More like an 8.5% reduction in people actually in the picture. I tried to count the faces in the opening day picture and tallied 114 people.
Then moving on to this 30 year pic, I'm counting 104 to include Mickey and Minnie. Give or take here and there.
I'm going to make an assumption that everyone was onboard for the opening day photo. The subsequent 30 year pic could have had absentees - off sick, on vacation, not working that day, could account for 2-4 employees.
So, not as drastic as a 20% reduction.
Still, one thing I was aware of: there was high turnover on the front desk area. Lifeguards would come and go. In general, recreation staff turned over from year to year. But Pool Guy Mike was there quite some time. Gordon was there for quite awhile. B'lou Crabbe was a fixture until he wasn't but his sidekicks turned over at least 3 times maybe more. The college program supplied quite a few of the positions that turned over. Management itself seemed to not stay too long.
Now they have signs on the resort vehicles for help wanted as well as out on the highway. Most of these positions are not highly paid so keeping younger people is probably not easy. I would hope that most would be in the midst of education pursuits to move up. The salaried positions would be few. It's understandable to me that staff were coming and going and it's really not easy to stay on top of this kind of workforce. It's constant training and supervision. Don't ask me how I know.
By magnifying both pics, I recounted and got 117 original and 97 in the update (not counting Mickey and Minnie). Either way, I think the percentage is still closer to 15-16% than 8-9%. I agree there may have been a handful who didn't show due to sickness or other commitments. I suspect that was true for the original picture, as well.
I agree that ascribing such a percentage reduction strictly as downsizing is a bit unfair; however, there's no denying there are fewer people doing roughly the same amount of work. And, no, it's not easy to stay on top of a workforce offered mostly part-time hours and, as you mention, the college program workers. Oddly, the least amount of turnover during my years there were the front desk CMs, as well as the Mercantile folks. The largest turnover, not surprisingly, were the housekeeping assistants and custodial crew. I did both and actually enjoyed them!
The training of new CMs in those jobs was often ongoing with the turnover. Still, great times and memories there.
Hilton Head is not currently on our
DVC radar due to its location and the fact we fly from London. There are flights we could take, but would probably split a stay between HHI and WDW.
Who can convince me?
Not sure anyone can convince you unless you really want to try out HHI. WDW and HHI sit a 5+ hour drive apart. The World has all the park excitement and full-on Disney experience. HHI is where people go to relax and unplug from the nonstop Disney stresses: tickets, lines, ADRs,
Lightning Lane, and tens of thousands of your closest friends. So, if you want to get that over the top Disney feeling, then the World is the best bet.
On the other hand, if you want to fully enjoy your family, eat way better food (generally for less), unwind, take in a bit of nature, get ocean breezes, see dolphins and possibly alligators, and take deep breaths from the privacy of your balcony as you enjoy your favorite libations, then you shouldn't miss HHI. Oh, and I should add that the best CMs you'll ever find work at HHI.
