Has Disney dropped the magic ball?

[DisneyPrince1982]

We are halfway through our 10 day trip and I'm disappointed in the Little details that are missing in the parks and the cast members, I.e., no towel animals in our room (at a deluxe resort), we've encountered more than one rude castmember in the parks, the bathrooms are filthy.... It just seems the little things are missing.... I realize it's hot and crowded here so I expect other guests to be rude but so far in this trip the Disney "magic" is missing. Has anyone else noticed this or am i expecting too much based on previous vacations here?

Off the parks shortly, maybe today will have a little bit of magic....

I definitely understand where you're coming from. Our last trip was in November 2014. Prior to that, we had been going once a year but we had been noticing a gradual decline in quality. Kind of like frogs in a slow boil. The slow boil kept building and building but during the last trip, the temperature got so hot we finally awoke from our slumber and realized that we weren't vacationing in the same spot that we had been for the past 20 years (as sad as it is to say that).

I've noticed more rude CM's and poor restaurant service. I had some awful awful service at Le Celier on the last trip.
The new FP system really doesn't fit our touring style at all. Much preferred the old system.
The crowds continue to increase, the profits continue to roll in, but Disney has been lacking on the innovation front (this may change but given their recent track record of ride failures, I wouldn't necessarily hold my breath).

I didn't notice dirty bathrooms and I could honestly care less about the animal towels. But the other issues I pointed out are the bigger deal to me. Disney use to be a mandatory week vacation for me but that has changed to possibly once every couple of years, or just a long weekend during the F&W.

Also, why is it that anytime someone posts a complaint about Disney, so many feel the need to come and post that they themselves had a magical time and didn't see any decline at all? It honestly feels like people are trying to blame the OP that the reason he/she had a bad time was because they didn't vacation "correctly" or they went in with a bad attitude. Really really strange.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Take the number of bathrooms in all of the parks, mutiply them by at least 2 shifts of full time employees, multiply that by minimum wage to make math easy, mutiply that times 1.20% (to cover employee benefits/taxes/etc). and tell me how much of those "millions" you will get to split. Business math is a little more complicated.

I'm fairly sure a 20% increase directed straight at bathrooms would result in $2514.00 per hour for each bathroom in MK. That's still a rather large share to split.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

I'm fairly sure a 20% increase directed straight at bathrooms would result in $2514.00 per hour for each bathroom in MK. That's still a rather large share to split.

Disney doesn't assign 279 janitors to each bathroom? No wonder people think they're so messy!

 

[srauseo]

I have sent emails with comments AFTER vacation. I've received zero responses to any of those emails, other than the auto-reply "We'll respond in 7 days" that they send out to everything. And I know they read them...I also take time to email about amazing CMs we've come across and I consistently get responses to those emails.

I sent a very detailed evaluation of our last trip (August 2014) via email to guest relations when I got home. It covered the good and the bad and, again, had lots of details. I actually got a phone call from guest relations. The rep and I probably talked for about 30 minutes. She said she called because she wanted to get more details or clarification about specific experiences. I felt like I was heard. She said she would pass on compliments and critiques to the individual areas and I feel pretty confident that happened. Now, I'm not saying everyone should expect a personal call from guest relations when they send an email, just like maybe not everyone should expect a towel animal every day, etc. etc. But they probably should respond in some way, not just the auto response.

 

[flicx]

Take the number of bathrooms in all of the parks, mutiply them by at least 2 shifts of full time employees, multiply that by minimum wage to make math easy, mutiply that times 1.20% (to cover employee benefits/taxes/etc). and tell me how much of those "millions" you will get to split. Business math is a little more complicated.

Well I like math its fun. So lets say Disney charges 50 bucks a head average a day for park admission a fair number as some pay less some pay much more. Now the magic kingdom had what, about 17 million visitors last year. Now you said a 15% to 20% increase to cover staffing. If my math is correct that is $7.50 to $10.00 surcharge per day per guest at 50 bucks a day admission. Multiply that by 17 million. I'll stand by my comments.

 

[BugsDaddy]

I agree that there are certain

I sent a very detailed evaluation of our last trip (August 2014) via email to guest relations when I got home. It covered the good and the bad and, again, had lots of details. I actually got a phone call from guest relations. The rep and I probably talked for about 30 minutes. She said she called because she wanted to get more details or clarification about specific experiences. I felt like I was heard. She said she would pass on compliments and critiques to the individual areas and I feel pretty confident that happened. Now, I'm not saying everyone should expect a personal call from guest relations when they send an email, just like maybe not everyone should expect a towel animal every day, etc. etc. But they probably should respond in some way, not just the auto response.

