Horrible Experience In Universal Orlando

[inkkognito]

You must be a masochist. Otherwise, why come here and ask people to convince you to do something again that obviously caused you so much trauma last time?

You asked for your AP to be cancelled. They did it. Move on with life. Do it as a personal favor to me because encountering people determined to be miserable brings down my Universal experience. It will be nice to know there's one less there.

Harsh, maybe, but true.

 

[donaldduck352]

You must be a masochist. Otherwise, why come here and ask people to convince you to do something again that obviously caused you so much trauma last time?

You asked for your AP to be cancelled. They did it. Move on with life. Do it as a personal favor to me because encountering people determined to be miserable brings down my Universal experience. It will be nice to know there's one less there.

Harsh, maybe, but true.

Hate too be this way, but

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience at US that day. Unfortunately I do have to agree with the others that you seemed to have overreacted to the whole situation.

We all have bad days and taking that out on guests doesn't make it right, however it happens. I myself have encountered CMs and TMs with poor attitudes at both parks, but the difference is I chose not to let it ruin my trip and realize that they are human just like everyone else.

Most of us believe our attitudes are caused directly by outside influences like unpleasant experiences or negative people. While those experiences/people may trigger our feelings, we choose how we are going to react.

 

[damo]

I am wondering why you encountered so many people with a negative attitude so quickly. Was there any chance that you or your friend was displaying a negative attitude first?

 

[donaldduck352]

I am wondering why you encountered so many people with a negative attitude so quickly. Was there any chance that you or your friend was displaying a negative attitude first?

Very valid question that will bring some light to the situation!!

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

I am wondering why you encountered so many people with a negative attitude so quickly. Was there any chance that you or your friend was displaying a negative attitude first?

To be honest, the four of us went in with high spirits... And I swear I did not go in with a negative feeling... As I said, I spent a day there last year and had a great time... That prompted me to buy the annual pass... And I felt like things were really looking up for the park... I started feeling very good about the place...

For those who say I over reacted, I wasn't the only one then... Because, after I was done filing my complaint, another group of people came in and complained about the same TM, saying basically the same thing I said, except one of the people mentioned how the TM made fun of her size... They asked for a refund on the tickets.. I don't know the final result because I left before they were finished, but, it obviously was not me or my friends that day.... Ohh, and the girl at Guest Services told us that she had a few complaints about the same girl over at Simpsons.. So, how many of us over reacted????

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

I mentioned how this started with Margaritaville right? Well, here is the story with that:

I called the restaurant to see if they made any kind of advanced dining, like Disney.. The girl I spoke to told me no, that all I had to do was come in on the day I wanted to dine there and I'd be seated... My other friend, who lives in Orlando, after buying the HHN tickets then called the restaurant and was told the same thing.. So, we figured OK we'll stop there as soon as we get to Universal..

I walked into the restaurant and asked to put my name down for a 4:30-5:00 dining time.. The girl at the front asked me if I made advanced dining.. I told her no, that I was told there was no advanced dining.. She told me that I was misinformed and that there was no way she could put me down... I was disappointed but asked her if there was anything she could do since I was misinformed, and, technically, it was their fault for giving wrong information out.. She said no, and then turned her back on me which is rude... I didn't get nasty with her, I just asked for her manager, which she refused to acknowledge....

Another employee approached and asked if ther was anything she could do.. I explained the situation, and she apologized... She told me that we were infact told the wrong information, BUT, she was going to do her best to help us out... She took my name down and told us to come back around 4:00 because, since we didn't have advanced dining, we'd have to wait... I thanked her for her help, she shook my hand, and off I went, ignoring the rudeness of the first person I came in contact with...

Now, we entered the park and started heading over toward the Simpsons.. on the way, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Woody Woodpecker were out.. We saw they had no one waiting on line so we decided to see if we could het our pictures taken with them.. As we approached Scooby and Shaggy, the handler told us, in a nasty manner mind you, that they had to go in cause their time out was up... Ok, so we moved across the street to Woody.. And we were told the same thing.. Mind you, Shaggy and Scooby had gone no where...

