Do You think DISNEY has gone down hlll the last few years?

[brunette8706]

Is Iger Captain Hook?

*
I would say he's one of the VIllians! LOL! Captain Hook does fit him. LOL

 

[Planogirl]

Nice posts Pirate Jeff. I will only add that if I ran into George Clooney, I might give it a second (and maybe third) thought but otherwise I understand what you are saying. I feel that special tug when I see Tigger bouncing by. There's always been something special about him...

I'm glad that I still feel that way. WDW may not be what it once was but what it has is still for the most part pretty sweet.

 

[Planogirl]

*
I would say he's one of the VIllians! LOL! Captain Hook does fit him. LOL

I was thinking that Frollo might be a good fit too.

 

[Oglet]

Is Iger Captain Hook?

Nah, Iger has two hands that he can take your money with.

Iger is more like Scrooge McDuck with Goofy as his right hand man.

 

[Tiger926]

That would be a paradox, wouldn't it Ginny?

Fortunately, we are in the 2 dimensional world of the internet, so I don't take offense.... as neither you nor WDSearcher knows me at all!

For the record, I would never NEVER speak harshly to another human being doing their job! That is, unless they were rude to DW, which I have never seen anytime at WDW.

I "love" the CM's! I am a 50 something, six pack abs (not the good kind ) guy, and the last time DW and I watched the afternoon parade, we were near the Horse Barn where the parade ended (this was just last spring). I watched as Donald and Daisy went by and I have to tell you folks, to see a person dressed in a costume looking like Donald Duck and waving to you, kind of gets to you. I know it's just a "person" behind a overly hot megladon costume, but their job is to make us (me) happy! Donald did just that, even though I felt "silly" about it! When you see it, you think of what WED may have possibly been thinking when he dreamed up WDW or Disneyland! You feel "happy", or even "elated" when characters acknowledge you! We have been to Disney so many times, I cannot even count. But every time, there is magic that makes me yearn for more!

Someone told me on this thread that "I go too much". Hogwash!! I don't go "enough"!!

That said....

the person behind the Donald Costume was a caring thoughtful human being. The person on the other end of the phone is a caring thoughtful human being! I could never be rude or harsh towards them! It is "they" (including WDSearcher) who make WDW the most magical place on Earth!

For whatever shortcomings are Disney, I do not blame any of it on the simply wonderful CM's (the large majority anyways..) who are mostly the reason why we continue to go!

I am almost on a mission, to make sure that all the families and all the guests of current and future Disney guests, can know the same Disney I have known! The one where the customer comes first, always!!

It is a magic not known anywhere else....

When we see corners being cut and services being discontinued in the name of profit, it bothers me more than I could express....

Which is why I post on this thread. Not because I want to "complain"! But because I want to see the most wonderful place in the world never lose it's magic for all of us!

Aaargh!

DW and I were in NYC a couple years ago. We were walking in Times Square and it was blocked off with signs which you could walk around. They said something like "if you move through this area you are agreeing to have your image used in a movie" or something like that (I honestly don't remember..) Anyhow, I guess George Clooney was in the movie. We actually saw him, almost bumped into him but I didn't recognize him as I was just trying to get back to the Marriott Marquis. All these women were gawking and I asked them if this was "someone famous"? Two girls looked at me, rolled their eyes and said simply: "yes!". I replied: "oh.." and walked on.

Now, fast forward a couple of years to The Magic Kingdom and the story I just told in my previous post...

When Donald waved to me and actually pointed to me, it almost brought a tear to my eye! Donald saw this, and actually "blew me a kiss" (I suspect it was a female CM though it was actually the Donald Character doing such so it's irrelevant..).

Bottom line, I am a rational middle aged man. But, there's something about WDW and the characters that remind me (us?) of better things...

Like Kermit says, life is full of rainbows, you only have to open your eyes and see them....

So, if I ran into George Clooney, I wouldn't give it a second thought. But if I ran into Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy etc., my day has been made brighter.....

I am not "Debbie Downer". I am a true fan of Disney and want to see the legacy of Walt Disney's Dream, carry on for generations to come!

Nothing more....

Thanks for sharing such heartfelt messages!

Tiger

 

[Pirate Jeff]

Thanks for sharing such heartfelt messages!

Tiger

No, thank you Tiger!

It means a great deal to me when something I write and/or express, is taken the way it was intended. It makes my day!

Just the same as, I always hope that my concerns around this issue are also known! It is reassuring, to realize that others see things for what they really are and understand, all we want is to assure that we are heard and that we want to do all we can to preserve one of life's greatest rewards, if only they can be kept within reach...

 

[flicx]

With all the monorail issues and the apparent lack of transparency of letting people know what is going on it appears disney is still headed in the wrong direction.I hope they soon start making better decisions or changes in the people coming up with these moves!