And this is a good example of how someone should address a complaint with whichever organization you have the complaint with. Posting complaints exclusively on a message board probably is not going to result in your satisfaction or other future guests satisfaction in getting the issues resolved.

 

[BugsDaddy]

I agree, with some exceptions: Why has the escalator in the land pavilion been broken for at least 2 years? Why has the people mover escalator been broken for at least 6 months? I don't think this is acceptable and I doubt there's a good excuse for it.

The truth is that those escalators are not causing such an issue for the average park guest enough to affect park attendance in a negative way. No one is canceling their Disney trip because an escalator doesn't work. That doesn't make it right but that is the reason. If these things were significant issues that most guests were worried about to the extent of not giving Disney their money, there would probably be some change there. The fact is, those issues along with other issues discussed on this thread are insignificant to a great many guests.

 

[Fizban]

Well I like math its fun. So lets say Disney charges 50 bucks a head average a day for park admission a fair number as some pay less some pay much more. Now the magic kingdom had what, about 17 million visitors last year. Now you said a 15% to 20% increase to cover staffing. If my math is correct that is $7.50 to $10.00 surcharge per day per guest at 50 bucks a day admission. Multiply that by 17 million. I'll stand by my comments.

$50 bucks a day for park admission? Have you ever been to Disney?

 

[flicx]

$50 bucks a day for park admission? Have you ever been to Disney?

I was averaging the cost with multiday passes costing less per day and one day admissions over 100 bucks. To answer your question yes have gone since the 80's. Simply put if Disney charged 1 dollar per guest for the year that would give them 17million dollars for restroom expenses at just the magic kingdom. Now I know they have quite a few restrooms but I would bet a substantial sum that 17 million would more than cover it nicely! The 15 to 20 percent you quoted is fantasyland numbers.

 

[bc7ate9]

$50 bucks a day for park admission? Have you ever been to Disney?

I think they meant it as an estimated average...a one day ticket costs $105/day; a 7 day ticket is $47.86/day; 10 day ticket is $36.50/day - then there are people with AP, other discounted tickets, etc.

It's interesting that tickets to Tokyo Disneyland are only $50-$60 US and they have loads of awesome cast members. I'm pretty sure people get paid just to stand around waving at you there - and a ton more keeping the bathrooms sparkly clean.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

$50 bucks a day for park admission? Have you ever been to Disney?

I assume this is taking into consideration multi-day tickets, which reduces the cost of entry per-day. I'm almost certain that flicx has been to Disney.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

DISNEY plainly is not bad nor has it dropped the Magic Ball.

No theme parks is perfect, we have madeany trips over the years, and while the Igor and Igor tons have put management in the parks that had cut corners, ot still way ahead of any other
Theme Park.

We have never seen a dirty bathroom except 2, and that was clearly the result of some guests intentionally trashing them and 1 was in the process of being cleaned

In the last 10 Yeats we have had a total of 3 CM's that could have been nicer, but frankly I write those off to be being rude guests as I have seen more and.more guests treat the.CM like they were servants. The old entitlement mode.

With 70,000 full and part time CM's, there is going to be the occasional CM that may have a bad.day, or not be.up to par or as I mentioned had just toany rude guests that day.

Food.....never had a good hamburger at any park, any where and we have seen quite a few.

Yet we never had a bad sit down meal, in fact most have been really good. Folks have to remember food ro subjective, so food may not be bad, just not good to one's i dividual pallet.

When you take I to account the massive size, the parks, water parks,any unginic resorts, DTD, the monorail, boats buses, andany.other small and.often over looked attractions, WDW stands head and.should er s above any other venues or parks

I am hoping with the recent massive plans announced, those short cuts will be corrected, but those minor things will not keep me and.my.family.away from the Disney Magic and Pixie Dust.


AKK

 

[Fizban]

But to answer your question again about the math, yes they will have to pay the wages of the employees that you want to stay in the bathrooms and all the debt each employee costs and of course they will also pad it for profit. So again if you can do get everyone to agree you should offer that suggestion to the execs. I will however be a vote for the "no" side.

For the math not counting resorts or "hidden" restrooms there are 230 bathrooms according to their web page at all of the parks (isn't the internet amazing?). So to staff each bathroom considering 2 shifts and to accommodate for days off(sick/vacation/whatever) the staffing size would be 4 people per bathroom. The Florida minimum wage is $8.05 per hour. Lets assume 2 full time 40 hours and 2 at 16 hours each week to cover 7 days for 2 shifts. That's 112 hours X $8.05 = Rounded down to $900. per week X 1.20% = $1080 per bathroom weekly X 230 bathrooms = $248400.00 weekly in salary X 52 weeks - $12,916,800.000 annually. None of this math takes into account the cost that Disney has to accommodate for uniforms etc... Yep I'm not seeing this being a big win for the bathroom folks out of your $17m theory.

