As a travel agent, I often plot out ridiculous itineraries to learn as much about a destination as possible. Usually, I only torture myself with this outrageous tomfoolery (see my 4 parks/30 attractions in one day), but on this occasion, I convinced my wife

and 2 kids to participate in the antics. The plan was simple: visit 6 theme parks in 6 days, 3 at Universal and 3 at Disney World, to weigh in on the debate of which is better: Disney World or Universal?

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I'll take you through several categories and then declare an overall winner. As a family that frequently visits Disney World, we did everything we could to give Universal the fairest chance possible. We did our 3 Universal parks first so we would

have the freshest legs and minds for the experience. My wife and I hadn't been to Universal in a long time and my children (9 and 5) had never been. 

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Let the games begin!

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Food:  Our first category is near and dear to my heart. One of the things I love about theme parks is the unique food and snacks on offer. As someone that frequents Epcot and Hersheypark, where everything has a chocolate-covered option (as it should), I was looking forward to trying some of the food offerings at Universal. Things started off well enough with dinner at Cowfish at Universal's City Walk. The food was good, but the service was really lacking. From there it was downhill. The options inside the park seemed to always disappoint. The highlight was our kid's fish and chips from the Leaky Cauldron. The low point was at Volcano Bay when I ordered tuna poke nachos from the Feasting Frog that looked and sounded amazing on the menu. After waiting in the blazing sun for 30 minutes to place my order, I was handed a handful of stale plantain chips, buried under a mountain of soggy shredded lettuce, topped with a few cubes of flavorless tuna that probably barely made the cut to be considered sushi grade. A few days later we had a warm and delicious cinnamon roll at Magic Kingdom, a flavorful vegan kafta at Hollywood Studios Galaxy's Edge, and multiple mouth-watering offerings at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival.

This was probably the easiest category to declare a winner.

Food Winner: Disney World

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Resorts: At first glance, you may think this category is an easy win for Disney. And at one time it was. But as Disney slowly stripped away benefits like the Magic Express, a lot of visitors found it hard to justify the extra cost of staying on property. If we are looking at theming, variety, and atmosphere; Disney is the clear winner here. But when you take into account some of the added extras you get at Universal Resorts; 1 hour of early admission, Unlimited Express Pass at Premier Resorts, the decision isn't quite as cut and dry. We've stayed at resorts in every category at both Universal and Disney, and we have to say that there is nothing quite like the feeling you get when staying in the Disney bubble. With that being said we're going to call this category a tie. But Disney could easily win or lose this category by taking away or adding one more resort perk. 

Resorts Winner: Tie

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Cleanliness: While I wouldn't call Universal dirty by any means, it really was night and day when it came to cleanliness against Disney. Restrooms at Universal often had overflowing trash cans. And while Disney World has cast members dedicated to litter collection, we didn't see anything similar at Universal.

Cleanliness Winner: Disney World

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Theming: Universal has come a long way in this category with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the other sections of Islands of Adventure. Diagon Alley is like no place else in Orlando. And if that's a sign of what's to come from Universal when Epic Universe finally opens, Disney is going to be in big trouble. Until then, the level of detail you witness from the second you enter the Disney bubble is unmatched. And given the size of Disney World and the variety of theming found at all 4 parks and their 20+ resorts, they get the win here. But if Epic Universe delivers on the hype, this category will easily swing the other way. But for now, this category belongs to Disney World.

Theming Winner: Disney World

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Thrill Rides: Disney has come a long way in this category with attractions like Expedition Everest and Cosmic Rewind. But it still pales in comparison to the 6 high-speed roller coasters at Universal Orlando. And even though I consider Tower of Terror to be one of the greatest thrill rides in Orlando, Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure raises the bar to a whole new level. If you can, I highly recommend riding through the forbidden forest at night, as it creates quite the environment for that attraction. This one isn't even close and belongs to Universal.

Thrill Rides Winner: Universal 

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Family Friendly Rides: This is a category that I actually think Universal doesn't even want to compete against Disney. At the end of the day, Disney World had an 18-year head start in building attractions and buying land. When Universal opened in 1990, It realized it could either waste a ton of money trying to target family-friendly attractions and still probably be unable to steal much of that market from Disney World. Or, they could focus on all of those families with bored teenagers going to Disney World who wanted rides that were faster and scarier than their Disney World counterparts. In that sense, Universal played it very well and has captured that audience, and then some. But in doing so, it's hard for a family with children under 48" to justify the cost of a Universal park ticket, especially when Disney boasts over 50 rides with no height requirement. 

Family Friendly Rides Winner: Disney World 

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Affordability and Value:  Thanks to Disney being in the crosshairs of a certain governor and media outlets, they are often cited as having exorbitant prices for everything. But when you dig deeper you'll see both Universal and Disney boast theme park tickets "starting at $109 a day". Sure, Universal likes to frequently offer promotions that give you additional days on your ticket for free or discounted, but that's because both of their main parks can be explored in 2-3 days. Meaning those "free days" are just a way to keep you in the parks spending your money. Not to mention, Universal express pass can cost over $1,000 a day for a family, a far cry from the cost of Genie+. Nonetheless, both parks will easily set a family back a couple of thousand dollars for a 5-day vacation, which in my eyes is way too much. So I'm going to declare both Universal and Disney as being disqualified from this category because it's impossible to say either one is "affordable". But I have tips and tricks to get the most bang for your buck when planning a Disney or Universal vacation.

Affordability and Value Winner: Neither-Both competitors have been disqualified

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Overall Winner: With proper planning and advice, you are almost guaranteed to have a great time at either Disney or Universal. And that's where Monorail Adventures comes in. If you ask a majority of people who complain about Disney and Universal, they didn't use an expert travel agent like Monorail Adventures to book their trip. Remember, all of our planning and concierge services are completely free to our clients, and we guarantee our prices will be exactly the same as booking directly with Disney or Universal. Disney and Universal pay us to make sure you have a great time and are totally prepared for your trip. 

Back to the task at hand, it's time to declare an overall winner. I'm not going to lie, we had an amazing time at Universal, especially in the Wizarding World and Jurrasic Park areas. But we all agreed that entering the Disney bubble provided a feeling of joy Universal just couldn't match. Could this change as my children get older? Perhaps. But for now, there is no denying that Disney has it all and is the clear winner in so many categories, and that makes them the champion in the head-to-head battle vs Universal.

OVERALL WINNER: DISNEY WORLD

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