Universal with Disabilities

[SueM in MN]

That sounds like a very disappointing reply. Thanks for sharing it.
Wish you had gotten better news.
Actually, we haven't been back to Universal in about 5 years. We had been there twice, but were disappointed with the treatment we got. The lines were fully mainstreamed, but we had a small, not very patient, child with multiple disabilites who uses a wheelchair and her normally spastic little body is like a rag doll when she gets hot. We had to wait in all the mainstream lines and when we asked if we could wait somewhere inside, so she would not get overheated, wee got the "We are fully ADA compliant and all our lines are designed for wheelchair users to wait in them" explanation. When we wanted to take her out of her wheelchair for the Flinstones movie which was a moving theater, we were told that the theater was fully ADA compliant and she had to sit in the non-moving area and remain in her wheelchair. So she got to watch all the other people moving around while she sat still! We were not too impressed with the park and each time I mention going back to see if it has improved, no one wants to go.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Whether Universal admits it or not I think they realize that especially for IOA that their big market is the younger crowd. Typically (although we all know better) people in that age group are healthy and active. I don't think they care that they are alienating (sp?) the disabled comunity because we are not the demographic they are targeting. I have come to the conclusion that they do not care if the disabled attend or not. They feel they have done their job in making the facilities ADA compliant to avoid lawsuits. Yuck! Who needs them when we've got Disney!

 

[EUROPA]

Tiiiigergirl sorry to hear about Universal's reply. I spent several post on the Universal board trying to defend nancycels point of view from what seemed to be a Universal employee. It was really a hard battle, as this person did not care at all about the trouble that one might have if they were required to use an ECV. It really is scary to think that these people may really work there. What was really upsetting was that there appear to be two other employees that post on the board also that had little or only minor things to say on the subject. Typically in the past I had thought of these people as intelligent and thoughtful and respected their replies to topics. The only thing that I remember them saying in Universal defense was how much money a certain ride vehicle that was accessible cost the company. Which leads me to think that maybe universal is really not that concerned with these types of guest needs nor do they really care.

I really enjoyed my visit to IOA and Universal last year and we are planning on going back this year as well. Unfortunatly it seems that Universal was not built with the same philosophy that Disney was. I would definitely send a reply back stating everything that you have found along the way and inform Universal because of these reactions by their employees and the brief contact that you have had about the subject, that you will not be spending your vacation with them.

Often companies do not know they have a problem until the guest points it out.

Good luck

 

[nancycels]

i got a 3 line letter back from universal!! after all that craziness!!!! no 'we're trying to improve our facilities' or 'thank u for yr feedback' or anything! total waste of paper and stamp! sorry i seemed to have deserted the ship! but i got so ticked off at the attitude of the 'so-called' universal employees!! we won't go back, or if my daughters want to go, i'll just hang out at the pool that day!... but that shdn't stop anyone else who wants to go..just be aware and know what CAN happen there if u aren't fully mobile, or god forbid, using an ECV!
i was truly amazed at how insensitive the attitude of many were who posted!(and i thank all who attempted to support the position of anyone who has to use an ecv!) and while i wdn't wish having to use and ecv or wheelchr on anyone, i really think that all the employees at IOA shd have to spend an entire day navigating every ride thru the park, entering rest rooms, restaurants etc. than they'd have a vague idea of just how frustrating it can be! i never really wanted to start what my husband now calls 'the universal wars' lol, just wanted to let everyone know that there are some major glitches involved in this park so no one else wd be caught unaware!

 

[suzysezso]

