Kudos to Universal Studios Orlando

Greetings All,

I just wanted to take a moment to share an experience I had with Universal Orlando today. My wife and I are going to Orlando next week and will be staying at the HGVC on I-Drive. We went as part of a package (owners update) that included a free pair of 1 Park / 1 Day tickets for Universal Orlando.

I had sent a message to Universal about 3 days ago via their web page telling them that it was our 5 year anniversary, and wanted to know if they could suggest anything I could do to make it more special, or if there were any programs I could get involved in. I also told them about the pair of 1 Park / 1 Day tickets we would be getting from HGVC.

Today I received a call from Universal Guest Relations congratulating us on our 5 years. The rep I spoke with also had a code he wanted to give me, which I was to use when we go to Universal. He told me to take that code, and our 1 Park / 1 Day tickets to the Guest Relations center when we arrive, and they would upgrade them to 2 Day / 2 Park tickets for free so we could enjoy some additional time at Universal. He also informed me if we wished we could then pay the difference and upgrade to Annual Passes as well if we felt we would use them.

I also received a follow up email later today from his supervisor letting me know if we had any questions or issues to call him directly, and he provided his direct phone number.

I just felt this was a very nice gesture, and certainly not what I expected. Kudos to Universal Orlando!

Doug

Thanks for posting. It's always nice to hear of a company who goes out of its way to provide excellent customer service.

That's nice, but I expected more when I read your title. I definitely expected something more personal. Tickets seem very impersonal, especiallly since the motive is for you to spend more money in the park.

Didn't mean to rain on it, but just thinking a comped bottle of wine with dinner would have been a nicer touch.

Carl D, somehow I think your response would have been much different if it had been Disneyworld that was giving free tickets for another day at the park.

Seems to me that two free tickets to Universal would be worth more than a bottle of wine at a dinner that the recipients would have to pay for.

Universal did the right thing by not ignoring your request. Kudos to the customer service rep and Universal for gifting you a return visit.

Universal seems to better understnad customer relations now than Disney

Carl D said:

That's nice, but I expected more when I read your title. I definitely expected something more personal. Tickets seem very impersonal, especiallly since the motive is for you to spend more money in the park.

Didn't mean to rain on it, but just thinking a comped bottle of wine with dinner would have been a nicer touch.

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Lets see, the last time Disney gavce out a free admission or upgrade was - well, on birthdays this year! Good for them. But they were FAR too strict with the limitations. Requiring you to attend ONLY on the exact day was pretty harsh. I was in Orlando for 3 weeks & left one day before my birthday - they wouldn't budge on that one 24 hour period. So my record of no Disney for 5+ years stays intact and isn't likely to change anytime soon. They would have got two paid admissions from my wife & daughter for making me happy by 1 day but they got squat instead. So they got what they wanted I guess.

Meanwhile Universal does a nice thing like Disney USED to do.

Karen G said:

Carl D, somehow I think your response would have been much different if it had been Disneyworld that was giving free tickets for another day at the park.

Seems to me that two free tickets to Universal would be worth more than a bottle of wine at a dinner that the recipients would have to pay for.

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As I said, it was nice. That said, it costs nothing to comp an extra day in the park. They will even make money by selling food and souvies.

Don't know that Disney would do anything, but my point really wasn't to compare the two.

The last few times I've been to Universal, there was someone standing near the gate on the way out offering free second day / either park tickets. I really don't think Universal is being overly generous in this case.

To add to the compliments, here's our story:
... A few year's back, we were on our way back to our hotel via their park-hotel bus system; however, the bus to our hotel failed to appear for over an hour. Apparently, I was the only one who lodged a complaint, but they told me that, as a result, they revamped their bus system, rewrote their contracts, and comped us both a 1-day, 2-park pass to be used whenever we wanted.

Carl D said:

As I said, it was nice. That said, it costs nothing to comp an extra day in the park. They will even make money by selling food and souvies.

Don't know that Disney would do anything, but my point really wasn't to compare the two.

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It costs Disney nothing to comp a second day either, but they wouldn't have comped another day under the same circumstances. The last time I was at Disney they were selling a lot of fast food, and they sell a lot more souvies than Universal does each and every day. If that is the reason Universal did the kind gesture, Disney should do the same because it doesn't cost them anything either. Of course I dislike Disney just as much as you like them, so I never expect them to do anything more than they have to. Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, Discovery Cove, and Busch Gardens are the reasons I like the central Florida area. If Disney was the only area attraction, I would probably never visit Orlando again. Unless I have to take the grandkids to Disney someday, I will never again spend a dollar in that magical money pit.

Congrats to Universal for doing more than they had to for their customers. Disney could take lessons in customer relations from Universal.

