Issues at Velocicoaster

[sparrow10_]

I'll start by saying that this is now my top 1 ride in all of Orlando, it was freaking amazing. My issues come from an employee on my second time trying to ride it. I was on the single rider's line and I don't know what the issue was but the wait was insufferable. The employee (not sure what's the universal name for their "cast members") that was in charge of the line was in some sort of power trip. I'm sure that there was some sort of argument between some of the people in the front of the single rider's line as I started noticing that a lot the seats in the cars heading out were empty, maybe about anywhere from 2 to 5 empty seats that could've been single riders. People started getting annoyed and saying stuff to the guy, he replied to a woman something that was like: "You'll ride whenever I choose it's your turn to ride". I can't remember the exact words but it was disrespectful. As people started complaining more another employee came out to the line and there was more arguing, after a while and more lost time I was finally able to ride it again, and the employee got moved to another spot. I do want to send in a complain, but to who would I send this to?

 

[ArielRae]

I don’t have an answer to help but wanted to join here in telling my story of a recent Universal employee that was also just on a power trip. So this past trip at the end of April we were at Universal Orlando and was going on the Jimmy Fallon Race Thru New York ride. Over the course of our trip we had ridden this ride no less then 10 times prior to this final ride of our vacation. It is my Autistic sons favorite ride so we did it so much. We get into the ride and take our seats and they tell you to put your arms up so they can check to see you’re belted in correctly. Well I raise my hands up out of the way but my elbows are still on the arm rest. Seatbelt clearly visible no shirt or anything blocking it as I know the routine. Now this was an older aged Team Member maybe late 60’s early 70’s if it matters looks at me(40yrs) and rudely tells me I need to put my arms up. Ok, so I raise my arms up higher and off the arm rests cause he says I need them off the arm rests so the cameras can see. Ok I do that, he says “NO THEY HAVE BE STRAIGHT UP”. Finally getting upset myself by his attitude at this point I ask him why, I have ridden this attraction multiple times and haven’t had to extend my arms fully straight up previously. He says back to me that the rules have changed since the “FATAL ACCIDENT RECENTLY”. I am in total shock that he said that and I even here a lady behind me after that say she is unsure if she still wanted to ride the ride after hearing that. I have never heard of anyone dying on this ride I even checked the internet and found nothing. The Team Member was just to much and saying that was taking things to far. You don’t tell a guest even if true or false that someone has died on a ride Especially in front of kids. It isn’t like I was trying to hide anything or breaking rules. I made it so you can easily see my seat belt, I wasn’t even that many seat away from his position so he could see me clearly and be quite rude to my face. After his interaction with me he then proceeded to berate other guests behind me as he did his checks. After the ride I looked for him to get his information to report him as I was to upset to notice during our interaction but he was no where to be found after the ride. I assume he went and hid knowing what he said about someone dying on the ride went to far.

Edited Add: something I did learn from riding that attraction so many times. If you have a young kid that is small enough that their legs can rest up against the back of the seat in front of them that they keep their legs down. Apparently there is a sensor under the seats and if the kid raises their legs it thinks a person isn’t there anymore and the ride has to stop. I saw it happen to a family in front of us on one of the go around. I had thought they had stopped the ride cause someone at the same time was filming the ride with their flash light on the entire ride but nope. They didn’t care about that. They would stop the ride if they see someone on the Minions ride do that. They stopped cause the little girl in front of me put her legs up to brace herself during the ride. The poor father was like how can I keep her from doing that cause she was so young but yet tall enough to ride. I felt bad for him. They did restart the ride and everything went well.

 

[wdwrule]

I don’t have an answer to help but wanted to join here in telling my story of a recent Universal employee that was also just on a power trip. So this past trip at the end of April we were at Universal Orlando and was going on the Jimmy Fallon Race Thru New York ride. Over the course of our trip we had ridden this ride no less then 10 times prior to this final ride of our vacation. It is my Autistic sons favorite ride so we did it so much. We get into the ride and take our seats and they tell you to put your arms up so they can check to see you’re belted in correctly. Well I raise my hands up out of the way but my elbows are still on the arm rest. Seatbelt clearly visible no shirt or anything blocking it as I know the routine. Now this was an older aged Team Member maybe late 60’s early 70’s if it matters looks at me(40yrs) and rudely tells me I need to put my arms up. Ok, so I raise my arms up higher and off the arm rests cause he says I need them off the arm rests so the cameras can see. Ok I do that, he says “NO THEY HAVE BE STRAIGHT UP”. Finally getting upset myself by his attitude at this point I ask him why, I have ridden this attraction multiple times and haven’t had to extend my arms fully straight up previously. He says back to me that the rules have changed since the “FATAL ACCIDENT RECENTLY”. I am in total shock that he said that and I even here a lady behind me after that say she is unsure if she still wanted to ride the ride after hearing that. I have never heard of anyone dying on this ride I even checked the internet and found nothing. The Team Member was just to much and saying that was taking things to far. You don’t tell a guest even if true or false that someone has died on a ride Especially in front of kids. It isn’t like I was trying to hide anything or breaking rules. I made it so you can easily see my seat belt, I wasn’t even that many seat away from his position so he could see me clearly and be quite rude to my face. After his interaction with me he then proceeded to berate other guests behind me as he did his checks. After the ride I looked for him to get his information to report him as I was to upset to notice during our interaction but he was no where to be found after the ride. I assume he went and hid knowing what he said about someone dying on the ride went to far.

