IOA and customer service/handicapped access

[UrbanMoon]

Let's stick to the point of this original post. Islands of Adventure welcomes thousands disabled guests each and every day. All queues at UIoA are wheelchair accessible including all electronic wheelchairs. The queues are not accessible to ECVs and are not permitted in the lines. Each attraction has several designated standard wheelchairs for guests traveling in EVCs to transfer to while experiencing the ride. Most rides have special ride vehicles designed to make the transfer from a wheelchair as easy as possible.

As far as EUROPA's last post I don't feel the need to explain myself to you, but I too have been in the customer service business for a long time giving me enough experience to reach the poing I am at. I can very easily separate work from home!

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

I never questioned that Universal's facilities are disabled accessible. What is in question and the point of the post is that the transmittal of knowledge by employees was not helpful to the original poster.

This post took a turn when someone mentioned that ECV's ought to be banned. That is when I felt I had a right to defend my use of medical equipment. An ECV is not a wheelchair but it is medical equipment. To me there is no difference in saying ECV's ought to be banned than my cane or a prosthetic device ought to be banned. They all assist with mobility.

UrbanMoon's statistic that 9 out of 10 ECV users are fakers causes me to question NOT Universal's facilities but the employees. I am guessing, and please correct me if I am wrong, that many of the employees talk about that statistic as though it is fact. Human nature being what it is, people would have a hard time hiding that kind of bias. Even over the phone it was apparant that the employee I spoke to was not overly enthused to have another ECV in the parks.

Universal is to be applauded for their facilities it sounds like. I am grateful for the ADA and for companies that try to meet and exceed the requirements. That's why it is so frustrating to run into INDIVIDUALS who think they get to be the judge of who qualifies and who does not.

Some people accused the original poster of exagerating. I think the stat that 9 out of 10 ECV users are fakers is an exageration. If not I want to know the basis for the findings.

 

[johare]

They, also, do get out and about, with difficulty and assistance, but they do, so it is possible that a 500 lb. woman could be at IOA.

Maybe Universal should start charging by the pound...

 

[WebmasterBarry]

Please watch your remarks. Please do not make me close this thread. Thank you.

 

[nancycels]

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I merely responded my personal opinion to a post that was clearly exagerated. I happed to have gotten the other side of the story involving her experience at Poseidon's Fury. Again, heed some advice i stated in earlier posts about hiding behind the great disabled wall. Just because a person is diabled doesn't always mean they are right.

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and I suppose your interpretation of employee gossip should be taken as truth? uh huh! for someone with years of experience in customer service you have clearly violated some serious confidentiality rules here!

either that or u are taking employee gossip as fact? hmmm... makes me wonder....just who universal is employing.... and if anything reported to them is truly confidential! since i was assured that my report was confidential obviously someone has been gossiping... do u remember that game whisper down the lane? ah! yes! amazing what happens to the distortions as the story is passed along!

So u think its an exaggeration? I assure it was not. I wish it was! In fact, by now I wish I'd never gone to universal in the first place! I only posted my experience because I didn't want someone elses vacation to be ruined if they weren't forewarned.

 

[eetsoop]

UrbanMoon's statistic that 9 out of 10 ECV users are fakers causes me to question NOT Universal's facilities but the employees. I am guessing, and please correct me if I am wrong, that many of the employees talk about that statistic as though it is fact.

What UrbanMoon posted was a personal opinion. UrbanMoon also made it a point to say that it had NO BEARING on their work.
How could you say that many of the employees think that anyone in an ECV is scamming? As I said before, this kind of thinking is as close-minded as thinking ECVers are scammers. I'm sure every employee who posts on this board can correct that assumption.

 

[UrbanMoon]

This discussion just keeps getting more and more amusing! I feel like I am back in grade school passing names back and forth. Look, I am sorry for your disablilty, sorry that you had such a bad time at Universal. But let's face it, you are such a small percentage compared to positive guest interactions.

