Universal Studios Florida: What Do We Think About It?

[UniversalRBLX]

Well, I’d worry about the existing three parks more than Epic. All experienced and qualified TMs will be at the top of the list to move over to Epic. I think Epic will actually probably be the best of the four parks in terms of TM service quality & training at that time.

I'm not worried about Epic, outside of expected breakdowns/tech issues, fully expecting Universal to staff Epic properly and put their best TMs out there. I'm worried about how Epic might impact Universal's current park operations.

FYI - Just cause I got a lot of heat over this, their parking team is finally at a much better place now than they were a year ago. So they're working on stuff, but boy did it take a while lol

 

[IzzyB]

I want to start off saying my family thoroughly has enjoyed Universal since starting back up the day after Christmas and we have gone 3 times and liked it all 3 times. The theming, the rides, everything really good. But operations wise it has been insane. Luckily we knew it would be busy and so we had packed our patients, but I don't know if my husband will be as patient if this continues.

However, I do agree there is a lot of negative Disney on here and excuses for Universal. I did a calculation in another post since I last was at uni vs what was built at Disney and Universal and Disney by far had more rides and I would argue better rides than some of the ones as UF. But all I hear on here is about how Disney is doing nothing. This by far is causing capacity issues at IOA and UF. When express takes 30 minutes at multiple attractions you have a capacity issue.

I don't understand this. Universal has plenty of money and MIB/Simpsons are some of the more popular rides at the park. Comcast has plenty of money. What the heck are they thinking?

I disagree that MIB/Simpsons are "popular". They have the lower waits than other rides. While I do disagree with this move as this is something the SW did that always made me mad since you didn't know in advance and you would walk to something to only find it closed. It is annoying and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

With all the fancy lighting and fountains with LEDs being added in... I hope so. Especially with all the special lighting effects some of the rides will have.


And during the timeframe between when this board was created and now, we've seen tremendous attendance & revenue growth from the resort... still the same old ways of operating. This is the point I'm trying to make with the way Universal operates their parks... they haven't changed. They haven't modified the way they operate their parks to match pricing and attendance levels. They've stagnated in that regard.

I do agree with this. The issue is they have not changed and this causes LONG lines and LONG waits. 3 Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron were meant to be counter service restaurants. You go to counter for faster service than sit down. That was not my experience. From ordering food to getting it took LONGER than a typical sit down. I mean my kids went out did spells at 3 broomsticks and then came back in and still had such a long wait after that they got super antsy and I don't have super antsy restaurant kids. We don't give tablets in restaurants they know they need to wait for food. I actually allowed them to start playing Pokemon Go on my phone. Then when nothing was left on Pokemon GO I got my phone back and I started to worry they didn't even get my order because the app went all crazy. I was just about to go up and check when our food FINALLY arrived.

With Epic opening next year, it’s probably likely they are projecting soft crowds and are making adjustments.

Not saying it’s right or wrong. Just offering a possible POV.

It was not light this past weekend, so I don't think they should be closing stuff when waits are above 100 minutes on a regular basis on several rides. I could see if it actually was slow, but it was not at all and based on park hours they were not expecting slow. Which I would say it was JUST as busy yesterday as the day after Christmas so they should have still had the 10 park closing but did not. They are reducing hours before the slow season even begins which is an issue.

Keep those ride lines long and sell more Express passes. Mornings are almost always a good time to tour the parks. With half the park closed off with barriers before 10:00 AM, that will be a bit tougher.....The lessened Universal Experience continues.

If only Express was Express. This is where I really notice a huge difference in how this park has not kept up with its growth. I used express all the time before. I am not going to get into the why or how of this, but for 18 months I had unlimited express. I walked up, maybe waited 5 minutes and got on the ride, 10 was considered a long wait back then. This was pre-Diagon, but post-Hogsmeade. We never avoided busy times of the year at any park before. Now with Express after 4, multiple times we waited 30 minutes in express since we started back up our passes. Capacity is an issue and park hours absolutely need to be adjusted to help that capacity issue so more people can ride more things and not come out of the park thinking they spend $140 to ride a handful of rides.

