Princess Disney Mom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2008
Just got back from a terrific magical time!!! No it's not perfect, but the good stuff out weights some of the not so good stuff.
And you do know that Lee is no longer with Disney, as are many of the top management that were there 5-10 years ago.
I've been wanting to address this for some time now, this seems like a good thread to do so. I have been working in the customer service industry from the day I was born, (family owned business), this includes retail, resort hotels, electric company cust. service, et al. What I have noticed is not the decline in Disney magic or customer service as a whole, but rather a severe decline in work ethic amongst people in this country.
Anyone can interview like a champ, but get them on the job and they can be horrid workers, so you get rid of them, for what, another of the same. Regardless of who Disney or any other cust. service based company hires, there is a 50/50 chance they will be lousy workers, makes no difference if they are trained for a week or a month, people no longer want to work for a paycheck. And spare me the "you get what you pay for" spiel, I've worked with some very well paid people that worked harder at getting out of doing their job.
As for Disney, I've been going there since June of 1972 and I don't notice any decline in the cleanliness, the upkeep, nor the cust. service. Is every CM a happy little elf? No, but that again goes back to the lack of work ethic. I defy any of you to find 50,000 + incredibly happy 8 hours a day, perfect work ethic CM's, not these days you won't.
I currently work on my days off at a small hotel here in South Jersey, ya know who shows up every day and works very hard cleaning rooms and doing maintenance on the property? The Russian kids that come here every summer, because American kids would never, ever do those jobs even if only for 3 months.
No, Disney magic is not gone, the desire to actually WORK for a living is.
And you do know that Lee is no longer with Disney, as are many of the top management that were there 5-10 years ago.
The changes have been obvious for years......subtle changes...but they multiply.
I agree, there are changes overall in the experience.
* lack of Customer Service training = less prompt customer service
* Challeneged mousekeepers still cleaning rooms after 5 pm
* Dirty bathrooms
* Parks looking shabby in places
* Decline in food quallity - OMG yes!
One trip to BC 3 years ago included (as an example):
* Broken furniture in room not replaced during 8 night stay
* Debris (empty coffee cups, leaves, very messy in the corner) in stairway never cleaned even after bringing it to the Manager's attention
* Deathly horrible odor in the lobby bathroom - always a problem at BC but especially bad this time
* Mousekeepers working after 5 (this was the first time we noticed this - now common place)
* Cover of all the sidewalk lights not fastened and askew along BCV sidewalk to International gateway....not one or two...all of them.
* Multiple castmember totally unfamiliar with BC - beginning at checkin. (example of little training).
Want to know what Management said to us - castmember to castmember....."do you know how hard it is to get good employees?" AND...nothing was corrected after we spoke with him....bathroom still had it's horrible odor (sad to watch a young girl screaming NO IT STINKS) as her mother dragged her into the bathroom, lights not fixed, room funture not repaired or replaced, stairway not touched.
There is a reason many Delux Disney Resorts have only 3 star ratings.
You know, Holiday Inn, Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyards keep their hotels crisp and fresh for far less than the $300+ p/night the Beach Club charges.
I'm sorry......Disney is shabby in places.
It is very sad to watch - and more sad when people this the current level of service and product is "Disney Quality".
There seems to be more and more of us willing to admit the truth....no matter how hard it hurts.....because Disney has been our magic place. The theme of this thread is even showing up in the DVC section....and they have paid $$$$$ for this.
Our last DVC stay at the Boardwalk Villas was very disappointing. We pay castmember rates but to charge upto $600 p/night for that tired 1 Bedroom Villa is simply robbery. You can see it it's day -- it was just run down and had too many things broken.
There was a time if you whispered that there was somthing not perfect with Disney you were flamed until you were a cinder. Now there people who are agreeing with us.
DH and I do not LOOK for problems, but when we are in a room that costs up to $600 a night....we don't expect the shower and sink to run all night, 2 burners of the stove to not work, broken furniture, years of scuff marks in the walls, threadbare bedding and I expect for $600 that the lightbulbs be replaced when burned out. No one ever made an attempt to fix things....our poor mousekeeper did not speak any english so we could not communicate to her.
That is Disney quality?