We shrugged it off and kept walking.. I turned around, and saw 3 ADULTS approach Shaggy and Scooby and THEY WERE ABLE TO GET THEIR PICTURE TAKEN!!! Same thing with Woody... Now, I was wondering why this happened since we were told no more pictures.... I was annoyed, YES, but again, I let it go and kept moving...

Again, at the Simpsons ride, I was loving the area... I was taking pictures galore... On line I was dying laughing at the video playing.. One of my friends and I were totally loving everything up to the part where the lap bar wouldn't lock...

The TM had us stand up and sit down 5 times, all the while talking down to us like we were mentally challenged or something... Her tone of voice really got to me... But, as frustrated as I was, I ignored it the best I could... Now, she never did make fun of my firend's size, but, she did comment on how big the other people were that were behind us...

What pushed me over the edge was the attitude of the other TM, who, just like the other girl, talked down to us like we were dumb... And this was before we even had a chance to try the lap bar out... That was it... I got off the ride, and walked over to Guest Services....

The girls there were great... They listened as I stated my complaint... Matters got worse though when their manager came out... She acted like we had no right to complain about they nastiness of their employees... As much as the girl helping me out was wonderful, her manager was crummy... It was at that point that I decided to close my AP.. I figured the attitude was WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE... And I only closed it because I was on the flex pay plan.. Why let them charge me when I decided not to go back???

I never once asked for a hand out from Universal... I simply asked to lodge my complaint, and then, unfortuantely, asked to close the AP... My friend mentioned we had the HHN tickets and we were seriously considering not attending.. The manager then refunded the tickets... Again, this made me feel like WE DON'T NEED ANY BUSINESS....

I called Guest Services upon returning from my vacation.. Only then did I ask if they could refund the money I already paid... They said no, and then I asked for a manager... I had a pleasant conversation with the manager, and we both understood each other's positions... I understood why they couldn't refund the money, and that no longer was an issue... He did apologize for the experience I had, and he offered me two free tickets to make up for the way GUEST SERVICES treated us... I told him I appreciated the gesture, but I didn't want to take the tickets now... He said OK, and then he hoped I would change my mind and give them another chance...

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

My main reason for this post was to vent a little, but, also to see what other people thought of the situation... I wanted to see if others experienced anything like this, or basically, been treated rudely by the employees on a consistent basis during the course of the same day... And I also wanted to see if this was something that was common with Guest Services there... I know TMs and CMs can have bad days, still no excuse for treating people rudely...

I did not intend for this thread to sound like a Universal bashing job... it wasn't... Apologizes if it did....

 

[donaldduck352]

To be honest, the four of us went in with high spirits... And I swear I did not go in with a negative feeling... As I said, I spent a day there last year and had a great time... That prompted me to buy the annual pass... And I felt like things were really looking up for the park... I started feeling very good about the place...

For those who say I over reacted, I wasn't the only one then... Because, after I was done filing my complaint, another group of people came in and complained about the same TM, saying basically the same thing I said, except one of the people mentioned how the TM made fun of her size... They asked for a refund on the tickets.. I don't know the final result because I left before they were finished, but, it obviously was not me or my friends that day....

Let me tell you a story about a family that went too Universal at HHN18! We sat at the stay and scream area till they relaesed us to hit the houses before the crowds hit the park..
We did 5 houses off the bat,but the following 3 were 45-60 minutes long.
So thinking I can buy Express passes at that time of night a TM escorted me too guest service,,

Needless too say we walked half the park to show me were guest service was inside the park(way out of her way)with the wright tude we got 10 free passes to go on anything we wanted..This too me is above and beyond..

Tink if you want you and your family too have a good time let me know when you go!!Universal is more then A theme park,its A paridise too us..

If you yell and scream-well you get what you give..And they gave you what you wanted,a refund..

