I can't BELIEVE that I am plaaning a trip to Universal! OMGosh!!

[LisaxMarie]

I go there all the time. I went yesterday. I have never experienced poor customer service. In fact, I think their customer service is great.

OP, you'll have a blast! I went to WWOHP yesterday. LOVED IT!

What???Were do you base this info on?Please tell,we are all ears,we really want too know!!!!!!

You most likely being sarcastic, but I will say the scenerio anyway. First off, this was during Christmas, prime season and our third time going. We went very very early because of learning from past bad experinces. the line was so long just to buy tickets and they only had one guy who was at the ticket counter. We purchased our tickets after almost an hour of waiting and went to the line to get into the park. My brother gets it to the park, my mom gets into the park, then its my turn. Much to my surprise there was no bar code on the ticket. It was just blank. Why wouldnt someone double check this? while i told my mother and brother to go into the park, i was then sent to the customer (spelt correctly tyvm) service line, which once again only had one person at the counter. after another hour waiting, the women did not believe it was an actual ticket and questioned my actions and told me to go back to the regular ticket line. i just walked right up to the ticket counter to the guy who had serviced us and said "theres something wrong with this ticket." showed him, and he asked if i was joking and insisted that i must have picked up the wrong card, and the actual ticket was with my mother and brother. finally, after getting him to believe my story, he gave me a ticket, and then i went back to the customer service rep and said i had got the ticket. all she said was "okay, go in now."

personally, i don't think this would have occured at disney in the first place, but disney wouldn't have hesitated to correct the problem right away. heck, disney would have even thrown in a fast pass or something.

Costumer? I didn't realize they had people renting out or dressing you in costumes at Universal. I'll have to check them out. I wonder how much it costs and if they have Harry Potter costumes.

You're right, it definitely is not Disney. There's no wizard Mickey running around hawking churros and reaching into your wallet at he sprinkles you with fake "magic".

Seriously, I love Disneyland, like WDW (but not as much as Disneyland), and I own DVC points as well. WDW has gotten stale, and Universal is the antidote to that. WWOHP is the best addition to Orlando in a long time, and makes it worth my time to return to Orlando next year.

As far as bad "costumer" service, I don't even know what that is, so I won't bother commenting.

hmm do i know you? i use to go on another forum many years ago with a bunch of little kids were they would mock a single typo. now was that really needed because i made a little dig at how i do not like their customer service?
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i like universal as a whole itself, the rides are great and i do believe it is something different compared to disney. i'm not hating on it just because i like disney more. unfortunatley, i just had a very bad experience. don't most people base opinions off what they experience?

however, i do wish you the best planning your universal trip and i hope you do not have an experience like mine!

 

[phamton]

I have seen tickets that did not print out the complete barcode so I am surprised that anyone doubted you. The part that I don't understand is that you went to customer service (I am assuming that you mean Guest Services rather than a regular ticket booth.) The GS window has at a minimum of 3 people working and, during holiday seasons like Christmas, they have up to 7 or more working. There is just one line for it, kind of like at a bank when you are waiting for a teller. But once you get to the front of the line, the next available GS coordinator calls you to his/her window. Possibly you didn't notice all of the windows open. Also during busy times like holidays, they have a GS coordinator walking up and down the line to see what assistance you might need in case you are in the wrong line or just have a Question.

As far as comparing it to Disney, I've had several issues with my AP at Disney and have waited in some long lines at Guest Relations there. I think both Disney and Universal have great customer service, now WalMart guest service is a whole 'nuther story.

ETA: Sometimes, it may seem like only one person is working at GS window. They sometimes, have to leave their post to get a supervisor or pick up a Fax (especially for Expedia orders, etc) for the guest at their window. They are actually assisting a guest but not be visible to you at the time. I agree that the person at the ticket booth should have noticed the barcode was missing. Usually there are several ticket booths open each morning, so I'm not sure why there was only one at the time. I'd suggest that you buy your next tickets online and print them at home or choose kiosk pick-up and avoid buying tickets at any park even Disney on the day of the visit. I've only bought one ticket at Disney on the day of and I waited awhile in line. Online is the way to go.