Thank you for listeneing to the rant. I WILL say we have found far less problems at DL in the last two years. Last September there were actually attendants in the busy bathroom, the Grand Cali was superb, as always....puts the Grand Cali to shame.....castmembers were happy....just about everything that was supposed to work...did. Perhaps we do not know every inch of this park because at best...we are there only once a year. DH and I go to WDW enough where we know just about every inch so much better....and sadly, can see the changes.
Thank you for listening.
I am sure there are many who will disagree....and I DID take out more flameworthly language out of respect for those who disagree....you can imageine how strong the post WOULD have been!!
I would be hard to imagine anyone loving what Disney stands for more than DH and I....we just have serious trouble watching it decline.
Just a little update; i am now half way through listening to the book (Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell) on CD that caused me to start this thread. I almost choked when i head Lee say that WDW had hired some very top rated chefs and they had raised the quality of WDW restaurants to world wide status. That is saying alot. The book was printed in 2008 so it was probably written in 2007. What has happened to the quality in only 2 years? Economics, that's what. We have never gone for the food anyhow. We don't eat at WDW unless it's on the dining plan.
Recently i acquired from my local library the book on cd titled "Creating Magic" by Lee Cockerell the former Executive Vice President of Operations for WDW. I am only into disc 2 of 6 but have already noticed were WDW is failing in recent years in creating magic. In the past 2 years my wife and i have stayed at several Disney resorts. I have noticed a lack of upkeep in the area of grounds and maintenance. Bushes desperately needing trimmed, trash around in the morning along with trays and trash outside rooms. I have also felt that the Magic Kingdom was dirtier then previous visits while cast members are not always pleasent. By reading posts concerning the quality of food served around the parks and resorts it's apparent that WDW is sliding quickly down hill in that area also. I understand that certain WDW employees read the dis-boards, so i thought this could be a good way to bring to light areas that we feel are lacking in magic and also offer suggestions to bring back the magic. So please offer up a solution if you expose a problem. Thank you and hopefully we together can restore the magic, if you feel some magic has been lost.
We noticed during our July and November trip last year tons of trash being left behind on the monorail. Once it was so bad we had to push the trash to the side just to sit down.
I think the Disney magic has decreased for me mainly because I'm going too often now and I never realized how much it cost as a child!
I agree with a PP poster who said the problem may be the "visitors". It seems that 10 years ago people were more considerate (might be my imagination ) and less "trashy" (I mean that in a littering sense).It seems with all of the current promotions and what not some people are more interested in "Celebrating ME" or what Disney can do for them (like spending money at WDW entitles them to much more than a nice, fun, relaxing vacation).
I really tried to keep off this post but unfortunately I must get a few things off my chest. I work in the reservations department. I listen to guests for 11hours per day yell at me for not giving them a complimentary upgrade and screaming at me because their children will have to wait in line for rides. We can not control the weather, lines, wait times, availability for Cinderella's castle or the amount of children in the resorts. We as cast members know that this is your vacation and we WANT you to have the most magical experience that we can possibly give you, but we are not magicians. We are not cartoon characters. We are humans. We should all try and remember that sometimes we can't always be as magical as we should. This applies to both cast members and guests alike.
I really tried to keep off this post but unfortunately I must get a few things off my chest. I work in the reservations department. I listen to guests for 11hours per day yell at me for not giving them a complimentary upgrade and screaming at me because their children will have to wait in line for rides. We can not control the weather, lines, wait times, availability for Cinderella's castle or the amount of children in the resorts. We as cast members know that this is your vacation and we WANT you to have the most magical experience that we can possibly give you, but we are not magicians. We are not cartoon characters. We are humans. We should all try and remember that sometimes we can't always be as magical as we should. This applies to both cast members and guests alike.
I really tried to keep off this post but unfortunately I must get a few things off my chest. I work in the reservations department. I listen to guests for 11hours per day yell at me for not giving them a complimentary upgrade and screaming at me because their children will have to wait in line for rides. We can not control the weather, lines, wait times, availability for Cinderella's castle or the amount of children in the resorts. We as cast members know that this is your vacation and we WANT you to have the most magical experience that we can possibly give you, but we are not magicians. We are not cartoon characters. We are humans. We should all try and remember that sometimes we can't always be as magical as we should. This applies to both cast members and guests alike.