 |
| Selfie at Spaceship earth. |
Well, Its kind of official now. My Christmas solo trip to Disney World will have to be put on hold. My heart aches a little but postponing it will be for a good cause. We booked a Cruise for next year to the Mediterranean. While I have officially set foot in European soil, our trip to Istanbul an number of years ago could hardly count as a comprehensive exploration of the old world. This trip will give me more of a chance to see cities like Barcelona, Venice, Rome, and Florence, just to name a few of the ports that we will be visiting. The trade off was at least close to equal. However, Last week we did slip down to Orlando on a family vacation. My daughter's work makes it unpredictable when she will be around for vacations so, since she and my son wanted to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, We came to the consensus that Orlando would be our destination. Fortunately for me, because we had plenty of time to explore the parks at Universal, My family indulged me with a day at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. It was great. I love the colors and topiaries all over the place. Don't bet me wrong, I liked Universal too. Spiderman may be my all time favorite thrill ride and Dudley Doo Right's log flume ride is one of the best of its kind. I know that Popeye and Bluto's bilge rat barges is among the best rides ever. That being said, there are few things that set Disney apart from our friends at Universal Studios. I would like to take a few moments to contrast the two theme park giants in Central Florida.
 |
| There be Dragons at Epcot. |
 |
| Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley |
My first observations is strictly one that may not affect most people, at least people of normal size. I don't consider my size to be normal by any means. I'm a big guy. My son is bigger. We have never found a Disney ride that could not accommodate me or my son. We were unfortunate enough to ride in the same car on the 7 dwarfs Mine train once and while it was very cramped and extraordinarily uncomfortable, we were able to strap our selves down and do the attraction. On at least 3 attractions in Universal, My son couldn't ride the attraction and I just small enough to ride on several others. I didn't attempt the Hulk, even though there are accommodations for bigger people on that coaster, also, I went through the line for the harry potter ride at Islands of Adventures a couple years ago only to find out I couldn't fit. I was concerned about Escape from Gringotts but I was able to ride that attraction. Along those same lines, I was afraid I ruptured my spleen on the Revenge of the Mummy attraction (my new all time least favorite attraction supplanting the Primeval Hurl attraction at Animal Kingdom). I don't feel much need to do that one again. At the end of the day, When I compare the parks Disney is much friendlier to larger people.
 |
| Islands of adventure (note the Disney Gear) |
 |
| Gringotts Diagon Alley. |
My second observation when I compare the two parks is maybe much more subjective. It seems that Universal found something great with the Spiderman ride and then Universal copied for many of their other attractions. Escape from Gringotts, Transformers, were both "4D" adventures like Spiderman. There are some differences in the track configuration and all the rides I mentioned were among my favorites, but when we rode the Race Through New York attraction, the 3D affects had taken their toll. In my case, my belly started to bubble after Escape from New York. By the way, My son couldn't ride Escape because of the seat belt. I had more attractions that I wanted to do, I would have liked Shrek and Minion Mayhem, but the 3D damage was done. All of us in the family were all a bit queasy and of the same mind about leaving the park. A few rides at Disney have made me queasy as well. I rode the Primeval Hurl (Primeval Whirl) once and turned white. I won't do the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups at magic kingdom and Mission Space intense mode left me queasy as well. All of these are spinning attractions and round and round is not my cup of tea (pun very much intended). But, Disney wins this category in my eyes for having more varied attractions than Universal and I already know which Disney attractions to avoid.
 |
| Via Napoli |
Finally, I feel the food is much better at Disney. Disney seems to go out of its way to hire world class chefs to run the kitchens in Disney world. On this trip, We ate at the Boathouse, Morimoto's Asia and at Via Napoli. My mother-in-law complained a bit about the the crust of the pizza at Via Napoli but she is uses to the mid west crust that has an almost cracker like consistency. Cracker like isn't a perfect description but the crust here at home is crisp and nice. Personally, I found the crust on the pizza very good, a little crisp with some soft chewiness that set Napoleon pizza apart form other pizzas. I had wonderful steamed clams at the boathouse. While I would have liked them to be a bit bigger, they were tasty with a wonderful briny broth that was full of flavor. At Morimoto's we did the Sushi Pagoda. The fish was wonderfully presented with both sashimi slices and Nigiri sushi. This is my own opinion and you can take it for what it is worth, but the oysters served on the Pagoda were not as good as local Gulf coast oysters would have been. They tasty but small and a bit grainy. Not gritty per se but not as creamy and lovely as fresh gulf coast oysters can be. Still, over all, the Sushi Pagoda was fun and delicious.
 |
| Morimoto's Asia |
In Universal we really ate at Antojitos in city walk at the Leaky Cauldron in Universal Studios and Mythos in Islands of adventures. The food at the Leaky Cauldron was tasty. I had the beef and lamb stew with a frozen butter beer. I originally ordered the regular unfrozen version but my daughter liked the regular better so I traded with her. The stew was served in a bread bowl and was kind of expensive. It tasted good. the lamb and beef were tender and still juicy and the veggies were not cooked to oblivion. The sauce was a Guinness based gravy that was really tasty. My biggest issue with the meal was the portion size. I got maybe 3 chunks of meat with a few veggies in a bread bowl that was barely carved out. The bread is self was rustic. I didn't care for it much. At Mythos we were to share an order of calamari. It is so easy to over cook calamari and Mythos managed to over cook it by a lot. In addition to the squid being rubbery it wasn't very fresh and tasted fishy. We sent it back. The manager was kind enough to remove it from our bill so I have no complaint about the service. The Lamb burger I ordered for my lunch was juicy, flavorful and delicious. I really enjoyed it. Antojito's in City walk was our dinner before we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Everything there was delightful. I got mole enchiladas that were tasty and fresh. Be sure to order the table side Guacamole. The server creates it table side, so you can add as much or little heat as you like. The Guacamole was creamy and perfectly seasoned. I could eat vats of the stuff with the chips they served at the beginning of the meal. At the end of the day I would rate the dinning we had at Disney better. The service was comparable at both locations. The servers were fast and friendly and engaging at both locations. I just think that Disney's food was tastier and perhaps even a better value that what you get at the Universal restaurants and Universal was a bit less consistent with the food.
 |
| Hogwarts express |
So there you have it. For the most part, I believe Disney gives you better value and more diverse experience that Universal. Universal is fun and a great Vacation destination. Many of the experiences at Universal are amazing and perfect for kids, teens and adults. Universal has some of my favorite rides, but Disney, in my estimation, gets the nod simply due to the immersive experience, especially if you stay on site. I can say truthfully that I will be back to both parks, just not as often to Universal, and unlike Universal, I dream of my return to Disney.