Edited Add: something I did learn from riding that attraction so many times. If you have a young kid that is small enough that their legs can rest up against the back of the seat in front of them that they keep their legs down. Apparently there is a sensor under the seats and if the kid raises their legs it thinks a person isn’t there anymore and the ride has to stop. I saw it happen to a family in front of us on one of the go around. I had thought they had stopped the ride cause someone at the same time was filming the ride with their flash light on the entire ride but nope. They didn’t care about that. They would stop the ride if they see someone on the Minions ride do that. They stopped cause the little girl in front of me put her legs up to brace herself during the ride. The poor father was like how can I keep her from doing that cause she was so young but yet tall enough to ride. I felt bad for him. They did restart the ride and everything went well.

Oh my. We’ve encountered the same TM at Fallon but not directly. He was the only rude TM we’ve ever encountered in all of our numerous trips. Long story short as we were about to sit, someone kindly told the TM that a drink had been spilled from the previous ride group. He said that’s all part of the ride… that there’s water spray now and then so the seat is sometimes wet. She replied “ice too??” He then complained that she shouldn’t be bringing in drinks on rides. But it wasn’t even hers. It was crazy. He grumbled the whole time about it. This was a very unusual and out of the norm experience as we usually have great experiences. I hope the family affected did report a complaint. Thinking back, I probably should have even though I wasn’t directly affected. It was a very awkward uneasy feeling.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

If you have a young kid that is small enough that their legs can rest up against the back of the seat in front of them that they keep their legs down. Apparently there is a sensor under the seats and if the kid raises their legs it thinks a person isn’t there anymore and the ride has to stop.... They stopped cause the little girl in front of me put her legs up to brace herself during the ride.

I wonder if the actual reason is so that people aren't injured by having their legs out straight then the seat in front of them moves back?

 

[sparrow10_]

Yeah, WDW might be lacking in some things in comparison to past years, but I did not encounter any bad CM or had a negative experience. I think just guest services puts WDW over Universal for me, as much as I loved velocicoaster and hagrids

 

[wdwrule]

I wonder if the actual reason is so that people aren't injured by having their legs out straight then the seat in front of them moves back?

I’ve wondered this too. Hubby was using the metal parts as foot rests and they told him he needed to put his legs straight down as they were checking restraints. I just assumed it was so the restraint could go further down.

ETA: ooops thought you were talking about Velocicoaster. I misunderstood

 

[ArielRae]

I wonder if the actual reason is so that people aren't injured by having their legs out straight then the seat in front of them moves back?

No, this ride vehicle is the whole theater that moves together as one unit. It is a rough ride at times during the show so I can see why a young kid would put their feet up to brace themselves.

All these seats move together as one. It is all one huge ride vehicle. Like one big star tours vehicle that tilts around. Found this photo online.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

All these seats move together as one. It is all one huge ride vehicle. Like one big star tours vehicle that tilts around. Found this photo online.

Ok, I couldn't remember -was thinking that the chairs tilt like Shrek.

 

[ruthies12]

@sparrow10_ guestservices@universalorlando.com is who you should send the email complaint to. You'll get a form letter reply letting you know they received your email and then within a week you should get a reply from an actual person.

I noticed some bad attitudes on my last trip too. Happened on both mummy and gringotts. I have a hard time with those rides even though I love them so much. My issue is that I'm bigger around the middle but I'm short. I fit the ride vehicles just fine, no issues at all, but as soon as the team members see me they automatically put me in the last row. That row is supposed to be for bigger people so I understand why they are doing it but the problem is that my feet don't touch in that row and I can't brace myself. It's very uncomfortable to the point of painful. If I'm in the front two rows I can ride in perfect comfort with my feet on the floor and bracing for the turns. Well it's very difficult to explain that to the TM's when they are trying to load you quickly so I always just ask to wait for the front row.