I have tried to open minds in this discussion to the fact that everything is not always as seen or heard. That each and every person needs to experience things for themselves. And that people should not automatically run and hide when a disability is brought into the matter.

But anyway, I am through with this discussion because it just doesn't concern me. I'm not the person you had issues with on your visit. I will continue to defend Universal not matter what situation emerges. The fact of the matter is if indeed there is a problem, it has already been corrected or a plan to correct it is in the works...

 

[EUROPA]

Originally posted by eetsoop


What UrbanMoon posted was a personal opinion. UrbanMoon also made it a point to say that it had NO BEARING on their work.
How could you say that many of the employees think that anyone in an ECV is scamming? As I said before, this kind of thinking is as close-minded as thinking ECVers are scammers. I'm sure every employee who posts on this board can correct that assumption.

Orignally posted by UrbanMoon


If you would like to be terrorized, you should read some of the amusement park employee boards/newgroups where everything is a complaint ab ut guests expecially the disabled. Do you think that these people just stand there and smile while being friendly all day. If you do that you are living in a shallow world. You would fall flat on your face if you heard what it said behind the guest's back, somtimes even in front of guests.

These two quotes really seem to contradict each other than don't they.

 

[commecicommeca]

When you are saying that ECVs should be banned you are in effect saying that the user should be banned as well. Why don't ECV users just use a manual wheelchair? Because they can't push it, obviously no one wants to pay $25 more per day for a machine they don't really need if a wheelchair is just as convenient to use. Believe me as a regular ECV user navigating these things is not always easy, especially if you've got a big fancy model like I do, and most people in theme parks don't use them in their every day lives but need them because of the walking distance incurred so obviously they're not going to be the greatest drivers in the world if someone like me who's been using one for a year still crashes into things occasionally and this inability to drive well isn't helped by being forced into small spaces. I have never met anyone using an ECV who didn't need one at that point in time. An ECV is as much of a mobility device as a wheelchair and should be treated with as much consideration.

 

[VondaP]

I've kept up with this thread and have kept silent until now. I suffer from an "invisible" disability. To look at me, I look fine (with the exception of a large scar on my knee). I have good and bad days. On the bad days, walking is painful and I tire easily. On the good days, I still hurt but it's manageable with meds.

My family visited USF/IOA last summer. I had an unexpected surgery prior to our trip that forced me to use an ecv the entire time. Normally, I only use one on the "bad" days. Because of this, I phoned and e-mailed guest services inquiring whether or not there was anything I needed to know ahead of time. I was told not to worry that the parks were handicap accesible. When I arrived, I found that the majority of the employees I encountered were not very friendly to those in ECV's. I was treated more like a nuiscance than a welcomed guest. I was not expecting any special treatment nor was I expecting or asking to go to the front of the line. In fact, I sat and waited for my family to ride the majority of the rides. The few rides that I felt I could go on ( a couple of water rides, Spiderman, and a few others) we waited longer than "walking" folks to get on. There were definitely no perks to being in a scooter. As much as we enjoyed the parks, we did not like the treatment I received. I won't say EVERYONE was unfriendly, that would be untrue. I am a very kind and patient person and it took a lot just to smile and say thank you. I wanted my family to enjoy themselves so I just grinned and beared it.

I took as much as I could until our final day. We went to see the Wild, Wild, Wild, West Show. I parked my scooter in a handicapped spot and my family sat behind me. A USF employee (I'll never forget his face and name) came up to us shortly before the show started and asked me for my pass or something like that. I had no clue what he was referring to. Remember, I had called and e-mailed prior to going and was told I didn't need to do anything special. He told me that I would have to move out of the handicapped spot immediately. He then motioned to my family that they had to get out of the seats they were in. I was in shock, this man was incredibly rude and quite loud. When I refused to move, he tried to push me out of the way, but couldn't because I had turned the ECV off. He then yelled at us telling us that we have to move. My husband started to get up and take my girls with him and I told him to sit down that we weren't going anywhere. I stood my ground and the show started. The employee was loud enough that quite a few folks were watching and listening to what was happening. I had several people tell me that they could not believe how I was treated. One gentleman said he was an attorney and that I should file a suit against the employee and the park. Let me just say, that I have been discriminated against on more than one occasion (not just at USF/IOA) if I filed a suit everytime this happened, I would spend the majority of the time in the courts. Not my cup of tea.

