Just a comment about Universal numbers.I actually find it amusing that UO attendance is down. Maybe if they gave NBC/Universal employees some incentive to visit, we'd go there instead of Walt Disney World! NBC/Universal employees only get a small price break for a one-day pass. We pay the same as the public for multi-day tickets.
No wonder most employees skip Universal Orlando when taking their families to Orlando.
Honestly, I look around at my location and can see countless employees who have gone to Disney in the past year or two and NOT gone to Universal. Looks like our own company would bribe us to go with a free employee ticket... then we'd buy tickets for our family members along with food, merchandise, etc. Oh well.
My mother, my sister and I have worked for Disney in the past, and I recall generous employee and guest sign-in privileges at the theme parks. It surprises me to hear that Universal doesn't offer the same.
Which prompts me to ask... what's the policy at other companies that own theme parks? (And I don't mean just parks employees, but also employees in other divisions of companies that own parks.) Do NBC/Universal employees get a better deal in Hollywood, since there's no joint ownership of that park? What about Anheuser Busch employees? (I suspect whatever benefit they got will soon change, with the sale to Blackstone.)
And if you do get into parks free, based on your employment or a family members, how much do you end up spending on those parks anyway, as a result? Is free employee admission a loss or a loss leader for the parks?
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Health Care was incredible, a lucrative 401k (often with an over 100% match rate) was available, and the perks rocked. Every employee over 21 received two free cases of BEER a month, plus complimentary admission to all the themeparks except Discovery Cove. Additional tickets for themeparks, and Discovery Cove were given out each year- and I know that BEC employees also received family fun cards (season passes for their family or # of dependents). I don't know if the other subsidiaries (Brewery, Bottling, Agriculture ect.) got the passes, but I know they got tickets.
Those were the grand old days!
You can find a .PDF of participating parks at this link.
http://www.aza.org/Membership/detail.aspx?id=349
Annual dues for Associate are $70, so it'd take (my estimate) between 4-5 visits to participating parks for the thing to pay for itself. It's a great benefit if you travel around (as I do), and you're supporting an organization which, in turn, supports loads of different parks and some important conservation programs.
Keep the peace(es).
Universal just changed the comp pass policy where you can no longer use them on any days with parades or concerts, any holidays or spring break, and the entire month of July.
Universal employees get free admission for themselves to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, and vice versa. Free parking at the company you work for only.
Food and merchandise discounts for Universal and Busch Gardens employees are about 10-20 percentage points better than annual passholders.
Ticket discounts are absolutely pathetic at both Universal and Busch Gardens so I won't even mention them.
Overall, Disney seems much more generous with comp passes (and they have main gates), while I think they are slightly less generous with food or merchandise discounts.
Universal also offers $50 hotel rooms at their resort hotels for employees.
Disney: Seasonal cast members get into Orlando, Anaheim, and Paris parks with their id (Tokyo requires use of a hard ticket- I don't know about Kong Kong). Plus they get 6 Main Gate entries a year (get three people a park hopper for the day at selected location). Seasonal employees also get between 2 to 4 single use comp tickets a year.
Regular Part time and Full time cast members get all of the above, however they get 12 main gate passes instead of 6.
Salary cast members have it made! They also get all of the above, but instead of a set number, they can get three people a park hopper everyday of the year (some parks have certain black out days though).
BEC: Full time and part time basically got the same package- except full time just received more of everything (more comp passes and family passports).
Six Flags: I got into my home park with my id, and received 12 comp passes for that park only. I could go to any other Six Flags and get myself plus one other in free (circa 2001-2003).
Universal Orlando: Tickets are given out quarterly- but I don't know the diff. between full time and part time/ seasonal. My family member who works there gets 4 tickets each quarter (as a seasonal cast member). I do know that UO cast members can NOT use their id to go to the Hollywood park and vice versa. They need to use a comp ticket.
And let's also not forget that there can be a difference between what theme park employees are offered in terms of tickets and discounts and what employees of other divisions in the same corporation are offered.
Finally, discounts, while nice, are never as good a free admission.
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