Family trying to get in IOA with used tkts!

[A Mickeyfan]

Yesterday in the dead of the day (noon) with the sweat running down our backs , our line to enter IOA came to a dead hault for a good 15 minutes and that is no lie. There was a family of 4, Mom-Dad-Sister & Brother, all trying to get into IOA with a one day pass that had already been used one day! After the Dad fighting with the poor tckt reader, she went and got a supervisor. The supervisor told them to go back to "who ever they purchased their passes from and get a refund". This family was insisting that they purchased a Two day pass & stilll had a day left & would not move out of the line. The supervisor then showed the Dad & Mom on the back of the ticket where it states that it was a One Day Pass Then supervisor made them move and again suggested they go get their refund from where they purchased it (it was not from Universal).

Now there could have been several possibilites to this with several morals to the story, which their's was, I do not know....

1. They purchased a One day-Two park and misunderstood what type of pass they purchased. They may have thought they were getting a Two Day when they heard Two. Moral: Listen and watch what you purchase. Also read the back of your ticket.

2. They may have gotten them from a Time Share presentation and misunderstood since they were in such a hurry to get out of there. Moral: Read the back of your ticket before making a fool of yourself.

3. They may have purchased used tickets and were told they were good for two days. Moral: Never buy your ticket from anyone other than a rep dealer!

4. They were just out to scam Universal..... Moral: Do not do it, you will get caught!


In the meantime while they were putting up their fight, the line behind them continued to grow. It was hot and people were getting very upset. I was one of them. I was not upset with Universal, but this family. While they may have purchased them unknowingly, once they were told they were no good, they should have listened & got off the line to take up their business else where instead of having to have a supervisor come to them... only to throw them off the line Do people not have any brains I understand they could have been upset, but they could have just as easy gotten off the line, walked over to the outside Guest Sevices and taken up their problem instead of fighting with a poor ticket scanner.... and holding up a line....

 

[LilMommyBug]

Aw, that sucks for them. I kind of hope they were trying to scam instead of actually being disappointed b/c they were misled.

 

[Subi WRX]

I feel bad if I'm not ready to go right away when a red light turns green and there is a car behind me. I can't imagine holding up an entire line of people for 15 minutes because I'm a stubborn idiot.

 

[vellamint]

I would not blame this family for the wait (provided they were not trying to scam universal)....I blame Universal for not being proactive and opening up another line for the people waiting. Having a manager deal with this family while the original ticket taker opened up another line for those behind them should not have been difficult.

 

[Melanie230]

Well my guess is if they were trying to scam Universal....they were intentionally holding up the line to try to pressure Universal to just let them on in without any questions.

 

[Metro West]

Well my guess is if they were trying to scam Universal....they were intentionally holding up the line to try to pressure Universal to just let them on in without any questions.

That's what I'm thinking...just press the point until they give in.

 

[WillCAD]

I think there's enough blame to go around here.

Whether the family were scammers or scammees matters not - they held up a line in mid-August heat (and there is little or no shade at the IOA turnstiles!) when they should have stepped aside to let others through.

Staying in the line and not going to Guest Relations was a fairly smart move, however, because the line at GR can be pretty long, too. Staying at the turnstile and refusing to move till the supervisor came was a guaranteed way of getting quicker service than the GR line.

However, the TMs manning the gates also deserve a little Gibbs Slap for not closing the line with the dispute and opening another line to allow the rest of their Guests to get into the park. Whack! "Sorry, Jethro..."

But in all, nobody got hurt, nobody was arrested, and nothing got broken, so I'd say it all turned out for the best.

 

[vellamint]

Well my guess is if they were trying to scam Universal....they were intentionally holding up the line to try to pressure Universal to just let them on in without any questions.

That's what I'm thinking...just press the point until they give in.

OH I SEE - I guess I just dont think that way myself but even so....Universal should have taken them off to the side in order to NOT hold up the other guest.........

 

[scammermom]

OH I SEE - I guess I just dont think that way myself but even so....Universal should have taken them off to the side in order to NOT hold up the other guest.........

Perhaps they tried and these people refused to move. They won't physically touch them to move them to the side. That could start a real altercation.
(yes, us Universalians know big words!)

 

[goofy!]

You know that would NEVER happen at Disney.

Disney would never keep a family out of the parks.

