Just back 1/22/23- a few observations about recently discussed topics

[ruthies12]

Just got home last night after 9 days at Universal. Trip was from 1/13 to 1/22. Flew down with my dh and 2 dd's ages 9 and 14. Then on Tuesday the dh and dd's flew home and my sister flew down and we spent the rest of the time as a girls trip.

Leaky Cauldron breakfast- ate breakfast at leaky cauldron 3 times. First two times was using vouchers I had purchased the night of arrival. Had no problem getting the vouchers at the vacation desk even for the very next morning on a Saturday morning of MLK weekend. When we got to the restaurant we were let in without any mention of vouchers. When we got to the cashier to order (they don't do mobile ordering for bfast, only lunch and dinner) the cashier asked if we had vouchers or were using a credit card. Third time we went we did not have vouchers and had no issues getting in or getting breakfast.

It was SUPER crowded. I knew it was going to be, it was a holiday weekend, but I expected crowds to thin out a bit after the holiday. It did not. The only day that was less crowded was Wednesday and it wasn't a huge difference. There were lines at every bathroom, getting food took forever, just walking through the parks was an issue.

There was a ton of rudeness. Another poster had mentioned extreme rudeness and they were correct, it is way worse than it has ever been. I had one guy actually come up behind me and push into my back with his chest and physically push me forward. As soon as I turned to ask him to back off he and his girlfriend rushed past me and got ahead of me in the line. I was so shocked but they were gone ahead before I could even say anything. We were in the express line for forbidden journey and I guess he did it to the other people in the line cause when I caught up to the line they were nowhere to be seen already.

I overheard one worker telling another worker that he was having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning on days he worked because he was so tired of being yelled at. I lost count of the number of people I heard arguing with the TMs. So very many foreign visitors not understanding how express worked and getting mad at the TMs when they weren't let in the express line. People walking up pushing a wheelchair and then arguing with the TM's because they wouldn't let them cut the line without the disability pass, they thought having one person in a wheelchair gave them front of the line access.

One night we were next to load on Transformers and the party in front of us were arguing terribly with the worker. We couldn't hear all of what was being said but I heard the words recent surgery from the TM and she was trying to get the people to get off the ride and leave and they were refusing to leave. The other TM's had to rush over and confront the people as a group, they moved us all back in case it got violent. It shut the ride down for quite awhile cause the people argued for a long time and then they had to reset it. They gave us one time express passes to make up for it which we passed on to others since we had unlimited ep. I though the TMs handled it very well, kept their cool and stayed polite in the face of that guys extreme nastiness. Overall during the trip majority of the TM's were still friendly and polite, only a few seemed to be letting the rudeness get to them and I can't say I blame them.

International travel is back with a vengeance lol. I think the park was mostly filled with South Americans. When standing near other people we were overhearing non-English about 80% of the time.

My dd wanted elixirs from eternelles and it wasn't open all week until the final day of my trip. At one point my dh asked a worker why it wasn't open and the worker told him that universal has been cutting everybody's hours and now they can't get people to fill all the spots. I have no idea if that's true, that's just what one tm at the hopping pot said.

Royal Pacific was good as usual. I liked the jurassic park suite I had with my family for the first four nights but my 14 year old thought the kids beds were extremely hard and she didn't sleep well. When I moved to a 2 queen with my sister we were given one of the rooms in the middle of the tower and it was oddly shaped so that the desk was right next to the second bed. If you pulled out the desk chair there was no way to get between it and the bed without climbing over the bed. The shower in that room was also smaller, very narrow. Did not like that room.

I had a 2 park buy 2 day get 2 free ticket from orlando informer with a start date of Saturday the 14th. I upgraded to a seasonal pass and it was $84. My sister had the same ticket but with a start date for Tuesday instead of Saturday and they charged her $124 to upgrade to a seasonal pass. I have no idea why the huge price difference. The different start dates weren't that steep of a difference.

Overall, it was a good trip but it will likely be awhile before I go back. I made a point of smiling and saying thank you to all the TM's and I hope everyone with upcoming trips does the same!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I sometimes think that people "don't understand" the express lines just to try to get away with stuff. The same that they "don't understand" how lines work.

Was your sister's ticket a one-park-per-day? Might explain the price difference.

