Disneyland and DCA really need to rethink their mobile ordering / cashless system. It's now counter effective

[DLgal]

Wow. Just WOW! I hope she gets in touch with DL's special diets team as well as guest services. It's really ridiculous to have to order something you know you can't eat (and see good food tossed) just to be able to place an order in person. If WDW can figure this out there's no reason DL can't!

While waiting to speak to a Guest Relations CM to get a DAS return, the man in front of me was complaining about this. When it was my turn, the CM apologized for the wait and we started talking about the food situation and HE said "I don't understand why this is being done this way, but it needs to change. It's really not working for guests. I don't know how long this can go on. We get people complaining about this all day long and there is nothing we can do to help them."

 

[Skyegirl1999]

While waiting to speak to a Guest Relations CM to get a DAS return, the man in front of me was complaining about this. When it was my turn, the CM apologized for the wait and we started talking about the food situation and HE said "I don't understand why this is being done this way, but it needs to change. It's really not working for guests. I don't know how long this can go on. We get people complaining about this all day long and there is nothing we can do to help them."

I am honestly mystified by the current food situation at Disneyland.

Don’t they want people to buy food there? It’s not like rides, where the only benefit is guest satisfaction. They MAKE MONEY off of food. Why aren’t they making it easy or even POSSIBLE for people to purchase their food?

We were there on Thursday. I’d describe it as “crowded” (not slammed, but crowded). There were absolutely as many people in the park as on MANY days in the past when all the food was open and operating normally. Why isn’t that happening now?! Why can’t you buy a Mickey pretzel at DCA when they had them for Touch of Disney? Why isn’t Hungry Bear back open so there’s actual food besides Ronto Wraps in the back half of the park? Why don’t they have a system in place for people with allergies? It’s a thing Disney is supposed to be good at accommodating.

Yes, yes, “staffing” - but they aren’t trying to hire for dining? And yes, it takes a certain amount of time to start up a closed restaurant - you have to stock the food, train people, etc - but they’ve been increasing capacity. They’ve had time.

Like I said. Mystified.

 

[Kender]

Yes, there was a woman dealing with this at Bengal BBQ when I was there on Thursday. I didn’t entirely hear the situation, but she was trying to get to the counter to talk about an allergy, but they wouldn’t let her until her order was ready and she then waited in line like everyone. When she got up front, she said she needed then sauceless due to an allergy, so they dumped an entire tray of skewers in the trash - like 6-7 of them. Then she was there for a long time while they prepared sauceless ones.

Everyone involved was annoyed - the woman mentioned that she’d been dealing with this all day because you can’t customize the orders, they tell you to talk to someone in person, but then you can’t GET to anyone in person. The CMs were frustrated. It’s a dumb system.

Prefacing with I agree mobile ordering is a problem for some especially if you need to customize the order. I had my almost normal experience with things I actually ordered, but options are definitely very limited and I left to DTD to get a meal instead of just snacks because of the lack of appealing options in the parks.

That said, you can request sauceless through the app on all skewers (you can even add the other sauces). But you have to know to scroll down, click "customize", and then select the sauce that says "included" to change it to "no thanks". So the average person may not be aware.

But in her case maybe it was she didn't know if the sauce was an issue until she got to the counter to ask?

That's terrible there was so much wasted food.

 

[DLgal]

I am honestly mystified by the current food situation at Disneyland.

Don’t they want people to buy food there? It’s not like rides, where the only benefit is guest satisfaction. They MAKE MONEY off of food. Why aren’t they making it easy or even POSSIBLE for people to purchase their food?

We were there on Thursday. I’d describe it as “crowded” (not slammed, but crowded). There were absolutely as many people in the park as on MANY days in the past when all the food was open and operating normally. Why isn’t that happening now?! Why can’t you buy a Mickey pretzel at DCA when they had them for Touch of Disney? Why isn’t Hungry Bear back open so there’s actual food besides Ronto Wraps in the back half of the park? Why don’t they have a system in place for people with allergies? It’s a thing Disney is supposed to be good at accommodating.

Yes, yes, “staffing” - but they aren’t trying to hire for dining? And yes, it takes a certain amount of time to start up a closed restaurant - you have to stock the food, train people, etc - but they’ve been increasing capacity. They’ve had time.