Honestly, while IOA may technically be the superior park, I spend MUCH more time in Studios and prefer it by a wide margin. I often have to manufacture reasons to venture beyond Marvel or Seuss - Hogsmeade is so incapable of handling crowds it’s not fun, I don’t usually want to get soaked in Toon, JP is… kinda boring, and there’s absolutely NO entertainment, let alone rewatchable, improv-y entertainment. The biggest draw in the back half for me is the Halloween Store. Studios just has a charm IOA lacks.

I agree about Hogsmeade and crowds. I don't know if we hit it at a wrong time or what, but the line to the bathroom was INSANE and just walking to get to flight was ridiculously crowded. I don't know what happened but we entered that land at the WRONG time. However, we rode several rides and came back and the line to the bathroom was still insane. At that point I had no option but to bite the bullet and wait in it.

But Jurassic Park area is not to be missed, so I disagree only the front is worth it. Our best visit was yesterday by far at IOA.

I'm mixed about Animal Actors. I'd be happy to see it remain, but if the people brainstorming things at Creative told me they needed that space to accommodate a dark ride in KidZone/DreamWorks or Springfield's replacement, I'd let them take it.

Ideally, that loss would be somewhat offset by a new show somewhere else.

The problem is shows allow people to do stuff without waiting in insane lines. Both parks need more shows not less to balance out the insane waits in lines.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The problem is shows allow people to do stuff without waiting in insane lines. Both parks need more shows not less to balance out the insane waits in lines.

This is what I hope HHN does this year. I know I went on a rant about HHN last year severely lacking in capacity, but nearly each HFN show ran at capacity, along with waits at 60-90 min range, capacity needs an update.

Also, Grinchmas this year, and every year, was very popular and shows Universal that IOA desperately can sustain and needs a stage show.

Ride-wise, capacity is fine* at the Universal parks... but the people want stuff they don't need to wait in.
*For thrill-rides, Universal needs a boost with "family-friendly" options with no height requirements and no significant motion.

 

[IzzyB]

This is what I hope HHN does this year. I know I went on a rant about HHN last year severely lacking in capacity, but nearly each HFN show ran at capacity, along with waits at 60-90 min range, capacity needs an update.

Also, Grinchmas this year, and every year, was very popular and shows Universal that IOA desperately can sustain and needs a stage show.

Ride-wise, capacity is fine* at the Universal parks... but the people want stuff they don't need to wait in.
*For thrill-rides, Universal needs a boost with "family-friendly" options with no height requirements and no significant motion.

Universal I don't think ever will be the park for young kids. Epic does seem to have some slow moving dark rides so maybe Epic will draw more people in. But I know why we stopped going because we had a young kid and it wasn't worth it. We stopped and waited until my youngest was 48" to return. He still won't ride everything he can ride and he hates transformers even though that is his favorite toys to play with. So being 6 stuff is still scary. But he is finding his rides and enjoying them a lot that it makes it worth it but I am super glad we waited until 6. I feel some of the stuff he likes now he wouldn't have liked earlier. But not having to heavily rely on child swap with the lines being what they are is better. How they do child swap having young kids patiently wait in a line for 100 minutes to not ride it isn't going to fly for most families. It worked when we had express all the time, but that is not a normal situation for most people.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

The show ran it's course imo and the Latin dance show has replaced it as far as a "pop up show" and it's WAY more popular.

I'd also like to point out that Sing It! debuted in September 2015 - that means this show last over 8 years. This was a show that was a product of it's time. Taking advantage of both the popularity of Pentatonix at the time and also coming off the heels of the Pitch Perfect trilogy, a cappella was very much in at this time. Not as much any more and the crowds for the shows that they were doing reflect that.

Vamos! is definitely more popular - my wife and I watched it probably 3 or 4 separate times this past trip. She actively searched for the show times on the app because she loved it so much.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Universal I don't think ever will be the park for young kids. Epic does seem to have some slow moving dark rides so maybe Epic will draw more people in.

