Universal Studios Part I

[Guest Relations King]

I have a friend who worked for Universal Studios who wanted me to pass this along.

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We always have to inform parents that we request that they not take the elevator because they will have to wait for the van, which takes wheelchair and disabled guests as a priority. Parents with strollers are asked to take their children out of the stroller and take the child and empty stroller down the escalators. They attempt to use an elevator that only goes down one floor to a loading dock for an alternate transportation vehicle to take them down the hill. Depending on the season, there may only be one or two vans which come every 20 minutes or so. This was the middle of summer, but since it was slow, the vans tended to come roughly every 25 minutes.

This woman came by with her kid, and heads for the elevator, so I explain to her how she can take the escalator and should not take the elevator. She says to me "So, are you going to hold the stroller for me?" "I'm sorry, I have to stay up here." "Well, I can’t go down with my kid and hold the stroller at the same time!" "Well, I’m sorry, the elevator only goes one floor down, and you will have to wait for a van to take you the rest of the way. They take wheelchairs as a priority, so if it fills with wheelchairs first, you will have to wait for the next van. They come about every 20 minutes." Her kid starts screaming and she storms into the elevator.

She goes down to the loading area. She appears back at the top of the elevator, pissed because they either didn’t let her on the van, or her kid started to complain because they waited down there 20 minutes and no van had come yet.

She leaves her stroller at the top of the Starway, where we don’t allow guests to leave their strollers because we can’t be liable for their unattended property, and goes down the escalator after giving me a rude look like I told her to jump down the escalators or something.

[Teddykeiko86]

Aww. This brings back memories. More like PTSD. They think the elevator magically goes down hill. Even after you explain geography and physics to them, they ignore, take the elevator and get pissed that you didn't tell them the elevator went to the LL. Really?
Or the suggestion to put a monorail or skyway in.
I loved standing at the top of starway in a a thunderstorm for 2 hours. Standing on top of an umbrella, so it wouldn't blow away. Couldn't tell the guests not to take the elevator because if I left the umbrella, it'd become a projectile. Radio is now nearly waterlogged. Clothes soaked. I can't even give directions to guests because I am shivering so much. Practically convulsing. Felt ill, hypothermic. And to top it off, lead took 3 radio calls to arrive, only to arrive bone dry, i pod in hand and ear "what to you want?" .. Uh twenty minutes to go to wardrobe and change my clothes, and something warm to drink? - No sorry, you need to watch the guests going down the elevator or i'll write you up. AKA - I am too busy on Myspace in the office to help or answer a radio call the first 2 times. Sup says, try to stay dry and out of the rain. - Uh... you told us to stand here so we are more visible to the guests. FML

And that, is one of the reasons I no longer work there or will NEVER go back in my life ( even as a guest)

[EeyoresButterfly]

I can somewhat understand where the guests are coming from on this one. This seems like a pretty crappy set up on Universal's part. I'm not entirely sure where you are talking about, but have a general idea of the issue. If you look at the signs on escalators, they specifically say that you are not to put strollers on them. It's too dangerous. It sounds like their choice is ignore and potentially put their child in danger, or use an elevator. I'm also wondering hwo this works with the ADA. If I needed to use a wheelchair, I think I would not be overly thrilled to have to wait 20 minutes when able bodied people have to wait not at all.

She should not have been rude, but in this case, I do understand her frustration.

[CBeilby]

Teddykeiko's talking about the top of the Starway at Universal Studios Hollywood. Part of the issue here is that there is only one or two minibusses available to run the guests down the hill to the Lower Lot, and the road in question is shared with any vehicle that has to go from upper lot to lower lot, including the tour trams. The elevator and minibus arrangement is set up specifically for ADA compliance, and if every guest with a stroller were allowed to use it as well, the wait would probably be considerably longer than twenty minutes.

[EeyoresButterfly]

Is this to and from the parking lot I take it? Regardless, I still think the guest had a right to be frustrated. You are leaving them with absolutely no options. You don't want them to use the elevator, but yet strollers are not supposed to be allowed on escalators and I can see why a parent would not feel safe doing so. It sounds like poor planning on Universal's part all the way around. Again, she should not have been rude, but she really wasn't given any options.

[CBeilby]

There is nothing to do with the parking lot here. Universal Studios Hollywood is built on the side of a fairly steep hill. The buses in question are to provide ADA compliance to bypass a series of escalators which run nearly a quarter of a mile from the top of the hill, the Upper Lot, and the base of the hill, which is called the Lower Lot. The Upper Lot is where the majority of attractions are located, while the Lower Lot is where Jurassic Park, Revenge of the Mummy, the Special Effects Stage show, and the NBC Universal Experience are located.

However, what I said before still applies. The buses (and these are only mini-buses, not full sized buses) are there for, and ONLY FOR, ADA compliance. The crew members do NOT prevent people from using them to bypass the Starway with their strollers, but priority STILL goes to guests in wheelchairs, and always will. Furthermore, a lot of these guests try to do this to avoid having to fold the strollers, something which they are going to have to do anyway in this case because of Department of Transportation regulation. As for the frequency of the buses, that decision was made by management, due to various considerations. But as I also pointed out, this road is used by Tour trams, studio vehicles, LACoFD (as Station 51 is located about halfway down the hill,) and any other traffic that needs to access the upper area of the hill. Also, USH is not like USF, where they have enough room to spread operations out over a large space, but is, rather, built in and around a working studio facility. Unlike USF, which was built first and foremost as a theme park, with some production facilities, USH was built in an area of the Studio Lot which was of limited use for production. Indeed, the Lower Lot is actually set in a corner of Front Lot, and is literally half surrounded by sound stages. Also, there is literally no space for the park to expand any further, which would have been necessary for the planning that you would have needed for the operations that you seem to think should have taken place. USH is bounded by Warner Studios, the Hollywood Freeway, the Carl Laemmle Golf Course (owned by the city of Burbank,) and Studio City. You can call it poor planning if you'd like, but doing so without understanding the geographical and operational considerations of the situation would be a mistake.

(Just a note. I no longer work at USH, and have not since 2006.)

[BRWombat]

Google Maps with Streetview is a good thing. Is this the location here?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=uni ... 2,,0,12.03

[CptnSkippy]

Google Maps with Streetview is a good thing. Is this the location here?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=uni ... 2,,0,12.03

So who drove the Googlemobile up on the sidewalks?

[hobie16]

So who drove the Googlemobile up on the sidewalks?

The Googledrunk.

[CBeilby]

Google Maps with Streetview is a good thing. Is this the location here?

Indeed it is, Wombat. The elevator in question is in the right of that view, just past the pan line. If you go straight ahead, you go down the Starway itself, to the Lower Lot. What you can't see is that the boarding ramp for the bus is approximately 30 feet down just below the railings.