Ever had a bad cast member?

[darph nader]

Nothing like a little perspective to help calm people down huh???


But now you gotta tell us what the reaction was!!!!!

Sad to say they didn't get it at that moment. The guy next to me understood.

 

[Tink33]

I have only encountered one CM that was bad. She was the person at the front of the AP processing center on Main Street who directed the guests to the next open line. She was talking with a coworker discussing her escapades of the previous night of drinking and relations with her boyfriend. The line was filled with families. When I reached the front of the line, I had the following conversation:

Me: (looking at her name tag) "Hi April, how are you?"

April: "I can't wait to get out of here tonight!"

Me: "I guess working at the Happiest Place on Earth is not always great for the staff."

April: "Not even close."

Me: "I am sorry to hear that April. I overheard you talking to your coworker for the last few minutes. Did you know that Disneyland hires people to pose as visitors and review CM behavior?" (I pulled out a little notebook from my bag and wrote down her name, the time and where she was working)

April: (with a look of shock and horror on her face) ummm...ahhh....Have a magical night?!



No - I wasn't hired by Disney and I don't even know if they do have secret shoppers. I bet she changed her attitude for the rest of the evening though.

 

[mystic_path]

I happened to witness something in Oct of 06 during the Gay Day weekend when I was there. First off I have no problem with peoples preference in who they date which is why I was really offended by this.

I was in Muppets 3D vision in the queue waiting for the show to start, and you know up by the television sets there is a screen that scrolls the words "The show will start in ____ Minutes"?

Well when I was there the words started off as "The show will start in ____ Minutes" then it changed to "Marriage and relationships are only meant for heterosexual people". There were loads of people in the room totally appauled by this because they were a same sex couple, or felt like I did about not caring who people chose to date. I actually left the queue to go talk to guest relations about it. They said that someone actually controls the screen and that they will look immediately into who was working during that time. I didnt do a follow up, but I went back about 1/2 hour later to watch the show and the screen had changed back to its normal state. I just couldnt believe that someone would be so mean to voice their opinion in that respect, and deliberaly go out of their way to offend. I still wonder if this happened to other groups of people other then mine.

 

[kyl777]

I happened to witness something in Oct of 06 during the Gay Day weekend when I was there. First off I have no problem with peoples preference in who they date which is why I was really offended by this.

I was in Muppets 3D vision in the queue waiting for the show to start, and you know up by the television sets there is a screen that scrolls the words "The show will start in ____ Minutes"?

Well when I was there the words started off as "The show will start in ____ Minutes" then it changed to "Marriage and relationships are only meant for heterosexual people". There were loads of people in the room totally appauled by this because they were a same sex couple, or felt like I did about not caring who people chose to date. I actually left the queue to go talk to guest relations about it. They said that someone actually controls the screen and that they will look immediately into who was working during that time. I didnt do a follow up, but I went back about 1/2 hour later to watch the show and the screen had changed back to its normal state. I just couldnt believe that someone would be so mean to voice their opinion in that respect, and deliberaly go out of their way to offend. I still wonder if this happened to other groups of people other then mine.

Wow, thats really bad. And here I just got back from a great trip where every cast member was cheery and greeted ppl with a smile from what I saw. I'd never think of them being grouchie or rude like they few examples above.

 

[Warlock128]

