Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Update on Universal's Photographer Problem

The following is an update on yesterday's post about Universal Security stopping people from taking pictures of construction zones.

So, thanks to a poster on Orlando United, we now know what Universal's official policy on photographing construction zones:

You are allowed to take pictures of the park, however if you take pictures of the construction zones we have around any of the parks, the Staff have the right to ask you to delete the pictures or stop taking pictures. Also, you will not be escorted out of the park if you comply to delete or stop taking them.

 

So there we are. Universal claims that you're not allowed to take photos of construction sites. And if you're taking pictures of them, and they catch you, they have the right to tell you to delete the pictures. And if you don't comply, they will toss you out of the park.

I'm trying to be as calm as possible while writing this post. This is a very disheartening policy, and it is one that I think should be reversed as soon as possible. If Universal continues to hound guests and fans about taking pictures, they run the risk of hurting all the good will and progress they've made over the past two years.

Construction updates from blogs and forums drive excitement in the fanbase, and have people talking about your property all the time. People want to see them more than anything else. They want to watch as projects rise towards the sky and get their imaginations going. Trying to cut that away from people is really not a way to foster your growing fanbase. And without an official blog of their own, Universal doesn't really have any other way to generate excitement.

As we said in our last post, we LOVE what Universal has been doing with their parks. They've made leaps and bounds towards becoming a full fledged destination resort, and we know there are plans to finish that vision. We love what's on the way, whether it be Transformers or more Harry Potter. But Universal needs to realize they have a growing fanbase that is hungry for news and updates on their parks, and Universal shouldn't be stifling that excitement. We have faith the company will realize their mistake and fix this policy.

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2 comments:

  1. Reminds me of when I was told I couldn't take pictures inside the ET gift shop in the 90's. Never EVER hear about people getting treated like this at Disney.

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  2. Or even Six Flags for that matter. Big Fail in a whirl wind of win.

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