Hi - Been lurking w/ great interest for awhile now as I am very interested in the business of Disney and diminishing magic. I took note of two major issues last month on my 6-day stay at WL. I"m sure all this has been discussed many times beore, but here goes... The crown jewel of remains MK. As you visit Epcot, a little more disrepair, less upkeep, "un-Disneylike restrooms" MGM even less well--kept. I almost died of shock walking into one restroom at MGM - after 5 days of WDW, I thought I'd been teleported to the NYC Port Authority Bus Terminal! Not to mention the TP is onestep up from European style - even at the resorts. Cheaped out! Would most of you agree that this is the strategy of current cost-cutting measures - more jobs cut at Epcot and MGM than MK.? More maintenance dollars to MK? I did not do AK 2 years now. Seems like a must-miss for now for me. Item 2 - BAD COFFEE!!!! I am no gourmet when it comes to java. I just like a good cup of coffee and couldn't seem to get a good one anywhere on property. Scenario - we dine at Chef Mickey's for dinner w/ friends. Friend leans over to me as his coffee is served and asks me incredulously, " Do you think this could POSSIBLY be INSTANT?" Sure enough, telltale foam around the edges. We question CM, who gives us the Disneyline on why we have switched to instant coffee throughout the parks and resorts. The consumer taste panel they went with must have had their tastbuds removed in the 80's! Aha, I think! The Nestle-Carnation alliance! (Disney is not Starbucks, you say? How many cups are served per day??) So this is my interesting sequel - After WDW, I take a short cruise from Port Canaveral(not Disney) My tablemates happen to own a coffeehouse - not a chain. I tell them of Disney instant coffee. Tablemate tells me how much he spends per cup for "good" brewed coffee vs. instant. Are you ready? Instant - 2 cents per cup! Any thoughts, comments? Thanks for listening. I feel just ... sad. I love the magic still, fading or not.
Coffee at WDW is generally Nestle's (Nescafe, I believe). Just like the cookies and Coke as the drink, Nestle is entertwined with WDW. That's one of DH's disappointments. To buy decent/good coffee on site you have to go to Boma's, Morocco, Kona's, etc. Although I do like the cold coffee slushes!
Please Write to WDW guest communications-- email at least. snail mail if you can-it makes a bigger impression...but if people do not tell them they are bothered they are more clueless than ever...and as you note, they seem pretty clueless...
Us Darn Consumers -- We seem to tell Disney an awful lot of what we want is actually NOT what we want. They pull the same thing on pins too. Sell more expensive ones with bells and whistles at $12.50 - $18 a pop, because that's what collectors wanted. When our pin board unofficial surveys say just the opposite. Don't forget, Us Consumers also wanted character caravan over EE. We should be the HAPPIEST customers on earth! We don't REALLY want all those nasty lil' perks, do we?
Welcome melomouse! Anyway.... I think I'm one of the few who think the current dispare of the parks is over elaborated and that once the management is shaken up, good ole days of Mickey Butter will soon return. But while going to DCA and DL recently, I noticed that bathrooms were clean and very friendly compared to the ones in Las Vegas casino's.
It does make you sad...We notice the cutbacks last Jan especially at Epcot. I tried not to notice but you couldn't help but feel you aren't getting the bang for your buck like you have in the past. If I remember right...Last summer the resorts switched to instant cofffee(prior to 9/11). It was noticed right away by us coffee adicts,lol! What ever happened to exceeding the expectations of guests..
The downfall is simply incredibly, honestly. My wife and I used to visit on a weekly basis as we live in-town, but not anylonger. We visited about two weeks ago and went to the Wonders of Life. It's so filthy that there were cobwebs and dirt all over the Wonders of Life sign going into the building, along with all the other signage in front of the pavillion. People who have said that they've turned down the air conditioning are totally correct. We went into the German pavillion it was a bit toasty. Even places like the Electric Umbrella, when you entered before, it was a blast of chilled air, not it's cool. The difference is pretty signicant when it's 95 and humid.. One more observation, we have seen some mighty, well, irked people who were at Epcot around 7 or so and they've roped things off in Future World. A few of the people gave their two cents to the rope Cast Member saying that it was a absurd that they now close the attractions early... The public is not as blind to their methodical ways of cost-cutting. All the so called cost-cutting in the world has done nothing for their stock, not much for the bottom-line, and is most certainly beginning to drive people from Disney to Universal, and losing many people who are simply die-hard Disney fans. Walt Disney is an icon for a lot of people and his name is still what brings people to the company. They certainly are doing a good job of trashing it all.. BTW-Check out those bathrooms in Adventureland, they're disgusting..
You know, I did not really notice the AC thing (you can read my report a few posts down) Perhaps its only in certain areas then? I did notice a few "un-disney like" restrooms though (I think one of them was in adventureland too). I was shocked to say the least. I could understand more if the parks were super busy but they were the least crowded I have seen in at least 10 years. I also notice MANY "irked" guests.. more so than I have ever seen in the off season before. The parks were dead this past week and I saw quite a few not so happy Disney guests. As I stated in my other post.. I think there are MANY more car # 3 people than we realize. People ARE noticing the cutbaks and are not happy about it. Its not just something people who post on a Disney message board are noticing. I also imagine there are many lurkers here that are just nodding their heads in agreement and not posting.. I know I was a lurker for around two years before I ever posted...
