Just back from my trip and I am a little disappointed with USO.

[JohnnySharp2]

It also seemed like the rides were down quite often though.

This has often been the case when we are at US/IOA, you get to the parks early to beat the queue's and some of the attractions are not open.

We found Jaws was not open till 11am one morning in August, Barney was supposed to at 10 but was still closed at 10:30am
and Earthquake was not until 10:30 either!!
So you get in the park and avoid the busier rides such as Shrek, Jimmy Neutron mainly to get our son on the rides he loves and... Woody, Curious George, Barney, Jaws and Earthquake - NONE of these are open when the park opens at 9 which is

Popeye wasn't open till 11 one morning also, a shame when we were there just after 9 and desperate to get on.
You want to get on so you can cool down.

I know there are reasons but at ANY park when they open at 9 ALL the rides should be open in my opinion.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I've seen Fairfield and -- worst of all -- Westgate sharks on our last four visits. And my family owns at Westgate. I can truly say they're sharks.

I love USO ... love it, love it, love it, but having to dodge more and more salespeople and survey takers with each visit is getting really lame. I have no problem at all stone-facing, ignoring them, feigning a foreign language or -- in the case of Westgate sharks when they won't get out of your way and block the path from Jaws to MIB -- telling them exactly what I think of their practices, but DH, sweet as he is, gets suckered into conversations with these people every time. One trip, as soon as we walked into US, we were bombarded by a mojito survey person and a timeshare salesperson (don't remember the hotel chain). I told him to just find me at Finnegan's and sign nothing without our attorney back home reading it first.

It seems it's getting worse, too, with each passing year. I will definitely make a pit stop to guest services and follow up with a letter once home, as someone suggested, if this continues.

 

[bubba's mom]

One asked where we were staying. WHne DH said PBH, the guy says, well, for the ridiculous amount that you're paying to stay there you could stay in one of our spacious 2,000 sq. ft. villas. We jsut walked on, I halfway expected DH to say, yeah, but we choose NOT to!

What you should have said was, "Well, would one of your spacious 2,000 sq.ft. villas get me UEP all day long??" (which IS why many of us stay onsite) From there, I guess he wouldn't have had much to say! Nobody approached us last summer, BUT if anyone DOES, just tell them you already have the Universal MC and already own the timeshare....what can they say then ....I have NO PROBLEM being rude to someone who is rude to me first...it is MY vacation and I work damn hard to pay for it and no "schlub" is going to try to "bully" me into listening to them...... so there!

 

[aztecgoods]

We will be staying at a Fairfield property in Kissimmee in December and would gladly do a timeshare tour in exchange for US/IOA tickets. We are already planning on one full day at US/IOA (on about this) but if we could arrange for complimentary tickets through Fairfield, we would LOVE to add another day.

Can anyone tell me exactly what we would receive in the way of tickets for doing a FF tour??

Also, does anyone know if Canadians qualify for FF timeshare presentations?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

No they don't allow Canadians, Canadians are shunned and frowned upon. I personally think its discrimination but nevertheless.

 

[Amity 3]

we don't get to do the TV previews because we're FL residents. the focus groups are a quick $15.00 each, so it buys lunch. the credit card people are just in the parking garage rotunda, and they just stand there.

we always get followed and dogged by the timeshare goons by Monster's Cafe. obviously it's a negative influence in the park just by the few people here who agree on it. DVC is everywhere in WDW, but like someone said earlier, they just wait for you to approach them.

 

[aztecgoods]

Why in the world would the Uni peeps allow this, unless they are behind it and own the property? If not, I would think they would be going out of their way to throw these peeps off of there property.

 

[damo]

No they don't allow Canadians, Canadians are shunned and frowned upon. I personally think its discrimination but nevertheless.

That must be why I've never been approached. I look too Canadian!

 

[aztecgoods]

Yeah you darn old controversial Canadians. Always causing trouble. "oh Canada, my home and native land.........."

 

[horseshowmom]

I suggest anyone who is annoyed with these timeshare people, complain to guest relations. maybe if enough people complain, they will remove them.

We've never had this happen before, but it's been a little over a year since we were there last time. We will definitely complain to Guest Relations if it happens to us.

 

[Metallicat]

I've seen Fairfield and -- worst of all -- Westgate sharks on our last four visits. And my family owns at Westgate. I can truly say they're sharks.

I love USO ... love it, love it, love it, but having to dodge more and more salespeople and survey takers with each visit is getting really lame. I have no problem at all stone-facing, ignoring them, feigning a foreign language or -- in the case of Westgate sharks when they won't get out of your way and block the path from Jaws to MIB -- telling them exactly what I think of their practices, but DH, sweet as he is, gets suckered into conversations with these people every time. One trip, as soon as we walked into US, we were bombarded by a mojito survey person and a timeshare salesperson (don't remember the hotel chain). I told him to just find me at Finnegan's and sign nothing without our attorney back home reading it first.

