Huge turnaround for Disney World!

[L&Lfan]

As a guest, I never acknowledge what it says on another guest's button. And I don't think twice if a CM says nothing to me about my button either. But that's just me.

 

[Applemomma]

I have to say that I've never had a memorable bad experience with a CM in all my trips but to me the CMs are human and can have a bad day just the same as the rest of us. And sometimes if you are having a bad day you just can't fake the enthusiasm so I never expect over the top service the whole way through my trip. I think it makes a huge difference if your expectations are low (don't expect the magic...then it's not magic) and don't go into it with a sense of entitlement (sorry but that's how a previous poster's comments came across).

I do have to say that in every single trip there has been at least one CM that stood out for wonderful reasons! Glad you had such a great trip OP and can't wait for mine in 60 days! Yes, I get to make fastpasses tonight!!

 

[Daisy62]

All I expected was with in the first time or two with front desk CMs, a "I see you are celebrating a birthday, let's get a pin for you", I'd be happy. But when it is noted on the reservation and I need to make multiple trips to the front desk for issues not in my control, one would have thought someone would have said something about my birthday.

Do you know how many are there celebrating their birthday? According to the DIS it seems people are celebrating even if their bday was
Months before or months later. When everyone does this then no one is special. I would never expect anyone to great me off the bus with a pin and a happy bday. There is probably 20 people on each bus celebrating the same thing. Lol. Personally we don't have celebrations noted on our reservation because we don't need strangers giving us fake happy bdays or acknowledgment. I think your expectations on that part is ridiculous.

 

[Carolyn Louise]

Last year when I was there celebrating my birthday I didn't get a pin at check in but I certainly did when I mentioned to the CMs at the AKL pool bar that I was there celebrating by way of making conversation, they were very happy to give me 2 pins and write personalized messages on them! I still have them. It was very sweet and a great way to kick off the trip.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I mentioned to the CMs at the AKL pool bar that I was there celebrating by way of making conversation, they were very happy to give me 2 pins and write personalized messages on them!

Great! The only thing b better would have been a free drink . Being proactive certainly seems to get results. No CM can reasonably be expected to know what any/every/no other CM did before.

 

[rajak73]

We just returned from a birthday trip and I can't agree with you concerning resort CM. We had lots of contact with front desk CM, checking to see if room was ready, being locked out of resort, locked out of room, no charging on band,etc. Some of this happened at BOTH resorts. Not one said Happy birthday. After several days of no comments, I asked if it was noted on my reservation, yes it was. I spoke with CM at BCV and she said she was sorry it happened and gave me a Sully stuffed toy. At BLT, the manager gave us two days of extra FPs. So in the end I did feel special, but it would have been so nice to have been greeted by the first CM as we got off the ME bus with a HB and a pin or at least a HB and getting the pin from the desk area.

We ate at 4 TS. Only one mentioned my birthday and bought a card and little cupcake. At Trails End one person had a birthday and the server said everyone give a yeee haaa (or something like that). I wasn't looking for a free 10 dollar dessert, just a little notice.


Now I did have lots of happy birthday from walking the parks and even a few when I wasn't wearing a pin, but they noticed it on the FP screen.


We did have one amazing CM. After going to our room at BLT, our bands didn't work. A housekeeping said she would run down and take care of it. I tried to tip her and she turned it down.

On the other side of this...I had read the Disboards enough to know not to expect things from CM. I had totally forgot about listing things on the reservations, you know how when you call and start talking, while they are hunting things for you like Dessert Parties, etc, the casual conversation goes to "are you celebrating anything while you are here?" Well yes actually we are celebrating, we had both turned 60 and had celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. We ate one morning at Crystal Palace breakfast, after we were done, here came the waitress with card and cupcake! Totally unexpected! I had forgot I had even said anything about celebrating. Also at Trails End, guy asked if anyone was celebrating anniversary? I wasn't going to say anything but I had special ordered a cake for DW and the waiter knew that so he said "Yes, these right here are celebrating!" pointing to us, made us stand up front with other couple, how embarrassing, LOL. I do guess it all depends on your expectations!

 

[lustergirl]

My expectations would be a clean room and hassle free fast passes, entrance to the parks, charging privileges and dining plan.

Notice I didn't include thinking that I need someone to wish me a happy birthday when it was time. Not really important in my book.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Sorry, just a side note from a different perspective. Not all CMs may be comfortable wishing holiday or birthday greetings, tho they certainly would try to help every guest especially with a celebration get a button or some sort of acknowledgement.

Hope you are all having stellar service!

 

[pampam]

Well said, TwinPrincessMermaids. As a guest I will acknowledge an anniversary button, but I ignore most of the others, so it stands to reason that the CM's might not acknowledge certain occasions.

