For our anniversary, Mark wanted to take me to Disney for the weekend. While that sounds great, it's actually quite expensive. Can Disney be done cheap? Of course. Can I do it cheap? Not really. Do you know what is a great alternative that's a bit cheaper? Universal Studios!
There were a few factors that actually led me to suggest we go to Universal that weekend, as opposed to Disney. First of all, we could do it cheaper. I only needed one day to see everything we wanted to see. At Disney, I would leave feeling I missed something. The shortest Disney trip I've done was two days, and I didn't get to visit all the parks, so I was a bit sad. A one day park hopping ticket at Universal was cheaper than at Disney.
Staying at a Universal hotel that would give us extra access to the parks was much cheaper than any Disney hotel with the same perk. Well, it was about $100 less to do Universal. Now, that would have had us staying at the cheapest Disney hotel, which I didn't like when I spent a night there a year and a half ago. See, that's part of the problem that I have with Disney. I am a bit spoiled and don't like staying at the most inexpensive hotels. We are a moderate resort family.
When I realized that I hadn't been to Universal in probably fifteen years and Mark had only been to one Universal Park, I thought it might be fun for us to do something together that was largely new to us. Mark gets a kick out of doing new things, while I am happy with the same old, same old.* I figured it would be more of a joint anniversary gift if we did something that would be fun for both of us.
Now that I've explained why I betrayed my beloved Disney, we can get on with this review. Once the decision was made to go to Universal, I hopped on their website and tried to book the package I found that we wanted. I kept trying and trying, but it was telling me there was a problem with my cards.
Now let me explain why I was using two cards. I currently work at a bank. I previously worked at another bank, which I left on good terms. Those of you that know me already know this. I try not to be that annoying person at work that always says "At my last bank..." when starting stories, but I'm sure it happens. Since I liked that bank and I like my current employer, I have accounts at both banks. I use one mainly for a fun savings, while the other is my working fund. This meant I needed to tap two accounts when paying for this little getaway.
I knew there were funds in both accounts that exceeded what I was trying to draw out to pay for our trip. After much frustration, I gave Universal Studios customer service a call. I figured maybe they would be able to see more information regarding the error than I was.
The young lady I spoke to was amazing. I'm used to the Disney level of customer service, and this girl was giving me a better experience than I usually get when talking to Disney. That's saying something. After I gave her the information, she recreated the package I had online and took my payment information. She was getting the same error as I, but she realized it wasn't because of a lack of funds. It turns out that when I moved and changed my address with the bank in Pennsylvania, they didn't update the address that my debit card was attached to, so when I input my zip code, it was rejecting the transaction. The nice lady on the phone asked me to give her my previous zip code, and we were off and running! She was so helpful and nice that I actually asked for her supervisor so I could give her the recognition she deserved.
I haven't posted my full review of Universal Studios yet, but I can assure you their customer service department is quite good. Well, the girl I talked to was amazing. I'm sure it could be a fluke, but I prefer to think that Universal has nailed the customer service aspect of their business. If you have questions or need help regarding a trip to Universal, don't hesitate to call. They're super friendly and helpful!
*AKA Disney
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