a "Geant Citron" and be on my merry way. No more drinks at F&W fest for me. Ripoff city. The food prices were okay for the most part. Some of the desserts were overpriced by about a dollar.

Merchandise Rant:
Disney, what is up with this new trend of putting UPC tags on items but NO PRICE listed? I can't tell you how many times we picked up an item to see the price, and there was NO PRICE, and no sign indicating the price. I get what they are trying to do. They hope you just hold onto the item and by the time you get to the register, you've forgotten you never knew how much it costs, or you are resigned to buying it regardless. Sneaky, but don't think we didn't notice.

Final thoughts:
Universal: Good job on Harry Potter themed lands. Bravo from both of us, and I look forward to returning just for these. Otherwise, I'm glad some people love Universal enough to make it a multi day destination, but we are just not there yet.

Cabana Bay: Amazing hotel. Well done. Fix that one bus with the non working A/C and I will have nothing negative to say about this place. Standout here is the food court. Very good food at good prices and wonderful atmopshere.

Coronado Springs: This was a miss for us. Just overall, from the issues at check in to the poor condition of the room. Not a fan, won't be back.

Disney Parks: Everything was great here. No issues, CMs were all very good, parks were clean and well maintained. Lots of walls up, but it didn't bother me. Didn't experience any ride closures or any other hiccups during our trip. FP+ worked pretty well for us. No problems there. We had a good time, it was a whirlwind, but a very enjoyable long weeekend.

Can't wait to go back, as always! Will be there for Marathon Weekend in Jan. Looking forward to staying at our favorite resort area, at the Yacht Club!

[Hammer]

Natalie, great reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed the Harry Potter lands and Cabana Bay. I am not a Harry Potter fan, and I believe to truly enjoy both HP lands, you need to understand the story so no plans to go over there for now until the other areas are better (I don't like the Simpsons).

We have talked about the drink sizes for Food and Wine and you need to drink champagne next time. Full size flutes !

Sad to hear about Coronado Springs. I used to love staying there, but it has been over 4 years since I was there. The casitas buildings are used a lot for conventions, so I think they should be refurbished more frequently than the other areas. I was was worried about putting the separate cards on the bands, though I know it can be done. We have always had issues in previous years, well before magic bands. This was the first year we had absolutely no issues. This is a failure on front desk training IMO.

[AgentC]

Thanks for the reports. I am going to try to get to Universal soon. I also really enjoyed Cabana Beach when we stayed there though I agree the rooms (we had a standard) are quite small.

Sorry you had a problem at Coronado Springs. We have stayed there several times. The last just about a year ago and we have never had a problem. Our room has always been impeccable and we were in Casitas for our last trip.

I wonder if it has to do with all the conventions while you were there. I recently spoke to someone else who was there during a large convention and they also had problems at CSR. We have been lucky enough to never stay during a large convention.

[KylesMom]

Nat, thanks for going into such detail for us. I am so glad that Universal/HP was a great hit for both of you, as well as your stay at Cabana Bay. Some day, I will get there as DS and I are big fans of HP too.

What a disappointment in CS. With that exception, it sounds like you had a good experience with FP+ and the parks & restaurants in general. Kind of crazy the prices they are charging for wine & been samplings though!

Thanks for sharing with us all!

[Katzateer]

Enjoyed your report. Sounds like overall you had a great trip.

I would love to go to Universal and all the HP attractions. I don't go on coasters - can you chicken out at last minute after seeing everything in the line. I am a huge HP fan and want to see it all but I won't go on the rides.

Thanks for sharing!

[princessgirls]

Natalie,

So glad you were able to get a get a way with your friend in!! You had a wonderful time!!

Cabana Bay sounds great, and so does Diagon Alley. Well done Universal!!!!

Sorry you had a less than stellar stay at CS. That stinks, but thankfully you were out and enjoying the parks!

Thanks for the report Natalie!
Julie

[BrerGnat]

Enjoyed your report. Sounds like overall you had a great trip.

I would love to go to Universal and all the HP attractions. I don't go on coasters - can you chicken out at last minute after seeing everything in the line. I am a huge HP fan and want to see it all but I won't go on the rides.

Thanks for sharing!

Yes, all the rides have a chicken exit. The Castle and Gringotts bank is NOT to be missed!!!

[Janmac]

Thank you so much for the detailed report. My niece's sister-in-law is contemplating a first Universal/IoA - just for the HP stuff - on her trip in February. It's good to have so much info to share with her. She was put off by the published park hopper passes for U/IoA but as she is a DoD employee, maybe she can find a discount.

Jan

[BrerGnat]

Thank you so much for the detailed report. My niece's sister-in-law is contemplating a first Universal/IoA - just for the HP stuff - on her trip in February. It's good to have so much info to share with her. She was put off by the published park hopper passes for U/IoA but as she is a DoD employee, maybe she can find a discount.

Jan

She might try Shades of Green ticket office for a discount.

It is definitely worth a visit just for the HP stuff. But the train is a must do, so you need the park hopper pass.

[Mickey'sGirl]

She might try Shades of Green ticket office for a discount.

It is definitely worth a visit just for the HP stuff. But the train is a must do, so you need the park hopper pass.

I absolutely agree!! Loved loved loved it! Park to park pass is absolutely necessary!

[faline]

Just returned from a stay at Universal Studios and our first view of the Harry Potter areas of the park(s).

I was surprised that Cabana Bay was across the street from the park(s) area - the ads don't seem to represent it that way.

The Harry Potter areas of the parks are quite interesting but I will have more to say on that as I post my trip reports (soon).

Sorry to hear about Coronado Springs. It has been several years since we've stayed there and we had always enjoyed our stayed and the rooms we were in. It sounds like things have deteriorated since our last stay -- hopefully this resort will be on the list for a refurbishment in the near future.

[BrerGnat]

Just returned from a stay at Universal Studios and our first view of the Harry Potter areas of the park(s).

I was surprised that Cabana Bay was across the street from the park(s) area - the ads don't seem to represent it that way.

The Harry Potter areas of the parks are quite interesting but I will have more to say on that as I post my trip reports (soon).

Sorry to hear about Coronado Springs. It has been several years since we've stayed there and we had always enjoyed our stayed and the rooms we were in. It sounds like things have deteriorated since our last stay -- hopefully this resort will be on the list for a refurbishment in the near future.

I will be looking forward to your trip report!

I knew how far away CB was. I am kind of obsessed with Google Earth and I look up everywhere I go to see where things are in reference to each other.

I did hear that they opened up a walkway/bridge recently so now one can walk between CB and the parks, but I imagine it's a long walk...