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

I'm sorry too hear about your expierance..

Me or no one else can convince you to go back,you make that desicion yourself..

I just find it funny that out of all the times we have been(since 92) we have yet too have a bad expierance or anything too ruin our day..We find more guest to be the problem.And over the years we have seen some bad guest!! But as far as TM's never..

Maybe its just me and I overlook stupidity and go too have a great time.Which we do everytime..

The only time we had a bad exprience was at Latin Quarter and managment dealt with that quikly!!

On a side note see you at the opening of Harry Potter!!

I first went to Universal in 1998 I think.. Either 1998 or 1999.. I then went again in 2000 and loved it... I didn't go for 2 years, so 2002 was my next trip there.. And that is when I started encountering nastiness and rudeness... I didn't think anything of it, especially since I had nasty CMs at Disney too...

In 2003 and 2004, more of the same... I decided to stay away at that point since I was no longer having fun.... In 2007, after buying into the DVC, i decided to give Universal another chance since I was going to be there even more often.... I had a blast... Rode Mummy, thought it was pretty cool.. And rode Spider-Man, God knows how many times... After that experience is when I decided to buy the AP....

My experience this time made me feal like the rudeness was commonplace...

I hope that isn't the case.... I hope, if I decide to give it another shot, in maybe a year or two, that things aren't what they appeared to be..

And who knows, maybe you will see me at Happy Potter's opening..

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

Let me tell you a story about a family that went too Universal at HHN18! We sat at the stay and scream area till they relaesed us to hit the houses before the crowds hit the park..
We did 5 houses off the bat,but the following 3 were 45-60 minutes long.
So thinking I can buy Express passes at that time of night a TM escorted me too guest service,,

Needless too say we walked half the park to show me were guest service was inside the park(way out of her way)with the wright tude we got 10 free passes to go on anything we wanted..This too me is above and beyond..

Tink if you want you and your family too have a good time let me know when you go!!Universal is more then A theme park,its A paridise too us..

If you yell and scream-well you get what you give..And they gave you what you wanted,a refund..

Ok, I didn't rant and scream in Guest Services... I asked to lodge my complaint... My friend didn't rant and scream either... As I was filing my complaint, I was actually laughing and joking with the girls working the front desk... In fact, we all were... I have no issues with how she handled the complaint... The manager, on the other hand, came out and was nasty right off the bat... Like we have no rights to complain about someone who obviously had issues with other people that day since we weren't the first or last to complain about her...

And I was extremely excited about doing HHN for the very first time...

And if I decide to go again, I may just take you up on that offer...

 

[donaldduck352]

Ok, I didn't rant and scream in Guest Services... I asked to lodge my complaint... My friend didn't rant and scream either... As I was filing my complaint, I was actually laughing and joking with the girls working the front desk... In fact, we all were... I have no issues with how she handled the complaint... The manager, on the other hand, came out and was nasty right off the bat... Like we have no rights to complain about someone who obviously had issues with other people that day since we weren't the first or last to complain about her...

And I was extremely excited about doing HHN for the very first time...

And if I decide to go again, I may just take you up on that offer...

Well come your next vaccation let me know.I'll be more then happy and I'm sure there is others..HHN is A not miss!!Please dont let this get too you,cause Universal is A great place dont let one (or a few in one day)get too you..I as others seen this not just at USO..I got A mouth too get things done,management dont scare me-they got too answer to someone else also!!

 

[macraven]

I mentioned how this started with Margaritaville right? Well, here is the story with that:

I called the restaurant to see if they made any kind of advanced dining, like Disney.. The girl I spoke to told me no, that all I had to do was come in on the day I wanted to dine there and I'd be seated... My other friend, who lives in Orlando, after buying the HHN tickets then called the restaurant and was told the same thing.. So, we figured OK we'll stop there as soon as we get to Universal..