Like I said. Mystified.

I completely agree. It is mystifying. They really should not have let in so many people if they couldn't logistically support the needs of those people. Period. It's greed, nothing more. They are charging full price and they have people walking around hungry.

 

[taaren]

Here yesterday and today, DL side. They appear to have worked out the kinks (except Plaza Inn, it would have been faster to standby there). We've been eating some sort of mobile order about every 1.5 hours (just enough time to get in a few rides yesterday, today waits are too long), and all of them have been acquired within 5 minutes of "I'm here". (Mint Julep, Tropical Hideaway, Jolly Holly, Red Rose, Ronto).

It did help a lot to set all of our orders while in our first ride line of the day.

 

[AZMermaid]

Craftsman Grill wasn’t taking mobile orders this morning until about 8:30. We placed ours, hit prepare and then it was about 25 minutes. But it was handed to me seconds after I got the “ready” text. Then again at lunch mobile order (12:45) wasn’t accepting orders so I went and ordered in person. The pool attendant mentioned they close mobile order when they get busy with in person orders.

 

[DisSurfer878]

Craftsman Grill wasn’t taking mobile orders this morning until about 8:30. We placed ours, hit prepare and then it was about 25 minutes. But it was handed to me seconds after I got the “ready” text. Then again at lunch mobile order (12:45) wasn’t accepting orders so I went and ordered in person. The pool attendant mentioned they close mobile order when they get busy with in person orders.

We are here also and heard from other CMs that the app was having trouble too for Craftsman Grill so, bad all around

 

[ten6mom]

So here is a question about Craftsman Grill (I only ever visited before when it was Whitewater Snacks)- if we made a dinner reservation, we still would order like a normal sit down place, right? I am a bit confused by the "mobile order" comments above since I assumed it was table service. Do they do both there?

 

[DisSurfer878]

So here is a question about Craftsman Grill (I only ever visited before when it was Whitewater Snacks)- if we made a dinner reservation, we still would order like a normal sit down place, right? I am a bit confused by the "mobile order" comments above since I assumed it was table service. Do they do both there?

This is unnecessarily complicated to explain. Yes, there's a whole counter/mobile walkup space. There is also a restaurant-bar right in front of the same place that is sitdown, table service. This same location ALSO provides all of the pool food. Hence, it's busy.

 

[ten6mom]

This is unnecessarily complicated to explain. Yes, there's a whole counter/mobile walkup space. There is also a restaurant-bar right in front of the same place that is sitdown, table service. This same location ALSO provides all of the pool food. Hence, it's busy.

OK very good; thanks. Just wanted to know what to expect as we plan to enjoy a couple of tasty beverages and maybe those nachos... if they'll leave the cilantro off (which I understand they may not be willing to do... but I'm hoping a lot will change between now and July 9).

Thanks!

 

[AZMermaid]

This is unnecessarily complicated to explain. Yes, there's a whole counter/mobile walkup space. There is also a restaurant-bar right in front of the same place that is sitdown, table service. This same location ALSO provides all of the pool food. Hence, it's busy.

And… to complicate things even more, the pool severs’ menu only has about half of the Craftsman menu. And if you try to go off menu and order the lobster quesadilla… you will not be allowed... not that I tried…

 

[upritbass]

Order dinner from Hearthstone. Craftsman Bar/Grill/Hearthstone use the same kitchen and mostly the same dinner menu.

 

[DLgal]

And… to complicate things even more, the pool severs’ menu only has about half of the Craftsman menu. And if you try to go off menu and order the lobster quesadilla… you will not be allowed... not that I tried…

The pool menu used to be from Hearthstone. Is that still the case? They would get the food from that kitchen, not the Craftaman Grill one.

 

[upritbass]

The pool menu used to be from Hearthstone. Is that still the case? They would get the food from that kitchen, not the Craftaman Grill one.

Craftsman Grill/Bar/Hearthstone all come from the same kitchen. I asked.

 

[DLgal]

Craftsman Grill/Bar/Hearthstone all come from the same kitchen. I asked.

