Has anybody NOT had a disappointing trip lately?

[JimmyV]

I wouldn't close AK to go back to clean bathrooms (even though haven't noticed that) and certainly not AK and DHS to go back further.

Does it have to be "either/or"? Can't we have AK, DHS and clean bathrooms. And CMs who go out of their way to help? And great food?

 

[Mickey&Mouse]

Simple. Talk to any one of the thousands of CMs who have been laid off. WDW is bigger than it has ever been. And it is more crowded than it has ever been. And yet staffing is down as compared to 10 years ago. Do you think that the people who comment on the condition of the bathrooms are "lying to us"? There was a time when any stray napkin was skewered by a CM with a trash stick seemingly before it hit the ground. Garbage cans were never allowed to get more than half full. These are not lying memories. What purpose would that serve? Listen to the podcasts. These are hosted by people who have been going to WDW for a long time, (but in most cases, less time than me). There isn't a single one of them that will tell you that customer service and CM attitude has not declined over the last 10 years. CMs are asked to do the work of 2 CMs now, and it frequently shows in terms of performance and attitude. Not all. But enough for it to show through. Not sure how anyone can conclude that massive layoffs at the park operations level of full time employees and replacing them with (fewer) temp workers would not result in a decline in overall service. It has to. The question is, does the service decline to the point where people stop going. But that point is a different point than the one at which people take notice. I am at the latter stage but not yet at the former.

To expound on this and in Walt Disney's words, "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality."

 

[Magpie]

Simple. Talk to any one of the thousands of CMs who have been laid off. WDW is bigger than it has ever been. And it is more crowded than it has ever been. And yet staffing is down as compared to 10 years ago. Do you think that the people who comment on the condition of the bathrooms are "lying to us"? There was a time when any stray napkin was skewered by a CM with a trash stick seemingly before it hit the ground. Garbage cans were never allowed to get more than half full. These are not lying memories. What purpose would that serve? Listen to the podcasts. These are hosted by people who have been going to WDW for a long time, (but in most cases, less time than me). There isn't a single one of them that will tell you that customer service and CM attitude has not declined over the last 10 years. CMs are asked to do the work of 2 CMs now, and it frequently shows in terms of performance and attitude. Not all. But enough for it to show through. Not sure how anyone can conclude that massive layoffs at the park operations level of full time employees and replacing them with (fewer) temp workers would not result in a decline in overall service. It has to. The question is, does the service decline to the point where people stop going. But that point is a different point than the one at which people take notice. I am at the latter stage but not yet at the former.

So, staffing has gone down, guest attendance is up, and staff members are being asked to do more! Thank you, those are all concrete, measureable facts.

As for whether a half-empty or nearly-full garbage can affects the quality of the parks or the park goer's experience, that's something on which we'll have to agree to disagree. I never experienced the "stray napkin skewered seemingly before it hit the ground", but as I said... over these past nine years, my experience has been extremely consistent (and has even improved, in some ways).

 

[jade1]

By the way, has anyone else noticed how they have way to many helpers in some of the stores?

Just a horrible pic-but I was actually embarrassed for them a number of times.

You can't see it but there were 15 workers for 2 or 3 of us in line. The candy store as well-just a crazy amount.

Maybe they just like to be ready for surges I suppose.

 

[Magpie]

By the way, has anyone else noticed how they have way to many helpers in some of the stores?

Just a horrible pic-but I was actually embarrassed for them a number of times.

You can't see it but there were 15 workers for 2 or 3 of us in line. The candy store as well-just a crazy amount.

Maybe they just like to be ready for surges I suppose.

Now I'm wondering which areas of WDW had staffing cuts...? I couldn't find anything on a quick Google.

Edit: Wait, I found something!

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/03/30/daily51.html?page=all

"The Walt Disney Co. has eliminated 1,900 jobs since Feb. 18 in its backstage operations in Orlando and California, the company confirmed late Friday.

Of that total, 1,400 of the positions were in Central Florida. The company laid off 900 workers and eliminated 500 positions, the company said.

In California, 200 workers lost their jobs and the company eliminated 100 positions, Disney said.

The job cuts are related to an overhaul of Disney’s theme-park management structure the company announced Feb. 18. The jobs were all executive, management and professional positions, the company said."