We had a moment with a not so nice CM on our trip. We were in Toon Town getting ready to try the Rodger Rabbit ride. It was our first time. We have a GAC for our DD5 who is autisitc. We waited and waited and waited for CM to see us there. The one at the end of the ride just kept looking at us, then said we dont load there. So we assumed she knew we were in the line for a reason, since we had our GAC out and ready. So we walk to where that regular line was. there was a chain down, seeing this is our first time on the ride, there was no CM telling us to go walk down this long thing. There was like two people in line. So we walked in the open chain. not knowing any better. Now my Dd thinks we are going to get on. The CM at the front tells us very rudely, we CANNOT get on this ride if we are going to cheat other people by getting in that way. I was like huh??? I was puzzled. I spoke up and said ma'am we waited in the exit for what seemed like 15 minutes, she then told us NO YOU DIDNT! You cut in line. Again I had told her no, we have been waiting, then told we were in the wrong line. you will have to forgive us but this is our first time on this ride. SHe told us that is no excuse, and ALWAYS wait for a CM to help you. I was getting really upset because my dd was starting to get up set. My dh was trying to just exit the ride by this point. I was trying to hold it together until she told us to leave the ride and not come back. Once my dd heard this she started to have a complete meltdown. The CM then told us to control our child if we couldn't then maybe Disneyland wasn't the place for her to be!! OK this is when I lost it. I busted out our GAC and said "how dare you speak to a guest that way, let alone a family with a child who has a disability. If you or your friend would be paying ANY attention you would know we had our GAC in front of us and were waiting this whole time. NOW we will be getting on this ride, my child was happy and ready to ride a ride she was deathly scared of any other time we have tried to get on! I used a few choice words, by this time there were a few people behind us, and once she finally let us on, everyone was clapping! The nerve of this CM, she said "next time you need to wait, this wouldn't have happen if you would have done your job as a parent" Ooooooooooooh no she did not!! We got off, and I wasted three hours of my day just trying to figure out how to complain about this CM! my dd was in tears for most of the afternoon because of this person. After all of that, and meeting back up with my dh and dd. We hit Peter Pan, had a GREAT GREAT CM. I can't remember her name now, but she was either from NY or NY. But she made my dd feel soooo special. It gave me faith back, I wish I could have given this CM a TIP of thousands of dollars!! There was nothing more special then seeing my dd with a smile again after that awful CM.

That was the only time we have ever had a bad CM.

wow that cm was a real B*^$% , if that was a male with a mouth like that, i would make sure roger rabbit wasnt the only one seeing stars. i hope she got fired.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

In Oct we experienced one that was working the Buzz ride line. We had my brother with us, who is in a wheelchair. It was our last day there and over the past 3 days we were always told to go through the fastpass line with him. He is on medication that requires him to NOT sit in the direct sun or get over heated. Because he's also mentally disabled he does not understand that he needs to wait, and can become impatient after too long. The line was over an hour long. It was the last time we wanted to ride it, but the CM said we needed to wait the whole time. Now I already knew the line was wide enough for wheelchairs from previous trips. But it's not like he just had a broken foot. There was a good reason why he couldn't sit in line for over an hour. We tried to explain his condition but she was very rude and said "Either wait, or not go at all".

So we didn't go at all. In this case it's not like your getting right on the ride like Peter Pan, you still have to do some waiting for Buzz in the fast pass line. It was his favorite ride, so it was sad. I told her that they really need to get together and make sure the rule is the same every time. Because we were told every time to use the FP line for days, suddenly it's not that way. Whatever.

We've encountered a few more over the years also.

Everyone is entitled to have a bad day, but that still does not excuse some behaviors. I will say I have still seen WAY more rude guests then I have CM's.

 

[DCA_MillionaireFreak]

I have only encountered one CM that was bad. She was the person at the front of the AP processing center on Main Street who directed the guests to the next open line. She was talking with a coworker discussing her escapades of the previous night of drinking and relations with her boyfriend. The line was filled with families. When I reached the front of the line, I had the following conversation:

Me: (looking at her name tag) "Hi April, how are you?"

April: "I can't wait to get out of here tonight!"

Me: "I guess working at the Happiest Place on Earth is not always great for the staff."

April: "Not even close."

Me: "I am sorry to hear that April. I overheard you talking to your coworker for the last few minutes. Did you know that Disneyland hires people to pose as visitors and review CM behavior?" (I pulled out a little notebook from my bag and wrote down her name, the time and where she was working)

April: (with a look of shock and horror on her face) ummm...ahhh....Have a magical night?!



No - I wasn't hired by Disney and I don't even know if they do have secret shoppers. I bet she changed her attitude for the rest of the evening though.

Not that I'm going to defend her for saying that... but when I was working in customer service... I found it much harder to regain focus after a guest had just been like "I'm talking to your manager". Plus... I don't know about you but nametags aren't great... random people thinking they can just be like "Wassup, Matthew?".

 

[bumbershoot]

PrincessKell, if you can figure out what the good CM's name is, putting in a compliment for her at city hall is a very very nice thing to do, so I've heard.

