Which is better Disney World or Universal Orlando? Of course some of this comes down to opinion but on some levels you can compare the two head to head. So today that’s what I’m going to do today. But before that I guess I’ll give my opinion. It’s no secret Disney is my happy place so of course I am going to pick Disney, BUT I will say that I love Universal too! They are two very different parks and experiences that are in the same vein but also not. Let’s dive in to the comparison!
Pricing
Let’s start by comparing the price of a 5 day ticket to each park. To have a fair comparison we have to talk about what you’re getting for these tickets. At Disney World you have 4 parks and 2 water parks, Universal you have 2 parks and 1 water park.
I priced a 5 day park hopper ticket at Disney that means you can visit as many of the parks as you want each day as well as a 5 day park hopper with the water parks option. The prices on these are starting at $601 for the park hopper and $621 for the park hopper including water parks.
For Universal I priced a 5 day, 2 park ticket and a 5 day, 2 park with water park. Prices started at $345 for the 5 day 2 park and $405 with the water park.
So although Universal is cheaper here, Disney wins out on the amount of parks and water parks included in the tickets.
Genie+ vs Max Pass
Just so we all know what I’m referring to here is a short breakdown. Genie+ is Disney’s Lightning Lanes (formerly Fast Pass). You can make selections as you go throughout the day to skip the lines at many attractions. You also have Individual Lightning Lanes that you have to purchase on top of Genie+ if you want to utilize those.
Max Pass is Universals version of this but instead of having to make selections all day or have certain rides not included, Max Pass includes all the rides and you don’t have to make specific reservations.
Genie+ for a 5 day trip would be $125 or more. Max Pass for the same 5 days would be $250 or more. In this department I have to give the win to Universal! Max Pass is so much easier to use than Genie+ and the fact that it includes big ticket rides makes it a win for me.
Resorts
In this department I have to just start by saying that Disney wins. Hahaha! Just for the fact that Disney has 32 to choose from and Universal only has 8. Now that being said, Universals resorts are beautiful and definitely on the same level as a Disney resort but you can’t beat having the options that Disney resorts have! Pricing is fairly comparable as well.
City Walk vs Disney Springs
I think this one really comes down to opinion honestly, so here’s mine. One big factor here is that you have to pay to park to go to City Walk and you can park for free at Disney Springs. This is huge for me and my family because if we just want to go walk around and get a quick bite to eat I don’t want to have to spend that extra money to park. Another big thing for me is selection. Disney Springs has a lot more dining and shopping options and is much larger than City Walk. Disney Springs has a lot more entertainment offerings too, there are always bands playing all over the place and different bands or groups performing on the main stage. So obviously for me Disney Springs gets the win here, but others who may want a smaller area and not so much going on may prefer City Walk.
Water Parks
I’m going to be honest here that I haven’t been to the Disney water parks in a while and have been to Volcano Bay more recently but I don’t feel like that sways my opinion too much. Disney’s water parks are Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. They are both themed in a really fun way an have all the usual things you want to have at a water park.
Volcano Bay is on a whole different level to me. The theming of being on a Polynesian island is amazing! There is a lot of detail that went into this water park. Plus they have something called the Tapu Tapu bracelet that you get when you go to the park and it allows you to enter virtual queues for the the bigger water slides so you don’t have to wait in long lines. You can go enjoy the lazy river or the wave pool and just head back to the slide when your Tapu Tapu band goes off!
So this time Universal wins! We love the Disney water parks too but Volcano Bay just has some extra magic!
Food
I’ll be honest again here that I haven’t eaten a ton of food in Universal and have obviously eaten a lot of food in Disney! I have yet to be impressed in Universal and have not had great luck with finding a lot of options for plant based or dairy free foods like I do in Disney. Pricing is crazy at both to me, the both lose in that department! Hahaha! I feel like I need to give Universal more chances but I have to give Disney the win here for now, I have found way more variety at Disney.
The Parks
This is the real clincher right? How do the parks measure up? This is obviously going to be a big opinion question too but I feel like we can compare the two pretty well. So let’s get into it! As far as the numbers go, Disney has 4 different parks to choose from where as Universal only has 2. But we can’t just leave it there.
Universal has the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which is very cool, my only complaint is that you have to have the 2 park ticket to see it all as half of it is one park and the other in the 2nd park. The 2 parks are Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. If you love big roller coasters and thrill rides of that nature you may enjoy Universal more than Disney as there are more of these types of rides here. My biggest complaint about Universal parks are that they don’t flow. There are not clear separations between each theme or section it’s just kind of all thrown together feeling. on top of that I don’t enjoy the simulation rides with the screens, they make me really nauseous and there are a lot of those kinds of rides in Universal.
At Disney you have Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. These are 4 very different parks with lots of different rides. Although there are not many big thrill rides in Disney there are a few and the nice thing to me is that there are so many rides the whole family can do together because there are no height requirements. Another big plus here for me is that everything flows in the Disney parks, the transitions from one themed area to the next one are seamless and done in a way that you are fully immersed in whatever “world” you are supposed to be in. The only place I felt like this in Universal was in Harry Potter.
Conclusion
To no ones surprise, Disney is the overall winner here for me. But I will say that Universal has it’s own kind of magic. It is very different from Disney magic but it is still magic. I would definitely encourage any Disney fan to also visit Universal but to not go in thinking it’s another Disney park, it’s not it is it’s own thing! They do somethings better than Disney, like the Max Pass and Volcano Bay. But in the end Disney magic, the amount of parks and resorts and just the options available in Disney can’t be beat!
I hope you all enjoyed this weeks post and it helped you if you are thinking about booking a Florida theme park trip! As always I thank you all for being here and reading along, you make Thursdays the best day of the week for me! I hope you all have the most magical day!