re: Disneyworld vs Universal

Disney is great if you are looking for more world building instead of thrill rides and can let them immerse you in their world. Universal is great if you just want an amusement park and rollercoasters with less overall world-building. Though, as others have said, Harry Potter World is the tits when it comes to immersion.

Don't be a weirdo with either and they both can be fun and acceptable.

NOTE: The above statements are not endorsed by the OT because it's holier than thou.

If you ride the Rip Ride Rockit at Universal, Sabotage by the Beastie Boys syncs up with the drop and turns

Dear Diary.

My family and I went to Universal for the 1st time over Christmas break. Both my boys (8 & 6) said they liked it better than Disney.

Universal is a 2 day trip. Disney is a week and you still don’t cover everything.

Listen to your family.

Neither one are my thing, there’s just so many other places I’d rather visit for that sort of time and financial commitment. Unfortunately, it is my wife’s thing, so we we took our 4 year old to both last summer.

I preferred universal simply because we stayed on premise and their “fast pass” system was so much better (unlimited line skips at any time of the day, so we got to do so many more rides at our own pace and spent so, so much less time in lines).

After doing them back to back, though, it was obvious how much more of a polished experience all around Disney was. We ate lunch at the Marvel burger place, and although the Disney food options weren’t 5 star, it made the Marvel place just look terrible in comparison. This was pretty much true across the board when comparing the two in varying aspects.

It was a “fun” trip, mostly because of watching the 4 year old doing things like meeting his hero (Spider-Man) and being absolutely star struck. But I hope we don’t go back for a long, long time.

Has Disney become trashy like Orange Beach?

Disney is more geared for families with young children while Universal is geared for preteens to adults. However, people of all ages can have fun at both establishments, just depends on what you and your family are in to.
It's probably cheaper to go to Universal than Disney. Universal has non-Florida resident annual passes that are sometimes cheaper than multi-day tickets. However, the lower tiered passes have blackout dates, so check the dates before you purchase if you choose that route.

Universal has much better rides.