Annoyances at US / IOA

[Metro West]

The stories about Halloween at Universal are nothing less than disgusting.


They will continue to cater to the lowest common denominator...

OK...let me clarify the Halloween situation. HHN is a separate hard ticket event that everyone must pay for. I have seen some horror stories too but in the five years that I have attended HHN, I haven't seen anything that would bring down my evening...and I go multiple times during HHN. I will admit HHN brings out a different crowd but I stand by my experiences over any tales of horror you've seen online.

I'm not quite sure what you meant by the "lowest common denominator" comment. Would you care to elaborate?

 

[teresared]

I was taken aback by the "lowest common denominator" too. My family was also raised on Disney, until my husband and I broke ranks 7 years ago. Now we go to Uni every year and the group we bring grows larger. We even went back to Disney last year and more than once wished to trade the fairy dust for mummy dust. Uni just works for us. We are chill tourists that love thrill rides and happy hour. Phantom hit my family square on the head. We circle the date, count down, pack redicuosly early and read the Dis every chance we get. The employees have more than once gone way beyond the call of duty to ensure our experience was great. I work in a fine dining restaurant and I have a natural cynicism to service. (no one is as good as me ) Uni blows me away every time. My family and I have found our bit of Heaven. So I guess I mean to say I like my denominator.

 

[micksterlee]

Seems to me like the best answer for the situation is if you don't like IOA/US then don't go.Don't become part of your so called low denominator formula.

I enjoy both WDW and Universal for diifferent reasons.I don't really enjoy opera so I wouldn't think of planning a vacation around a tour of opera houses.

 

[damo]

It is very sad when people base their opinions off of opinions of others. I'm surprised that some people ever leave their houses.

There are so many horror stories of Disney vacations but yet there are also so many wonderful stories. Which ones are you going to go by?

If we started a pet peeve about Disney thread, it would contain things that most people don't even notice and just shrug off. If I went and visited the Theme Parks board, it would probably take me about 10 minutes to come up with a full page list of annoyances.

Personally, my own pet peeve list about WDW is very long but somehow I doubt that it would make any difference to those who love it and that is exactly how it should be.

The saddest part is that not only do people ruin their own vacations with preconceived notions but they also probably ruin the vacation of their family with their whining and complaining. So very unnecessary and so very selfish.

We need to add "lowest common denominator" to the list of descriptions of Universal lovers now. Move over "thugs".



edited to add: I have never found the music at Universal to be too loud. I don't notice it any more than the music at Disney. Perhaps it is just that the music isn't disney-like music that people are offended?

 

[inkkognito]

DH and I are like Phantom and the others. We were all about WDW and visited several times a year. We're open minded tho' so we popped over to USF one year and had a blast. Soon we were adding a day at USF to all our WDW trips, and when IOA opened we added that it. Now that we live down here, I sometimes think I would give up my Disney AP before my Universal Premier (good discounts, free valet, front of the line after 4, free HHN tickets...what's not to love?).

And while HHN is a different creature altogether, I know that going in and it's rare that anything is horrible enough to impact our experience there. We went almost ever day our FF passes were good this year and are already counting down to 2009.

I'd rather be part of this mythical "lowest common denominator" than a closed minded snob.

 

[Poohbug]

I think that it is O.K. if OP doesn't like US. I guess it's just not for her. I know people who wouldn't touch WDW or DCL with a 10 foot pole if you paid them to go.

I personally think that it is far better than Six Flags and I like visiting US whenever I can. Even if I didn't like it my DS's LOVE the place and I would be taking them anyway.

I have never noticed the loud music, but with three boys running around I am used to Loud. It has never been dirty when I visited and wearing the US uniform must be tough in the hot FL sun.

At least now you know that you don't like it and you can spend vacation time doing something that you do like.

 

[damo]

I think that it is O.K. if OP doesn't like US. I guess it's just not for her. I know people who wouldn't touch WDW or DCL with a 10 foot pole if you paid them to go.

I personally think that it is far better than Six Flags and I like visiting US whenever I can. Even if I didn't like it my DS's LOVE the place and I would be taking them anyway.

I have never noticed the loud music, but with three boys running around I am used to Loud. It has never been dirty when I visited and wearing the US uniform must be tough in the hot FL sun.

At least now you know that you don't like it and you can spend vacation time doing something that you do like.

I agree. I have absolutely no problems with people who go to a park and don't like it. That is the great thing about having so many different options in Orlando. However, when someone decides they don't like a park BEFORE they even go, then why even bother. Let those go who want to go and don't bring them down.

 

[inkkognito]

We all have our likes and dislikes, but the people who confuse me are the ones who:

a) Bash a place they've never been to.

or

b) Think that if you love Disney you have to hate Universal.