Sea Six said:

The last few times I've been to Universal, there was someone standing near the gate on the way out offering free second day / either park tickets. I really don't think Universal is being overly generous in this case.

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Hmm, so Universal is not overly generous? When was the last time you were offered a free second day/ park hopper pass when you left Disney?

Congrats to Universal. They treated you as an individual and with respect. No offense, 5 years is great but is not an unusual milestone like 50 years of marriage that is recognized across the board as "special". They saw that it was something special to you and your wife and responded accordingly. That is great customer service.

tombo said:

Hmm, so Universal is not overly generous? When was the last time you were offered a free second day/ park hopper pass when you left Disney?

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As Florida residents, we get pretty much anything we want from both Disney AND Universal. We just make out better at Disney. This thread is about Universal, but I'm just saying overall, I get more from the mouse than Popeye.

Sea Six said:

As Florida residents, we get pretty much anything we want from both Disney AND Universal. We just make out better at Disney. This thread is about Universal, but I'm just saying overall, I get more from the mouse than Popeye.

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Well us "out of staters" get nothing special from Disney, and we have to travel farther to visit the parks and we spend more on travel and accomodations than people who live in Florida and can drive to the park for the day and back home at night. You would think that they would appreciate us more than they do and show it with specials and discounts in this economy, but it seems that Disney only gives Florida residents a deal.

The prices for Universal/IOA and Busch Gardens/ Sea World unlimited 7 or 14 day multi park passes are much better than anything Disney offers us "out of staters". I guess the Florida State Troopers aren't the only ones who love to stick it to out of state visitors. Apparently Disney doesn't want to give us a break either. Well I will be staying on site at Disney in July (courtesy of my company) and I will not personally spend a dollar with Disney. Thanks to their lack of customer appreciation and boring rides I will not enter the gates to any Disney Park a single time while I am staying on site for a week. I will instead take advantage of the great prices offered to us non florida residents by Sea World/Busch Gardens ($89 unlimited both parks) and Universal/IOA ($99 unlimited both parks). I like to spend my money with companies that appreciate my business even if I do live out of state.

I have to admit, I never really saw this thread taking on the life that it did. When I emailed Universal, the primary purpose was to try to find ways I could make my trip with my wife more special for her. There was never a request or expectation that Universal would offer anything to us for free. Honestly I figured I would get emailed back a list of cool things to do there that might help me plan.

Regardless of how some individuals may not feel that this is a big deal, they still went above what was required in my book. Is this all a ploy to get us to spend more in the parks, sure it is. I am sure they also hope I will tell people how great an experience I had with them too. That is all just part of marketing.

Before we were going to go visit one park, now we can go two days and visit both parks. We are on a real shoestring budget at the moment, and this gives us the chance to enjoy our trip even more without having to spend extra money.

All in all, I stand by my Kudos to Universal Orlando. Regardless of what the motives may have been, it was a very nice and unexpected gesture.

Doug

Doug said:

Regardless of what the motives may have been, it was a very nice and unexpected gesture.

Doug

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And that's how you "delight" your customer. I agree, Kudos to Universal.

BTW, Happy Anniversary!

Sue

tombo said:

Well us "out of staters" get nothing special from Disney, and we have to travel farther to visit the parks and we spend more on travel and accomodations than people who live in Florida and can drive to the park for the day and back home at night. You would think that they would appreciate us more than they do and show it with specials and discounts in this economy, but it seems that Disney only gives Florida residents a deal.

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To be fair, Disney has offered some great discounts recently. We were down there for our spring break, and one of DDs best friends was also there staying onsite. The original plan was to stay at a value resort for 6 nights. After they booked, Disney offered 3 free days with a 4-day stay, so they were able to stretch the visit an extra day, and upgrade to a higher quality room, for the same price. With their current ticket pricing, the extra day in the parks was less than $15 for the family.

Rest assured, with both parks, they are in the business of making money. Disney knows the lower prices will bring in more guests, just as Universal knows comping an extra day at the park will result in more food purchases. Calling either generous is like calling the casinos with the cheap booze generous - it's all part of the business plan.

Last time we left Universal Studios (about 2 months ago) they offered us a free ticket to come back again during the week we were there, as they always seem to do. We turned it down because we saw everything in the park in 1 day. We went on every attraction in the park, and talked about what the current rides used to be years ago. The Simpson's ride was FUN, and we liked it before when it was "Back to the Future". We remembered rides like Ghostbusters and King Kong that were long gone. And we visited the tired old attractions from day 1, like the Animal Actors, Jaws, and ET. How old are those movies now? Then we had to walk all the way back to our car, which was the longest walk of the day. How can you spend 7 days at this place?

falmouth3 said:

And that's how you "delight" your customer.