Clearly if you work in the food service sector, your job is pretty safe.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

We went last fall and had a great time. I understand that there are some difficulties/changes that not everyone approves of, but we still enjoy the place and will continue to come back. We're looking at another trip towards the end of this year too.

 

[jade1]

Now I'm wondering which areas of WDW had staffing cuts...? I couldn't find anything on a quick Google.

Edit: Wait, I found something!

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/03/30/daily51.html?page=all

"The Walt Disney Co. has eliminated 1,900 jobs since Feb. 18 in its backstage operations in Orlando and California, the company confirmed late Friday.

Of that total, 1,400 of the positions were in Central Florida. The company laid off 900 workers and eliminated 500 positions, the company said.

In California, 200 workers lost their jobs and the company eliminated 100 positions, Disney said.

The job cuts are related to an overhaul of Disney’s theme-park management structure the company announced Feb. 18. The jobs were all executive, management and professional positions, the company said."

Clearly if you work in the food service sector, your job is pretty safe.

In 2009 right?

 

[JimmyV]

Clearly if you work in the food service sector, your job is pretty safe.

I think as long as guests continue to eat the way they do, this is probably true.

EDIT TO ADD:
Here is a quick synopsis. We all know that WDW is seeing record crowds, right?

58,000 employees are employed by Walt Disney world as of 2006, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million in benefits each year

Listed below are Orlando's Top 10 Employers (2015) based on number of employees.
1. Walt Disney World
Number of Employees: 53,500

In addition to the layoffs, you also have to look at the way the workforce has shifted from full time to part time and college program employees. Workers with less personal investment in the company they work for are simply different from employees who are heavily invested. The last relative I had who worked there finally gave up after he could not get scheduled for more than 20 hours a week after routinely working 35. And most of his co-workers followed him out the door (if they didn't beat him to the door). It was no longer worth their while. So the company replaces people with 5-10 years under their belt with college program kids or part time workers. It seems almost obvious to us now that working in a theme park should be a summer job or a short term gig. But believe it or not, it used to be a career.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

We had one of our best trips ever in February. Obviously FP+ has changed our touring style but we really tried to embrace it and have a little more relaxing pace. Surprisingly we found it very enjoyable to not run around the park from ride to ride. Of course not everybody will feel that way. Also the food was great, the parks were clean and we had very little issue with crowds.

 

[Toddgabweg]

We had a great time (Feb 28-March 8th) on our recent trip to Disney. This was our 8th time going to Disney since my wife and I got married. This was our last time that we were able to stay in a regular room at Disney- our youngest turned 3 after our trip and we will now be officially a family of five (3 yo, 8 yo and 10yo). According to Disney my 10 yo is an adult and we realized that the meal plan will no longer be worth the price. I will not be able to afford to take my family to Disney every year. We do like Disney, but we will be looking for other options for vacations in the future....

 

[luvsJack]

There was literally a CM every 5 feet throughout AK. Most just standing there. They were there to help guests find their way but some weren't finding any lost guests. MK had almost as many too. Had a wonderful encounter with one in Fantasy Land. I was trying to keep our Directors 2 year old while the family rode Space Mnt. and the child was having none of it, the CM came to my assistance. Each bathroom had an attendant. Had a CM in the CS places to help take our trays, plenty taking orders, preparing food and sending the trays to the counters. More than enough CM's standing around in the stores ready to help.

Where did all these laid off CMs work?

 

[luvsJack]

Simple. Talk to any one of the thousands of CMs who have been laid off. WDW is bigger than it has ever been. And it is more crowded than it has ever been. And yet staffing is down as compared to 10 years ago. Do you think that the people who comment on the condition of the bathrooms are "lying to us"? There was a time when any stray napkin was skewered by a CM with a trash stick seemingly before it hit the ground. Garbage cans were never allowed to get more than half full. These are not lying memories. What purpose would that serve? Listen to the podcasts. These are hosted by people who have been going to WDW for a long time, (but in most cases, less time than me). There isn't a single one of them that will tell you that customer service and CM attitude has not declined over the last 10 years. CMs are asked to do the work of 2 CMs now, and it frequently shows in terms of performance and attitude. Not all. But enough for it to show through. Not sure how anyone can conclude that massive layoffs at the park operations level of full time employees and replacing them with (fewer) temp workers would not result in a decline in overall service. It has to. The question is, does the service decline to the point where people stop going. But that point is a different point than the one at which people take notice. I am at the latter stage but not yet at the former.

