PrincessWithABlaster
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2016
We just got home today. 
I want to post a few good, bad, and ugly thoughts.
The Good:
1. The TMs! So friendly and helpful for the most part. A standout was one of the Wand Keepers at Ollivanders. My DD11 was determined to keep going through until she got picked (both siblings have been picked now). I was going to let her go 2 or 3 times and put the kabash on it. The 2nd time through both she and a little boy thought the wand keeper had picked them. Of course the wand keeper went with the younger child in that case. It was a small showing - only 3 or 4 families. As we were filing out, he pulled her aside and asked if she had a wand. She admitted she did. He asked to see it, told her it had a phoenix feather core, and that she was destined to have a great life. In all the shows I've seen, I've never seen a Wand Keeper interact with anyone other than the kid picked before. It was so magical and kind and after that she was fine with not trying to get picked again. I'm going to go send an email to guest services thanking him. If there's a TM shout out FB or twitter page or some other way for me to recognize him, let me know.
2. Hagrids was awesome. They hit a homerun with that theme-wise and family thrill wise. The rest of the fam has a strong preference for the bike but I like both. I really hope they get the reliability issues worked out soon.
3. The crowds, while definitely above average, were not nearly as big as the same days leading up to Thanksgiving as last year. Last year Mon and even more so Tues were packed. Not as much this year. Great for me, not so much for Uni.
4. I'm am continually impressed with the level of theming. It is really extraordinary. I can still sit in DA and see new things I haven't noticed before. We stayed at Portofino this year and all the money that went into painting it to look distressed and like the buildings are separate is crazy. My kids agree that Universal surpasses Disney on theming.
5. The Mythos Fork, Knife, and Spoon grilled cheese is fantastic! It's one of the few park meals I've had at Uni or Disney where I actually remember what I had and thought, man, I really have to go back for that. This is the second time I've had it and the presentation wasn't as nice this year, but it was still fantastic, creative comfort food.
The Bad:
1. What's with the less attention to cleanliness? Even though crowds weren't as bad as last year, I twice went into bathrooms and there was no toilet paper in the stalls. On multiple occasions I had to walk past the nearest trash can because it was full. I don't remember that in previous years.
2. The sit down restaurants are slow. I don't think this is a Uni thing because it's this way at Disney too. I book sit down dinners/lunches because I want the higher quality of food, not because I want to spend 90 minutes sitting in a restaurant. But that seems to be a cultural thing (life long Midwesterner) - there tend to be a lot more complaints about restaurants pushing people out than being too slow.
3. A lot more things (besides Hagrids) seemed to be delayed, down, broken. Maybe I just didn't notice it last year but a lot of rides had late starts and break downs while we were there.
The Ugly:
1. This one pains me. My poor beautiful Hogwarts Express desperately needs a cleaning and painting. It really looks dingy and possibly even rusting. One morning there was so much dirt you could see streaks of it down the side. I really don't remember this being the case the last few years. Maybe we just caught it at a bad time and they plan to give it some TLC after Thanksgiving but it's surprising to me. I also noticed broken and missing shutters at Portofino. This, along with the cleanliness issues and break downs makes me fear a Disney inspired reduction in standards for the sake of higher margins. Again, hopefully I just caught things at bad times. It is way too beautiful a resort to let things go.
I want to post a few good, bad, and ugly thoughts.The Good:
1. The TMs! So friendly and helpful for the most part. A standout was one of the Wand Keepers at Ollivanders. My DD11 was determined to keep going through until she got picked (both siblings have been picked now). I was going to let her go 2 or 3 times and put the kabash on it. The 2nd time through both she and a little boy thought the wand keeper had picked them. Of course the wand keeper went with the younger child in that case. It was a small showing - only 3 or 4 families. As we were filing out, he pulled her aside and asked if she had a wand. She admitted she did. He asked to see it, told her it had a phoenix feather core, and that she was destined to have a great life. In all the shows I've seen, I've never seen a Wand Keeper interact with anyone other than the kid picked before. It was so magical and kind and after that she was fine with not trying to get picked again. I'm going to go send an email to guest services thanking him. If there's a TM shout out FB or twitter page or some other way for me to recognize him, let me know.
2. Hagrids was awesome. They hit a homerun with that theme-wise and family thrill wise. The rest of the fam has a strong preference for the bike but I like both. I really hope they get the reliability issues worked out soon.
3. The crowds, while definitely above average, were not nearly as big as the same days leading up to Thanksgiving as last year. Last year Mon and even more so Tues were packed. Not as much this year. Great for me, not so much for Uni.
4. I'm am continually impressed with the level of theming. It is really extraordinary. I can still sit in DA and see new things I haven't noticed before. We stayed at Portofino this year and all the money that went into painting it to look distressed and like the buildings are separate is crazy. My kids agree that Universal surpasses Disney on theming.
5. The Mythos Fork, Knife, and Spoon grilled cheese is fantastic! It's one of the few park meals I've had at Uni or Disney where I actually remember what I had and thought, man, I really have to go back for that. This is the second time I've had it and the presentation wasn't as nice this year, but it was still fantastic, creative comfort food.
The Bad:
1. What's with the less attention to cleanliness? Even though crowds weren't as bad as last year, I twice went into bathrooms and there was no toilet paper in the stalls. On multiple occasions I had to walk past the nearest trash can because it was full. I don't remember that in previous years.
2. The sit down restaurants are slow. I don't think this is a Uni thing because it's this way at Disney too. I book sit down dinners/lunches because I want the higher quality of food, not because I want to spend 90 minutes sitting in a restaurant. But that seems to be a cultural thing (life long Midwesterner) - there tend to be a lot more complaints about restaurants pushing people out than being too slow.
3. A lot more things (besides Hagrids) seemed to be delayed, down, broken. Maybe I just didn't notice it last year but a lot of rides had late starts and break downs while we were there.
The Ugly:
1. This one pains me. My poor beautiful Hogwarts Express desperately needs a cleaning and painting. It really looks dingy and possibly even rusting. One morning there was so much dirt you could see streaks of it down the side. I really don't remember this being the case the last few years. Maybe we just caught it at a bad time and they plan to give it some TLC after Thanksgiving but it's surprising to me. I also noticed broken and missing shutters at Portofino. This, along with the cleanliness issues and break downs makes me fear a Disney inspired reduction in standards for the sake of higher margins. Again, hopefully I just caught things at bad times. It is way too beautiful a resort to let things go.