 

[ruthies12]

Nope hers was 2 park also. We had both entered the park and did the upgrade at the hogsmeade station, just on different days.

You are probably right on the "not understanding" twice I saw people trying to use the one time per ride passes more than once at the same ride and the workers gave up arguing with them and still let them through so that tactic does work if you argue long enough

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Overall, it was a good trip but it will likely be awhile before I go back. I made a point of smiling and saying thank you to all the TM's and I hope everyone with upcoming trips does the same!

This so much. There is never a reason to be rude. Plus, you're at Universal!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

the workers gave up arguing with them and still let them through so that tactic does work if you argue long enough

This is the saddest part. It works, so they keep doing it. I hate those entitled people who think they can bypass any rules.

 

[ruthies12]

@nerdboyrockstar my 14 year old is usually quite oblivious and even she noticed how badly the workers were being treated by people and commented that she could never work there because she'd end up slapping the rude guests lol. Those poor TM's are putting up with a lot right now! It truly boggles my mind that some people act the way I witnessed, I've never seen anything like it before and I've been to both US and DW many, many times. I don't know if it was the extremeness of the behaviors or the sheer volume of it, but it was incredible.

 

[Ds4angels]

Nope hers was 2 park also. We had both entered the park and did the upgrade at the hogsmeade station, just on different days.

You are probably right on the "not understanding" twice I saw people trying to use the one time per ride passes more than once at the same ride and the workers gave up arguing with them and still let them through so that tactic does work if you argue long enough

I had read an article a few years back about "the little Brazilian way" how in Brazil it's considered "normal" to try to get away with things. In one way it made sense I guess, but you're not in Brazil and you are just being rude.

 

[skuttle]

I hate to read this, but also a little thankful. We’re headed down for our first family universal trip next month. This will help me manage expectations and hopefully still have an enjoyable trip if I’m expecting lots rude guests.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

It's not just one group, it's more people in general acting more entitled and rude.
Kudos for being kind to the CMs, we try to thank each by name whenever possible. They make the experience and much as the rides and themes.

 

[Pooh's World]

I had read an article a few years back about "the little Brazilian way" how in Brazil it's considered "normal" to try to get away with things. In one way it made sense I guess, but you're not in Brazil and you are just being rude.

It's being "clever". Part of the culture.

 

[Jrb1979]

It's not just one group, it's more people in general acting more entitled and rude.
Kudos for being kind to the CMs, we try to thank each by name whenever possible. They make the experience and much as the rides and themes.

Agreed. I visited multiple different parks last summer and saw the same thing there too. It's not just people being rude but many people acting as if it's there first time visiting a theme park.

 

[shh]

It's being "clever". Part of the culture.

If that is the culture, doesn't sound like a culture I'd want any part of. So fed up with polite, rule following people getting mistreated and low lifes getting rewarded for their poor behavior. Company leadership complains about staffing shortages - well duh! Why should anyone continue working at a place (theme park, restaurant, etc) that doesn't support them and allows customer to whine, get their bratty way, and treat staff like crap when there are so many other employment options? Just try pulling this crap in a hospital or doctor's office or bank.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

It's not just people being rude but many people acting as if it's there first time visiting a theme park.

You mean, their first time out in public interacting with other humans? First time in a theme park is no excuse for rudeness, it's no different than going to a store and barging in front of a line or yelling at someone.

People see that BS work for someone else, no consequences, so they follow suit. It is aggravating as all get out. Start kicking a few people out of the line, or out of the park, for unacceptable behavior, and that BS will practically disappear. And most people would cheer the TM on for removing the entitled brats.

 

[saskdw]

We were at UO for 11 days in December and didn't experience any line jumpers at all. Just the regular annoyances of people that aren't aware of, or don't care what's going on around them. Stopping right in the middle of a walkway and blocking the path, then not moving out of the way until they are told too. But that's been going on since they invented theme parks. I didn't find it any better or worse than the last 10 times we were in Orlando.

 

[ruthies12]

I will say the TM's were trying! We were walking through the que at ET and a couple went under the rope from the regular que and tried to enter the express line after the scan point but a TM saw them do it and rushed out and made them go back out to the back of the regular line.

Yeah there was also a lot of the stopping in walkways and general obliviousness that is always present lol, that never changes.