Do you think those saying that the bathrooms are not dirty are lying? Maybe what they call filthy and what I call filthy are very different but filthy isn't even close to what we saw. No paper on the floor, every stall clean, every sink clean, garbage emptied, floor clean.

An attendant in the restroom, cleaning between each and every guest in each stall. I am not sure what more one can ask from them.

I will say that I saw full ashtrays but not full garbage cans. The parks were as clean as they were 12 years ago when we took DD the first time. EXCEPT for the smoking areas (and I am a smoker) but J see that as a people problem not a Disney problem.

 

[jade1]

Does it have to be "either/or"? Can't we have AK, DHS and clean bathrooms. And CMs who go out of their way to help? And great food?

No, but if I had to choose, anyway like my quote says "even though haven't noticed that" so not an issue to us, plus a simple fix compared to adding 2 parks. And its really more of a reference to yesteryear trips being better-not even close to what's offered now, at least for us anyway. The amount of cm's tripping over each other to help us was actually embarrassing. And I also say there is great food-just need to pay for it and/or eliminate the DP IMO.

I wouldn't close AK to go back to clean bathrooms (even though haven't noticed that) and certainly not AK and DHS to go back further. Service? Have not seen any difference, but I'm not one to count on others as much to make my trip better. MK looks better than ever by far, EPCOT F&G was incredible, AK is nearing an incredible improvement-even though it was great already. DHS-hoping the hat etc lead to some nice improvements there. I do think middle of the road food was better before DP-but fine dining has been amazing, even though MPLS spoils us with great food and value.

 

[JimmyV]

Do you think those saying that the bathrooms are not dirty are lying?

More on the subject...
http://www.disboards.com/threads/re-podcast-involving-petes-rant-about-the-dirty-bathrooms.3390993/

 

[jade1]

Ours looked pretty good.

 

[luvsJack]

More on the subject...
http://www.disboards.com/threads/re-podcast-involving-petes-rant-about-the-dirty-bathrooms.3390993/

You didn't answer my question. I am well aware that people keep saying that they are dirty. I don't need to read more. But do you think that those of us saying we did not experience that are lying? Maybe they are dirty this week, I don't know but I do know that they were NOT dirty a week ago.

 

[JimmyV]

No, I don't think that they are lying. If they were, then every bathroom would be dirty at all times. No one has ever suggested that. Some bathrooms are dirty at some times. If we can agree on that point, then we get to the heart of the matter. So the question then becomes, is the frequency of such uncleanliness greater or equal to what it was in, say, 1985. Or 1995. And the same logic can be applied to everything in this discussion. Are all CMs rude and inattentive at all times? No. Are some CMs rude and inattentive some times? Yes. Is the frequency of that behavior more, less or equal to what it was in 1985. Or 1995. This is what people are observing. Not a wholesale swirl down the proverbial drain. If you have noticed no difference in anything at WDW since 1985, then fine. That is your observation. Mine is decidedly different. And the thread I directed you to contains similar observations of others. I'm not making this stuff up.

 

[Cormoran]

I will say that I saw full ashtrays but not full garbage cans. The parks were as clean as they were 12 years ago when we took DD the first time. EXCEPT for the smoking areas (and I am a smoker) but J see that as a people problem not a Disney problem.

Why do you see the smoking areas as a people problem and not a Disney problem? When I've looked at the smoking areas the ashtrays are overflowing. Why aren't the CM's emptying the ashtrays? I think this is also a Disney problem.

 

[Laketravis]

Jade, I'm starting to think your eyes are embedded Go-Pros. What do you NOT have a picture of??

(And before anyone reports my comment as a personal attack, please know it's a friendly chide)

Ours looked pretty good.

 

[Laketravis]

I'll be at MK in about 20 minutes, just finishing up dinner at Chuy's. Is there anything that anybody would like a picture of?

.

 

[Mickey&Mouse]

I'll be at MK in about 20 minutes, just finishing up dinner at Chuy's. Is there anything that anybody would like a picture of?

.

How about a restroom? JK