And, I reviewed the rides and attractions here.
Here are my final thoughts on Disneyland/California Adventure vs. Universal Studios Hollywood.
Restaurants
For our family of 3, our meals at Universal were about $10 cheaper than
at Disney.
One thing we noticed is that the West Coast parks need to learn from
Universal Studios Florida. When we were there last year, the lines in the
restaurants were well-managed, and once you had your food, there were
attendants who would escort you to your clean table.
At both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood, my husband stood in
line for food, and I hovered around waiting for a table to open up and jumped
on one as soon as I could because others were doing the same thing I was. I'm
not a fan of feeling stressed and slightly stalker-ish.
Fireworks
We had planned to stay at Disney late enough to see the fireworks, but
since our viewing area for Fantasmic was behind a tree, our view for fireworks
wouldn't be much better. We had also given up on the idea of a magical day much
earlier in the day, so what was one more disappointment? We hopped on the Disneyland Railroad and rode it to Tomorrowland where we had a parcel to pick up. We
managed to see a few fireworks from the train, and we managed to get this photo before we left.
Magic Factor
Everyone talks about Disneyland being a magical place, but that just
wasn't our experience. We had good moments, but our overall experience was
below average in comparison to previous theme park visits. We found Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida to be much more magical
than Disneyland was.
 |
| Casting magical spells at Universal Studios Hollywood |
I should mention that we did feel the magic on our Disney Cruise.
Pixar Party on our Disney Cruise
Other
When we were at Universal Studios Florida last year, we were able to get
free ice water at any of the kiosks that sold drinks. All of the kiosks we saw
at Disneyland sold only bottled water. We were able to refill at fountains, but
since it was so hot, ice would've been nice. To be honest, I can't comment on
the water situation at Universal Studios Hollywood because our two re-fillable
water bottles lasted the day because they covered queues kept us cool in line.
At Disney, all of the bathrooms I visited had paper towel, whereas
Universal had Dyson Airblades which have a lower environmental impact.
Leaving the Park
After having had enough of waiting in never-ending lines at Disneyland/California
Adventure, we headed out to the tram area to discover that we would have the
pleasure of one last extra-awesome line for the night. People were rude and
pushy, and we saw a young family cut in front of an elderly couple, taking
their spot on the tram. We waited really long and I thought I was going to cry
because my feet hurt from standing in one place.
In contrast, at Universal, we walked out of the park gates, walked a
short distance to the escalators, and were in our car in about three minutes.
We were already back at our hotel with our shoes off in less time than it would
have taken us to get on our tram at Disney.
Conclusion
In the end, we didn’t find Disneyland to be the “happiest place on
earth.” In fact, when I looked around, I saw far more miserable people than I
saw happy people. Would we go back? Well, there were rides that we didn’t get a
chance to ride, so next time we’re in Southern California, we’ll probably get a
one-day park-hopper ticket to try out those rides. Other than Star Tours, there
were no rides that we’d be willing to wait in line for again.
Universal Studios is certainly our park of choice. Part of that is
because our son is 12, so the rides and characters at Universal are more to his
liking. However, we also appreciate how well the park runs in comparison to
Disneyland. When it comes to rides, the Universal parks in Florida are the
best, but we also appreciate the fact that the Hollywood park is a working
studio, and we enjoy that aspect as well. With the addition of Wizarding World
in 2016, Universal will certainly be our priority.
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