Why I Now Like Universal More than Disney After 27 Years
Florida Man vs. Magic Kingdom's destruction of the Rivers of Amerca
I really never thought that I would ever switch my view of the best theme park company in the world. I always thought that Disney beat Universal, but — after my visit to Epic Universe for the first time a little over a week ago — I am beginning to change my mind. Growing up in Florida, everyone who you know has attended at least one of these resorts with some frequency. We talk about theme parks more so than any other part of the country, perhaps, only rivaled by Southern California. Constantly, Floridians debate which big resort in Central Florida reigns supreme: Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando Resort.
Disney vs. Universal with Florida Kids
I am 27 years old, so — for most of my life — my peers advocated for Universal. It was more THRILLING. Where are the ROLLERCOASTERS at Disney World? Disney is for little BABIES. Universal is for BIG BOYS. In late childhood and early adolescence, I think that children constantly need to prove that they are “big kids”. Pre-pubescent children want to advertise themselves as teenagers as soon as possible while teenagers want to advertise themselves as adults as soon as possible. Even when I was a child, I viewed this denigration of Disney World from my peers more as a way to signal that you weren’t a LITTLE KID anymore. Now, you were a BIG BOY.
In these debates with my peers, I always took the typically minority position of defending Disney World. Perhaps I just wanted to play Devil’s advocate, but perhaps I truly preferred Disney World as a superior resort. I held this view throughout my early adulthood, a time in which I usually still held the minority opinion. Young people — particularly, young males — still seek thrills, something purportedly unattainable at Disney World.
Pure Thrills in Orlando
The truth is that, for thrills, you cannot really find those as much in Universal or anywhere in Florida. Sure, we do have SeaWorld in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa, but — despite Florida being the state most associated with theme parks — we really lack in the purely thrilling rollercoaster department. No rollercoaster at the Universal Orlando Resort surpasses 70 miles per hour. At Islands of Adventure, the Velocicoaster tops out at 70 miles per hour, and that rollercoaster only opened in 2021.
From the limited data that I can find online, the only two rollercoasters in the state of Florida surpass 70 miles per hour: Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (76 mph) and Mako at SeaWorld Orlando (73 mph). For concentrated, maximal thrills in the United States — you likely need to travel outside of the state of Florida to more rollercoaster-oriented parks, such as Cedar Point in Ohio or any Six Flags location across the country.
Above, I show a table of the 10 fastest rollercoasters in North America. As you will see, Florida claims none of the 10 fastest rollercoasters in the continent despite our notoriety with concentration of amusement parks. I know that maximum speed is not the only metric with which to compare rollercoasters. We have other metrics: length of track, maximum height, maximum drop, etc. — but I see speed as the easiest and most comprehensible point of comparison.
I always advocated for Disney World over Universal because of theming. Despite Florida’s inferiority in rollercoaster thrills relative to our superiority in theme parks, my beloved state does not find its comparative advantage in pure thrill. Rather, we dominate theming. For these reasons, I saw Universal as claiming an awkward middle ground. It did not reach the levels of theming that Disney World boasted. In response, Universal proponents argued that it had more THRILLS, but it did not compete with the thrills found elsewhere in the country.
Despite its image and branding, I even countered the assumption that Disney World did not have thrills. Rock n’ Roller Coaster — at Disney’s Hollywood Studios — has a maximum G-force of 5.0 Gs. At Universal, the Incredible Hulk Coaster has a maximum amount of G-force at 4.5 Gs. I still contend that Disney World has the most physically intense ride in Orlando with Mission: SPACE at EPCOT. It tops out at 2.5 Gs, but it does so for a more prolonged period than does any stretch of any of the rollercoasters at Universal or Disney.
We can even compare the rollercoaster lineup at each of the resorts. I think that this is all of them. Universal used to have fewer rollercoasters than Disney World until the opening of Epic Universe on May 22. I have included those new rollercoasters.
Universal Orlando
Jurassic World Velocicoaster (Islands) — 70 mph
Incredible Hulk Coaster (Islands) — 67 mph
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (Universal) — 65 mph
Stardust Racers (Epic Universe) — 63 mph
Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure (Islands) — 50 mph
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (Epic Universe) — 45 mph
Revenge of the Mummy (Universal) — 40 mph
Curse of the Werewolf (Epic Universe) — 37 mph
Minecart Madness (Epic Universe) — 30 mph
Flight of the Hippogriff (Islands) — 29 mph
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts (Universal) — 25 mph
Walt Disney World
Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT) — 60 mph
TRON: Lightcycle Run (Magic Kingdom) — 59 mph
Rock n’ Rollercoaster (Hollywood Studios) — 57 mph
Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom) — 50 mph
Slinky Dog Dash (Hollywood Studios) — 40 mph
Big Thunder Mountain (Magic Kingdom) — 35 mph
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom) — 34 mph
Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) — 27 mph
Sure, Disney World does not have the superfast rollercoasters at the top of its list, but Disney World and Universal have the same median speed. Univeral’s median coaster is Hiccup’s Wing Gliders at Epic Universe. That ride based on How to Train Your Dragon tops out at 45 miles per hour. Disney World has an even number of rollercoasters, so the median is 45 miles per hour, halfway between Expedition Everest (50 mph) at Animal Kingdom and Slinky Dog Dash (40 mph) at Hollywood Studios.