I walked into the restaurant and asked to put my name down for a 4:30-5:00 dining time.. The girl at the front asked me if I made advanced dining.. I told her no, that I was told there was no advanced dining.. She told me that I was misinformed and that there was no way she could put me down... I was disappointed but asked her if there was anything she could do since I was misinformed, and, technically, it was their fault for giving wrong information out.. She said no, and then turned her back on me which is rude... I didn't get nasty with her, I just asked for her manager, which she refused to acknowledge....

i looked back to the first post on this thread.
this is the first you have mentioned margaritaville. i haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else.
but then, i did not have my glasses on when i glanced through just now...

a lot of people get that crap at that place.
you can have prior ressies, no, you can't have prior ressies, you can call make them over the phone, no you have to get the ressies made at the reservation stand in city walk......etc.....

the best way to get advanced reservations for city walk places is at the booth in city walk. it is a large booth stand and states reservations made there.

priority seating is valid for hotel guests at most of the places in city walk.
even then, that can become a discussion on a thread......

what can i tell you?
things like that can happen anywhere.
it is not nice and it is upsetting, but it still can happen. only you can decide how to handle a stressful situation.

you find this happens at disney also.
last year, i had 10 days of adr's set up at the 180 day time period.
none of them were in the system when i went to the resturants.

the only thing that saved me was the confirmation numbers i had with me.

it does change the mood of things when you have to be firm to straighten things out in those cases. it can ruin the appetite also.
been there and done that.
it's not a good way to start a meal.

in your case, not a good way to start a fun packed day at the park.
kind of sours your mood when there is frustration of getting wrong information for making dinner plans.

you vented about the park employees.
you expected an argument when you went to guest services.
instead, they listened to you and at the end of it all, you were refunded the hhn tickets.
you wanted to leave and they bent the rules and refunded your hard ticket costs. They had no argument with you over that.

then much later, you call and talk to another person in GS and are offered 2 free admission tickets.

now it is strictly up to you to decide if you want to try Universal again in the future.
from your last post, it seems you are calm now and will be able to make a clearer decision. sometimes when a poster vents and others give their opinions, it helps lessen the frustrations.


you said you wanted to know if things like you went through have happened to any of us.

majority of us said it hasn't. i have been going to universal since the year after it opened. i love the place. i love HHN.....totally and completely addicted to it.

some love the motherland
some love the darkside
some love both....

like i mentioned before, many of the TM's are also CM's
there are many fine employees in the parks.
there is always a chance of having an encounter with an employee that misses the mark in your eyes, but that could happen at any established place of business.


Now, if you want to hear about venting, come back when parry hotter opens.
i am a regular homie at universal and on many of the threads in the UO forums.
i am in the minority of the parry hotter fans who are living for the day til it opens......

and i always call it parry hotter since i am not the least bit interested in him, the books or the movies.........

i think the loss of the enchanted oak was the last straw for me for this make way of the new section that will be put in.



don't worry, i'll start a new thread when parry comes to town.
the bashing of Mac can begin on a new thread......

 

[BuckeyeGuy28]

Please stop worrying about it! Universal is a THEME PARK. There's no 'give it another chance'. You don't have an annual pass, so what?? There are rides and shows all over Orlando. I just don't understand what you want to accomplish by posting this...

 

[donaldduck352]

i looked back to the first post on this thread.
this is the first you have mentioned margaritaville. i haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else.
but then, i did not have my glasses on when i glanced through just now...

a lot of people get that crap at that place.
you can have prior ressies, no, you can't have prior ressies, you can call make them over the phone, no you have to get the ressies made at the reservation stand in city walk......etc.....

the best way to get advanced reservations for city walk places is at the booth in city walk. it is a large booth stand and states reservations made there.

priority seating is valid for hotel guests at most of the places in city walk.
even then, that can become a discussion on a thread......

what can i tell you?
things like that can happen anywhere.
it is not nice and it is upsetting, but it still can happen. only you can decide how to handle a stressful situation.

you find this happens at disney also.
last year, i had 10 days of adr's set up at the 180 day time period.
none of them were in the system when i went to the resturants.

