The Vacuum Good Night

[curtisl]

Originally posted by JiminyMac
Why do you bother? If they aggravate you so much, why do you keep going back? Sounds like you are a glutton for punishment!

I go because the good tends to outweigh the bad. I keep hoping that the incidents I have were a fluke and they will be gone the next time I go. Note that I've never felt agravated at any of the other WDW parks, only the MK. My 1st visit to the MK was great. My 2nd not so great and I discussed this with Guest Services and their response made me feel like an idiot for wanting to see CoP and Timekeeper open and to have only Tommorrow Land merchandise on sale in TomorrowLand instead of Pink Princess Stuff. I'm never speaking to Guest Services again. They were too condiscending. I will write this time though. This is the 1st time the vacuum cleaners directly disturbed a piece of entertainment, though they are very annoying in general. They don't do that at MGM, AK or EPCOT, why MK?

The CM was doing his job, there were dozens of them out right after the fireworks, I don't think they all set their clocks wrong and I don't blame them for doing what they are told. I also don't blame the CM in Tomorrowland for not having any Tomorrowland T-shirts, anything that actually says Tomorrowland or adult Stich shirts.

-curtis

 

[joyceharris]

i have been with disney for a long time and have been to wdw so many times i cannot count.... so PLEASE pardon my utter stupidty but could some one please explain the goodnight kiss. i am flabbergasted that i do not know. i would appreciate it if my name is not mentioned(teehee) as i am a cm and my fellow cm's think i know everything there is to know about visiting the parks! good grief am i SHOCKED.
joyce

 

[Planogirl]

The "kiss goodnight" is what the castle light display and music played just before closing is called in these parts.

I've been hearing the vacs for a long time just after parades. Maybe the shorter hours have led to the vacs being run around closing time?

 

[raidermatt]

On nights with fireworks at least, it happens well after closing time(Maybe 45 minutes?).

 

[crusader]

Do I think guests who litter need to be smacked around a bit? Sure.

Now how do you propose Disney go about doing this?

Disney should strive to be perfect. If you don't strive for it, you can't attain it.

Agreed. But come-on that street sweeper probably has done that job so many times the kiss goodnight only serves as a clock to them signaling their day is finally coming to an end. They are not remembering to smile to the guests anymore. They're done. I think we become intolerant more and more and forget we are dealing with people.

 

[HorizonsFan]

the Bradley Fighting Hoovers
Disney's 28th Mechanized Vacuum division
the CMs do not hotwire the vacuums and sneak them out of the vacuum barn every night

Thank you Matt. I was in a lousy mood when I started reading this thread...

 

[airlarry!]

Despite complaints of cutbacks throughout the parks, Disney's main spokesman, Disney Information Minister Michael Ei$ner, maintained his increasingly bizarre stance that critics were losing the information war and dismissed a question about whether the cutbacks were important.

“The 28th Mechanized Hoover Division is getting ready to wipe the trash out,” he said. “All is under control. The critics are wrong, and the increased noise at closing does not interfere with our control of the happiness of guests in the parks.

"All of the alleged cuts we have made are actually increases in services or are business decisions intended to upgrade the guest's experience in other areas, like where we have sacrificed Mickey-head butter in exchange for more plush outlets at the parks."

 

[airlarry!]

Rejecting overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Disney Information Minister Michael Ei$ner insisted that Burbank had the internet critics on the run.

"We are in control," he said. "They are in a state of hysteria. Losers, they that by complaining about butter and noisy vacuums and trying to distort the feelings of our guests on dinner reservations at firework shows and lack of queues, that they will win. I think they will not win, those bastions of evil."

Speaking Tuesday outside of his private jet minutes after showering in stockholder money, Ei$ner advised internet critics that they should "surrender or have their keyboards burned."

 

[Another Voice]

"But come-on that street sweeper probably has done that job so many times the kiss goodnight only serves as a clock to them signaling their day is finally coming to an end."

And if the guy on the 'Jungle Cruise' boat has been around the phony animals so many times, can he stop telling the jokes becasue he's bored with them?

Customer service standards are not set by what an employee uses as a clock. They are set by what the paying customer wants.

I'm honestly shocked by the lengths to which people on this thread have gone to applogize for Disney. Do guests really have to tell City Hall about problems before they are fixed??!!! It's the guests fault that trash isn't picked up?

Maybe I should plan on making my own bed when I next stay at a Disney Resort.

 

[KNWVIKING]

What time does the "kiss" take place ? I always thought the fireworks marked the close of the park. If the kiss takes place after the published park closing time,how long should should they wait till they fire up the hoovermatics ?

