Can you elaborate? What made US/IOA so different/ worse? Or was it just a case of being exhausted? We are doing US for the first time in 2 weeks and it will be the last 2 days of our whirlwind trip. I'm really hoping I won't be too tired to enjoy it.
Sure!
For us, US/IOA just wasn't as
easy as Walt Disney World.
I mean, there are perceived perks, right? Like you don't have to do as much planning or whatever, but for me, that made it more stressful!
There's a very different feeling at the two Universal parks than there is at the Disney parks. I'm not sure how to describe it.
Lots of things at the two parks felt very inconvenient to me. The locker situation was just obnoxious. At other theme parks, the lockers/cubbies are usually at the end of the line, just before vehicle boarding, and you stow your stuff quickly, hop in the ride vehicle and go. Here, you have to go to an area off to the side, push through the crowds, rent a locker (it's free unless you go over the one hour limit - i think it's an hour), come back after the ride, open your locker, etc...It can be a huge time suck, depending on how busy the area is before and after riding.
And people sometimes complain about lack of shade or trees at Disney World...well, there's certainly a lack of shade here. I noticed it particularly at Islands of Adventure. The Toon Lagoon and Marvel Superhero Island areas were just baking in the sun with no respite unless you went into the shops.
Overall, everything just felt incredibly crowded all over at both parks. The walkways, the stores, etc...and not just in the HP areas where it is part of the themeing. Certain sections were better than others, the Simpson's area in particular was more comfortable than other areas. And I think "comfortable" is an important word here...these two parks just didn't feel as comfortable as the Disney parks.
The rude guests and poor interaction with several TMs didn't help our opinion either!
Did we have a good time? Mostly. But there were a lot of less than magical moments throughout the day. Every single one of us said, "Wow, this sure isn't Disney" several times throughout the day. I guess we are just spoiled!
Alllll of that being said...
I think if you have more time there to slow down, the experience would be quite different. Is it possible to do both parks in one day? Absolutely! We could have kept going and finished probably every single ride in the parks. We entered the parks at 7 and left after 5pm. There were still 5 hours left before closing.
What I've learned is, you will do yourself a disservice if you go in expecting things to be like Disney World. It's just not, and it's not fair to the Universal parks to compare them this way. It's different there, and it's fun! There's a LOT of cool things to see and look at. That was probably my favorite part - the looking around. The rides I could take or leave, many of them are quite similar, but they are all VERY different from the offerings at the Disney parks. Thrill ride junkies will appreciate the attractions at US/IOA, but anyone who suffers from motion sickness will not! (I don't usually get motion sickness at all, and some of the rides here really bothered me - Forbidden Journey especially, even though it was one of my favorite ride experiences! I wish I could ride again without feeling terrible, because it's spectacular!)
For us, the way the Disney parks work is just preferable, because it's what we're used to. It's more immersive overall, and feels like more of a respite and an escape. We felt US/IOA was just a big theme park. Better than a Six Flags by leaps and bounds...but still.
Are we glad we went? 100%!! Certain parts of the parks are UNBELIEVABLE.
But even though we skipped a lot, none of us felt much disappointment in that. I mean, I wish I'd ridden the Hulk, and I'd like to spend more time in both HP areas, but I don't feel like I really missed out on much.
I'm glad we took this one day trip there to get a feel for the two parks. We'd consider going back, but NEVER for just one day again, and never ever without staying onsite to get the Express Passes.
Now, this was just our experience on a Friday in July, so a Tuesday in January or something would be completely different, so take it with a grain of salt.
It was a learning adventure, that's for sure!