Ahh...guess they consolidated operations.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Mice Chat's Disneyland update today includes some rumors about the staffing there, grain of salt of course, but in the past they tend to be pretty close to the mark when talking about CM issues:

I copy/pasted it below because their update is long and this was the relevant part to this thread...

"Disneyland has been handling staffing as well as they can so far. The resort had approximately 31,000 cast members before the shutdown. They have a little over half of them back now. Most of those folks were full-time union cast who were on furlough and not completely separated from the company. However, now Disney needs to start calling back (and already have started in most departments) part-time employees who were laid off from the company completely. That’s a harder and more involved process. We spoke to a cast member who has less than one year of seniority who was offered $15.50 to return to her old job, a 50 cent increase since she was laid off last year.

Unfortunately, many workers are still saying ‘no’ when called by Disney. And there are lots of reasons for that, including being asked to accept new positions they aren’t interested in, an inability to take care of their children if they return to work right now, better pay elsewhere, and even receiving more on unemployment than they would make if they return to Disney (though that option won’t remain once unemployment benefits begin running out in the fall).

One growing issue in the parks is rapidly worsening morale. Much of this has to do with cast who have either been assigned new roles they don’t like, or are being asked to do double duty in their old roles due to understaffing at their current location. Work schedules have become unpredictable as well, making it difficult for cast to maintain 2nd jobs— something that’s necessary for many just to make ends meet. As a result of the issues above (and likely many other things), so many cast are now calling out ‘sick’ that it leaves their fellow coworkers stressed and feeling like calling out themselves.

For some reason, the call-out problem is particularly bad on Sundays, when many locations see multiple cast members all out on the same day. To combat the call-out/sick issue, Disney has brought back their attendance point system, which gives point values to workers calling out for any reason (other than for COVID infection for which there are no points). Accumulate enough points and you are automatically terminated. That may sound like a good way to encourage folks not to call out sick, but it does nothing to solve the morale problem which created the situation to begin with. "

Mice Chat Disneyland Update

I can't remember who it was but someone on here mentioned they're not seeing any job postings for DLR right now- do they have an agreement with the unions to call back the part-time folks first before posting new jobs?

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Mice Chat's Disneyland update today includes some rumors about the staffing there, grain of salt of course, but in the past they tend to be pretty close to the mark when talking about CM issues:

I copy/pasted it below because their update is long and this was the relevant part to this thread...

"Disneyland has been handling staffing as well as they can so far. The resort had approximately 31,000 cast members before the shutdown. They have a little over half of them back now. Most of those folks were full-time union cast who were on furlough and not completely separated from the company. However, now Disney needs to start calling back (and already have started in most departments) part-time employees who were laid off from the company completely. That’s a harder and more involved process. We spoke to a cast member who has less than one year of seniority who was offered $15.50 to return to her old job, a 50 cent increase since she was laid off last year.

Unfortunately, many workers are still saying ‘no’ when called by Disney. And there are lots of reasons for that, including being asked to accept new positions they aren’t interested in, an inability to take care of their children if they return to work right now, better pay elsewhere, and even receiving more on unemployment than they would make if they return to Disney (though that option won’t remain once unemployment benefits begin running out in the fall).

One growing issue in the parks is rapidly worsening morale. Much of this has to do with cast who have either been assigned new roles they don’t like, or are being asked to do double duty in their old roles due to understaffing at their current location. Work schedules have become unpredictable as well, making it difficult for cast to maintain 2nd jobs— something that’s necessary for many just to make ends meet. As a result of the issues above (and likely many other things), so many cast are now calling out ‘sick’ that it leaves their fellow coworkers stressed and feeling like calling out themselves.

For some reason, the call-out problem is particularly bad on Sundays, when many locations see multiple cast members all out on the same day. To combat the call-out/sick issue, Disney has brought back their attendance point system, which gives point values to workers calling out for any reason (other than for COVID infection for which there are no points). Accumulate enough points and you are automatically terminated. That may sound like a good way to encourage folks not to call out sick, but it does nothing to solve the morale problem which created the situation to begin with. "

Mice Chat Disneyland Update

I can't remember who it was but someone on here mentioned they're not seeing any job postings for DLR right now- do they have an agreement with the unions to call back the part-time folks first before posting new jobs?