Nonetheless, my desire to advocate for Disney is waning after my recent trip to Orlando during Memorial Day weekend. I took the trip to go to Epic Universe during its opening weekend, but I ended up going to Disney World as well because I stayed at a Disney World hotel (Grand Floridian). Because I was already staying at a Disney World hotel, I wanted to take advantage of that fact to get early park admission.
I did not know the next time that I would be going to Disney World, and I wanted to ride Rock n’ Rollercoaster before Disney changes the theming from Aerosmith to the Muppets. (I do not think that they have officially announced a date.) I also had not ridden that rollercoaster in two decades. I had forgotten its intensity. As I already wrote, Rock n’ Rollercoaster produces the most G forces out of any rollercoaster between Disney World and Universal Orlando.
Disney’s Nail in the Coffin for Me
Epic Universe astounded me so much that it led me to start debating Disney World versus Universal in my mind again. Now, Universal has a comparable number of parks. They truly are creating a resort and diverse lineup. Disney World used to trounce Universal in that department. Sure, Universal can never beat Disney World in terms of overall resort seclusion. Walt Disney just had that unique opportunity to buy all of that land in Central Florida in the 1960s. No theme park resort in the U.S. could ever replicate that situation, but Universal Orlando is maximizing the potential of what they have.
Experiences as a Guest at Each Resort
I could cite my frustrations with how Disney treated me as a guest during my stay. After Memorial Day weekend, I realized the difficulty of planning a productive trip to Disney World as the average Florida tourist, especially, if you were going spontaneously as I did. Disney now has this byzantine system for attaining “fast passes” for their rides. (They now call them “Lightning Lane” passes.) At first glance, Disney’s system appears as if it has a reasonable cost. You pay $20 for three fast passes at three rides in one park.
That seems a lot cheaper than Universal’s prices, which can range from $100 to $300 depending on the time of year and the level of express pass, but — at Disney World — your $20 likely gets you nowhere because you likely cannot get on the any of the attractions that you want to ride. Even if you can opt for one of your preferred rides, the Disney app will give very inopportune times hours after you plan on leaving your particular park for the day.
If you are spontaneously going to Disney World as I was doing, the Lightning Lane passes for the most popular rides have already been booked. Look. I get it. It is my fault for visiting Disney World so spontaneously. If I had planned my trip a week in advance, I could have had the opportunity to book the Lightning Lane passes for my preferred rides at better times seven days in advance, but I did not know this fact. This returns to my point of Disney having a byzantine system. I want a simple solution. If I want to pay to get on a ride, I should be able to pay.
Universal has a much clearer system. Although it is more expensive, you get more. You can ride whatever ride you want at any time with their Express Pass system, and this is what Disney’s system is missing. I don’t just want to skip the line of the rides. I want to skip the line whenever I want throughout the day. If the Disney app says that I can ride Tower of Terror at 7:00 PM, then I am now locked in to be at Hollywood Studios at that time. What if I want to leave Hollywood Studios before then? Disney really limits my options.
At Universal, you do not need to even pay $100 to $300 for Express Pass. Even though I live in Florida, I live four hours away from Orlando, so I need to get a hotel anyway. If I stay at a luxury resort at Universal, I get Express Pass included. Even if I want to go to Disney World on my trip, why not stay at Universal and then commute to Disney World on the days when I am not attending the three Universal parks?
The Destruction of Magic Kingdom
Even though I have concluded that — based on my personal experience — Universal clearly has a better experience for resort guests, I can deal with Disney’s inconvenient system. I could have had a much better trip if I planned in advance. I just tend to be a much more spontaneous tourist and traveller than most people. At certain points, I suffer a toll for that tendency of mine. The tax on my tourist spontaneity usually manifests in higher prices for airplane tickets and hotels.
