Chipping the magic away: an interesting dinner conversation

[Deb & Bill]

I...Our Resort: Our room was generally clean, but on our trash/towel day we did not get towels nor was our trash changed and when we would set it outside our door for pick up, it set there for a day. We never saw anyone else around us and the resort was supposedly 90% booked. ....

If you have trash to be removed, you can take it to the trash room in your building. You are not supposed to leave it sitting outside your room. That information in the packet of information they give you when you check in.

Your day for trash and towel service should have been on your confirmation sheet. Was that the day you were expecting it? Just call Housekeeping and ask for your towels to be delivered. I know on our T&T day on Thursday, my son and husband were still sleeping and I was just up and walking around when the housekeeper knocked (about 8:15 AM). She handed me the clean towels, I handed her the dirty ones and she handed me extra supplies - in our case, extra toilet paper, but we didn't need any more shampoo or other toiletries.

CM's: RUDE, RUDE, RUDE, DID I MENTION RUDE. None of them acted like they liked what they were doing. Except for PETE AT THE NOODLE STATION, and the waitress at TREX.

We had nothing but friendly CMs during our stay. Maybe we were just lucky or something.

PRICES: WAY OVER PRICED FOR EVERYTHING.......

I expected gasoline prices to go up, but not quite as quickly as they did during our trip. We did very good on our spending until day 8 when we did spa treatments at SSR - YIKES, we spent a lot!!! but the experience was sooooo nice and relaxing. I thought all the merchandise pricing was about the same as other years.

 

[LolaBunny]

If you have trash to be removed, you can take it to the trash room in your building. You are not supposed to leave it sitting outside your room. That information in the packet of information they give you when you check in.

SORRY I must have missed that part of the packet

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

If something is done in an "above and beyond" manner, and is then cut back to "normal," does that necessarily make it bad?

I could talk at great lengths about food, CM personalities, and other topics, but the traffic signals come to mind. I have a background in transportation engineering design, and notice some things that others may not. What jumped out at me once (and I've looked for it often since) was a painting crew on property a few years ago. They were re-painting a traffic signal pole and associated "arm" that holds the actual signal. The crew was doing it right, carefully and with experience. However, what I saw was a traffic signal that didn't need re-painting in the first place. Municipal and state transportation systems might re-paint on a schedule, or following inspections. What it appeared Disney was doing was painting for pure beautification, not to protect the steel beneath. This is often done when the original paint fades, but this was still bright and clean. What they were doing was overkill work that the outside world would never consider.

My guess is that they've scaled back those specific crews, to a level more reasonable and in accord with the rest of the world. Does that mean the traffic signals look like garbage? Nope - just the same as the rest of the outside world.

There's things that we expect to be magical, and when they get "cut" we all should notice. The trick is to cut the little things, the things we can honestly live without - - like those brightly painted traffic signal poles.

 

[buzz5985]

If something is done in an "above and beyond" manner, and is then cut back to "normal," does that necessarily make it bad?

I could talk at great lengths about food, CM personalities, and other topics, but the traffic signals come to mind. I have a background in transportation engineering design, and notice some things that others may not. What jumped out at me once (and I've looked for it often since) was a painting crew on property a few years ago. They were re-painting a traffic signal pole and associated "arm" that holds the actual signal. The crew was doing it right, carefully and with experience. However, what I saw was a traffic signal that didn't need re-painting in the first place. Municipal and state transportation systems might re-paint on a schedule, or following inspections. What it appeared Disney was doing was painting for pure beautification, not to protect the steel beneath. This is often done when the original paint fades, but this was still bright and clean. What they were doing was overkill work that the outside world would never consider.

My guess is that they've scaled back those specific crews, to a level more reasonable and in accord with the rest of the world. Does that mean the traffic signals look like garbage? Nope - just the same as the rest of the outside world.

There's things that we expect to be magical, and when they get "cut" we all should notice. The trick is to cut the little things, the things we can honestly live without - - like those brightly painted traffic signal poles.

Or the crews that clean and buff the concrete pathways.