 

[Madeleinesmommy]

As a guest, I never acknowledge what it says on another guest's button. And I don't think twice if a CM says nothing to me about my button either. But that's just me.

We got back in November and had a fantastic time. Everyone CM was fantastic. My daughter's birthday was acknowledged everywhere we went - but, she is 13.

 

[deetle]

Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have been to Disney every year for the last 10 years (sometimes twice per year) with my now DD12. I have never has a negative experience with a cast member. It's good to hear those that have are having a better experience.

 

[Magpie]

We just returned from a birthday trip and I can't agree with you concerning resort CM. We had lots of contact with front desk CM, checking to see if room was ready, being locked out of resort, locked out of room, no charging on band,etc. Some of this happened at BOTH resorts. Not one said Happy birthday. After several days of no comments, I asked if it was noted on my reservation, yes it was. I spoke with CM at BCV and she said she was sorry it happened and gave me a Sully stuffed toy. At BLT, the manager gave us two days of extra FPs. So in the end I did feel special, but it would have been so nice to have been greeted by the first CM as we got off the ME bus with a HB and a pin or at least a HB and getting the pin from the desk area.

We ate at 4 TS. Only one mentioned my birthday and bought a card and little cupcake. At Trails End one person had a birthday and the server said everyone give a yeee haaa (or something like that). I wasn't looking for a free 10 dollar dessert, just a little notice.


Now I did have lots of happy birthday from walking the parks and even a few when I wasn't wearing a pin, but they noticed it on the FP screen.


We did have one amazing CM. After going to our room at BLT, our bands didn't work. A housekeeping said she would run down and take care of it. I tried to tip her and she turned it down.

Well, other than the fact that you didn't particularly bond with your two front desk CMs, I can't see anything in your post that would indicate that ALL resort CMs are sub par (heck, even the ones you didn't love might have just been more focussed on solving your technical problems, than on throwing you a birthday party).

When you complained that you wanted more notice than you'd already enjoyed, it seems the resort CMs stepped up and tried to meet your expectations.

Personally, I think your expectations with regards to your birthday were a bit out of line. Most adults don't want that much notice. We've done celebrations in the past, and it's a battle to get my husband to wear a button for even part of the vacation. Sometimes there's a button waiting at check in for us, sometimes there isn't. If there isn't, then we just go to Guest Services at some point and get one there. No fuss.

On our 20th anniversary trip, we didn't get any TS acknowledgements, which leads me to suspect they weren't listed on our reservations. No biggie. I didn't actually make any effort to put them on there! We did however get many, many, "Oh, happy anniversary!"s when people spotted our button. Which led to fun conversations with both CMs and guests about how long we'd been married.

You got a card and a cupcake. And a toy. And fastpasses!

Our special moment? We got to listen to a Happy Anniversary song on a hidden phone in the American Adventure. I wasn't expecting anything like that, and thought it was coolest thing ever. But it was only because we were hanging about hoping to hear the Voices of Liberty. If we'd been in a rush to get somewhere and hadn't decided to stop and chat with the CMs at the door, I doubt it would have happened.

I think the CMs, both park and resort, are generally wonderful, and always have been. They're a big part of why we return every year (and sometimes twice). Every now and then we run into a grumpy one, but they're the exception, not the rule. I love finding out where they're from, and how they got to Disney, and what their plans for the future are.

 

[heart]

"Can't be that many nice people in the world. Must be policy"

hahahahaha

 

[JRennie]

Seriously?

That was my thoughts upon reading this as well.

 

[MilitaryMouse]

Just returned from a really great trip and one reason it was so great is that Disney has brought back the old magic cm attitude that us oldsters remember from the old days. It was amazing.
Everywhere we went cm's went out of their way, (sometimes waaaay out of their way) to be kind and helpful. Can't be that many nice people in the world. Must be policy. It really made a difference for us.

I'm glad people are still having good experiences with CMs b/c we sure didn't. We were there 12/2 - 12/12 and felt like Disney CM attitudes had gone wayyyy downhill. Through out the parks, CMs were too busy chatting w/each other to pay attention to guests, ride CMs seemed irritated at best and downright angry at worst that they had the be there, and nearly all the photopass photographers looked bored, would barely greet you, snapped two photos and sent you on your way. This was consistent for all 10 days of our stay. The bus drivers were great though, said a friendly hello when we boarded and goodbye when we left.