It seems it's getting worse, too, with each passing year. I will definitely make a pit stop to guest services and follow up with a letter once home, as someone suggested, if this continues.

We own at Westgate too and I agree, they are sharks!!!!
in fact, last time I stayed over at Westgate lakes I almost got into a fight with one of their female managers.
they forced me to attend a maintenance meeting. I said, no, its another sales pitch. ain't going.
then she told me if I didn't, if they found one scratch in my unit they would charge my credit card for repairs. I said oh no you won't, and then she proceded to get in my face with her finger wagging at me. I oh so wanted her to hit me. I dared her. I hate that place.
and you can't even get rid of the thing once you buy into it. PIRATES!

sorry for ranting about them, but I dare one of them to approach me. I will not hesitate to jump down their throats.

ANYWAYS, I love USO. never had a bad day there. the CMs are super nice.
once DD and I were going to ride ET and decided not to because the lone was so long. one of them must have spotted us turn around and walk away and he ran up to us and ask if we wanted to ride ET. without waiting. he took us to a different entrance around back and took us right to the front of the line! now if thats not nice, I don't know what is!

we also had two different CMs in restaurants that saw us there the day before and gave us their employee discounts! WOW!

I could go on and on with things they did for us. they are the kindest people at any theme park.

 

[riu girl]

No they don't allow Canadians, Canadians are shunned and frowned upon. I personally think its discrimination but nevertheless.

That is too bad. I will be staying at a Fairfield resort and would have loved to attend a timeshare presentation there in exchange for some US/IOA complimentary or deeply discounted tickets.

Does anyone know of any resort in the Kissimmee area that will offer a CANADIAN Universal tickets in exchange for attending a presentation?

As I mentioned previously, I am simply on due to the fact that we will be at US/IOA for one day later this year but would love to add on another day.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We've never experienced most of the things mentioned, but we do stay onsite. IMHO, that makes a world of difference in the Universal experience.

As for the timeshare people, I read about them on here right before our July trip. I had never even noticed them in all our visits, & made a point to look for them. I did see them this time. We were in the parks 5 days this past trip. One day, a lady approached us. Before she even got to us, we said, "no thanks" & kept walking. That was the extent of our timeshare experience. Maybe, we look too poor for them to bother with us. We were also approached about previewing a show. Again, a polite, "no thank you", & we were on our way. Noone tried chasing us down. We've been approached at WDW & asked to take surveys, etc. also. Our experience has been the same at both parks. Everyone has always been polite, or in the very least not rude.

I have no clue what time the rides usually open. That's one of the perks of staying onsite. There's no need to rush to the parks to beat the crowd.

When I've compared hotel rates, UO resorts have always been lower than WDW deluxe resorts for the same dates. The one exception could possibly be, if you start your WDW stay in value season & stay into peak season. UOs rates are determined by individual dates not by your check-in date.

I'm sorry the OP didn't ask about Mel's, before going there. We agree that it's nasty. Some people like it, but the majority of people think it's pretty awful. It's definitely the worst food we've eaten at UO, except for the hockey pucks my DH & I recently got at HRC, but that's another story for another time.

 

[Cruz Family]

We've never experienced most of the things mentioned, but we do stay onsite. IMHO, that makes a world of difference in the Universal experience.

As for the timeshare people, I read about them on here right before our July trip. I had never even noticed them in all our visits, & made a point to look for them. I did see them this time. We were in the parks 5 days this past trip. One day, a lady approached us. Before she even got to us, we said, "no thanks" & kept walking. That was the extent of our timeshare experience. Maybe, we look too poor for them to bother with us. We were also approached about previewing a show. Again, a polite, "no thank you", & we were on our way. Noone tried chasing us down. We've been approached at WDW & asked to take surveys, etc. also. Our experience has been the same at both parks. Everyone has always been polite, or in the very least not rude.

I have no clue what time the rides usually open. That's one of the perks of staying onsite. There's no need to rush to the parks to beat the crowd.

When I've compared hotel rates, UO resorts have always been lower than WDW deluxe resorts for the same dates. The one exception could possibly be, if you start your WDW stay in value season & stay into peak season. UOs rates are determined by individual dates not by your check-in date.

I'm sorry the OP didn't ask about Mel's, before going there. We agree that it's nasty. Some people like it, but the majority of people think it's pretty awful. It's definitely the worst food we've eaten at UO, except for the hockey pucks my DH & I recently got at HRC, but that's another story for another time.