 

[Planogirl]

With all the monorail issues and the apparent lack of transparency of letting people know what is going on it appears disney is still headed in the wrong direction.I hope they soon start making better decisions or changes in the people coming up with these moves!

I think that I am seeing more and more upset DISers lately. I don't think that it's my imagination. I went through that 'upset' phase long ago so they have my sympathy.

I wonder where it will end.

 

[flicx]

I think that I am seeing more and more upset DISers lately. I don't think that it's my imagination. I went through that 'upset' phase long ago so they have my sympathy.

I wonder where it will end.

Yes I have noticed that too.I just think it is alot of bad decisions from the higher ups coupled with astronomical price increases.I am very much like you I was upset a long time ago,now its more a sick feeling as I sit back and watch.

 

[Planogirl]

Yes I have noticed that too.I just think it is alot of bad decisions from the higher ups coupled with astronomical price increases.I am very much like you I was upset a long time ago,now its more a sick feeling as I sit back and watch.

Exactly! A sick feeling along with a sense of loss.

 

[smidgy]

and, oglet, I appreciate your participation in these threads.

I tired to keep abreast of the monrail issues as much as I could before our trip to BLT. we rented points from friends. our 19th trip to WDW, and our first EVER at a monorail resort.

at first huby thought I was nutz, when I told him about the monorial shut downs.

th ecloser it got to our vacation dates, I just really wanted to knwo the FACTS
\
problem was our vacation, fell into the first time dates. the first time for night of joy, the first time for Mnsshp. so , no one really knew (for some strange reason0 how it would work..

I still say.. how can they NOT knwo how it will work??? how can you NOT know what you are going to do with transportation.


If you need to shut down the monorail during certain hours.. ok, sucks... SAY SO!!! tell us.. make it CLEAR!!!

I'm not even getting into "compensation" for staying at a monorail resort without a monorail... peoplel have mentioned that.

I was disapointed, but, as long as I could take the monorail from epcot to the ttc, fine, a bus is ok from there.
but it got SO confusing. at check in, even the Cm checking us in had NO idea what I was talking about. he asked the Cm next to him, who assured us the resort monorail would be running just the same as always..
guess what? he was wrong.. every morning, I would call the fron desk, and they had no idea WHAT in the sam hil I was talking about.. and NO idea what the hours were for the monorail

your BEST chance of getting any STRAIGHT answers about the monorail hours were WHILE you were on the monorail, If you could hear the announcements over all the talking.

some seemed to think (on another thread) that I thought it was unreasonable for them to to let us know by robo call ,k at BLT (a monorail resort) a reasonable thing like, gee. the hours of the monorail.

it was the NIght of Joy... it is wellknown that they allow night of joy guests in at 4 pm, even tho they only pay from 7 pm. they know they need extra monorail trains for that.

they knew they would be shutting down the resort monorail for 40 minutes, and didn't bother to let the guests at BLT know, with a simple robo call, that morning,


but they didn't know, EVERY DAY iof our trip, I called to find out the monorail hours, and NO ONe knew!!! we actually had fun, at the end of the stay, calling and getting such stupid, various answers about the SAME question, 10 minutes apart!!!

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

If you need to shut down the monorail during certain hours.. ok, sucks... SAY SO!!! tell us.. make it CLEAR!!!

I totally agree! I expect this kind of run around from the airlines NOT Disney!!

but they didn't know, EVERY DAY iof our trip, I called to find out the monorail hours, and NO ONe knew!!!

Ugh.. that sounds so frustrating. I'm glad you had a fun trip anyway.

 

[Tiger926]

and, oglet, I appreciate your participation in these threads.

I tired to keep abreast of the monrail issues as much as I could before our trip to BLT. we rented points from friends. our 19th trip to WDW, and our first EVER at a monorail resort.

at first huby thought I was nutz, when I told him about the monorial shut downs.

th ecloser it got to our vacation dates, I just really wanted to knwo the FACTS
\
problem was our vacation, fell into the first time dates. the first time for night of joy, the first time for Mnsshp. so , no one really knew (for some strange reason0 how it would work..

I still say.. how can they NOT knwo how it will work??? how can you NOT know what you are going to do with transportation.


If you need to shut down the monorail during certain hours.. ok, sucks... SAY SO!!! tell us.. make it CLEAR!!!

I'm not even getting into "compensation" for staying at a monorail resort without a monorail... peoplel have mentioned that.

