Universal Staff at Parks

[limabeanmom2003]

wow! Spent the day at IOA and US today and I was so impressed with the staff I encountered at both parks. They were so friendly and helpful! Each staff member we met on attractions smiles and said hello/goodbye. Lots of staff around to answer questions and always very friendly. It’s a busy time of year and it’s so nice to encounter friendly workers! Well done, Universal Orlando!

 

[pattyw]

Yes I agree- the team members at UO are top notch! We actually stopped by guest services on our trip last month to tell them how we always have a wonderful time and never had to go to guest services with any problems!

 

[schumigirl]

Glad to hear you had such a good experience.

We’ve always found the TM to be at another level, always had excellent friendly experiences with them all. Nice to hear though.

Yes, anyone can pop into guest services and give over the names of any TM that stands out for you or goes above and beyond for you. They are recognised by their managers for any nice comments made about them.

Well worth doing. We do it all the time........only takes a few minutes as you are leaving the park and it is appreciated

 

[TheConsciousness]

Reminds me of one time when we were in the queuing area for Dragon Challenge and one of the team members was walking towards the ride and passed one of the customers.
As soon as the customer saw the team member out of the corner of her eye, she screamed bloody murder and started panicking. The team member jumps out of his skin at the scream and says "OH MY GOD, MAAM! ARE YOU OKAY!?" and then tries to calm her down. We still laugh about it. The team member seemed very helpful.

 

[HM]

We had great encounters too.
However, I've got one quibble about the cast. If they don't know the answer to something....they don't bother to find out.
A couple times we've had questions that got an incorrect answer from a TM. The one that sticks out this time was asking about a place to get fruit. The TM said that there were no places in the parks. We knew that had to be incorrect and sure enough later we saw several carts with fruit just nothing right where we were. (We already knew there was in Hogsmeade but we were in US that day).

 

[Metro West]

Always nice to hear good things about the hard working TMs at Universal.

 

[ruthies12]

We had great encounters too.
However, I've got one quibble about the cast. If they don't know the answer to something....they don't bother to find out.
A couple times we've had questions that got an incorrect answer from a TM. The one that sticks out this time was asking about a place to get fruit. The TM said that there were no places in the parks. We knew that had to be incorrect and sure enough later we saw several carts with fruit just nothing right where we were. (We already knew there was in Hogsmeade but we were in US that day).

I've had the same experience! In general I've met helpful and polite TM's but on our last trip I had one VERY BAD experience with several TM's giving wrong info. My dd lost her shoe on forbidden journey, it was at the very beginning right on the conveyor belt so easy to get once they stop the ride for the day. The TM at the ride told me just go to the front of the park to guest services and it would be brought there at the end of the day. I said we are finishing in the other park, he said no problem they'll transport it over.

At end of day stood in long line at guest services to be told you have to go to lost and found not guest services. Stood in long line at lost and found to be told you have to go to the other park, they will not transport from park to park lost and founds. Walk over to other park to be told lost and found is closed. TM at the gate says since parks lost and found is closed the shoe will be at the central lost and found in the hub by security. Walked all the way out to the hub to security to be told there is no lost and found in the hub.

I'd spent over an hour at this point walking from place to place and standing in line. I ended up just leaving and never did get the shoe back. When I think about it now it is rather comical how many TM's lied to me, but at the time it was very upsetting, we were exhausted and could have done without that hour of bs. I think the majority of the TM's believed they were giving me the right info but I feel certain that guy at the gate who told me to go to the hub knew he was lying just to get rid of me. I really wish I'd gotten his name so I could have called and complained.

 

[bumbershoot]

I’ve encountered far more problematic CMs and procedures at both Disney parks than at either Uni park.

Like when DH’s Disney-purchased lanyard snapped on CA screamin’ and went flying, holding his and our son’s APs. No problem, the track is cleaned every night. When they are found a note will be put in the account and you won’t have to pay for the replacements (at Disneyland you pay for them, unlike at Wdw or either Universal). Yeah, they were never found. And we had to pay. For items lost because disney’s product broke.


At Uni the TMs seem to listen and care far more than the CMs at Disney do, in my family’s experience.

 

[agavegirl1]

I have also had more terse responses from CMs at WDW than TMs at Universal. I did notice that Photo Connect TMs were a little less enthusiastic at Universal than the Memory Maker CMs. At first they seam pushy but if they know you pre-purchased a package, they are bit lax. Commission? I don't know how they work it.

I did have one downright disturbing experience in MK with a CM going ballistic at the smoking area in/near Adventureland. She came running/marching toward us yelling "you can't smoke here!" Over and over. They had moved the area since the previous day and we were indeed in a designated area next to an ashtray trash can that clearly stated "Designated Smoking Area". I don't smoke anymore but it stands out as my most vivid CM encounter ever. She was very angry and mean and kept saying we would be kicked out of the park. It is unfortunately one of most vivid memories of that day.

TMs at Universal seem to have an optimism about them.

 

[nighttowll]

Glad to hear you had such a good experience.

We’ve always found the TM to be at another level, always had excellent friendly experiences with them all. Nice to hear though.

Yes, anyone can pop into guest services and give over the names of any TM that stands out for you or goes above and beyond for you. They are recognised by their managers for any nice comments made about them.

Well worth doing. We do it all the time........only takes a few minutes as you are leaving the park and it is appreciated

I’ll have to remember this. We’ve had a few great interactions over the years, and I would have liked to have let someone know. I’m all for recognizing people who are truly doing an awesome job.

A few TMs stand out to me at the hotels who were amazing, as well as a couple I’ve interacted with at IOA. In general, we’ve had very good interactions overall and no real issues. My worst experiences have involved TMs who were indifferent.

This is one of the things I like about Universal over Disney. I haven’t had the greatest luck with CMs at Disney. I can think of one or two great pixie dust level CM experiences, but other than those, overall our experiences have ranged from blah to out right horrible. I haven’t had any luck with them resolving issues. They just seem to want to argue and have attitudes.

I may have just gotten lucky, but I’ve only come across one TM with a bit of an attitude at Uni, and at the time, I really couldn’t blame him. No one was listening to his instructions and people were just being rude and uncooperative in general. He was handling it all way better than I would have in his situation, so I understood why he seemed a bit annoyed and irritated. We just made sure to follow his directions and no issues. I actually felt bad for him.