JenDisneylandlver, I'm not an expert at all, but it seems to me that it would be a good idea to get a GAC for your brother, because his needs go beyond just going in the wheelchair way. It might get you more specialized assistance with him when lines are so long. Maybe.

 

[XTinabell]

Normally I dont like to vent and I avoid threads like this but this has been bugging me since my trip in November so I might as well get it off my chest and see if I can stop thinking about it.

A night of the fireworks we parked with a blanket two and half hours early and sat right in front of the castle just in front of the curb. My party of 4 had fun visiting, and flipping through our pictures on the digital camera while we waited. Then we're told to stand for the fireworks. So we turn and face the castle and notice a swarm of people walking on the path in front of us, we're all thinking, okay once the fireworks start these people will go away. NOPE! The fireworks start and people walk in front of us with their camera's out taping the show, tall dad's with their children on their shoulders (basically it was next to impossible to see anything and we were in the front! Now the cm's were walking back and forth shouting at everyone to keep walking so my dad gets the attention of one and asks him Why these people are allowed to walk right in front of the show when we've been waiting here for 2 hours. The cast member yells
" Sir! Its your own fault for not finding out that this is how we do things here!! We need to have a walking path! It's your own problem for sitting here for two hours!" and then he stormed off.
Of course in the cm's defense my dad put him on the defensive but he literally yelled at my dad, scolded him and gave him crap for waiting for two hours lol.

It was a very bizarre situation, we didn't complain because we felt it was partly my dad's fault for putting the cm on the defensive but the cm certainly could have said "Yeah I know this is stupid, but we need to have a path for people to walk by"

By the way, why do they need to have people walk right in front of the show? Last year there was NO walking path right in front of the castle so if they've done it before without a walking path why can't they keep it that way. And I'd also like to mention, as soon as the fireworks were over, there was NOBODY on the walking path. It was so stupid, easy way for people to not have to wait in line and still see the fireworks. And it would have been nice of the cms to maybe see people lining up at the curb two hours early and mention to them that people will be walking in front of them during the show.
Well I feel a little better for venting.

 

[Tink208]

I don't recall any negative CM experiences during our most recent trip, aside from the fact that the ones who were supposed to be doing crowd traffic control after the parade one night all seemed to just disappear once they pulled the ropes...and it was just chaos trying to move around the hub.

I also know that the names on their tags may not actually be their real names. We had a lovely conversation with one of the conductors on the train and I had commented on her name (it was a distinctive one and we actually knew someone else with the same name), and she said it wasn't her real name.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

JenDisneylandlver, I'm not an expert at all, but it seems to me that it would be a good idea to get a GAC for your brother, because his needs go beyond just going in the wheelchair way. It might get you more specialized assistance with him when lines are so long. Maybe.

We had a GAC, which is why I think she was a "bad" cast member. If that had been the rule all along we would have just made sure and hit that ride only when the line was really short (like first thing in the morning). But to be told, without even giving any information about my brother's condition (besides showing the GAC), to use the FP line always for 3 days? Then suddenly it's not that way, and she didn't care (rudely I might add) about our situation??

Thankfully she was pretty much the only one that was like that though. We had no problem with waiting if it was reasonable and we could put him in the shade. If it wasn't a reasonable wait (had that happen for IASW) then we'd leave, not blaming the CM at all. We just had to work things on how my brother could handle it. As my Mom said when we walked away from Buzz that time "Don't people realize I'd do anything to be able to have him be "normal" and be able to stand in that long line with a family of his own?" So at the very least they need to get their rules about wheelchairs and GAC's straight when it comes to certain rides. That shouldn't change just because a dfferent CM is working the ride. It also really wouldn't hurt to show some compassion and realize not everyone is just "out" to get on a ride faster. For some people it is accomodating their disability, and something they can't help. That situation left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[EltonJohn]

Maybe he was having a bad day? Anyway, it's good that you filled out an incident report, but the next time this happens I also would have asked to see his superviser as well. He was out of line.

 

[bumbershoot]

JenDisneylandlver, oh, OK. That's bad that he didn't pay attention to whatever the GAC accomodations were. Or that his interpretation was so different from the other CMs.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

JenDisneylandlver, oh, OK. That's bad that he didn't pay attention to whatever the GAC accomodations were. Or that his interpretation was so different from the other CMs.