We're at Universal now and the TMs here are AMAZING! Like, mind blowing amazing. This is what Disney CMs were like when we visited years ago. Nearly all of Universal's TMs have been friendly, enthusiastic about their jobs, ride TMs play their roles w/passion, TMs actively seek out guests to ask if they need information or directions - it's been amazing! We've received random bits of kindness, and it's spreading to the guests as well - guests here just seem happier and much more relaxed than when we were at Disney. We've noticed guests passing on whatever the Universal equivalent of pixie dust is We've cancelled our WDW trip in May and rebooked w/Universal.

 

[Disneylover99]

We had lots of contact with front desk CM, checking to see if room was ready, being locked out of resort, locked out of room, no charging on band,etc. Some of this happened at BOTH resorts. Not one said Happy birthday.

It sounds like you had some frustrating issues. And honestly, if I went down to the front desk to ask/complain about something or try to get something resolved and a CM smiled and said "Happy Birthday" I would be annoyed as hell.

Maybe the CM's didn't think it an appropriate time to wish you a happy birthday at those times when there were problems to deal with.

 

[anniemae]

I was going to say the same thing as a pp about people celebrating. It seems everyone is celebrating something, a birthday, anniversary, baby on the way, first trip to disney, first haircut etc. CM's can't be expected to drop everything and wish everyone a happy "something" when they are trying to fix the important problems like the bands not working, or guests being locked out of their rooms etc.

 

[GPC0321]

And honestly, if I went down to the front desk to ask/complain about something or try to get something resolved and a CM smiled and said "Happy Birthday" I would be annoyed as hell.

Exactly what I was thinking! The last thing I'd want if I was trying to get my Magic Band working properly would be some meaningless "Happy Birthday!" and a button/toy/fastpass/whatever shoved at me as if that's going to make it all better. That would NOT have been the appropriate time.

I find that my attitude impacts my perception of the attitudes of those around me. If I'm tense, tired, irritated, hungry, impatient, uncertain, confused, overwhelmed, or uncomfortable, I tend to view those around me as "part of the problem" even if their behavior really is just fine. Likewise, if I'm upbeat, happy, and relaxed, I tend to view those around me more favorably.

 

[Applemomma]

Just thought of a funny story with the buttons! April of 2014 I went to the World with one of my best friends. When we checked in the CM asked if we were celebrating anything and we said "Yes, that we left our collective 7 children home!" and she gave us some 'we're celebrating' buttons which we wore proudly into the parks....until we clicked in after the third or fourth "well congratulations you two!!" that people were misinterpreting the nature of our relationship, if you get my meaning! LOL Needless to say we left the buttons in the room but that was a running joke the rest of the week and we played up the "old married couple" routine between us all week long. Definitely added extra humor to the rest of the trip!

 

[Magpie]

I'm glad people are still having good experiences with CMs b/c we sure didn't. We were there 12/2 - 12/12 and felt like Disney CM attitudes had gone wayyyy downhill. Through out the parks, CMs were too busy chatting w/each other to pay attention to guests, ride CMs seemed irritated at best and downright angry at worst that they had the be there, and nearly all the photopass photographers looked bored, would barely greet you, snapped two photos and sent you on your way. This was consistent for all 10 days of our stay. The bus drivers were great though, said a friendly hello when we boarded and goodbye when we left.

We're at Universal now and the TMs here are AMAZING! Like, mind blowing amazing. This is what Disney CMs were like when we visited years ago. Nearly all of Universal's TMs have been friendly, enthusiastic about their jobs, ride TMs play their roles w/passion, TMs actively seek out guests to ask if they need information or directions - it's been amazing! We've received random bits of kindness, and it's spreading to the guests as well - guests here just seem happier and much more relaxed than when we were at Disney. We've noticed guests passing on whatever the Universal equivalent of pixie dust is We've cancelled our WDW trip in May and rebooked w/Universal.

I've had wonderful encounters with both CMs and TMs, and as one TM pointed out to me several years ago... in many cases, they're literally the same people. Many, many folks have worked for both Disney and Universal at various times. The fellow I was chatting with had, in fact, started with Universal, got a job with Disney for many years, and then returned to Universal. But he said he'd happily work again for Disney, if the right opportunity came up. He very much viewed both employers as essentially equal. And he's not unusual.

The guest services training in both companies is almost identical.

Perception is a fragile, easily influenced thing. One person's "best cast member interactions ever!" day might easily be another person's "worst cast member interactions ever!" day. Same day, different place, different time, different random encounters. Your trip and ours overlapped, and we found the CMs to be their normal selves - neither more wonderful, nor any less wonderful, than any other trip.

I'm glad you're having a wonderful trip to Universal, btw! I love those parks, too. Especially the HP sections. We'll be heading there in October next year, and I'm very much looking forward to it - SO much less crowded, the deluxe hotels are lovely, really enjoy walking to the parks, and the unlimited access to express lines can't be beat!