 

[Planogirl]

You most likely being sarcastic, but I will say the scenerio anyway. First off, this was during Christmas, prime season and our third time going. We went very very early because of learning from past bad experinces. the line was so long just to buy tickets and they only had one guy who was at the ticket counter. We purchased our tickets after almost an hour of waiting and went to the line to get into the park. My brother gets it to the park, my mom gets into the park, then its my turn. Much to my surprise there was no bar code on the ticket. It was just blank. Why wouldnt someone double check this? while i told my mother and brother to go into the park, i was then sent to the customer (spelt correctly tyvm) service line, which once again only had one person at the counter. after another hour waiting, the women did not believe it was an actual ticket and questioned my actions and told me to go back to the regular ticket line. i just walked right up to the ticket counter to the guy who had serviced us and said "theres something wrong with this ticket." showed him, and he asked if i was joking and insisted that i must have picked up the wrong card, and the actual ticket was with my mother and brother. finally, after getting him to believe my story, he gave me a ticket, and then i went back to the customer service rep and said i had got the ticket. all she said was "okay, go in now."

personally, i don't think this would have occured at disney in the first place, but disney wouldn't have hesitated to correct the problem right away. heck, disney would have even thrown in a fast pass or something.

I've posted my bad experience with a Disney pass on these boards before. It was the regular plastic pass that you get at the Disney Store and I'd given it to my son. For three days straight it would not work and we had to wait at the Guest Services window. They would do something and we could go in.

On the third day I'd had enough and asked the CM to do something about this. He spent sometime at his computer and told me that the pass had been issued to two people and that's why we had so much trouble. He said that right now as we were talking a man was in the park with a pass that had the same numbers. That made no sense to me but that's what I was told. We waited and waited and waited and finally they issued another pass to us for the remainder of our trip.

We wasted literally hours standing around for portions of three mornings while they resolved this. However, I have never accused Disney of having bad customer service because I just assumed that it was one of those things.

 

[Lucky4me]

Universal is the best antidote when you've overdosed on Pixie Dust at Disney.

 

[LisaxMarie]

Yes, all in all I just happened to have bad service everytime I went. I am hoping to try it again soon, and get over this grudge. Maybe this Christmas? A good year apart? I only hope after 3 not-so-good trips, that we will be able to have one without any issues like most families. It's like when you go to a resturant mutiple times praying it would be better than the last...and you hated it every single time you went, but there are many others who love it and have a different opinion on it.
Like I said, I do hope to try it again, and based on past circumstances I have learned what I need to do to prepare for the next Universal Trip so we will be avoiding the Guest Services line..I'm dying to try thoes couple of new coasters anyway...

 

[phamton]

LisaxMarie, here's hoping that your next trip goes without a hitch. Universal and Islands of Adventure are really great parks! I would suggest again that you get your tickets online. They are cheaper online and less hassles. This forum is great for planning your trip so don't hesitate to ask questions.

 

[TheBig2na]

You most likely being sarcastic, but I will say the scenerio anyway. First off, this was during Christmas, prime season and our third time going. We went very very early because of learning from past bad experinces. the line was so long just to buy tickets and they only had one guy who was at the ticket counter. We purchased our tickets after almost an hour of waiting and went to the line to get into the park. My brother gets it to the park, my mom gets into the park, then its my turn. Much to my surprise there was no bar code on the ticket. It was just blank. Why wouldnt someone double check this? while i told my mother and brother to go into the park, i was then sent to the customer (spelt correctly tyvm) service line, which once again only had one person at the counter. after another hour waiting, the women did not believe it was an actual ticket and questioned my actions and told me to go back to the regular ticket line. i just walked right up to the ticket counter to the guy who had serviced us and said "theres something wrong with this ticket." showed him, and he asked if i was joking and insisted that i must have picked up the wrong card, and the actual ticket was with my mother and brother. finally, after getting him to believe my story, he gave me a ticket, and then i went back to the customer service rep and said i had got the ticket. all she said was "okay, go in now."

personally, i don't think this would have occured at disney in the first place, but disney wouldn't have hesitated to correct the problem right away. heck, disney would have even thrown in a fast pass or something.





hmm do i know you? i use to go on another forum many years ago with a bunch of little kids were they would mock a single typo. now was that really needed because i made a little dig at how i do not like their customer service?
--
i like universal as a whole itself, the rides are great and i do believe it is something different compared to disney. i'm not hating on it just because i like disney more. unfortunatley, i just had a very bad experience. don't most people base opinions off what they experience?

however, i do wish you the best planning your universal trip and i hope you do not have an experience like mine!

I hate to argue over your ticketing experience but we had something similar happen at WDW. Friends of ours went up to the ticket booth adn order the 10 day hopper pass with water park and more option. we go into MK have a good time, it closed at 7 or 8 so we head over to EPCOT. my wife and i walk in and our friends can't get in. Turns out they were given teh no expiration option instead of the Hopper option. so we go to Customer Service and they tell us they can't do anything, even though the price for both options was the same. they tell us we have to go back to MK to get things sorted out. I tell her the park is closed she says that is fine customer service will still be there. so we hop the monorail back and of course no one is there, and now we have to take a bus to Epcot, then catch a bus back to our offsite hotel.