Yeah I know, but at least it was the only issue we ran in to like that. Most were very understanding and good about everything. I'm sure they run in to a lot of rude guests who expect a wheelchair to get them on the ride immediately. Which is a shame too, makes it bad for those who really have needs.

 

[romymichelle21]

I have a bad CM story! lol.

DB and I are AP holders and therefore, very frequent visitors to the park! This last time, maybe... 2 weeks ago? we were entering the park as usual, and of course - DB was totally excited. He always is. Literally runs to the tram from the parking lot, and runs for the front gates once we get off. Well - he takes off, and I trail behind slightly, and before I can blink - he's past the bag check area.

So I start to walk past the kid getting his backpack checked, because neither DB and I have bags on us, and we've *always* been able to just walk through once the CMs see this. So there is a man checking bags, and a lady CM standing there... supervising I guess, she wasn't doing much. So she tells me to wait in line - and I pointed forward at DB standing way up ahead waiting for me, and said, "But he..." and she cut me off with, "I know - but he wasn't supposed to go" - and turns and yells to him, "You were supposed to wait in line!". Tells me, "Single file", and to the man checking bags - "Keep her back".

DB is up there looking... awestruck, we've never had a rude CM before! And he tells her, "But she doesn't have a bag, we've never had to wait before, they always let us go through". She walks closer and says something I can't hear, and DB rolls his eyes and... well... he didn't flip her off, but did the **rking off thing - you know? (I better not post the real word ) and yeah - it was a bit immature - but it wasn't seen by anyone but himself, me, and her! So she yells, "Do you want me to call security over here for you making a derrogatory hand gesture??", and he replies, "You take your job way too seriously". By then - and it actually took this whole time to go through the kid's backpack - I was through the line, and she yells as we walk away, "Yeah, that's what I thought!" - and he says, "Look lady - I'm going to Disneyland!".

We get to the main gate line, and a minute or so later a CM walks up and pulls him aside . A few minutes later, they're still over there talking, and I have to stay in line to hold our place - so I end up going through before they let him go! Luckily, I told the lady taking tickets that he was with me, and had been pulled aside by a CM, and asked if he could just come through - or did he have to wait in line all over again? She said he could, which was very nice of her, but it turns out the CM (security, of course) that was talking to DB was ALSO very nice and politely explained why he was called to talk to him, and DB responded that he was very rudely told that he broke the rules - and had she just said "Well ok, but next time, you need to wait in line" - he wouldn't have had any problem with her, he understands that she was just doing her job. They laughed about it for a couple minutes I guess, until the security CM let it go and left.

DB however - was not amused - the following night he couldn't sleep, and when I asked what he'd been up to while awake all night - he replied that he'd written an email to Disneyland about how rude this lady was! Being in his final year of law school, his "letters" - complaint or otherwise - are pretty impressive, so I can only imagine whoever read it got an earful! Or eyeful, I guess.

Sorry if this is so long... I'm a compulsive story-writer

EDIT: Just wanted to add, for the sake of poor DB - apparently he did not make an obscene gesture . We were just talking about it, and it was something entirely different (oops). I thought he did because I'd looked up just as she accused him of it, and well - DB was irritated - so I thought maybe he had done it . Anyway, I realize it made him kinda look bad on here, and it turns out he got a very nice (personally written) email from Disneyland about it.

 

[audrabolster]

Wow Romy, it sounds like your DB is exactly the kind of person I hate running into at Disneyland. You can't say that no one else saw him make those innapropriate gestures. I think he's lucky the security guard didn't take it farther as he could have lost his passes!

 

[romymichelle21]

Wow Romy, it sounds like your DB is exactly the kind of person I hate running into at Disneyland. You can't say that no one else saw him make those innapropriate gestures. I think he's lucky the security guard didn't take it farther as he could have lost his passes!

