Universal Team member VS Disney Cast Member?

[AngelaVa]

Disney cast members bring magic .....what do Universal team members do for guest?

 

[Smugpugmug]

I got a little bit of "magic" on my last Universal trip. My friend and I went to Universal during our Disney trip and we were in the offsite holding area during early entry for resort guests. While we were waiting, one of the team members actually let us in early despite not staying at a Universal hotel. It was super kind of them and I would not expect that to happen every time. We were the only ones standing in that area so maybe they felt bad for us? Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened. A few team members were rude to us but most were very friendly.

 

[Skywalker3]

FUN!!! and also lots of magic. had wonderful TMs on all of our trips .

 

[Mom2Anna&Elsa]

1) 5 year old daughter got bus sick on Magical Express in 2019 and vomited on herself on way back to MCO. Luggage was already checked-in, so husband went to buy her a minions shirt at Universal store and the team member gave him his employee discount, said he’d want someone to do that for him if his daughter was sick.

2) I accidentally bought an XL at Diagon Alley instead of an L for my nephew. Realized a week & a half later, when I was at home, after I threw away the receipt. Called Universal merchandise services. Employee picked up after 20 seconds, located and emailed me my credit card receipt and gave me the return address, and shipped out the tee I needed from the park (not for sale on their website).

I felt like those things were pretty damn magical. And that didn’t even count the exceptional customer service we received while there, or daily housekeeping, or team members telling us to go ahead & get in line to see a character despite it technically being closed off.

We honestly had better customer service at our Universal trip last month than the last couple times at Disney.

 

[hildarumpole]

During our first trip to Universal, on our first ride of the day, Hagrid's stopped briefly, only a few minutes. We're used to ride interruptions at Disney, so didn't think much of it, but when we returned to the station the TM asked for a show of hands of first time Hagrid riders. Most raised their hands. He apologized for the interruption and said we could ride again if we wanted. He directed us to a specific doorway to go through and let the TM there know and we'd get front of the line access. Within five minutes, we were back on the motorbikes. It was a completely unexpected gesture by the TM and set the tone for an awesome first trip. We're excited to go back again this Fall.

 

[keishashadow]

Disney cast members bring magic .....what do Universal team members do for guest?

Ala Tinkerbell, a few TMs sprinkle Mummy dust on select, well-deserving park goers

It’s magical

 

[tony67]

IMO the cast members who "bring magic" are few and far between at Disney. Personally I've had much better experiences at Universal than Disney the last few years

 

[disneyseniors]

Our first time staying at RPR to visit Universal, the TM's actually listened to our request of a room location, although we didnt expect to get it. They put us right where we requested due to my husbands mobility issues. They did this quickly and with a smile. All the resort TM's spoke to us and asked if we needed anything. That was just to start the day

The TM's at both parks were always polite and fun to be around. Maybe we were lucky? Don't know, but we had a fabulous time.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Used to be more of a difference between universal TMs and Disney CMs (with Disney being more friendly and “magical”) but I don’t think that’s true anymore. They’re pretty equal now, some great, some sort of rude and most in between somewhere.

 

[TeddieM]

As Disney has upped the ante with cost and less focus on guest satisfaction the “magic” I’ve seen from CM’s has rapidly dwindled also. I don’t doubt some of it has to do with dealing with upset guests all day, every day because of how much DW has changed.

Universal has been steady for me, overall very friendly.

 

[mom2rtk]

As Disney has upped the ante with cost and less focus on guest satisfaction the “magic” I’ve seen from CM’s has rapidly dwindled also. I don’t doubt some of it has to do with dealing with upset guests all day, every day because of how much DW has changed.

Universal has been steady for me, overall very friendly.

That's the kind of magic I've been looking for lately.

 

[whiteness]

During our first trip to Universal, on our first ride of the day, Hagrid's stopped briefly, only a few minutes. We're used to ride interruptions at Disney, so didn't think much of it, but when we returned to the station the TM asked for a show of hands of first time Hagrid riders. Most raised their hands. He apologized for the interruption and said we could ride again if we wanted. He directed us to a specific doorway to go through and let the TM there know and we'd get front of the line access. Within five minutes, we were back on the motorbikes. It was a completely unexpected gesture by the TM and set the tone for an awesome first trip. We're excited to go back again this Fall.