After the show. I scooted my humiliated self over to guest services and let the gentleman behind the counter know what had happened. I was so upset, I could hardly talk. He apologized profusely and filed a report. He also said that I should have been told when I called that I would need a pass for the handicap access. He offered me comp. tickets and I told him that I would never be back.

I returned home to a phone call from guest services. I explained again what had happened. He kept asking me if I was sure of the name of the gentleman at the show. I kept telling him that I was positive what his name was, not only was he wearing a name tag, but I asked another employee just to be sure. I could describe the man down to the color of his glasses. The man on the phone said he had to be sure, because sometimes employees use others name tags. He also stated that this man was one of his better employees. The man on the phone apologized and told me that if my family ever decided to come back that he would give us comp. tickets. I told him also that I had no plans to ever return.

Now the irony, we are visiting Florida in October and my kids really want to go to USF/IOA and stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. I, on the other hand, have a hard time going back. Finally after months of pestering, I gave in and made ressies at the HRH. Just a few days ago, I wrote a letter to guest services. My main questions to them are, "will my bad experience last year happen again?", and "have any changes been made regarding guests with disabilities?"

I am going with a positive attitude. I will not arrive with a chip on my shoulder and will give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I only want to enjoy the parks with my family like everyone else.

To those that use ecvs/wheelchairs just in hopes of by passing the line, I hope the day never comes that you have to have one.

Just one persons experience,

Vonda

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Well I just heard from Universal and I am underwhelmed. They did not address my concerns about the employees at all. They just wasted an entire page of paper and ink in telling me that they are fully ADA compliant. I never stated that they weren't fully compliant but that their employee training might be a problem. All they said was that their staff is specifically trained to help their guests who may need assistance. That's it! Half a sentence of a full letter.

On an interesting side note they also said they were including a disability guide for my review. Unless it's invisible they didn't.

All I know I am very glad we cancelled all our reservations for Universal and until I hear consistently good reports about Universal I will avoid them. I'm always hearing on this board that you should vote with your wallet. That's what I'm going to do.

For your sake Vonda I hope you have a great time and all of the letters start to make a difference. Please let us know!

 

[lisapooh]

Originally posted by UrbanMoon
Let's talk about the things we see as ride operators every single day. The other day I had a situation involving a ECV. A rather large women (500+ pounds) was complaining about having to transfer out of her ECV to a standard wheelchair to access the ride. She was screaming obsenities and casting blame on employess and the park. What to do? Is she disabled? Of course not, she was merely fat and using the claim of being disabled to bypass the system.

You do not know if this person was handicapped or not. Obesity in itself is a disability plus you have no idea as to the cause of her obesity. There is no excuse for screaming obscenities but if the ride operator had the type of attitude you show I can fully understand her fustration.

The more unfortunate matter is that you fall into a class of the largest group of scammers, the ECVs. I would say that 9 out of 10 people in an ECV are scamming for something. This is fact I might add, fact from my personal experience. So maybe you should consider this before going off and writing some massive complaint. Maybe you should sit down and think over quite a few things. May I comment that most people who call themselves handicapped are faking it. That is not the proper term for a disabled person and for someone who is disabled, someone who has fought not to be treated differnetly would know that.