I hope DB isn't the kind of person you hate running into at Disneyland - he loves the park more than anyone I've ever met! I've seen people at the park who just do not belong there - no patience, mean to all the CMs, etc. I'm pretty "let it slide" about things, but I couldn't believe how unnecessarily rude this woman was. She could've just told him nicely, but she had to yell from 20 ft away like he was a child. Even the guy who came to talk to him was on his side

 

[kelmac284]

I've definitely seen it all. I've seen PLENTY of rude guests and luckily only a very few rude cast members. This last trip though I was kind of dumb founded by one. We were in the candy shop and dh wanted to buy some fudge. We were over in the area where they make the fudge and dh was over near the cash register and he was looking over the packaged fudge decided which one he wanted to buy and the CM behind the counter VERY rudely told him that he was in the WRONG spot and needed to move. Well EXCUSE me but he was NOT waiting in line to buy anything but rather was standing there because THAT is where the fudge was that he wanted to buy and that was the ONLY place it was. It wasn't there because you had to ask the CM to get it for you it was self service and she VERY rudely incinuated that he was in the wrong place. He kind of looked at her and said never mind I guess I can't buy any fudge because I am "in the way".

It was really stupid and rude of her. She did not even know what he was doing and mispoke when she didn't know what she was talking about.

But otherwise we have been very lucky and we actually have a very good friend that is a cast member that works in the canoes ironically (not Anthony LOL) and we have met some other VERY nice dream team members and tour guides.

I think overall the most obnoxious people I have seen by far though have been park guests. I have seen much ruder things done by them then any cast members unfortunately. The "me me me" mentality etc is very off putting and sad. All you can do is just try to have the best time you can and when you have these occasional bad experiences you just have to hope that you have several other good memories to counter the bad ones!

 

[audrabolster]

I've definitely seen it all. I've seen PLENTY of rude guests and luckily only a very few rude cast members.


I think overall the most obnoxious people I have seen by far though have been park guests. I have seen much ruder things done by them then any cast members unfortunately. The "me me me" mentality etc is very off putting and sad. All you can do is just try to have the best time you can and when you have these occasional bad experiences you just have to hope that you have several other good memories to counter the bad ones!

I agree. I've hardly run into a rude CM. I am an AP holder and everytime I go I keep saying it will be awhile before I go again because the guests drive me up the wall. Kids running around out of control, people not watching where they are going, people copping attitudes with workers over stupid crap, etc. I can't believe the way some guests behave in the park!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Normally I dont like to vent and I avoid threads like this but this has been bugging me since my trip in November so I might as well get it off my chest and see if I can stop thinking about it.

A night of the fireworks we parked with a blanket two and half hours early and sat right in front of the castle just in front of the curb. My party of 4 had fun visiting, and flipping through our pictures on the digital camera while we waited. Then we're told to stand for the fireworks. So we turn and face the castle and notice a swarm of people walking on the path in front of us, we're all thinking, okay once the fireworks start these people will go away. NOPE! The fireworks start and people walk in front of us with their camera's out taping the show, tall dad's with their children on their shoulders (basically it was next to impossible to see anything and we were in the front! Now the cm's were walking back and forth shouting at everyone to keep walking so my dad gets the attention of one and asks him Why these people are allowed to walk right in front of the show when we've been waiting here for 2 hours. The cast member yells
" Sir! Its your own fault for not finding out that this is how we do things here!! We need to have a walking path! It's your own problem for sitting here for two hours!" and then he stormed off.
Of course in the cm's defense my dad put him on the defensive but he literally yelled at my dad, scolded him and gave him crap for waiting for two hours lol.

It was a very bizarre situation, we didn't complain because we felt it was partly my dad's fault for putting the cm on the defensive but the cm certainly could have said "Yeah I know this is stupid, but we need to have a path for people to walk by"

By the way, why do they need to have people walk right in front of the show? Last year there was NO walking path right in front of the castle so if they've done it before without a walking path why can't they keep it that way. And I'd also like to mention, as soon as the fireworks were over, there was NOBODY on the walking path. It was so stupid, easy way for people to not have to wait in line and still see the fireworks. And it would have been nice of the cms to maybe see people lining up at the curb two hours early and mention to them that people will be walking in front of them during the show.
Well I feel a little better for venting.

Wow! I hope it's not like this when I go. The last few times I was there they roped the area off and rerouted foot traffic behind the castle which makes way more sense than allowing people to walk in front of people who patiently waited for 2.5 hours!