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That's absolutely right. Marketers build loyalty by mass campaign or in a more personal basis like this. The delight that Universal creates for an individual when they do something like this - simple or not, expensive or not - can have a terrific "pebble in the pond" effect that, in turn, creates a very positive public perception of Universal itself. I think that giving Universal's customer service staff the latitude, assuming that they have, to award free days is a quite brilliant, though subtle, marketing tactic.

Some of us here might be a bit more jaded and recognize that Universal ultimately benefits financially from this move but think about how many people reading this on TUG will come away with a more positive view of the theme park and generate more income. And, I suspect, that when a poster takes the time to post a story like this here, think about the many other people who have heard or will hear the story directly from Mr. and Mrs. Doug and relate the story on from there.

Kudos, indeed, to Universal for going beyond the expectations of their customer and for potentially creating some positive marketing buzz that will possibly turn into additional income for the company. In the current economy that's not always so easily accomplished.

Dick Taylor

Sea Six said:

Last time we left Universal Studios (about 2 months ago) they offered us a free ticket to come back again during the week we were there, as they always seem to do. We turned it down because we saw everything in the park in 1 day. We went on every attraction in the park, and talked about what the current rides used to be years ago. The Simpson's ride was FUN, and we liked it before when it was "Back to the Future". We remembered rides like Ghostbusters and King Kong that were long gone. And we visited the tired old attractions from day 1, like the Animal Actors, Jaws, and ET. How old are those movies now? Then we had to walk all the way back to our car, which was the longest walk of the day. How can you spend 7 days at this place?

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Didn't you go into Islands of Adventure??? Awesome thrill rides!! Did you take advantage of City Walk? We love that too.

How many times can I stand to hear "It's A Small World"?

timetraveler said:

Didn't you go into Islands of Adventure??? Awesome thrill rides!! Did you take advantage of City Walk? We love that too.

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Exactly. Unlike Disney, which is a tired, repetitive group of sit down shows that quickly grow old, Universal offers some action that doesn't get old. Add in some of the best animation/live action rides anywhere (Spiderman, Men In Black and more) which Disney has tried and failed miserably at (check out the "Tomorrow Land" roster of closed attractions) and the attraction for days of visits is obvious. The whole layout - with the two parks next door to each other with the fabulous City Walk in between and the use of high rise garages vs miles of wasted paved lots & the time wasting trams/buses needed to get to them - is far better than Disney. No wonder they closed "Pleasure Island" as it was more of a torture to be there.

Disney seems to appeal to the really young and those that want to sit with a stage show in front of them. We prefer more action so Disney maybe gets a day for all 4 parks while Universal needs an annual pass each year. The lower cost is just gravy to the better experience.

Apples and Oranges

I like both .My teen son now prefers Universal so we spend more time there now.Next year Universal will be opening a new section , Harrry Potter themed.It Looks like Another year of annual passes for Universal and a 2 day pass for Disney.I think it's great that customer service did something nice for Doug.

timetraveler said:

Didn't you go into Islands of Adventure??? Awesome thrill rides!! Did you take advantage of City Walk? We love that too.

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Yes, we did IOA the second day, and had the same experience - did it all so quickly we felt like we were leaving the park early. I remember when Spiderman was new, we waited in line for an hour. Last trip we walked directly through the queue area and onto a ride car with no wait. We even rode some of the Dr Suess rides thinking we would be bringing our 4 year old grandson along and wanted to see what they were like. We even wasted a half hour on that aweful Poseidon's Fury. As for CityWalk, we did that too. Our favorite is still MargaritaVille because of the live entertainment. They always seem to have great bands there. I always hit the walk-up take out margarita window while we wait for a table. I used to like the Motown Cafe - we had some great nights there, but it is long gone. We also walked thru the NASCAR cafe (I'm a race fan) - the place was totally empty. Then we went to the Hard Rock. Some people there, but no waiting for a table. Bought some goodies and headed back to the car. Did almost everything at IOA and City Walk. Short day.

Play That Funky Music.

How many times can I stand to hear "It's A Small World"?

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James Christensen did lots of musical arranging for Disney Productions & the Disney theme parks, in addition to doing nice concert band arrangements of Disney music medleys.

When he was in town as Fairfax Band guest conductor a few years back, I asked him if he ever gets tired of hearing It's A Small World After All.

"Never," he said. "It's music to my ears."

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Some years ago we went to Disney in California. For some reason a number of rides were down that day. I wrote a letter to Disney and all five of us received complimentary 3-DAY tickets with no expiry.