The parks were empty so we also had no need to rush. IOA opened at 9am and when we got to popeye it said it was to open at 10am and was closed till about 11am. The flying bird thing was also a very short line (9 or 10) people ahead but was shut down for at least a half hour or so. I am all for safty but in the case of popeye they had a whole hour between the time the park opened and the ride opened and still did not have it ready? that just sounds like really bad planning to me.

As for hotel rates it really was not fair of me to comment on price without letting you know we always stay at a value at WDW. Four of us stayed at PoP for 10 nights, with 8 day park hoppers, and free dining and paid $1800 . Now I know PoP can't compare to the USO resorts but, on the other hand I don't think $1800 would have even covered our dining for 11 days at USO.

I think as far as the timeshare people it is not a matter of how you deal with it, you pay a lot of $ and should not have to deal with that at all!

 

[WillCAD]

Surveys I can handle.

The credit card tables in the parking garage junction I can handle - they don't chase me down and they easily take no for an answer.

So far I have not been harassed by the timeshare sharks (shouldn't they be nearer to Jaws than to MIB?) but if one of them harassed me I would get his name and go straight to Guest Relations with a VERY angry complaint.

I don't mind the DVC booths all over WDW, because the DVC people will not initiate a sales pitch; in fact, you can often ask the DVC people park-related questions and they will answer the best they can without once mentioning DVC.

But if sales people start harassing me in the parks with high-pressure tactics, somebody's gonna feel my wrath. Sitting in a booth is one thing, but no salesman has the right to block my path while I'm in the parks, and although I don't have kids, I feel that it's WAY beyond the pale for a salesman to approach a kid and chat him up to begin an approach.

I'll be at Uni next in December, and if I get hit by one of these guys I'll be expressing my feelings in no uncertain terms.

 

[bubba's mom]

(shouldn't they be nearer to Jaws than to MIB?)

 

[goofy!]

Man, I wish I payed $170 ! I payed $340 a night for PBH, which is what I payed for the GF during peak spring.

We are paying $226 per night for PBH during the high season of Thanksgiving. And that is just the regular special. We aren't using our AP discount because we are Platinum and want the suite.

OP - I agree with Damo, isn't it is great to have the choice. My kids (10, 16 & 19) really aren't into Disney anymore. In fact, the rest of the group is staying at the Beach Club, but we are staying at PBH because 1) we prefer Universal and 2) the price is SO much better - and we get an automatic upgrade to a suite

And thanks for your honest appraisal of what was best for your family. I do like hearing the pros and cons of what others have experienced. I haven't run into the timeshare people yet, but now I know to be on the lookout (and avoidance) during our trip next month.

 

[aztecgoods]

That is too bad. I will be staying at a Fairfield resort and would have loved to attend a timeshare presentation there in exchange for some US/IOA complimentary or deeply discounted tickets.

Does anyone know of any resort in the Kissimmee area that will offer a CANADIAN Universal tickets in exchange for attending a presentation?

As I mentioned previously, I am simply on due to the fact that we will be at US/IOA for one day later this year but would love to add on another day.

That was just a joke sorry, I thought it was obvious, so I didn't explain. I have no idea actually, can't imagine why they would have an anti-canada policy.

 

[riu girl]

That was just a joke sorry, I thought it was obvious, so I didn't explain. I have no idea actually, can't imagine why they would have an anti-canada policy.

Thanks for the explanation.
have a great day.

 

[damo]

They do have an anti-Quebec policy, but otherwise, I think you will be fine.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I totally agree about the timeshare people, it's bad enough having to deal with them while you are staying in a condo calling every morning inviting you to breakfast or lunch, but then having to hide from them at the parks too

I'm sorry your visits did not turn out as you had hoped. I just found it amusing to read your report and think how completely opposite we must be. I just returned a couple of weeks ago from my first real WDW experience, staying on-site (Coronado Springs). I had been to MGM and Magic Kingdom once each before this visit, and while I did enjoy myself I don't think any of the rides can hold a candle to the ones at UO/IOA! I did a Segway tour at Epcot and really loved it, other than that I would have no reason to return to Epcot, just not enough there to keep me occupied, I want rides!!!! Animal Kindom is nice and I probably will go back there because my husband still has not been but the whole park can be done in 4 hours! MGM is kinda boring IMO, I really loved the Muppet thing, I like RnR, but think the ride is rough! and Tower of Terror, once was enough for me! I do however love DisneyQuest and was quite upset to learn that it will be closing in the next year or so

As for price, well I paid $306 for a 6-day park hopper at WDW. I got a 2 year AP for Universal for $190!!!!! With my AP I get a lot of great discounts also!

I guess it is good that we all have different likes and dislikes so that each outfit can stay in business!