Five Years On...

[zackiedawg]

I loved Animal Kingdom since it opened, but then I love animals. I actually miss the old Discovery River boats - it was a nice option to get around to different sections of the park as an alternative to walking - it had some interaction in the early days with cast members on board with small animals to meet and learn about, but too many guests apparently thought it was supposed to be an 'attraction' and badmouthed it, so we lost it in the late 90s. There are a lot of boats we've lost over the years - MK's Swan boats, Mike Fink keelboats, Frontierland canoes...all way before any pandemics. And of course, now Tom Sawyer rafts and Liberty Belle the latest boats to go bye bye.

One other change since the pandemic seems to still be less international cast members than before - during the pandemic, there were almost no international CMs in Epcot's World Showcase, for obvious travel restrictions, but it never seemed to rebound even once restrictions were lifted. Probably a combination of budgetary cuts and lower international travel to the U.S. overall - but still a sad loss as having people from the country who's pavilion you were visiting was both atmospheric and educational/cultural.

 

[kylenne]

One other change since the pandemic seems to still be less international cast members than before - during the pandemic, there were almost no international CMs in Epcot's World Showcase, for obvious travel restrictions, but it never seemed to rebound even once restrictions were lifted. Probably a combination of budgetary cuts and lower international travel to the U.S. overall - but still a sad loss as having people from the country who's pavilion you were visiting was both atmospheric and educational/cultural.

I don’t find that this is actually the case anymore in the past couple of years. While they’re still not quite at pre-pandemic numbers there are tons of international CMs in World Showcase. Occasionally I’ll see a regular college program CM subbing in here and there but on the whole it’s basically back to normal.

 

[zackiedawg]

It's definitely getting better, but on my trips in June, February, and last December, I was still running into a surprising number of American employees at most pavilions. I'm happy to see more internationals returning and I'd say they all have their countries represented again with most employees - but I still run into Americans at almost all pavilions (they usually seem to have them staffing stores and restaurants rather than the rides/movies/interactive elements of the pavilions which is smart). I'll be there again in 2 days, so I'll see how many Americans I run into (excluding the Food & Wine booths, which I give them a pass on since they need a lot of extra employee help during the festivals)