Wow this thread was a distressing surprise to me-

This past June I visited Universal and IoA with 2 disabled people in my party, namely my son who has autism, and a friend from out of state who among other health problems is wheelchair bound due to her weight (nearly 400 pounds)>
Unlike most posters to this thread we had such a positive experience we actually stayed a day longer than our original plan!
By the way-Our original plan and reservation was with Discovery Cove, I had made VERY clear about the limitations of my party when I booked, and only after arriving there did we discover that the swim was NOT accessible to my friend, plus they never told us wetsuits and snorkle gear were a requirement or I never would have booked as my autistic son cannot tolerate anything like that- it took a threat of legal action to get a refund! So we only arrived at IOA as an unplanned second choice that day.
My friend was travelling with a manual chair so the long walk to the rental area was not so bad, and when we got there we rented an electric cart for her and I used her manual chair to keep my son grounded instead of renting a chair as is my usual procedure (Also consider that if you are walking before or after renting a chair, there IS the "people mover" conveyor belt that covers most of the distance except for the actual Citywalk area. There is also a small area before the Citywalk that rents the manual chairs only).
Throughout the day we found the employees very helpful and considerate, even holding up one ride (the popeye river raft ride) so my friend could climb in and out at her own slow pace instead of on the fly as everyone else was required to do. She did not go on all the rides, but we found most of them accessable anyway, especially at UA.
(One major exception is the Dudley Do-Right log flume ride, which I would not recommend to anyone without full physical dexterity anyway, since even I found myself feeling like I was about to be thrown out of the boat we were riding in.- It is very difficult to manuver a manual chair to the disability access point, an electric chair would be impossible, and no seat belts on the ride)
At one point when we checked in at the rental area again to see if we needed to change chairs to move over to UA, an employee that was going over there saw how tired I was and gave me a ride in an extra chair while my daughter pushed my son!
Even at the end of the day when we went to return the rental chair, an employee offered to escort us to the parking garage and then drove the cart back himself. He told us that if we came any other time and requested this service and willing to wait for an employee that was available(we were among the last stragglers to be leaving that night), we would usually be able to get this done for us, and sure enough when we stayed the extra day and requested it, they did it again!
So sorry most of you had bad experiences. I hope my good experience was not as rare as it now seems.

 

[nancycels]

Suzy, I am so glad someone has had a positive experience at IOA! We all know ALL
EMPLOYEES can't possibly be as bad a the few bad apples some of us have encountered,
but its nice to know universal doesn't just hire a lot of people who have a poor opinion
of anyone using an ECV!!! unfortunately those few have ruined more than a few vacations!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Let's hope they have some good people in there. They need to have some decent people in there to train the others on what is the appropriate way to behave.

 

[Daisimae]

We were actually at Univ and IOA a year ago today. I rented an ECV from Randy's Mobility, because of my FMS, CFS and Arthritis. We were there for two days and had a very positive experience.

There wasn't anything in either of the parks that we couldn't ride or enjoy. I found the CM's helpful and even saw two people in ECV's working at the Sinbad show in IOA. Didn't have any problems with Poseidon either. I carried a large poncho that I put one and draped over the ECV to keep it dry. We didn't even have as many problems with guests ignoring me and trying to run ahead of the ECV in lines as we did at WDW. The park was not crowded and we walked on to just about every ride there.

Our biggest problem that day was DH getting sick after riding Dr. Doom and the Hulk one after the other, first thing in the AM. That caused him to miss Spiderman, as I went on it during the second hour of his recovery. So he has something to look forward to for next year.

As far as I can figure, will we be back at IOA/UNIV one year from today in 2002. I hope we have another good experience.

Daisimae ;-)

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for posting. We want the good as well as the bad so people can see both sides of how things can be.

 

[nancycels]

gives one hope for others who will head to IOA!! I'm glad u had a positive experience with
them! It means they aren't all bad apples! <g> I must have really hit the 'highlights' lol... i'm
a not as ticked off now, but i'm still disappointed with their attitude which i felt was really
unwarranted and way out of line! maybe putting a yellow poncho over my ecv and wearing one wd have made
it stick out enough that i cd have avoided the 'craziness' that ensued!

 

[Wheelsie]

If I haven't already ...to this thread...I'd like to post my thoughts.
I went in Dec of last year...and IMO...I was treated better at US/IOA than at WDW (and that says ALOT)
Every "CM" (dont know what US calls em) I came in contact with was MORE than accomidating..2 were handi...and one of them was so wonderful to me I went straight to Guest Services and filed a commendation.
This "CM" not only directed me to the ride I asked her about...SHE RODE IT WITH DH AND ME!!!!!! Now how's that for service?

So, no. Not all US/IOA experinces are gonna suck.
Heck a week after we got home we got a nice letter in the mail (form of course) letting us know that she would be duelly given the credit she so richly deserved!

And I will tell you, I have not come in contact with even 1 handi WDW CM, nor have I had enuff of a call to go directly to Guest Services to make my thoughts known on any nice WDW CMs.