I was just shocked at the amount of other rudeness, cutting, not following instructions from the workers and arguing with the workers. I'm not saying it was all South Americans, it was a lot of people in general.

Coincidentally there was a high percentage of South Americans in the park, there always is in January and there was a big soccer thing in Citywalk that week with a game on a big screen and a ton of people watching that I believe was some sort of separate ticket event so I don't know if that may have caused an upswing in the foreign visitors that particular week.

But I don't want to come off as saying that I think all South Americans are rude cause that is not what I'm saying at all. I was just saying that there were a lot of foreigners and a lot of rudeness, the two are not necessarily related. The "confusion" regarding express lines did seem to be foreigners though, but the other rudeness was a good mix. I did also hear a lot of announcements about single rider lines having parties split up and not being able to request rows. The TM's were repeating that over the speakers over and over again so I wonder how many people were trying to use single rider lines and not get split from their party

I'm glad to hear there was not a lot of rudeness on your visit in December saskdw. Makes me hopeful there are still normal times!

 

[saskdw]

I wouldn't say there was no rudeness....LOL.

It was just the normal amount. I didn't see an increase over previous years. There also wasn't really any touring groups that I noticed so that might have helped.

There was a bunch of high school football players staying at Portifno while we were there, but other than being loud in the hallways they didn't cause any issues.

 

[Jrb1979]

You mean, their first time out in public interacting with other humans? First time in a theme park is no excuse for rudeness, it's no different than going to a store and barging in front of a line or yelling at someone.

People see that BS work for someone else, no consequences, so they follow suit. It is aggravating as all get out. Start kicking a few people out of the line, or out of the park, for unacceptable behavior, and that BS will practically disappear. And most people would cheer the TM on for removing the entitled brats.

I'm not excusing it at all. It's a major reason I dislike the majority of GP when I go to any park. I will say other parks do kick people out for line jumping and bad behaviour. I saw it a few times people kicked out at Cedar Point

 

[ruthies12]

There were definitely a ton of tour groups last week. Saw lots of people with flags on poles leading large groups of people and heaps of brightly colored draw-string bags left at ride ques with one person standing there with the bags.

I did not notice any particular rudeness from any of the tour groups I saw. Of course it can be difficult when they take up an entire walkway due to their size, and there was one group of teen girls in matching tshirts together in line at velocicoaster one night that were being especially loud, but other than that they were fine. Most of the cutting and arguing that I saw seemed to be from families and couples. Whether those families were there as part of a tour or not I've no idea. But the ones with kids made me extremely sad for the example they are setting.

There's always going to be some rude people and annoyances. I've seen the usual amount of rudeness on every trip over the years, I've been to the parks in Orlando at least once a year since 2009, usually more as I live right next to an airport that has cheap direct flights in only 2 hours and I almost always get a seasonal pass to Universal and go 2 or 3 times per year. I can honestly say this week took the cake.

 

[ruthies12]

I do agree that they should kick people out for cutting and for being rude to the workers. I live just 45 minutes from a Cedar park and have a pass there and they do kick people out for that. I don't usually see those things at that park, probably because people know they will be kicked out if they do it. I was happy when that worker saw the people climb under the rope in the ET forest, but was disappointed they only had to go back to the line. And not the outside line either, just the one at the start of the rope in the forest. You just know those people are just going to try it again next time.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

...There's always going to be some rude people and annoyances. I've seen the usual amount of rudeness on every trip over the years, I've been to the parks in Orlando at least once a year since 2009, usually more as I live right next to an airport that has cheap direct flights in only 2 hours and I almost always get a seasonal pass to Universal and go 2 or 3 times per year. I can honestly say this week took the cake.

We were there last week and felt the same way. Too many rude people everywhere - waiting in line to get into the park, waiting in the attraction lines, waiting for food, literally pushing to get ahead in line.

Our main goal was to ride Woody Woodpecker on its last day of operation Sunday, 1/15/23. We were able to ride it, but trying to navigate the crowds and parks left us feeling defeated.

We figured we'd give it a try again on Thursday hoping for a better experience (considering that we previously visited the Sunday of a holiday weekend), but we left after about 4 hours. Our passes expired this past Monday and we're not renewing them. We're going to wait until they finish building the new park, and visit a year or two after opening.