Disney is different now

[JimmyV]

In the meantime, have some patience - you're on vacation!!!!!

I'll never quite understand this admonition. Suppose you went to a resort and spa noted for its golf course, spa tratments, beauty salon and dining. You pay $1,000 per day for your stay and use of the facilities. During your stay, the golf course is cut back to 15 holes because they are rebuilding three of the holes. The spa is training new massueses and the massage you get is sub-par. You go to get your hair done and some incompetent stylist chops off a hunk of your hair. And the restaurant's food is served cold instead of hot, and is completely flavorless. Are you supposed to ultimately brush all of this off because "you are on vacation"? It is possible for a vacation destination to fail to live up to reasonable expectations and WDW is not immune from this phenomenon.

 

[Ted C]

This is, and was, my exact description and definition of them messing with their "core." Its very sad... I hope they figure it out. You never put your employees in harm's way for extended periods of time. Its criminal if you love your business and its a suicide mission. This is the Exec's problem not the CM's but its also our problem too. Its really hard to want to pay out thousands for a "different" experience as described by so many above.

I'm telling you folks, they're scrambling at the top. They don't know what to do. The stupid thing doesn't work. How in the world being Disney could they be so stupid... Having your MBA will never outweigh common sense.

 

[ConvenientTruth]

You can still get "real" milk (whatever that is), chocolate milk and real fruit juices from all of the resorts.

Back when Disney was more Magical, they had CM's who would milk the cow in front of you and process the cocoa beans on site....

If you wanted juice....you just handed a CM a basket full of produce and the pop that stuff right into a Juiceman...

 

[dr2004]

This is, and was, my exact description and definition of them messing with their "core." Its very sad... I hope they figure it out. You never put your employees in harm's way for extended periods of time. Its criminal if you love your business and its a suicide mission. This is the Exec's problem not the CM's but its also our problem too. Its really hard to want to pay out thousands for a "different" experience as described by so many above.

I'm telling you folks, they're scrambling at the top. They don't know what to do. The stupid thing doesn't work. How in the world being Disney could they be so stupid... Having your MBA will never outweigh common sense.

I wish this were true, but does anyone else agree that there are some snickers behind closed doors within Disney? Harry Potter is generally regarded as a home run, and that park is still 1,000,000 guests behind a park in annual attendance that Eisner threw together on a whim. I really think TDOs mentality is they weathered the storm, when it should have been: gee imagine if we put some TLC into DHS, we could really boost crowds and negate the Universal gains.

 

[JanaDee]

Back when Disney was more Magical, they had CM's who would milk the cow in front of you and process the cocoa beans on site....

If you wanted juice....you just handed a CM a basket full of produce and the pop that stuff right into a Juiceman...

I guess! There are plenty of things to criticize at Disney, but the beverage offerings is one that hasn't crossed my radar.

 

[ConvenientTruth]

This is, and was, my exact description and definition of them messing with their "core." Its very sad... I hope they figure it out. You never put your employees in harm's way for extended periods of time. Its criminal if you love your business and its a suicide mission. This is the Exec's problem not the CM's but its also our problem too. Its really hard to want to pay out thousands for a "different" experience as described by so many above.

I'm telling you folks, they're scrambling at the top. They don't know what to do. The stupid thing doesn't work. How in the world being Disney could they be so stupid... Having your MBA will never outweigh common sense.

What are they scrambling for?

They are in the infant stages of an entirely new system that included everything (Res, Dining, daily plans, FP....) in the end it is going to be a much better experience as everything will be more streamline.

 

[Mickey & Minnie Mom]

I'll never quite understand this admonition. Suppose you went to a resort and spa noted for its golf course, spa treatments, beauty salon and dining. You pay $1,000 per day for your stay and use of the facilities. During your stay, the golf course is cut back to 15 holes because they are rebuilding three of the holes. The spa is training new masseuses and the massage you get is sub-par. You go to get your hair done and some incompetent stylist chops off a hunk of your hair. And the restaurant's food is served cold instead of hot, and is completely flavorless. Are you supposed to ultimately brush all of this off because "you are on vacation"? It is possible for a vacation destination to fail to live up to reasonable expectations and WDW is not immune from this phenomenon.

Thank you for your post. Sums up my exact feelings to the "be patient, you're on vacation" admonitions that I too just don't understand.

 

[Ted C]

You're exactly right, they over thought this thing. And stupidly it was designed to save them money and maximize profits. You can forgot that. This thing is a financial sink hole. Just one example of such was posted by someone insightful on here a few weeks ago, what happens when Apple changes their OS for instance??? This thing is going to be a nightmare for a long time to come. I bet you Eisner is livid.

 

[Minniesgal]

To be honest our worst experience at ?Disney with CMs was back in 2002 when they hired a lot of temporary CMs over the summer period and they didn't have a clue what they were doing. We are just back from a trip and I found the place as magical as ever. I think anywhere there are good trips and bad trips for everyone.

