- My family of six spent $2,677 for a day at Disneyland and $1,990 for a day at Universal Studios.
- The entertainment and line-skipping passes at Universal were incredible for our family.
- We were able to go on every ride at Universal, which was also a huge perk.
My family of six recently visited both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood.
One day at Disneyland cost us $2,677 — $479 for one night at a nearby hotel, plus parking; $544 for meals and snacks; and $1,654 for six park tickets, including $180 for line-skipping services and $390 for the option to park hop from Disneyland to California Adventure.
Our day at Universal came to $1,990 — $289 for one night at a nearby hotel, plus parking; $219 for meals and snacks; and $1,482 for six park tickets, including $882 for the base tickets and $600 for line-skipping passes.
Even though we're big Disney fans and enjoyed our visit to the company's California theme park, Universal gave us a better experience and value.
We enjoyed food at both parks, but found more value at Universal
The food at both parks wowed us.
Disneyland had great options for character dining — as parents of a 5-year-old and 8-year-old, it's hard to beat Minnie & Friends - Breakfast in the Park.
The all-you-can-eat Plaza Inn buffet is full of breakfast staples our kids love, and we got to meet characters like Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Pluto.
We weren't thrilled with the meal's $256 price tag, though, especially because no one in our family visited the buffet more than once.
At Disney, we also loved visiting Tiana's Palace for lunch and dinner at Cafe Orleans for dinner. We shared entrées at both restaurants, so these meals cost us $175 total.
At Universal, we started our day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, sharing two frozen Butterbeers, breakfast pastries, and candy under the towering pillars of Hogwarts castle — all of which cost us $44.
We ate lunch at Toadstool Cafe in Super Nintendo World for $83. For dinner, we spent $90 at the Three Broomsticks to share the Great Feast, a platter with chicken and ribs.
Both parks provided top-notch service and high-quality food — although our character dining at Disney was a bit of a splurge, we still found Universal to give us more value overall.
Both parks provide great entertainment, but Universal has one show Disney can't compete with
I also give Universal the edge when it comes to entertainment.
Although both parks offered something for everyone in our group, Disney doesn't have a show that can compete with the wowing spectacle that is Universal's "WaterWorld."
It featured high-stakes stunts, a charming pre-show, and jaw-dropping special effects, including pyrotechnics and a full-sized seaplane crash — the aircraft made a big splash and exploded before stopping only feet from the stunned and cheering audience.
I prefer Disney's rides, but Universal's line-skipping service is wildly better
I prefer Disney's rides because I think Universal leans a bit too heavily on virtual and 3D elements. But at least I got to experience everything Universal had to offer in one day, which is more than I can say for Disney.
Disney's line-skipping service didn't work as we expected it to. Called Genie+ while we were there, but since renamed Lightning Lane Multi Pass, the service is supposed to allow guests to skip the lines or at least stand in "lightning" quick ride queues.
Instead, we could only use the service on three premium attractions all day and we still had to wait at least 30 minutes before enjoying them.
In contrast, Universal's Express Pass let us walk right to the front of every ride we went to. We didn't even have to make a difficult-to-nab reservation in advance, which Disney requires guests to do throughout each day on its in-park app.
We never waited longer than five minutes to get on any of Universal's attractions, not even popular ones like Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
With our passes, we were able to experience every attraction at Universal in one day with a couple of hours to spare.
Our Universal line-skipping passes had a steeper price tag at $600 compared to the $180 we paid for Disney's equivalent service. Even so, our Universal tickets still cost about $200 less than the Disney ones.
We enjoyed Disney and Universal for different reasons, but the latter was better for my family
We recommend Universal Studios Hollywood more highly than Disneyland, especially to cost-conscious families.
In addition to the reasons above, Universal had significantly better-managed crowds and was about $700 cheaper overall.
I hear pushback from friends who say that Universal doesn't offer the same level of "magic" as Disney or as many premium rides, but it doesn't matter how many rides Disney has if guests can't go on the majority of them in a single visit — even when paying extra.
The premium price tag associated with both theme parks should grant guests access to all (or at least most) premium attractions. From my family's experience, that's something only Universal provides.