Damn Universal Studios Orlando website is slooooow! I just had to gripe about it. I was trying to research a new ride that recently came out and there site is so filled with large graphics and Shockwave garbage that it takes forever to load. This isn't the first time I've attempted to reach the Universal Studios website and experienced slowness.

Shhhh, don't tell the rabid "Disney-ites" that I'm headed to Disney World in May and also plan on spending a day at Universal Studios. To the fanatical Disney-ites, going to Universal is sacrilege! I will say that I have done both Disney World and Universal and Disney World does so many things better.

For instance, when you are waiting in line for an attraction at Disney World, typically you are "inside" the attraction with a certain theme to that particular attraction. Conversely, for many of the Universal Studios attractions, you are stuck outside in the blazing Florida sun! Even when the attraction is covered and shielded from direct sunlight, it isn't completely enclosed, so there is no air conditioning. They do attempt to cool their customers with fans blowing on you with some water mist, but it's more like pushing hot air into warm water which is then splashed onto your already hot, sweaty, sticky body - causing you to become even wetter and stickier. Yikes! This blog post is starting to sound pornographic!

In any case, Universal Studios does have its good points. It does have some major thrill ride, headline-type attractions which adults certainly will enjoy. They certainly have been ramping up their TV commercial advertisements over the past 2 years. What they should do is take that advertising budget and instead spend it on enclosing ALL of the rides (except big rides like roller coasters), and then provide air conditioning.

Another improvements to Universal Studios I'd like to see is their FastPass system which they call Express Pass. Hate to say it, but it sucks compared to Disney FastPass. When I went to Universal Studios two years ago, I assumed their Express Pass system worked very similar to Disney's Fast Pass system. Boy was I wrong! The Express Passes were SOLD out by like 1pm for every attraction. Since we didn't get to the Universal park until 11am, and we were attempting to save our Express Pass for Spiderman, we didn't attempt to get an Express Pass until 1pm. Bad mistake. As I said they were all sold out. So this mean standing in lines that took a ridiculously long time.

I have no problem waiting in lines at attraction parks, but Universal Studios has nothing on Disney when it comes to theming and air conditioning when waiting in line. At least in the Disney parks, for most of the major attractions you are indoors in a cool, air conditioned setting with theming to keep your preoccupied. Not so at Univeral Studios! Their idea of air conditioning is to stick fans blowing mist at your face. By the time the mist hits you the Florida sun has heated the water so it feels like warm water hitting your face. Considering Florida is humid as it is, having warm water hit you is not my idea of fun. Worse, for the majority of the major attractions you are stuck in lines outdoors with no theming to keep you preoccupied. Disney World on the other hand uses indoor themes in their lines with air conditioning to keep you cool.

Granted, Universal Studios is more of a "thrill" park than a park for kids requiring cute characters & themes, but they should have at least build the park will lines that are mostly indoors. This is Florida for cripes sake! They build Universal Studios AFTER the majority of Disney World was built, so you would think they would try and model Disney World and do it one better than Walt Disney, especially considering the strong reputation and nostalgia that Disney World had attained. If Universal Studios wanted to draw people away from Disney World, they could have tried to make it at least comfortable with A/C. But they decided to take the cheap way out.

I will still go to Universal Studios in May, since I do enjoy the thrill rides, but my expectations have certainly been lowered. At least now I know what to expect now. Universal Studios - - I knew Walt Disney. Walt Disney was a friend of mine. Universal Studios, you're no Walt Disney World!