This is not a fact at all. Yes there are some who are scammers but they are few. There is no advantage to using a ECV. You get no special priviledges, they are a nuisance to drive and quite frequently you get abuse from park employees and other guests. I've gotten this aT IOA and Universal myself and I use a motorized wheelchair not an ECV. Handicapped, disabled, physically impaired, whatever, it is not your place to determine what term we wish to use. We'll call ourselves whatever we darn well please. Most people who called themselves handicapped are faking it. I think not. Maybe you are the one who needs to do some thinking about your attitude towards the disabled(handicapped).

 

[lisapooh]

If Universal and IOA are accessible to motorized wheelchairs then why was I told I needed to transfer to a manual wheelchair? And why was the worker nasty when I pointed out that it was a motorized wheelchair and if I could operate a manual wheelchair I would not be using a motorized chair. And again why was I then told that my motorized chair was not a motorized chair but an ECV. It is a Jazzy 1103, which is a power wheelchair.

So don't give me the bit about them being accessible.
And btw while I was at IOA I meet a castmember who was in the exact same power chair so the people in that area should know what it is.

 

[eetsoop]

the reason you would need to transfer to a manual wheelchair is b/c it would be impossible to make a ride vehicle compatable to every kind of ECV. If your motorized wheelchair is the same as a manual wheelchair then I'm sure the only reason they made you transfer is for saftey reasons. For your saftey and the saftey of other passengers it is necessary to make sure that everything works properly. The ride manufacturers cannot test their vehicle with every single make and model of wheelchair or ECV. As for calling it an ECV, who cares?

If you do care to get into the semantics:
Is it really that important what it's called? It's a motorized wheelchai right, so it IS electric. Since the definitin of a vehicle is: A device or structure for transporting persons or things. it is a vehicle too. It seems to be convienient as well. Hence the term ECV would fit it properly.

To clarify, the reason they made you transfer was not because they mistook your wheelchair for an ECV, but because they don't want you to sue when your wheelchair doesn't fit the ride vehicle properly and breaks. I assure you the park is accesable. If you could ride the rides it is accesible.

You have NO special privledges because you are disabled except for ability to access the rides and all sections of the park. Univesal AND IOA have accomodated those privledges. Hearing both sides of the story it is evident that there is a great misunderstanding between both parties. The employees might be just a little to rash in characterizing disabled customers as trying to gain special privledges and scamming, but disabled customers know they are disabled and need to take responsibility for knowing what rules apply to them when they access the park, they are a minority of the customers and so the park is not tailored specifically for them (although it IS fully accesable to them), if you ask guest services nicely they WILL happily tell you what you need to do and what you will encounter, this will NOT happen by itself and that is why Guest services is there. It is not difficult to do. When an employee asks you to transfer to a wheelchair or if he/she asks for a pass then IT IS THEIR JOB TO DO SO and being a customer you should comply with such a simple requests. There may be reasons that are not entirely clear and it is YOUR responsibility to ask about them, not assume the employee is wrong.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

but disabled customers know they are disabled and need to take responsibility for knowing what rules apply to them when they access the park, they are a minority of the customers and so the park is not tailored specifically for them (although it IS fully accesable to them), if you ask guest services nicely they WILL happily tell you what you need to do and what you will encounter

She tried.

I phoned and e-mailed guest services inquiring whether or not there was anything I needed to know ahead of time.

Remember, I had called and e-mailed prior to going and was told I didn't need to do anything special.

He also said that I should have been told when I called that I would need a pass for the handicap access.

She tried by both phoning and e-mailing them and was given incorrect information. Because of this she was treated in a way that was unacceptable regardless of whether or not she was disabled. The employee pushed and shouted at a guest.

he tried to push me out of the way, but couldn't because I had turned the ECV off. He then yelled at us telling us that we have to move.

If the employee felt that strongly that she was in the wrong place then why didn't he call security? Unless manhandling guests is Universal's policy. You stated that she should have turned over a pass.

if he/she asks for a pass then IT IS THEIR JOB TO DO SO and being a customer you should comply with such a simple requests.