The ticket guy couldn't get it right, and the customer service agent at Epcot was near the end of her shift and didn't want to help us. as soon as we turned around to discuss our options, she closed her window by pulling down the blinds. unbelievable. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and told our story, the lady there was shocked and fixed it in under 3 minutes.

So bad customer service is everywhere. Universal/IOA is a must for every trip along with Disney World.

 

[damo]

We had a customer service issue at Disney too. We took a taxi to AK and the person at the parking gate said we had to pay a taxi fee in order to be let through. So we ended up paying an extra $10 or something like that to get through the parking gates. We went to customer service but they said that was normal and that they wouldn't do anything about it. I have never heard of anyone else ever being charged extra to arrive by taxi.

 

[Rip]

We had a customer service issue at Disney too. We took a taxi to AK and the person at the parking gate said we had to pay a taxi fee in order to be let through. So we ended up paying an extra $10 or something like that to get through the parking gates. We went to customer service but they said that was normal and that they wouldn't do anything about it. I have never heard of anyone else ever being charged extra to arrive by taxi.

Was that in addition to the regular parking fee? The only time we took a taxi to Disney (Epcot) we had to pay the parking fee but nothing else.

 

[damo]

Was that in addition to the regular parking fee? The only time we took a taxi to Disney (Epcot) we had to pay the parking fee but nothing else.

Not sure why anyone would have to pay a parking fee to be dropped off. Nobody is parking. There should be no extra fees to be simply dropped off. That's a huge money grab. If we take a taxi now, we drop off at a resort.

 

[Rip]

Not sure why anyone would have to pay a parking fee to be dropped off. Nobody is parking.

That was exactly what I said to the attendant. She said it was Disney policy.

 

[damo]

That was exactly what I said to the attendant. She said it was Disney policy.

Then they are still doing this. Crazy. When I posted about it on the community board after it happened, I was told that I must have been mistaken, that there was no such policy. You are the first other person to say that they were charged anything extra than the taxi fare itself.

 

[skifast22]

To the OP, you don't sound like your thinking of this as a good thing? Be sure to keep an open mind when you do go with your family. You'll see that Universal has changed alot since the first year they opened..it has been 20 years after all. Much like Hollywood Studios has gotten better, so has Universal. Men in Black, Jaws, the Simpsons, ET, T2:3D, Shrek 4D, Twister, Mummy...these are just some of the great additions since that first year. I haven't even gotten to Islands of Adventure yet, which in my opinion has better theming than even the Disney parks.

Review these boards, you'll find several threads started by people who recently made their first trip because of Harry Potter and were pleasantly surprised by what the whole park had to offer. So keep an open mind, enjoy your vacation with your family. Afterwards, you may even be a little mad at yourself for waiting 20 years to make a return trip

 

[NashvilleTrio]

To the OP:

I think you're gonna be pleasantly surprised by your US/IOA vacation! It'll be more relaxing and less commando than Disney. And it will be something different for your family to experience.

Are you planning to stay on site? If so, you'll have the benefit of using the Express Lines which is a HUGE perk of staying at one of their hotels. We're actually very spoiled by this now and rarely stay off-site because of it.

And it sounds like your kids will enjoy the new Harry Potter section as well.

Hope you have a blast!

 

[Cadillac_Dreamgirl]

I think and do believe you will love it!.
...
They are great parks and The mummy is just fantastic!

I dont know if they changed things but i loved the .49 cent refill of soda in the souvenir cup they had 2 years ago.

 

[Albytaps]

What's up with Universal charging for parking when staying on site?

 

[damo]

What's up with Universal charging for parking when staying on site?

All Loews hotels do. I actually prefer having the parking charge upfront for those who park instead of hidden inside the nightly charge and everyone paying for it.

Universal also has such a small amount of parking space, I imagine it helps to keep that limited.

 

[La2kw]

What's up with Universal charging for parking when staying on site?

Like many, many hotels in cities all over the world, they charge for parking. Disney adds the cost of parking into the room cost, Universal's hotels only charge parking for people actually parking there.

 

[TaylorsDad]

Yeah, last year when we had Mears drop us off for the night to stay at HRH we didnt have to pay parking charge and like previous poster said other hotels charge but you just dont know because it is added into the cost that everyone pays. BTW we didnt know it before this time, but you can get your return pick up from Mears even a day or two later for same fee.

 

[morecowbell]

Like many, many hotels in cities all over the world, they charge for parking. Disney adds the cost of parking into the room cost, Universal's hotels only charge parking for people actually parking there.

Disney also adds in the cost of Magical Express (which is a nice convenience but not free). They add everything free into their overall price. It's pixie dust trickery I tell ya.