Seems worthy of a Uni bashing thread over on the theme park boards

 

[phamton]

I bet that they tried to take them off to the side. They usually escort them to Guest Services inside the park. If the people refused to budge then the only other option would be to physically remove them which I am sure was not what anyone would want.

I was once in line behind a family with expired tickets who made a scene. They also refused to moved. Finally the person at the turnstiles opened another line and asked us all to move over to that line. Darned if that family didn't stick out their arms to block the line telling everyone that they were first and no one was going in before their issue was resolved. The sad thing about all that mess is that there was a manager trying to escort them inside the park to Guest Services to help them. They could've been inside an air conditioned lobby while the ticket problem was fixed. Instead they stood outside in the sun arguing.

 

[patster734]

I'm disappointed that there were no thugs in line to physically force this family out. Where are the Universal thugs when you need them?

 

[macraven]

things like that can happen anywhere.



i'm happy that the tm didn't say, just go in the park.
which would have been the easiest solution for them....rules are rules and we all have to play by the same ones.


did no one in that line speak up and say to the TM, "Can another line be opened?"

if i was there, that would have been the first thing out of my mouth.

standing in a long line in the hot sun only causes the others to get upset.

 

[Purseval]

One year my son and I were staying at HRH and between visits I tried to get 2 tickets for HHN and charge them to my room key. For some reason the key didn't read what the CM wanted to see and he took us over to another area and had us wait for a supervisor. While my son and I were cooling our heels the cm kept making calls until the supervisor showed up. I asked what the problem was and he said "no problem, we're just having trouble with your key." I told them that we were being treated like thieves and, meanwhile, the clock was still ticking on our day in the park. Finally they found someone who confirmed that we were really HRH guests. He asked if he could keep my key, told me that another one would be waiting for me at the desk when we returned and gave me 2 HHN tickets for free. That made it worth our time but I can see how you can be treated like you're trying to rip them off when you aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[Melanie230]

OH I SEE - I guess I just dont think that way myself but even so....Universal should have taken them off to the side in order to NOT hold up the other guest.........

I guess it comes from having a father and a husband that are police officers. I am not saying they were scamming, but if that were the case they were holding up the line to help their cause to get in. But I do agree with you that Universal should have taken control in that situation and got the line moving quickly.

 

[inkkognito]

I would have just stepped out of that line and into another one once I realized the people were being idiots about it.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I would not blame this family for the wait (provided they were not trying to scam universal)....I blame Universal for not being proactive and opening up another line for the people waiting. Having a manager deal with this family while the original ticket taker opened up another line for those behind them should not have been difficult.

All the ticket lines were already open and full, they could not have opened anymore.. cannot blame Universal for that... I should have mentioned that and did not, sorry for the confusion.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I would have just stepped out of that line and into another one once I realized the people were being idiots about it.

The part of the line I was at I could not see or hear what was going on until the supervisor came. The lines on all the turnstiles were long, but my line wasn't moving. The person behind me & I were joking that what ever line we get on goes slow. We were tempted to move out but no one was leaving so like the rest of them, we all stayed. Once the supervisor came, she had them step aside but the line still did not move, that was when I was able to see them and hear what was going on since she moved them closer towards where I was standing. Had I know all along that was happening, I wouuld have gotten off.. I like all the others just stayed & waited (yes like fools )

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Perhaps they tried and these people refused to move. They won't physically touch them to move them to the side. That could start a real altercation.
(yes, us Universalians know big words!)

That is what I believed happened.. they would not go. I know when the supervisor came, the the husband & kids moved over & by the time I got closer to the turnstile, the wife was still leaning on the pole by the turnstile but other guests were going thru. It was like she did not want to give up her place in line in the event they were getting in
Like I said, there could have been many reasons why their tickets were no good. I do not know what the reason was, but they did not want to give up trying. By the time I did get thru the turnstile, they were still there...they had not completly left the area....and honestly, I did not care what they did at that point, I was in

 

[A Mickeyfan]

You know that would NEVER happen at Disney.

Disney would never keep a family out of the parks.

Seems worthy of a Uni bashing thread over on the theme park boards

Actually, I have seen Disney send guests off the line and over to the outside guest service area to get their tickets fixed rather than get a supervisor to come to them.... and I have also seen supervisors come to them and hold up lines there too...