Disney CMs would sometimes let me reride in the past. I've even been given "rain tickets" to ride again later in case the ride broke down while I was in line. But that was years ago.

Now, it feels like unless you've paid for Genie+ or Lighting Lane, they couldn't care less about you. A couple of weeks ago, we had waited over 2 hours in the standby line for Ratatouille when they announced "due to unforeseen circumstances, get lost..." (or something to that effect.) We had gotten to just before the merge. They hustled us out with no apologies.

About 30 minutes later, the ride was back up and running, but we didn't bother getting back in line again. As we all know, guests that had paid to cut the line would get priority until the the "fastpass" line was completely empty regardless how long I had previously waited.

 

[kbelle8995]

I really like when the TMs at Universal greet me by name at the gate. I feel that TMs have gotten so good over the years. I don't know what Universal is doing but they are doing good

 

[Cottoncandylove]

I LOVE the Univeral TM's. They treat us so well every time we are there. My DD has severe social anxieties and I've had TM's notice it before me. I was paying for our refillable cup once (in the Marvel area) and the young lady leaned over to me, placed an apple in my hand and told me to take my daughter behind this sign, there was a bench where she could sit quietly away from everyone and concentrate on eating the apple until she felt less overwhelmed. Everything from the personalized notes from housekeeping to the tour guides, and the cabana keepers, I love them. I'll stop gushing now lol

 

[ChanaC]

I've been both a Universal TM and a Disney CM. A lot of time there is no difference because we work at both parks!

I always hated the stereotype that somehow TMs are worse than CMs. Honestly I never saw a huge difference. I've had both great and terrible coworkers, and both great and bad interactions with both sets of employees. I will say that I always felt somehow less on edge at Universal. It's not that they have lower expectations, it's just that the Universal higher ups always felt more... idk human? Sometimes I feel like Disney kind of demeans it's employees. You know how a Disney press release will sprinkle in their Disney phrases like "magical" "celebration" "wish" etc? Even the employee materials had that language. Not direct quoting here, but stuff like "It's our pleasure to help guests' biggest wishes come true so they can celebrate the magic with families, and to do that our CMs need to have their dreams come true too which is why we are enhancing the cafeteria with the wonder of great new cuisines around the world." In Universal the same message would be "We're expanding the cafeteria with a new noodle bar." Like, just more direct, like they were talking to us at our level like adults, not like we're their 10 year old customers. Idk, that's probably extreme but there was less BS behind the scenes at Universal, so it felt like we were all on the same level, and thus respected. Like we were working together. I always felt respected by my managers and higher ups at Universal and they treated me pretty well. It felt like some of the managers at Disney looked down at me. And sometimes Disney had such high expectations you just felt like you were never doing enough, while at Universal I felt more relaxed and confident, which I think shows sometimes. Just my opinion and my experiences.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Over the years, I have seen some stellar and less-than-stellar employees in both locations. To some extent it depends on the individual and also the circumstances of your needs. Like sometimes staff have been helpful in ways I never expected. Other times, I have felt let down because staff wasn't able to handle basic requests.

Like on my most recent trip, I was held up every time I tried to enter a WDW park. On the first day, I lost a full hour. In that case, WDW did offer me some compensation, but it should not have taken that long to fix. Every other day, the hold-up was shorter, but it was still annoying. WDW just wasn't able to fix the problem. When entering a park w/valid ticket should be a pretty basic function.

Other times WDW and Universal employees have really gone above and beyond. One WDW housekeeper, didn't just fold the end of the toilet paper in our room as some house keepers do, she made the end of the roll into a flower! It was beautiful and SO unexpected! And this was at a WDW moderate hotel, not even one of the deluxe hotels.

By and large though, both staff work hard to deliver fun experiences.