Something that Universal is actively trying to change, but it feels like they drop the ball right before reaching the end zone by putting height requirements or unnecessary restricting constraints.

Universal needs a boost in family-friendly offerings that, while can be thrilling in the storyline, need to be accessible by all.

 

[IzzyB]

Something that Universal is actively trying to change, but it feels like they drop the ball right before reaching the end zone by putting height requirements or unnecessary restricting constraints.

Universal needs a boost in family-friendly offerings that, while can be thrilling in the storyline, need to be accessible by all.

They need more coasters like Thunder Mountain, more shows (especially in IOA), and more dark rides that aren't as scary as Kong. If they could get more things at 36"/40" (that are not scary)/no height then they could. Epic seems a little more balanced, so we will see when it opens. Because Kong being no height is fine and all but you can't say it is family friendly. I mean my son about flipped in the queue and the only reason he got on it is because he knew it was the same ride system as F&F. So maybe F&F does serve a purpose . But he did like it in the end to my shock. But this also works in my favor since he wouldn't do Mummy and my middle child told him Mummy is way less scary than Kong, so I might be successful getting him on Mummy. He refuses to do Gringotts and FJ also due to scary factor. Which speaking of FJ, my 13 year old wouldn't even re-ride that thing and my almost 9 year old came off traumatized by that ride. It was the one ride I was super thankful my son wouldn't try because I doubt he would ever trust us again! I honestly forgot how scary that ride is. Keep in mind my 13 went to howl o scream and plans to do HHN this year and my almost 9 is trying to convince me she is old enough for HHN

Even some Suess rides have height restrictions which is absolutely ridiculous. Those should have never been built with height restrictions.

 

[soilsigh]

Scott is from the UK (Scotland) and this Sept. was probably his first trip to Orlando (WDW & USO) since before covid. He's always been one of Universal's biggest cheerleaders and we've had tons of private conversations over the years. After this recent trip he privately expressed to me, and a few other long time fans, how bad the trip was, especially in comparison to WDW which had good operations. He almost always does a real lengthy trip report, but he didn't do one after this trip since he loves the park but didn't want to talk trash publicly,at that point in time. Scott is pretty prominent in the theme park community, Saturday Six on Touring Plans uses lots of his optics and creations, and he has tons of super Insider info, but doesn't use it publicly. I always consider his opinions important since he has impeccable knowledge about both Universal and Disney operations, on the surface and behind the curtain. When Universals biggest cheerleaders over the years, that rarely criticized them before the past couple of years, starts speaking up about a deterioration in the Universal Experience, perhaps it's incumbent upon Comcast/Universal to be a bit introspective. This is like the canary in the mine. It just seems like they have issues, and they are many. ....Speaking for myself, I'd rather be cheerleading than criticizing, but I was so disappointed in my last few vacations that I've stopped going there until I see improvement, hoping the mojo will come back this summer so I can go next Holiday season, if they notify us more than a couple weeks before the holiday stuff starts. .

I probably should have posted this in September when I got home but the resort is in bad shape, I'm just going to bulletpoint most of this.

Having Express Pass makes you realise just how little there is to do in the parks. I also never realised just how bad IOA is when it's cold or a storm rolls in. I don't think I spent more than 3 hours in any park at a time with the exception of HHN with it's watered down drinks where I somehow managed to drink non stop and left more sober than when I entered.

I had mentioned on Twitter a while back what I would remove from the parks. Everything in red goes.


And that's before I even get to how bad the food and service is. Hotel staff were barely ok, the food was shockingly bad.


Bigfire was awful, so was Toothsome. One of the best meals I had was at Hard Rock which kind of says everything. The Freestyle machines were almost constantly out of ice.


I don't know how Universal gets away with this while Disney gets called out at every chance. It's in bad enough shape that it does make me worry about Epic opening. If they can't get the service right, this is going to be 4 out of 4 park opening failures in Orlando.

It really depends I when you go and your luck I think. I just did a trip in October. I was so impressed with universal. They went out of their way to help me in their hotel and I thought the customer service was amazing!

