Here now, a little annoyed :/

[lugnut33]

Yup, I went to Disnyland and WDW during YOMD and never saw bad guest behavior. My kids won fastpasses coming off a ride in Toontown once.

 

[maxiesmom]

We were in the parks that year. Twice. And we LOVED it. Never won a darn thing. Not a single fastpass, not a single set of ears. But we loved the anticipation of heading into the parks knowing we might be staying in the castle that night. And honestly, I never saw poor guest behavior either.

I just missed getting a Dream Fastpass. My dad and I had made friends with some people on Splash Mountain, and we talked about going over to Big Thunder Mountain after. My dad had a change of heart, and wouldn't you know, the people we met on Splash got Dream Fastpasses on BTMR! So close!

A while later while waiting by the Jungle Cruise we heard a group of people talking about the free stuff you could get from CMs, and when a couple CMs with the larger lanyards went by they went running after them.

 

[antman]

I've seen some pretty terrible guest behavior and I've witnessed the CM's handle it very well. I was at WDW in 2015 during my birthday and had a birthday pin. Not only did I have CM's say happy birthday but also sing to me randomly as I walked through the park. I had some instances where CM's didn't know an answer but I don't expect everyone to know every answer. The only real disappointing issue was when I asked a CM where I was supposed to go for my FP+ for the night time parade in MK and I was directed to the wrong area (of course it is entirely possible that I misunderstood the direction). I can't recall a negative experience due to a CM but I can name many due to guests. In my experience the CM's do a fantastic job. Maybe I have been lucky or maybe, just maybe, if you treat a CM with respect and courtesy you will experience even more magic. just my .02

 

[SingingMom]

Some food for thought - my DD has been accused of "ruining" a guest's "entire vacation" because her attraction was down due to a mechanical difficulties. This has happened on more than several occasions. She was snarled at after wishing a guest a friendly "happy birthday!" This guest was WEARING a "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY" button. I just mention these two of many situations that a typical CM encounters each day. Luckily she continues to smile and love her job. She just calls me and laughs "You can't make this stuff up!"

"Have courage and be kind"

 

[Anvilhead]

I understand that the CM's have to deal with the public and that can be terrible, however, that's always been the case. What seems to have changed is the level of service at WDW. We just got back yesterday and we were saddened by the lack of cheerful, Disney service. Yes, those wonderful, magical Disney CM's are still out there but they're now (in our experience) the exception, not the rule. Most of the service that we got was on par with what you might expect at a Best Western or Six Flags, not the Beach Club and the parks of WDW. We even heard CM's in Epcot grousing about things ("I've got an hour and a half left and I'm outta here") while standing within a foot or two of guests. There was a line of people to see Belle on one side of them and a bench full of people on the other and we could hear them plain as day. They didn't care if we heard them. I was shocked. My 15 year old son said that most of the CM's reminded him of the people who work at the post office: bored and counting the hours before they could clock out and leave.

We did run into some of the CM's that displayed the WDW magic that we've gotten in our four previous visits, but they were few and far between. This goes for management as well as the regular workers. Time was, management would smile and greet you, but most of the managers that we encountered just walked on by and ignored us. It was kind of sad, really. Not that we were being ignored, just that the real world seems to be creeping into the magical world that WDW used to be.

 

[maxiesmom]

I guess I don't see how hearing CMs talking about when their shifts are over is bad? I would more likely sympathize with them. I'm a big believer in the Disney Magic, but I guess I always knew the CMs were humans and had lives outside of WDW too.

 

[Anvilhead]

The CM wasn't simply saying "My shift is over in an hour and a half" he was saying, "I'm counting the minutes until I can clock out" in front of a lot of guests. Everything about his body language and tone of voice stated "I don't want to be here". Are they human? Of course. Do all employees say stuff like that? Of course. Should people in the service industry say stuff like that in front of customers who've paid a lot to be there? Of course not. Should employees of a company that has set a higher standard for customer service and bills itself as the happiest place on Earth/a magical place say stuff like that in front of paying customers? Of course not.

He was displaying the kind of attitude that one would expect of a McDonald's employee, not a CM at WDW.

 

[Sevey13]

Seems to be the way of the future.


It is frustrating, but just continue to focus on the good ones.

All due respect, but there are CMs talking on Disney podcasts over a decade ago saying that Florida was short staffed even then. For the Florida parks, it's ALWAYS been a question of quantity. I feel that a lot of people like to point at things and say 'back in the day things were better,' but the truth is honestly often things were the same, we just see things through rose-colored glasses.

 

[Davey Jones II]

As crowds grow, Disney doesn't seem to be adding to staffing to deal with the increased number of guests. As we well know, they've been cutting CM hours lately!

Why can't the stateside parks aspire to the same level of service as Tokyo Disney? I know that the Japanese culture is hard to beat when it comes to service, but the biggest difference may be pride. Reputedly, Tokyo Disneyland Resort takes a tremendous amount of pride in what they do; it's not all about the bottom line.

But stateside, Disney seems to be doing the minimum to provide just adequate service, at least by their own lofty standards, and cutting corners where they can. They used to cut corners when it comes to new attractions (DCA 1.0 would be exhibit A) but they can't get away with that now because of intense competition from Universal and others. So now they think they can get away with cutting corners in areas like service, food and accomodations. Once again, where's the pride??

 

[anniemae]

All due respect, but there are CMs talking on Disney podcasts over a decade ago saying that Florida was short staffed even then. For the Florida parks, it's ALWAYS been a question of quantity. I feel that a lot of people like to point at things and say 'back in the day things were better,' but the truth is honestly often things were the same, we just see things through rose-colored glasses.

Well I personally DO think things were better years and years ago, no way can anyone convince me things were the same back then as they are today. No way. The crowds were lower, cm's were friendlier and more plentiful, parks were cleaner. Just my opinion. Not enough to stop me from going, but things were definitely different years ago, you just have to roll with it and accept the changes. Maybe with less crowds it was less of an issue so the average guest was not aware of staffing issues, or maybe backstage "issues" stayed backstage and out of the guests view.