How could she turn over a pass when she didn't know about it?! Wouldn't it have been so much better for the employee to have asked if she was aware of the policy and explained how to get one? Or even one better to call ahead and say she was coming. Wow can you imagine this thread if she had that to say about Universal instead.

I think she is very open-minded to even consider going again. I am very conservative with my vacation time and money. I get two weeks a year and a few thousand dollars and they are too precious to waste anywhere I am not treated with respect. This currently includes Universal.

Everytime I keep hearing how Universal is disabled accessable and I should be grateful to them for that. I am but they can have the best facilities in the world and if they don't have well trained people to accompany it then I'm not interested.

You have NO special privledges because you are disabled except for ability to access the rides and all sections of the park. Univesal AND IOA have accomodated those privledges.

I certainly hope you miss-typed when you stated that the ability to access the rides and all sections of the park are a privilege.

 

[KHansen454]

Hi!!! I work for Universal out here in CA. I really think that if anyone has any problems at all with the park ( especially ones relating to poor signage or problems with disablity access) that a letter should be written to Universal Guest relations. I know that Universal does take comments very seriously and is constantly making changes to better serve visitors to the park. If enough people write letters and voice their opinions, Universal will recognize that they have a problem and need to make a change. Your letter may make a difference for other visitors or for you on a return trip to the park. I always try to write letters to theme parks, stores, hotels, ect... both when I have bad and good experiences. - Karen

 

[lisapooh]

Actually there is a big difference in an ECV and a motorized wheelchair. As I stated before, if I could use a manual chair I would. That said there is absolutely no reason my motorized chair cannot go through any line at US or IOA. This is true of the vast majoruty of motorized wheelchairs. It is not true of an ECV which is a scooter and operated with a handle bar like a bike not a single hnad controller. If a transfer is needed to a manual chair it should be done at the ride vehicle not at the beginning of the line. Or since I can transfer independently with my sticks (many motorized wheelchair users cannot) to the actual ride vehicle. I would say that the majority of ECV users are able to transfer from the ECV to a ride vehicle. Plus my motorized wheelcahir can be secured on all the special ride vehicles at Disney so I don't see any reason why the same cannot be done at US and IOA except for pure laziness on the part of the workers!
You claim it is semantics. Sorry you obviously don't know what you are talking about. It is not semantics at all but a difference in the actual equipment being used.
US and IOA are the only parks I get hassled by workers. My Power chair has been to Sea World, Busch Gardens, all of the WDW parks( w/ a guest assistance card), Miami Metrozoo, Monkey Jungle, Seaquarium and Parrot Jungle with no such hassles. Says something about the training being given to workers at US and IOA and it isn't good.

You can be sure I will not be spoending my money at US or IOA with the attitudes I have recieved there and from their employees on this board. It is obvious they don't want the business of disabled guests and their families and only comply with handicapped access to the barest minimum required by law. They also train their workers poorly as to manners and guest interaction. There are many more theme parks in Florida that welcome the disabled.

No one is asking for special priviledges. What the handicapped do demand, not request, is access be available with respect to our needs and courteous and respectful treatment without the attitude that you are doing us a favor. You aren't. Our access is mandated by law and we pay just like anyone else. An my buck is a good as anyone elses.
And btw the handicapped parking is a farce and not in copmpliance with the law.

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Karen,

Thank you for your post. For whatever reason it just made me feel a little better about Universal. Thank you for realizing that maybe there is room for improvement and that there is nothing wrong in pointing it out to them. Thank you.

 

[VondaP]

I received a very prompt "canned" reply to my concerns regarding my past experiences. The very short letter does not address my concerns in the least. The letter is signed by Shawn M. (hope it's ok, to put that here). Anyhow, I would like to write to upper management. Does anyone know to whom I should send the letter to?

Thanks,

Vonda

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

Not a clue. I wish I did but frankly I don't think they really care.