Both are sad attitudes

 

[sha_lyn]

We all have our likes and dislikes, but the people who confuse me are the ones who:

a) Bash a place they've never been to.

or

b) Think that if you love Disney you have to hate Universal.

Both are sad attitudes

 

[macraven]

When I am in Orlando for my vacation, I do disney and Universal.
I stay at both of their on site resorts.


When I am on the disney side of the disboards, I never trash the Motherland. That is just asking for trouble. I ask myself, why do posters do that? The more you stir it, the more it stinks. Then the thread becomes a bashing ground. That's such a waste of time.

When I am on the Universal / Darkside of the dis boards, I try to share my experiences and help others. I love Universal. I am trying to spread the mummy dust to others.

I am really taken back when any poster has to make a statement on the "low class" attendees when referring to people that love Universal.
Generalizations are never a healthy way to look at life.

I also am grieved that some posters make a reference to the darkside park as a "filthy pig sty", or inept/unclean employees. (I know the posters did not use those phrases but that is how I interpreted it.)

Do the readers know that many Universal employees also work at Disney?
Do those employees mannerism change when they work at the different park?

When someone makes a UO comparison to six flags to let the readers know they have "higher standards" and wouldn't step foot at the Darkside, is tacky.

We had one poster that stated how it was for him.
He wanted to share the annoyances that were important to him.
No issue there when he brought up the time shares and clipboard people.
He stated how he felt and in return, posters here gave their thoughts then.


I'm very glad phamton posted.
Talking about employees is not playing nice especially since many TM's do post on the darkside.
It appears easier to talk down to people on public message boards that no one would do in person.

When you have another poster come up and piggy back on the other poster, I ask myself why? Where is this coming from?

How could you have an opinion of the parks if you have never been there?
Why do you choose to take what one person posted, which was negative, to heart?
Do you know that person who posted before you?
Do you believe everything you read as the full truth?
Are you unwilling to try something different or new?

The darkside of the disboards have many threads where everyone "plays nice". We can agree and disagree without causing hard feelings.

I don't believe the OP of the thread meant for this thread to go south like it has. I stay away from these type of threads as it only does a disservice to a newbie that is looking for information for Universal.

 

[donaldduck352]

Thank you mac and phamton,know other words you typed could put it better..


Lets not see this thread go too lock down!!

Lets all play nice now

 

[ky07]

I am like everyone else on this and we all have thing we love or hate at any theme park but I have always found that there is going to be those what I call off days when it seems like nothing is going right and have had them but most usually the next day is better.
There are places at disney I like such as epcot and other places I don't but does that mean I never go back to disney ?
No
I love everything about Universal but I don't care for Harry Potter But that doesn't mean I will stop going to IOA
I will just avoid it and still enjoy IOA

 

[Wishing on a star]

I meant to add this personal story but I lost my train of thought so I'll just give it here.

I was raised on Disney. I went to Disneyland for the first time in 1957 and then went yearly and sometimes more for the next 20 years. It was our family vacation when I was a kid. I continued that family tradition with my 5 kids. We alternated Disneyland with Disneyworld yearly. My husband and kids developed a love for Disney that they caught from me. Finally I retired from teaching in Texas and I encourage my whole family to move to Orlando to be close to the mouse. (My husband hadn't retired from teaching so he continued to teach high school in Orlando after our move.)

The first thing we did after moving here was to get Disney annual passes. We had little to no interest in going to Universal as I thought the standards were way lower than Disney themeparks. We reluctantly purchased 2 year annual passes for Universal/IoA when they had a special for 2 years for the price of one. We considered ourselves Disney snobs and went to Disney every weekend. One day, my son mentioned that we ought to use our Universal annual passes since we had had them over 6 months and hadn't gone once. None of us wanted to give up our weekend at Disney but finally decided to try Universal. We fell in love with the parks. We began going to Universal nearly every weekend and only going to Disney once a month. Universal and Islands of Adventure were now our favorite parks.

After being retired 2 years, I decided I would like to work a few days a week. I looked into working at either Disney or Universal. I found out that the pay for team members at Universal was higher than the pay for Disney. I decided to work at Universal. The first co-worker I had was a retired school principal who also chose to work for Universal over Disney. I know I could be doing the same job at Disney but now I have no desire to work there. (Too many horror stories of how the castmembers are treated by management--overworked and underpaid and often poor morale.)

I absolutely love my job! It is so much fun to help people enjoy their vacation. I still remember living in Texas and planning our vacation. We would circle the day of our trip on a calendar with a big red marker. We counted the days until we arrived in Orlando for our vacation. Even now, everyday, I look at the thousands of guests entering the parks each day and imagine that many of them were just like me and had the big day circled on their calendar. They enter with anticipation and excitement and I remember...yes, I remember. I try to do everything I can to make their vacation the best ever. So I do make a little magic everyday and I observe my fellow coworkers and see them doing the same thing to help our guests enjoy their day.

