First Timers Take on US/IOA(Results) Day 4

[Bastilleman21]

Day 4 starts out as the others did. With a crack of the whip, we’re all downstairs for b’fast and the shuttle, this time to US. The shuttle ride’s a bit better now that our lovely driver has a grip on the route. We power walk our way to US just as some guest from England is announcing the official opening of US for the day. Apparently, this happens on a daily basis, plucking someone out of the crowd to announce the park opening. Crowd here at US is much “healthier” than it was on Wednesday, but we’re on a mission. We head straight for HRRR. 30 minute wait, we’re in. We patiently wait through a couple of technical delays, we finally board and W-O-W!! What an experience!! Picking your own music for the ride was a nice treat, but this ride is totally CRAZY in design. It quickly became our favorite! From there, we head off to the usual suspects, Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, the Mummy(not running at the time), DISASTER ride, JAWS, M.I.B., Simpsons, E.T. All of these with very tolerable wait times in lines. Our luck continues, or so I had thought. Then, comes what I like to refer to as ”the situation”.

Earlier in the morning, we pass the intersection of Amblin and Main streets where a sign sat informing passer-bys of the taping of the “Family Feud” show and free admission to those interested. Upon seeing this, my DD insisted on wanting to partake in this, since she was a BIG fan. I’m cool with this, so I run over to Guest Services for free tickets. BAD NEWS – The show is only for people 16 and up. I go ahead and grab DD a ticket, along with a sheet explaining rules of participating in the audience, for the second of three tapings. We agreed that we’d continue to hangout riding until it was time for her show(2:45PM) then, once she's out(4:45PM), we’d meet back up for dinner. So, at 2:30PM, she takes off, while the rest of us continue the day. Fast forward to 4:45PM – we make our way to the show’s entrance to wait for my DD to come out. And we wait…. And wait……and wait. 5PM, 5:30PM, 6PM - nothing. I call her cell, nothing. I sent texts, still nothing. I’m thinking, what the deuce?? I ask the usher at the entrance about the show and he said that show ended at 5PM, b/c he’s in the processing of letting the next group in for the 6PM taping. I can’t figure it out. It’s not like my daughter to not respond. So I’m in Dad panic-mode, by now. I start to head to Guest Services when she finally calls me(6:20PM). She’s upset and this is why – her show had been plagued with delays, and being a “live” taping, no cell phones were allowed, no bathroom breaks either, nor were people allowed to leave. Basically, she had been held hostage by the Family Feud. I became livid. I continued on to guest services and demanded to speak to someone in charge. Minutes later, two individuals arrived, representing Universal. I explained what happened, they acknowledged the situation, but tried to explain to me that occurrences like this is sometimes expected b/c after all, it is a “live” taping. This was repeatedly emphasized. I continued to display my displeasure with this situation and after acknowledging this, the attendant asked me into the offices to further discuss this issue. My DD and I were led into guest services where the park rep explained our issue with another park member sitting at a desk. She asked what could be done to help make things “right’. After asking me about what type of passes we had, the number of people in my group and typing on his computer for a bit, he offered to provide us complimentary VIP passes for the next two days(Sat/Sun), for being inconvienenced. I wasn’t clear on this offer and asked him to explain further. He said, “they’re unlimited EXPRESS passes”. S-C-O-R-E !!! Universal was about to hand us skip-the-line passes for two(2) days – UNLIMITED! SO, to see my DD and myself fight back the urge to do cart-wheels on the spot must have quite a scene, but we did it. We thanked the staff involved, who continued to apologize. We left the offices, and continued on with the rest of the evening. We finished Friday night with a couple of more rides before heading out to eat – this time it was dinner on I-Drive, near the hotel. We settled in afterwards, ready for what would be probably the best day yet – a VIP day at IOA. The LUCK continues!!

 

[tfoster]

Sorry you had to worry about your daughter like that, but it's great that Universal ultimately made you feel better about it.

 

[lrichardson]

Wow that was great!! Sorry you had to go through the fear of what was happening to your daughter but it seems that Universal really saw your pain and wanted to make it right. I think that was a generous thing to do and I am sure you were happy in the end but would never want to relive the fear that you couldn't reach your daughter. Quite a story. I love Family Feud and was looking for a post on it. Thanks.

 

[Patti B]

It's nice to see great customer service! Sorry you had to go through that! I would have been upset as well if I were in that same situation. Glad US/IOA stepped up to the plate and made things right.