I was disapointed, but, as long as I could take the monorail from epcot to the ttc, fine, a bus is ok from there.
but it got SO confusing. at check in, even the Cm checking us in had NO idea what I was talking about. he asked the Cm next to him, who assured us the resort monorail would be running just the same as always..
guess what? he was wrong.. every morning, I would call the fron desk, and they had no idea WHAT in the sam hil I was talking about.. and NO idea what the hours were for the monorail

your BEST chance of getting any STRAIGHT answers about the monorail hours were WHILE you were on the monorail, If you could hear the announcements over all the talking.

some seemed to think (on another thread) that I thought it was unreasonable for them to to let us know by robo call ,k at BLT (a monorail resort) a reasonable thing like, gee. the hours of the monorail.

it was the NIght of Joy... it is wellknown that they allow night of joy guests in at 4 pm, even tho they only pay from 7 pm. they know they need extra monorail trains for that.

they knew they would be shutting down the resort monorail for 40 minutes, and didn't bother to let the guests at BLT know, with a simple robo call, that morning,


but they didn't know, EVERY DAY iof our trip, I called to find out the monorail hours, and NO ONe knew!!! we actually had fun, at the end of the stay, calling and getting such stupid, various answers about the SAME question, 10 minutes apart!!!

So sorry you experienced this, and sadly, it's the way of the world, not just at Disney...

Go into a retail stores, no employees to help you out, and if go during certain hours, customer service desks are closed. Go to Disney with a new policy in effect, and no one can give you proper information, which means that guests are wasting a lot of time trying to figure out their system.

I find most places now are at a self-serve capacity. They want customers/guests/visitors to be able to function without much assistance from their end, as it costs in extra staffing levels.

It is getting frustrating, and I experience this everywhere I go, but for Disney, a company that is known for not having this same type of functioning, it can be very frustrating, and downright inconvenient, as evidenced above.

I see this as a the way of the future, as it costs less to operate this way, but at Disney, this could cause serious failures since it's a place that functions best with efficiency and informative employees, or they will be in trouble.

Tiger

 

[manning]

We had a radio announcer, Bob Collins, who used to say if you provide excellent service customers would be breaking down the doors no matter what you charged within reason.

Competing on the cheap has its limits.

 

[T16]

This is an interesting thread, to be sure. Epic, but interesting.

It's very easy to draw what seem to be reasonable conclusions based on one's individual expereince, or that of friends and relatives, etc., at the consumer level. These conclusions may be wrong in their assesment of Disney's strategic thinking, decision making, or motivation - but they're important in the sense that they will affect behavior - as in "Disney is being greedy, and I'm voting with my dollars". So I get it.

I personally don't feel very qualified to make a statement such as "Disney has huge profit margins". Such a statement, made out of context, means nothing. "Record profits" is similarly meaningless...it's so often aimed at oil companies as some evidence of evil greed.

Economic behavior is ultimately rational and predictable. In industries like oil and gas - and in the entertainment and theme park industry - there must be continuous investment and reinvestment in innovation, research, development, and maintenance on an absolutely MASSIVE scale. Operating "profit" margins are higher, but so are capital expenses and operational costs; "record profits" in a given year are almost always offset by reinvestment in future periods. The Fantasyland expansion isn't being funded by the federal government.

I don't mean to present a business lecture - only to illustrate that the consumer perspective is rarely the best one to evaluate what a business is up to, right, wrong, benevolent...or evil.

As a publicly held corporation, Disney is in business for one reason: TO MAXIMIZE VALUE FOR THEIR SHAREHOLDERS. Everything they do for us, right down to the towel animals, is about that. To be bluntly cynical, "Magic" is simply a way to lock in your future dollars. That's why those commercials depict it so well, and why my wife and I always cave and spring for a return trip six months earlier than we promised each other when we came home from the last one.

And btw - as many here have pointed out - dining quality suffers for the same reason restaurants tend to suck more in ANY tourist location - there will be butts in seats at those tables whether the food is great or not. If not yours, someone else's. As long as they can manage to not piss you off entirely, or poison you, they'll fill those seats.

 

[smidgy]

We had a radio announcer, Bob Collins, who used to say if you provide excellent service customers would be breaking done the doors no matter what you charged within reason.

Competing on the cheap has its limits.

chicago born and raised, and I SO!!! miss Bob Collins.. he was great (bless his soul)

 

[kr105]

Disney is getting greedy!

They keep building hotels and Vacation Clubs but the Magic Kingdom (which everyone wants to visit) can only hold so many guests. I know they have built Animal Kingdom and Studios but those are one day parks. It's MK and Epcot that people go to see and the crowds are really getting out of hand. This was a school week and we pulled the kids out, expecting it to be less crowded. The lack of US tourists was made up by the number of Foreign tourists.

The food used to be fabulous - now it's lacking a lot:

The food at the Aloha Show at the Polynesian was unedible. The kids took a couple of bites and refused to eat any more. I had one bite each of the rice, the chicken and the ribs and decided it wasn't worth the calories. The dessert presentation was great with flaming volcanoes, but the acutual dessert was this triangular gelatenous glob of mystery food. It was not sweet and again it was a one bite and done. We were near the kitchen and I saw the servers bringing back tray upon tray of barely eaten food and desserts.