 

[flicx]

But to answer your question again about the math, yes they will have to pay the wages of the employees that you want to stay in the bathrooms and all the debt each employee costs and of course they will also pad it for profit. So again if you can do get everyone to agree you should offer that suggestion to the execs. I will however be a vote for the "no" side.

For the math not counting resorts or "hidden" restrooms there are 230 bathrooms according to their web page at all of the parks (isn't the internet amazing?). So to staff each bathroom considering 2 shifts and to accommodate for days off(sick/vacation/whatever) the staffing size would be 4 people per bathroom. The Florida minimum wage is $8.05 per hour. Lets assume 2 full time 40 hours and 2 at 16 hours each week to cover 7 days for 2 shifts. That's 112 hours X $8.05 = Rounded down to $900. per week X 1.20% = $1080 per bathroom weekly X 230 bathrooms = $248400.00 weekly in salary X 52 weeks - $12,916,800.000 annually. None of this math takes into account the cost that Disney has to accommodate for uniforms etc... Yep I'm not seeing this being a big win for the bathroom folks out of your $17m theory.

So now you are forgetting the other 3 parks attendance levels to your math. Considering another 10 million guests per park at least that throws another 30 million into the kitty. $47 million to clean bathrooms !

 

[Fizban]

So now you are forgetting the other 3 parks attendance levels to your math. Considering another 10 million guests per park at least that throws another 30 million into the kitty. $47 million to clean bathrooms !

using your math the $17 million was what you came up with. I don't see how you get to throw in another 30 mill but if you are wanting to use a straw man argument then I cant help you. I think the math I just gave identifies the futility of permanent bathroom attendants. If you believe differently good luck.

 

[River Country]

For $47 million I will go clean the bathrooms

 

[socrateze]

The truth is that those escalators are not causing such an issue for the average park guest enough to affect park attendance in a negative way. No one is canceling their Disney trip because an escalator doesn't work. That doesn't make it right but that is the reason. If these things were significant issues that most guests were worried about to the extent of not giving Disney their money, there would probably be some change there. The fact is, those issues along with other issues discussed on this thread are insignificant to a great many guests.

So keep the service and maintenance at the lowest common denominator. Gotcha! Disney gets away with this because most guests just assume that the escalators broke down recently.

BTW, I don't just post on the boards, and I have received calls from Disney. But you know what? The issues have remained the same, so I figure sharing my displeasure on the Disboards might change something. I know that shrugging my shoulders and giving up will not cause a change.

 

[flicx]

using your math the $17 million was what you came up with. I don't see how you get to throw in another 30 mill but if you are wanting to use a straw man argument then I cant help you. I think the math I just gave identifies the futility of permanent bathroom attendants. If you believe differently good luck.

Straw man argument no. Approximate admissions to Disney World parks, magic kingdom 17 million, animal kingdom 10 million, studios 10 million, Epcot 10 million. Thus total for all parks 47 million at one dollar per admission.

 

[GreatLakes]

Also, why is it that anytime someone posts a complaint about Disney, so many feel the need to come and post that they themselves had a magical time and didn't see any decline at all?

The OP posted a question followed by a complaint. It is only logical that when a question is posed people will answer it. I personally have not experienced rude CMs or what I would consider dirty bathrooms and don't feel as though my trip this year was any less magical then every previous trip I've taken. Therefore my answer to the OP's question of "Has Disney dropped the magic ball?" is no, they haven't.

 

[DisneyPrince1982]

No theme parks is perfect

And no theme park charges as much as Disney does. Therefore I hold Disney to a standard that I would never dream of holding Six Flags to.

In the last 10 Yeats we have had a total of 3 CM's that could have been nicer, but frankly I write those off to be being rude guests as I have seen more and.more guests treat the.CM like they were servants. The old entitlement mode.

Couldn't it have been that the CM's were just rude? Why blame the guests for the CM's being bad at their jobs? I'll never understand this type of CM apologist behavior.

Folks have to remember food ro subjective, so food may not be bad, just not good to one's i dividual pallet.

Or the food could have just been bad. If I get a steak that's cooked well done when I asked for medium, or I get a saggy batch of fries, or I get a flat coca cola, I don't really think that has to do with my pallet.

When you take I to account the massive size, the parks, water parks,any unginic resorts, DTD, the monorail, boats buses, andany.other small and.often over looked attractions, WDW stands head and.should er s above any other venues or parks

And they charge for it too.