the only thing that saved me was the confirmation numbers i had with me.

it does change the mood of things when you have to be firm to straighten things out in those cases. it can ruin the appetite also.
been there and done that.
it's not a good way to start a meal.

in your case, not a good way to start a fun packed day at the park.
kind of sours your mood when there is frustration of getting wrong information for making dinner plans.

you vented about the park employees.
you expected an argument when you went to guest services.
instead, they listened to you and at the end of it all, you were refunded the hhn tickets.
you wanted to leave and they bent the rules and refunded your hard ticket costs. They had no argument with you over that.

then much later, you call and talk to another person in GS and are offered 2 free admission tickets.

now it is strictly up to you to decide if you want to try Universal again in the future.
from your last post, it seems you are calm now and will be able to make a clearer decision. sometimes when a poster vents and others give their opinions, it helps lessen the frustrations.


you said you wanted to know if things like you went through have happened to any of us.

majority of us said it hasn't. i have been going to universal since the year after it opened. i love the place. i love HHN.....totally and completely addicted to it.

some love the motherland
some love the darkside
some love both....

like i mentioned before, many of the TM's are also CM's
there are many fine employees in the parks.
there is always a chance of having an encounter with an employee that misses the mark in your eyes, but that could happen at any established place of business.


Now, if you want to hear about venting, come back when parry hotter opens.
i am a regular homie at universal and on many of the threads in the UO forums.
i am in the minority of the parry hotter fans who are living for the day til it opens......

and i always call it parry hotter since i am not the least bit interested in him, the books or the movies.........

i think the loss of the enchanted oak was the last straw for me for this make way of the new section that will be put in.



don't worry, i'll start a new thread when parry comes to town.
the bashing of Mac can begin on a new thread......

Donn't worry mac,we got the razor and vaseline too keep the bruises down youre going too sh** fire and crap lighntnig(ROCKY STYLE)

 

[damo]

My main reason for this post was to vent a little, but, also to see what other people thought of the situation... I wanted to see if others experienced anything like this, or basically, been treated rudely by the employees on a consistent basis during the course of the same day... And I also wanted to see if this was something that was common with Guest Services there... I know TMs and CMs can have bad days, still no excuse for treating people rudely...

I did not intend for this thread to sound like a Universal bashing job... it wasn't... Apologizes if it did....

You say that four of you went but two of you complained. What did the other two think? It is pretty hard for those of us here to judge the situation since we can't judge your behavior which might actually be causing these situations. Generally, very few people have complaints like yours and the fact that you had so many in such a short period of time really makes me wonder if there might be something more to it than what you are seeing. If I was you, I would ask my friends and then go with their decision since they were there and can give you a more reasonable opinion.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

Well come your next vaccation let me know.I'll be more then happy and I'm sure there is others..HHN is A not miss!!Please dont let this get too you,cause Universal is A great place dont let one (or a few in one day)get too you..I as others seen this not just at USO..I got A mouth too get things done,management dont scare me-they got too answer to someone else also!!

Awesome... you have a deal...

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

You say that four of you went but two of you complained. What did the other two think? It is pretty hard for those of us here to judge the situation since we can't judge your behavior which might actually be causing these situations. Generally, very few people have complaints like yours and the fact that you had so many in such a short period of time really makes me wonder if there might be something more to it than what you are seeing. If I was you, I would ask my friends and then go with their decision since they were there and can give you a more reasonable opinion.

My friends all felt the same way... We all spoke up... I lodged the official complaint however...

 

[donaldduck352]

Tink,we got a deal..I will show you the mummy dust!!
When you go I'll show you the things that makes Universal special too us I promise!!!

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

Tink,we got a deal..I will show you the mummy dust!!
When you go I'll show you the things that makes Universal special too us I promise!!!

I don't doubt ya..

Wait, is Mummy dust like Pixie dust??? No wonder attitude runs rampant lol.. JOKING PEOPLE!!!!