 

[magicmaker]

The vacuum cleaners are used in response to the amazing amount of litter that gets deposited after the parades or Fantasy in the Sky. It would be impossible for the Show Keeping Cast Members to clean all of that trash in a quick manner and it is essential for it to be cleaned a) so you don't have to slog your way out of the Magic Kingdom through a pile of trash b) for safety so you don't accidentally slip on the garbage left in the road. You are welcome to dislike the vacuum cleaners, but they are not used during park hours to save on labor, but instead to quickly clean up the mess so as to return the Magic Kingdom to show-ready quality for the Guests.

Now... as to whether they should be run during the 3 minute Kiss Good Night (which is run 3-4 times after the official park close) is a reasonable point. Because the Kiss Goodnight can only be heard from the Hub down as far as The Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and Casey's Corner, it would make sense to write to Disney and relate your experience and suggest the solution (ie: stop the vacuum cleaners in the Hub area during the Kiss Good Night.)

You may feel it is Disney's responsibility to correct the problem before they are told about it by Guests, but clearly in this case Disney does not realize it is a problem or does not feel it has an impact on the Guest Experience. If you feel otherwise (ie: that is does impact your experience) let them know.

 

[crusader]

They are set by what the paying customer wants.

Not always but in this case I think the topic is more in line with the policy of the parks. My point was not to excuse Disney as much as it was to give the worker a break if it was a matter of not following company policy. Why get the person who cleans up after us for some pittance of a salary in a bad situation with management?

I met a woman once who cleaned offices and was told a story of how she was docked two days pay because a customer complained about the scent of the cleaning solvent used. Management held her responsible. This is a person living paycheck to paycheck who lost 40% of her weeks salary because of complaining.

These people work hard and are payed virtually nothing to do a job. Who are we?

 

[HB2K]

Maybe I should plan on making my own bed when I next stay at a Disney Resort.

Since we've got the Bradley Fighting Hoovers ruining the GNK, why not have the maids come into your room when you're waking up and start cleaning & vaccuming.

Hey, Disney would only be doing it because they were worried about you missing "Magic Hour". Right?

 

[DoeWDW]

OK, the humor in this thread has kept me in stitches!! All the military references to those huge red vacs (frankly, they are large enough to suck up a small child!!) and AirLarry's spoof on Disney's Information Minister Eisner are priceless. Thanks all!!

As far as running the vacs during park hours, they ARE a quick way of cleaning up and returning Main Street to show quality. I did not realize, however, that the music for the GNK could only be heard in such a limited area of the Hub. I'll keep an eye out for this during our summer trip this year and will make my feelings known to Guest Services if the noise impacts my enjoyment of the GNK.

 

[TheWho]

Things must be getting better at MK if the big complaint is the big red vacuums running at bad times.

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by mudhen
I never minded the vacuums......WHEN THEY CAME
OUT AT MIDNIGHT, and you knew you had had a full
day AND evening at the Magic Kingdom.

I think that Mudhen really gets to the crux of the matter here, and this is really the core issue, the hours.

I have always thought of those vacuums as a gentle sort of nudge, as in "OK, time to go, the show is winding down." They aren't going to come out and say "HEY! The park is closing! Time to go!" Actually, to me, there is even a weird sort of "Disney Magic" to being at the partner's statue when the vacuums are going - it is that Disney twilight time. I actually think of it as part of the show, in a weird way, of Disney World winding down for the evening. But Mudhen's point is correct; that feeling comes when you feel like you had a full day and evening in the park.

Now, we travel off-season, so I know that the hours are going to be shorter, but whipping out the vacuums is a little more abrupt at 7PM than it is at midnight. I wish they could do that with a little more delay. As MagicMaker points out, it should certainly start after the "good night kiss" spiel thing. I understand about quickly picking up after the fireworks/parade for the safety of guests coming through.

DR

 

[HB2K]

Things must be getting better at MK if the big complaint is the big red vacuums running at bad times

If only this was the major complaint.

Take a look at some of the threads on this board.

The First Mechanized division of the Bradley Fighting Hoovers is just another issue being bandied about.

Take a look.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I've seen vacuum complaints before and I think the best way to resolve them would be for Disney to choreograph the vacuum cleanup.

Put the CM's in skimpy maid costumes and have them dance and twirl as they whip their vacuum cleaners about. People would then look forward to the sight of the vacuum cleaners thus eliminating the complaint.

Or....dress up the vacuum cleaners so they look like chess pieces then play star wars music as they duke it out while sucking up the trash.

 

[tonyk]

This thread has me wondering. MK closing is listed as a certain time for each day. Obviously, there are many people in a large park, so they don't "push" people out right at the posted time. But, what is Disney's grace period after closing, before CMs go around telling people it's time to go? Does it seem to be base on a certain time period or when the crowd is actually gone do they push along the stragglers? Shut off the lights or what?

 

[TheWho]

That's right, I forgot about the reduction of the chicken finger.