I am so proud of the fact that I work for such an exciting and inspiring company and I can't wait to come to work each day and make a little magic for my guests.

Thank You Phamton,
I am the poster whose reply to the OP caused such a furor.

I have to say that I so appreciate such a heartfelt and intelligent post!!!

Of course, I do not feel that any comments posted by the OP or myself were meant as any kind of personal attack. The concerns that have been mentioned, such as the overall level of cleanliness/professionalism... subjecting paying guests to be prey to hawkers, an overall 'loud' overwhelming presentation that would bring a local carnival to mind, instead of a world class park. etc... All of these are very general, 'top down' types of things...

I did not call anyone 'lowest common denominator'.
I did say that I feel that the parks are sometimes catering towards the lowest common denominator.

I feel that the OP raised some valid thoughts, based on the knowledge that
I have seen many similar comments on other boards as I have researched US/IOA.

No, this thread does not need to be locked down...
People have different views, expectations, etc...

But, I just wanted to say that there is no need to personally flame somebody for 'gasp' having a differing opinion... or to resort to negative assumptions and name-calling such as 'closed minded', 'snob', 'ignorant' and 'selfish'.

As the OP posted, they HAVE now been to US/IOA. They, like myself, did do a lot of reading and research. This is in order to gain information and to consider many differing opinions.. which is definitely not closed minded, selfish, ignorant, etc...

 

[macraven]

I did not call anyone 'lowest common denominator'.
I did say that I feel that the parks are sometimes catering towards the lowest common denominator.

you said from your other post on page 4:

"They will continue to cater to the lowest common denominator... "



a little different from what you posted on page 5 to phamton.
__________________

 

[donaldduck352]

Some people you just cant reach!!






the lowest common denominator,huh

 

[yankeepenny]

I haven't even been to Universal/IOA yet,
They will continue to cater to the lowest common denominator...

Actually , the really sad part is that you have already insulted folks on this thread who support and enjoy Universal, and you have really insulted anyone of any income who visits there by putting them in a class catagory comparable to that of bottom feaders in the life cycle.

 

[AlexandNessa]

Thank You Phamton,
I am the poster whose reply to the OP caused such a furor.

I have to say that I so appreciate such a heartfelt and intelligent post!!!

Of course, I do not feel that any comments posted by the OP or myself were meant as any kind of personal attack. The concerns that have been mentioned, such as the overall level of cleanliness/professionalism... subjecting paying guests to be prey to hawkers, an overall 'loud' overwhelming presentation that would bring a local carnival to mind, instead of a world class park. etc... All of these are very general, 'top down' types of things...

I did not call anyone 'lowest common denominator'.
I did say that I feel that the parks are sometimes catering towards the lowest common denominator.

I feel that the OP raised some valid thoughts, based on the knowledge that
I have seen many similar comments on other boards as I have researched US/IOA.

No, this thread does not need to be locked down...
People have different views, expectations, etc...

But, I just wanted to say that there is no need to personally flame somebody for 'gasp' having a differing opinion... or to resort to negative assumptions and name-calling such as 'closed minded', 'snob', 'ignorant' and 'selfish'.

As the OP posted, they HAVE now been to US/IOA. They, like myself, did do a lot of reading and research. This is in order to gain information and to consider many differing opinions.. which is definitely not closed minded, selfish, ignorant, etc...

No one is flaming anyone for having a differing opinion. There are some things at Universal I myself would love to change. Universal isn't perfect. No place is. But I still enjoy the rides and theming and the self-containment of the parks.

The primary point that anyone is making is that you yourself judged Universal without having experienced it. You made up your mind and wanted to write a letter before having even gone to the park.

It's just our experience that anyone going in with a negative attitude isn't going to have a good time. It's happened many times on this board ..

Someone comes on the UO board with "concerns" that are second or third hand "concerns" (in your case, loud music, timeshare people, etc). They want assurance before they go. They want us to tell them if it's worth it, is it true what they're hearing? Or they've heard it's like Six Flags, it's full of thugs, the employees are surly, it's dirty, other nonsense like that, that is easy to anonymously say on a message board. In many cases, these people make up their minds they aren't going to like it before they even go.

To any regular on this board who has been here 3+ years, we have seen our fair share of these.

At this point, you won't find many regulars that will encourage you to go if you have to be convinced to go. We've been there, done that, and we all got burned.

We are simply suggesting that it doesn't sound like you want to go in the first place, and you only seem to want to believe the negative stuff and not the positive stuff. So why bother to go? You already think you're not going to like it, and you don't seem open to liking it.

No one here will hold it against you if you don't go. Or if you try it and don't like it.

It bothers the regulars here when people make up their minds before they go.