I had to ask Disney for multiple refunds. They somehow messed up our cabin in fort wilderness and was somehow our fault until the manager came out. The restaurant service was just awful! I will not return to Disney in a long time but will be returning every year to Universal for HHN!

Sucks you had such a poor time! I know that feeling with the Disney. It sucks.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It really depends I when you go and your luck I think. I just did a trip in October. I was so impressed with universal. They went out of their way to help me in their hotel and I thought the customer service was amazing!

I had to ask Disney for multiple refunds. They somehow messed up our cabin in fort wilderness and was somehow our fault until the manager came out. The restaurant service was just awful! I will not return to Disney in a long time but will be returning every year to Universal for HHN!

Sucks you had such a poor time! I know that feeling with the Disney. It sucks.

Yes, I stay at Universal a lot and continue to find the cast (and performers) excellent, absolutely equal to and very arguably superior to Disney. I can be negative about Uni’s overall direction, but the team members on the front line aren’t part of that. I’ve always found it very odd on here that criticism of cast members tends to get a lot less pushback then criticism of the management that controls the budgets and establishes policies.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Yes, I stay at Universal a lot and continue to find the cast (and performers) excellent, absolutely equal to and very arguably superior to Disney. I can be negative about Uni’s overall direction, but the team members on the front line aren’t part of that. I’ve always found it very odd on here that criticism of cast members tends to get a lot less pushback then criticism of the management that controls the budgets and establishes policies.

I'll echo this sentiment again. In my recent experiences, Universal employees are friendlier and happier than the ones we've encountered at Disney. Disney CMs seemed to be almost robotic, while Universal TMs seemed to be a bit more relaxed and friendly.

 

[Brian G.]

I’ve always found it very odd on here that criticism of cast members tends to get a lot less pushback then criticism of the management that controls the budgets and establishes policies.

Well, one is based on actual interactions, while the other is based on assumptions.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I'll echo this sentiment again. In my recent experiences, Universal employees are friendlier and happier than the ones we've encountered at Disney. Disney CMs seemed to be almost robotic, while Universal TMs seemed to be a bit more relaxed and friendly.

I've had interactions at both, and it obviously depends on your personal experience. What I've found is that both resorts have friendly employees... but one takes the time to inform them with up-to-date information/hours, while the other rushes them in to fill in a position. If you ask a TM a question they don't know the answer to and tell you to just refer to the app or not answer your question, it can lead to people mislabeling the interaction as a negative experience.

Mind you, this is all on management.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

As a tourist and non local… I’ve never experienced outright bad service at Universal so let me be clear on that. Crystal clear, in fact.

However to me, at Disney everyone has always made me feel at home. Which is their intention and it shows. Universal clearly doesn’t feel the need to follow that motto exactly.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Well, one is based on actual interactions, while the other is based on assumptions.

Isn’t one based on subjective anecdotes (ex: “that cast member looked at me funny”) while one is based on objective reality (ex: “The Port of Entry streetmosphere performers do not perform any longer”)? Now, posters often go beyond that to assert broader patterns (“The quality of cast members has declined” vs “Uni is cutting costs across the board”) and, in the process, may make unfounded assumptions, and the selection of examples in each case can be subjective, but that seems to be the basis.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

I've only had one bad experience with a TM and it was during HHN last year. The team leader/manager at the Chucky food booth threatened to call security on us because we were "arguing" about holding the ranch on one of the "Fried Till The End" thing. None of the food was pre-made, so we were confused about this whole situation. The manager was extremely rude, but we were incredibly nice to them and the staff. It was incredibly frustrating.

We went to Guest Services and I'll just say, they were not happy lol.

 

[Brian G.]

Isn’t one based on subjective anecdotes (ex: “that cast member looked at me funny”) while one is based on objective reality (ex: “The Port of Entry streetmosphere performers do not perform any longer”)? Now, posters often go beyond that to assert broader patterns (“The quality of cast members has declined” vs “Uni is cutting costs across the board”) and, in the process, may make unfounded assumptions, and the selection of examples in each case can be subjective, but that seems to be the basis.