I know of a few people who were laid off entirely who are headed back in June - there was some lag time between them announcing it on social media and when they actually return (two mentioned “June 13” when posting over a week ago) - so they’ve been re-hired, but it’s not affecting anything yet at the moment. One’s a RR engineer, so I wasn’t surprised they

Another CM who was furloughed but never let go still hasn’t been recalled. She used to do attractions and was most recently a character host. She’s dying to go back, has been able to visit twice as a CM, so she’s still in the system... but no word on coming back to work.

It sounds like it’s getting increasingly unpleasant to be a CM. Makes me sad.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

I know of a few people who were laid off entirely who are headed back in June - there was some lag time between them announcing it on social media and when they actually return (two mentioned “June 13” when posting over a week ago) - so they’ve been re-hired, but it’s not affecting anything yet at the moment. One’s a RR engineer, so I wasn’t surprised they

Another CM who was furloughed but never let go still hasn’t been recalled. She used to do attractions and was most recently a character host. She’s dying to go back, has been able to visit twice as a CM, so she’s still in the system... but no word on coming back to work.

It sounds like it’s getting increasingly unpleasant to be a CM. Makes me sad.

Sounds like a hot mess all around. Maybe they are just waiting until that June 15th date to bring more back and have just been making do with a skeleton crew for now. Which makes the experience suck for everyone- CMs included.

Hopefully they can get it together soon.

 

[AZMermaid]

The pool menu used to be from Hearthstone. Is that still the case? They would get the food from that kitchen, not the Craftaman Grill one.

That was the reason the server gave me yesterday. It was fine- I just had thought they all had the same menu so I ordered without looking since I’d looked in the app.

 

[DLgal]

Mice Chat's Disneyland update today includes some rumors about the staffing there, grain of salt of course, but in the past they tend to be pretty close to the mark when talking about CM issues:

I copy/pasted it below because their update is long and this was the relevant part to this thread...

"Disneyland has been handling staffing as well as they can so far. The resort had approximately 31,000 cast members before the shutdown. They have a little over half of them back now. Most of those folks were full-time union cast who were on furlough and not completely separated from the company. However, now Disney needs to start calling back (and already have started in most departments) part-time employees who were laid off from the company completely. That’s a harder and more involved process. We spoke to a cast member who has less than one year of seniority who was offered $15.50 to return to her old job, a 50 cent increase since she was laid off last year.

Unfortunately, many workers are still saying ‘no’ when called by Disney. And there are lots of reasons for that, including being asked to accept new positions they aren’t interested in, an inability to take care of their children if they return to work right now, better pay elsewhere, and even receiving more on unemployment than they would make if they return to Disney (though that option won’t remain once unemployment benefits begin running out in the fall).

One growing issue in the parks is rapidly worsening morale. Much of this has to do with cast who have either been assigned new roles they don’t like, or are being asked to do double duty in their old roles due to understaffing at their current location. Work schedules have become unpredictable as well, making it difficult for cast to maintain 2nd jobs— something that’s necessary for many just to make ends meet. As a result of the issues above (and likely many other things), so many cast are now calling out ‘sick’ that it leaves their fellow coworkers stressed and feeling like calling out themselves.

For some reason, the call-out problem is particularly bad on Sundays, when many locations see multiple cast members all out on the same day. To combat the call-out/sick issue, Disney has brought back their attendance point system, which gives point values to workers calling out for any reason (other than for COVID infection for which there are no points). Accumulate enough points and you are automatically terminated. That may sound like a good way to encourage folks not to call out sick, but it does nothing to solve the morale problem which created the situation to begin with. "

Mice Chat Disneyland Update

I can't remember who it was but someone on here mentioned they're not seeing any job postings for DLR right now- do they have an agreement with the unions to call back the part-time folks first before posting new jobs?

It was me that posted that. I sometimes like to browse the DL jobs site and Indeed.com, where Disneyland posts open positions. Right now there are literally like 6 postings, mostly maintenence/grounds crew full time jobs. Absolutely nothing for park cast members in any capacity. There are usually several of those types of postings up.