 

[JimmyV]

They are in the infant stages of an entirely new system that included everything (Res, Dining, daily plans, FP....) in the end it is going to be a much better experience as everything will be more streamline.

The old adage that one should not put all of one's eggs in one basket applies as much in the digital age as it did the bronze age. Perhaps more so. See the "At Disney Now" thread. I will continue to keep my park admission medium on hard plastic cards for as long as I am able.

 

[dr2004]

I guess! There are plenty of things to criticize at Disney, but the beverage offerings is one that hasn't crossed my radar.

In the good old days Stacy used to have a show..Top Ten places to get real milk in food courts.

 

[Ted C]

Streamline it??? On paper maybe but never in reality, that's the lack of common sense part The technical ramifications and challenges are unprecedented.

 

[2Tiggies]

Or lousy training.
Turn over has to be extremely high as well, so CM come and go so fast, they don't become well-versed in the policies. I'm not at Disney, but I've been on my new job 9 months, and I still haven't learned everything - let alone become an expert.

I was at AK yesterday, and I found CM did all they could to interact as little as possible. It wasn't a rudeness per se, but a survival tactic.

Could very well be. But I'm going to add to what you said and suggest, just based on my personal view, that Disney is clearly investing in 'things' (more this, more that .... building, changing, taking away, adding ...) but it's all about stuff. There is no investment in the people. Neither investment in the guests' experience, nor investment in the staff are anywhere near the level of priority they once were; or at least that they once, not so long ago, clearly appeared to be.

 

[Ted C]

They're going to end up with a lot of "Temporaries" if they don't start taking care of them and sheltering from their own stupidity. Folks, this is the longest "test" phase in history and it looks like its no where close to over.

 

[jdrais]

Back when Disney was more Magical, they had CM's who would milk the cow in front of you and process the cocoa beans on site....

If you wanted juice....you just handed a CM a basket full of produce and the pop that stuff right into a Juiceman...

Yep, those were magical times.

 

[surferdave]

I wish this were true, but does anyone else agree that there are some snickers behind closed doors within Disney? Harry Potter is generally regarded as a home run, and that park is still 1,000,000 guests behind a park in annual attendance that Eisner threw together on a whim. I really think TDOs mentality is they weathered the storm, when it should have been: gee imagine if we put some TLC into DHS, we could really boost crowds and negate the Universal gains.

I'm not sure what meaning there is to that when it might only cost $10-15 to go into that thrown together park for a few hours because you already spent 3 days in the really popular WDW parks. I'd like to see how many 1 day tickets to Hollywood Studios are sold vs. Island of Adventure.

Thank you for your post. Sums up my exact feelings to the "be patient, you're on vacation" admonitions that I too just don't understand.

If you compare WDW to any other vacation destination you're told that it's a million times better; start having problems at WDW and you're told you should just be grateful you're not at work!

 

[ConvenientTruth]

You're exactly right, they over thought this thing. And stupidly it was designed to save them money and maximize profits. You can forgot that. This thing is a financial sink hole. Just one example of such was posted by someone insightful on here a few weeks ago, what happens when Apple changes their OS for instance??? This thing is going to be a nightmare for a long time to come. I bet you Eisner is livid.

Why would that effect anything....wouldn't you simply be able to....I don't know update the app? I know I have done it with dozens of other apps without losing any data, why should the MDE be any different?

How is it poorly designed? The MDE app is fairly easy to navigate, I've used the bands recently without issue.

FP+...you mean I don't have to walk to all my favorite attraction several times to...not ride the ride, but get a piece of paper (reservation) to come back later....I can do that on my phone. The madness must stop!!!

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I see the progress for a more technological system to be a good thing. I like being able to go to one place and see everything and change them as I feel the need to.

 

[littlepanwhite]

Disney has raised their prices and I think that's what causes that magic to fade because who wants to spend all this money on admission and then souvenirs food and other thing. I'm a sophomore and a couple of my fiends and I are already planing senior week at disney and it's 1,500 per person and I want to go but I'd have to start saving now

 

[Ted C]

Look I don't want to be negative, its just any system is only as good as the ability to correctly implement it. The idea is good, makes a lot of sense, but the IT department, who told them adamantly it couldn't be done, is living a nightmare. You simply can't put all of your eggs in one basket like this. Look what happened a DHS the other day, it was a complete melt down. Combining all of the systems together as one is a very foolish thing to do.

 

[bdoyledimou]

They're going to end up with a lot of "Temporaries" if they don't start taking care of them and sheltering from their own stupidity. Folks, this is the longest "test" phase in history and it looks like its no where close to over.

I think the parks have changed due to guest mentality changing.

Once upon a time, some magic happened, you came home and told your 10 friends about it and they nodded and smiled and said that is so neat!

Now you come home, post on a forum and 10,000 people say "I deserve that too -- how do I MAKE that happen?" and then it doesn't happen and then they get angry .