Sometimes they argue with me and try to tell me I'll be more comfortable in the last row and then I have to hold up the line explaining to them that I'm too short for that row. Most of the time they give me the row I'm asking for with or without a short wait depending on where they are in the loading process and which row was up next. I always ask very politely. I don't mind waiting an extra cycle or two and don't complain about that at all. But on my last trip I had it twice on each ride where the TM's must have been annoyed at people requesting front row or something cause they sent me and my party off to the side and just left us there. After several cars had gone through another TM noticed us and finally came over to see what we were waiting for and when I told them they put us on the next one. It was the same TM at mummy twice and the same TM at gringotts twice and all 4 times we had to put in a row by another TM at the ride.

Anyway long story just to say I've felt your pain and I understand your frustration with that situation!

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

I'm thinking the fatal accident the TM was referring to was the one at ICON, but still, totally inappropriate to speak to guests in that manner.

 

[Pages26]

I don’t have an answer to help but wanted to join here in telling my story of a recent Universal employee that was also just on a power trip. So this past trip at the end of April we were at Universal Orlando and was going on the Jimmy Fallon Race Thru New York ride. Over the course of our trip we had ridden this ride no less then 10 times prior to this final ride of our vacation. It is my Autistic sons favorite ride so we did it so much. We get into the ride and take our seats and they tell you to put your arms up so they can check to see you’re belted in correctly. Well I raise my hands up out of the way but my elbows are still on the arm rest. Seatbelt clearly visible no shirt or anything blocking it as I know the routine. Now this was an older aged Team Member maybe late 60’s early 70’s if it matters looks at me(40yrs) and rudely tells me I need to put my arms up. Ok, so I raise my arms up higher and off the arm rests cause he says I need them off the arm rests so the cameras can see. Ok I do that, he says “NO THEY HAVE BE STRAIGHT UP”. Finally getting upset myself by his attitude at this point I ask him why, I have ridden this attraction multiple times and haven’t had to extend my arms fully straight up previously. He says back to me that the rules have changed since the “FATAL ACCIDENT RECENTLY”. I am in total shock that he said that and I even here a lady behind me after that say she is unsure if she still wanted to ride the ride after hearing that. I have never heard of anyone dying on this ride I even checked the internet and found nothing. The Team Member was just to much and saying that was taking things to far. You don’t tell a guest even if true or false that someone has died on a ride Especially in front of kids. It isn’t like I was trying to hide anything or breaking rules. I made it so you can easily see my seat belt, I wasn’t even that many seat away from his position so he could see me clearly and be quite rude to my face. After his interaction with me he then proceeded to berate other guests behind me as he did his checks. After the ride I looked for him to get his information to report him as I was to upset to notice during our interaction but he was no where to be found after the ride. I assume he went and hid knowing what he said about someone dying on the ride went to far.

Edited Add: something I did learn from riding that attraction so many times. If you have a young kid that is small enough that their legs can rest up against the back of the seat in front of them that they keep their legs down. Apparently there is a sensor under the seats and if the kid raises their legs it thinks a person isn’t there anymore and the ride has to stop. I saw it happen to a family in front of us on one of the go around. I had thought they had stopped the ride cause someone at the same time was filming the ride with their flash light on the entire ride but nope. They didn’t care about that. They would stop the ride if they see someone on the Minions ride do that. They stopped cause the little girl in front of me put her legs up to brace herself during the ride. The poor father was like how can I keep her from doing that cause she was so young but yet tall enough to ride. I felt bad for him. They did restart the ride and everything went well.

The team member shouldn't be rude but they are probably frustrated..

The fatal accident they refering to was the drop tower at Icon park down the road.

That was caused by team members not checking the restraints correctly.

I believe after that incident, scrutiny and unannounced inspections by Florida safety board has increased with officers posing as guests.

Universal would of spoken to all staff and probably issued warnings that disciplinary action would be taken against any team member not following procedures to the letter.

Unfortunately it's the way of life that when some staff get a warning they will take that negatively and then be pedantic/over the top.

 

[danno561]

Yeah, WDW might be lacking in some things in comparison to past years, but I did not encounter any bad CM or had a negative experience. I think just guest services puts WDW over Universal for me, as much as I loved velocicoaster and hagrids

Could not disagree more. Just my opinion, based on recent experiences at Universal and AK.

 

[Lashed34]

There will always be some staff/cast that are not as friendly as others - life sometimes gets in way, as it does for all of us. Make a complaint if you feel it's valid, otherwise just brush it off and enjoy the rest of your day.

 

[Jessem1133]

There will always be some staff/cast that are not as friendly as others - life sometimes gets in way, as it does for all of us. Make a complaint if you feel it's valid, otherwise just brush it off and enjoy the rest of your day.

This.
It happens, I wouldn't feel the need to jeopardize someone's career by writing an email over something so minor.