The Crystal Palace had a severe ant issue. They were everywhere -- the window sill, on the table, crawling on the dishes at the buffet. We did not finish our dinner due to them and did not get dessert. To add insult to injury we only had 2 characters stop by. All that money for nothing. We called over the manager and she smiled and said she'd call the exterminator that evening, but no offer of a refund.

Quick service in the park was limited to burgers, italian sub, pizza, hot dog. After three days of this, I did a Walmart run and got the fixings for sandwiches as well as insulated bags and freeze its.

 

[KellyNY]

The food at the Aloha Show at the Polynesian was unedible. The kids took a couple of bites and refused to eat any more. I had one bite each of the rice, the chicken and the ribs and decided it wasn't worth the calories. The dessert presentation was great with flaming volcanoes, but the acutual dessert was this triangular gelatenous glob of mystery food. It was not sweet and again it was a one bite and done. We were near the kitchen and I saw the servers bringing back tray upon tray of barely eaten food and desserts.

.

That is sad, Aloha is our favorite show, we always loved the food and if it got so bad I am not sure I would pay all the money just for show.

 

[flicx]

You know another thread on here summed up my position on disney the last five or more years.It was called strategy shifting at WDW.The writer chronicled what was done during each decade at disney and the last one was the poorest by the numbers.He even mentioned that disney was trying to milk everything they could out of what they have.I found it very interesting to see what many of us have been saying now in print.Alot of people say disney pays no attention to these boards,that may be true.Now however an article from a newspaper may get there attention!

 

[Tiger926]

Disney is getting greedy!

They keep building hotels and Vacation Clubs but the Magic Kingdom (which everyone wants to visit) can only hold so many guests. I know they have built Animal Kingdom and Studios but those are one day parks. It's MK and Epcot that people go to see and the crowds are really getting out of hand. This was a school week and we pulled the kids out, expecting it to be less crowded. The lack of US tourists was made up by the number of Foreign tourists.

The food used to be fabulous - now it's lacking a lot:

The food at the Aloha Show at the Polynesian was unedible. The kids took a couple of bites and refused to eat any more. I had one bite each of the rice, the chicken and the ribs and decided it wasn't worth the calories. The dessert presentation was great with flaming volcanoes, but the acutual dessert was this triangular gelatenous glob of mystery food. It was not sweet and again it was a one bite and done. We were near the kitchen and I saw the servers bringing back tray upon tray of barely eaten food and desserts.

The Crystal Palace had a severe ant issue. They were everywhere -- the window sill, on the table, crawling on the dishes at the buffet. We did not finish our dinner due to them and did not get dessert. To add insult to injury we only had 2 characters stop by. All that money for nothing. We called over the manager and she smiled and said she'd call the exterminator that evening, but no offer of a refund.

Quick service in the park was limited to burgers, italian sub, pizza, hot dog. After three days of this, I did a Walmart run and got the fixings for sandwiches as well as insulated bags and freeze its.

I'm sorry you didn't have an ideal time. Here are a few things:

This is a busy time due to Halloween, and I believe there is a Free Dining Promo running now, so crowds are up. This is actually a very busy time of year, between Halloween and the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot - very busy!

If you have a character issue, they will usually try their best to correct that at the restaurants. If onlly 2 characters were working that is different, but if all were working, and didn't make the rotation, you can tell the character handler, whose job it is to ask if you have seen all characters. Sorry about that.

In regards to the parks, it is your opinion that the Studios and AK are only 1 day parks. Many of us enjoy those parks, and not everyone only wants to go to MK or Epcot - many of us enjoy all of the parks. That being said, MK is more crowded now due to the massive FantasyLand expansion. It will get better when that is completed. We go during the busiest of seasons, as I'm a teacher, so what you experienced this week is nothing compared to summer or Christmas, but the crowds were probably heavy at Mk and Epcot due to the above events/holidays.

Food has gone downhill, as many of us have mentioned, and 'Ohana/Polynesian Luau is one that is pretty awful, most of the time. We've always had bad food and service, so it's been off of our list for awhile. So sorry about that. We haven't attended the luau yet, but our friends have gone many times, and they say it has changed. Also, quick service is more than just burgers and fries, but it depends upon where you eat. Other choices include: wraps, soups, paninis, hummus, etc. It sounds like your insulated bag worked out though! Have also had issues with ants too at several restaurants - sorry!

If you go again, perhaps you will enjoy a better trip. As most of us regulars will tell you, there isn't a quiet time at Disney anymore, and especially now with the MK expansion, it's very crowded over there. School doesn't seem to have much to do with it anymore either, as there are lots of families, like your's, who pull their kids out of school. Plus, I believe many schools are on fall break right now too (read this on the Theme Park board the other day).

I hope you made some good memories and enjoyed yourselves, despite the problems you experienced.

Tiger