Reread your initial post and ask yourself why we shouldn't summarize it like I've just spelled out?

I haven't even been to Universal/IOA yet, and I agree with the OP and the thread above... I have seen enough feedback online... I have no doubt that it is true to some degree.

The stories about Halloween at Universal are nothing less than disgusting.

Unfortunately, our trip is planned... DH wanted to try Universal this time. We bought our passes when they were so cheap thru AAA. Thank goodness we have three days planned on a beautiful beach on the Panhandle before Orlando/Universal, so I have something that I am REALLY looking forward to!!!

Because, now that I have been taking a closer look, I am not looking forward to the Universal part of our trip at all.


Believe me, paying big bucks to be accosted by overly loud music, time share hawkers, and the like, is NOT what I consider appropriate.... (I wear a hearing aide, which will be excruciating... and my DS has sensory issues so that he can't stand loud overwhelming noisy situations...)

Ummm, HEY UNIVERSAL... a very considerable percentage of folks who vacation at Orlando are either hearing impaired and wear hearing aides, or are children with sensory issues... etc....

I wish Universal would see this thread...
I would even consider contacting them myself personally.
But, *sigh* I know they have heard these comments before.
Obviously, they just don't give a darn.

They will continue to cater to the lowest common denominator...

 

[donaldduck352]

Very well put Jodie.. I only been posting under a year and seen the bashing..Sometimes it gets ugly..

Dont go too Universal with the perception of another is all I got too say on this matter!!

 

[keishashadow]

We have the 2 year passes and have been quite a bit and spent this past weekend at the parks. Overall, we enjoy the parks, but these are some of the minor things that annoy me.

1. Parking always seems to take longer than at the Disney parks. Maybe because it is under cover qand so people drive slower or because 2 lanes merge to one, but people don't seem to know exactly what they are doing. This is not the fault of US.

2. It is loud. The roar of hulk is not enough, they have to pump loud music in the Marvel area. I love the area, but hate how loud it is. Also, over near ET they blare music fromt he speakers on the stage there even when there is no show.

3. People trying to sell me something. I don't know what it is because I never stop, but it looks like some sort of timeshare deal. I just don't like being walked up to and asked if I want a free weekend or whatever he was offering.

4. Staggered opening times for attractions. Because we get there at opening (9:00) and some attractions don't open until 10:00 or 11:00, we had to walk a lot more. It also makes the attractions that open at 9:00 more crowded.

1) only parked in the garages once, no problem...imo nothing takes longer than MK parking especially when the park is closing. not sure which takes longer-monorail or boat...then the tram. while the walk to the buses seems long yet it probably is the best bet

3) i've been known to sell real estate , guess my hide is thick...just say no & keep walking. i assume the hawkers r paying a fee to U for the privilege...squint & pretend it's helping to keep the tix prices low

4) ummm, staggered opening times for attractions is also utilized by Disney @ MK & Epcot during am EMH

DH and I are like Phantom and the others. We were all about WDW and visited several times a year. We're open minded tho' so we popped over to USF one year and had a blast. Soon we were adding a day at USF to all our WDW trips, and when IOA opened we added that it. Now that we live down here, I sometimes think I would give up my Disney AP before my Universal Premier (good discounts, free valet, front of the line after 4, free HHN tickets...what's not to love?).

i've been enjoying our BOGO year PAPs @ U to the degree that i didn't renew our WDW APs for 2 years running...not sure if i'll pick them up this year either unless i can work in 3 trips & i enjoy the DVC discount...moreso an budget issue vs any specific like/dislike...worked out to more bang for the buck @ U

you said from your other post on page 4:

"They will continue to cater to the lowest common denominator... "



a little different from what you posted on page 5 to phamton.
__________________

if anything, Disney caters to more of a 'common denominator' (i.e. overall larger customer base/attendance)...leaving U to be more 'exclusive'

just wait 'till HP opens, so many peeps will be drug to the dark side by their spawn (pun intended ) ur head will spin (and not as a result of MIB either). Will be interesting to see if they r converted or spout the typical 'it's not the same as Disney' drivel

 

[bubba's mom]

Seems to me like the best answer for the situation is if you don't like IOA/US then don't go.Don't become part of your so called low denominator formula.

No one is flaming anyone for having a differing opinion.

The primary point that anyone is making is that you yourself judged Universal without having experienced it. You made up your mind and wanted to write a letter before having even gone to the park.

I just saw this and had so many things to say....but, Jodie, you took the words right outta my mouth!

It's one thing to have someone do a trip report saying they really didn't care for Universal and such...but, for someone to judge they don't like it when they haven't even been there yet oh brother! That takes the cake! I'm betting even if that poster does go and actually DOES have a good time, she wouldn't report it back to us...not now

Very well written post Jodie!