The TM/CM looking at you funny may be anecdotal, but it is still an experience we cannot dispute you had.

And while we cannot deny the reality of the shows being cut, unless an exec outright tells you why - it’s an assumption.

 

[biggerboat16]

As a tourist and non local… I’ve never experienced outright bad service at Universal so let me be clear on that. Crystal clear, in fact.

However to me, at Disney everyone has always made me feel at home. Which is their intention and it shows. Universal clearly doesn’t feel the need to follow that motto exactly.

I think Disney keeps much tighter standards in place regarding their team. Whether an individual team member is having a good day, a bad day, or a meh day, they must maintain certain attitudes and behavior as part of their job description to build on the overall experience. From the janitor to the guy working the Tower of Terror control panel, they’re all essentially playing roles rather than working jobs.

I think universal has much looser guidelines. It’s more of a ‘Do your job, complete your tasks, and be nice while you’re at it.’ This allows the individual moods of cast members to come through a little more regularly, since smiling and waving isn’t included on the job description and it’s more of a general goal of friendliness rather than Disney’s strict ‘play the world’s happiest ___’ system. Correct me if I’m wrong but I vaguely remember hearing that smiling is included in some employee training programs for Disney.

Because of this I’ve noticed a few more grumpy employees at universal than Disney. I’ve seen people getting outright yelled at a few times for rather minor things that would either be ignored entirely or met with a simple “hey could you please not….” had they happened at Disney. By no means is service bad at universal, I still consider it excellent, but because of their priorities, I’ve noticed team members acting a bit more ‘human’ than they would at Disney. At the end of the day though, the grumpiest universal employee would still win a superlative for best costumer service if they worked at six flags!

 

[Casper Gutman]

The TM/CM looking at you funny may be anecdotal, but it is still an experience we cannot dispute you had.

And while we cannot deny the reality of the shows being cut, unless an exec outright tells you why - it’s an assumption.

Drawing conclusions based on copious individual, objective incidents, the past behavior of countless similar entities, and structural financial forces can lead to erroneous assumptions. Isn’t that process far more reliable and robust, however, then opinions based on one individuals subjective anecdotes?

If we consider subjective judgements about individual interactions at theme parks to be beyond dispute but that any assumptions about management intent, no matter how well supported by evidence, to be inherently dubious, doesn’t that just guarantee that all of a theme park’s (or other business’) shortcomings will be blamed on the most vulnerable, least powerful individuals involved while shielding actual decision makers from all judgement?

 

[Brian G.]

Drawing conclusions based on copious individual, objective incidents, the past behavior of countless similar entities, and structural financial forces can lead to erroneous assumptions. Isn’t that process far more reliable and robust, however, then opinions based on one individuals subjective anecdotes?

If we consider subjective judgements about individual interactions at theme parks to be beyond dispute but that any assumptions about management intent, no matter how well supported by evidence, to be inherently dubious, doesn’t that just guarantee that all of a theme park’s (or other business’) shortcomings will be blamed on the most vulnerable, least powerful individuals involved while shielding actual decision makers from all judgement?

What are you even going on about? You made a comment as to why there is less push back so I answered. It's hard to debate someone's opinion of an experience you received vs a theory about management's intent (i.e. something cut). That's all.

 

[Casper Gutman]

What are you even going on about? You made a comment as to why there is less push back so I answered. It's hard to debate someone's opinion of an experience you received vs a theory about management's intent (i.e. something cut). That's all.

I’ve tried to be clear. By the way, what we’re discussing are usually not reports of individual negative interactions with cast members, it’s usually much broader, more sweeping judgements based on those subjective experiences - “The quality of Universal employees has declined,” “Universal has bad employee training,” “ “Universal’s employees behavior is worse then Disney’s.” Those are all broad assumptions based on subjective experiences, not just “an opinion of an experience [they] received.” These broader statements strike me as far less defensible then saying, “Cutting IOA streetmosphere is likely being done to reduce costs based on the behavior of almost every publicly traded company in history.”