I can handle marginal difference in resort experience. Ultimately, what matters is the PARKS. Does Disney have better PARKS? In the past year, I have known that the dam would be breaking, but it has been in the back of my mind because we hadn’t gotten any official dates. Year of Our Lord 2025 was going to be big for both Universal and Disney World. Universal was going to open Epic Universe, the first new major theme park in the United States in 26 years since Universal’s Islands of Adventure in 1999. As for Disney, they were going to destroy the Rivers of America in Magic Kingdom and fill that water feature with cement. They were also going to close Tom Sawyer Island and the steamship the Liberty Belle, both fixtures in the Rivers of America.
Perhaps you do not know the terminology “Rivers of America”, but — if you have attended Magic Kingdom — then you have definitely derived great enjoyment from it. The Rivers of America snakes through much of the park and creates much of the ambiance. If we are going to pay any attention to the word “park” in “theme park”, then water massively contributes to satisfying the “park” aspect of a “theme park”. The Rivers of America has been doing so for 54 years at Magic Kingdom in Florida since its 1971 opening and for 70 years at Disneyland in California since its 1955 openig
The Rivers of America specifically enhances the experience of Haunted Mansion, one of the perennially beloved and attended rides at Magic Kingdom. You see the Rivers of America as you queue up for the Haunted Mansion outside. You cannot really quantify the beauty of water in a theme park in dollars and cents. It is intangible, so that is why Disney CEO Bob Iger is draining the Rivers of America. Nobody rides the steamship anymore anyway. What kids nowadays know who Tom Sawyer is?
I have an alternate theory of why Bob Iger and Disney are making this change. I think that they want to scrub anything patriotic (or, even worse, nationalistic) in their parks. I elaborated on this theory of mine in my August 21 article “Bob Iger and Disney Hate America”
Since August 2024, we have known these plans from Disney. They would be replacing the Rivers of America with a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland, but we just did not know when it was going to be happening. Early in 2025, many Disney fans were hoping that President Donald Trump’s tariffs would slow Disney’s plans and, perhaps, ultimately lead to their cancellation — but, on June 3, Disney announced when it would close Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Belle and start draining the Rivers of America.
The process will begin on July 7, 2025. Disney fans get less than a month to experience this former staple of the park for the last time while they explicitly made sure to give people more than a year to ride Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom for the last time before they replace it with an Indiana Jones ride. Although it is a great ride, Dinosaur never served as a staple in the Disney universe. It has only been open since 1998 when Animal Kingdom first opened. The Rivers of America has played a staple for seven decades at both Disneyland and Disney World.
The Cars-themed land “Piston Peak” exemplifies Disney’s endless desire to IP dump in all of its parks. They do not care where they put the land. They do not care if it is in some expansion plot attached to Hollywood Studios or one of the most iconic parts of any theme park in the world. I am sure some beancounter in Burbank, California, looked at how much money Magic Kingdom could make from Cars toys at this land versus the zero dollars in revenue that Rivers of America, Liberty Belle, and Tom Sawyer produce.
Meanwhile, Epic Universe did put the “park” back in theme park as Universal promised. Epic Universe was doing Disney better than Disney has in the past two decades ever since Michael Eisner left. The “Disney” elements of Epic Universe make sense since so many Disney Imagineers have left Disney for Universal in the past decade. Most tangibly, I noticed Epic Universe’s beautiful use of water in all five of its lands. Even if a land does not use much liquid water, it employs mist in some way.
I found the best uses of water in the hub land Celestial Park and the Isle of Berk, the land based on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. Celestial Park has an impressive fountain in a central lake, very similar to that of Bellagio in Las Vegas. The Isle of Berk surrounds a lake. The E-ticket rollercoaster in the land Hiccup’s Wing Gliders brings riders extremely close to the water and through mist. All of this water enhances the experience while Disney is draining water and filling it with cement.
So far, Disney has not tampered with Disneyland in Anaheim, perhaps, because it was the only park that Walt himself actually visited. In a way, Disney is keeping Disneyland a museum. Even though Disney World in Florida is the crown jewel of Disney’s worldwide resort lineup, they are more willing to tamper with Magic Kingdom, which is not the crown jewel park. Disneyland in California is the crown jewel park. For these reasons, Disneyland is still probably the overall best park in the United States. People say that Tokyo Disney’s DisneySea is the best theme park in the world, but I have never visited there.
Perhaps Disney will increase attendance because of Cars land, but the beauty of the parks is waning. Perhaps Epic Universe will never overtake a Disney World park in attendance. Perhaps it won’t draw more Orlando tourists from staying at the Disney World resort to the Universal resort. However, for this Florida Man, Disney’s imminent choice in less than a month to drain the Rivers of America has led me to stop defending Disney World.
Because of these events, as of 2025, Universal is the superior resort in Florida according to this Florida Man.