Napkins at WDW

[chigirl]

Right...now I don't have "souvenir napkins" to bring home...huh??? The funny thing is, I just said to my husband the other day at Chipotle, that I was surprised their napkins said "Chipotle" on them, since it would be cheaper to have plain ones...and then this thread appeared! I noticed a chain in Chicago, Portillos, are switching out to plain napkins.

Posts like these make my day...makes me wonder how perfect the lives must be of people who are upset by trivial things. I wish I had a life so awesome that an unprinted napkin at WDW would ruin my day!

 

[KeroKero]

Wow ... can't believe this thread is still bustling with posts.

I'm all for plain napkins, if it means they will fix the Yeti!!!

Every penny matters. Be it the money goes to an employee that is going a great job, or attraction upgrades, or new attraction research - I'm pretty sure every decision they make is for the future of the parks on a whole.

And if you spend thousands of dollars on a vacation and consider "napkins" to be your souvenir, please consider spending $20 or $30 on a real souvenir next time. Then, maybe they'll have the extra money to throw at napkins.

Exactly!!

Just wanted to thank everyone for the new blog article idea: "The State of Napkins at WDW." That's how I'm going to get more views!

Then, I can write a follow-up on the state of shopping bags at WDW. Maybe I can ever include DLR in all of this!

No problem as I buy souvenirs. Just wipe up the messes and into the trash they go.

Me too! So many souvenirs to get, many way better than a napkin that will eventually go in the trash at some point or another.

 

[Olivejuicy]

http://inventorspot.com/articles/frame_napkin_shows_your_good_taste

Perhaps you could bring these napkins with you and have a different sort of napkin souvenir after your stay. You could cross-stitch what you ate and where along the bottom of each one before hanging them.

 

[recmouse]

As long as Disney doesn't switch to those brown paper towels we all used in elementary school that don't absorb moisture, just push it around, I'm okay with whatever.

We still have them at my office... I work for the government!

 

[disnut8]

This thread does crack me up.

For all of those out there condemning the "bean counters", I am one of them. That is my job. Yes, it's my job to make sure my company does not overspend. I am called a "pitbull" (no offense to that animal) and I do my job extremely well. And yes, I would say using plain napkins would be the best call if it saved the company money and no one minded. And who is minding it? People who take the darn things home! We are two people who take two napkins when we eat. Why take more? It's this waste that causes prices to go up. If you want cute napkins, go to the dollar store, get a big container and stamp "Disney World 2012" or whatever on the things. PAY FOR IT YOURSELF.

And I can guarantee you my grandkids have absolutely no idea what was on the napkins on their trip earlier this year. They just enjoyed the time spent there. I don't think my dad cared. Nor my stepmother. Nor anyone else. Come on - a Disney World vacation is much more than a freaking napkin!

 

[rock_doctor]

Somewhere, someone who has a stack of 400 stolen napkins in their kitchen is reading this and shaking their head, calling Disney cheap.

EXCUSE ME! It is only 350...

 

[billdob62]

Dang...this is really funny. Wonder if someone at Disney reads this and will bring the napkins back due to the demand. Plain brown is fine with me.

 

[goofy4tink]

I no longer care. I used to love the different napkins and cocktail stirrer thingies at each restaurant. They went in my dd's scrapbook next to photos. Then, Disney did away with them, and went with generic napkins. Now it seems even the printed generic napkins were too expensive.
Disney made huge changes to the Christmas Party...they took stuff away, yet charged more to get in, and sold many more tickets, with fewer discounts.
They took away the Lights of Winter...said it was obsolete technology..now, something is indeed missing from Epcot. Things change....I change accordingly. Have I stopped eating at WDW restaurants because the napkins have changed? Of course not. But, I have stopped eating at so many of them. Why? The cost has gone up, the choices have gone down. The Christmas Party?? I used to go every year. Now?? Every other year. Does Disney care? I highly doubt it. But, it's up to me to decide how to spend my vacation dollars.

Disney can continue to cut it's costs. I can continue to choose what to spend my money on at WDW. I seldom buy anything in the shops...overpriced and much lower quality than it used to be. No more park specific stuff..or at least, not nearly as much as there used to be. Same with the resorts. Nope, pretty much done spending a ton of money at WDW.

 

[rock_doctor]

Disney can continue to cut it's costs. I can continue to choose what to spend my money on at WDW. I seldom buy anything in the shops...overpriced and much lower quality than it used to be. No more park specific stuff..or at least, not nearly as much as there used to be. Same with the resorts. Nope, pretty much done spending a ton of money at WDW.

I hope Disney is paying attention to this one. I feel the same. I use to spend a couple hundred dollars at the gift shops each trip. Not anymore. The last 5 trips bought a couple newspapers and a set of mugs, that was all. They need to knock this stuff off. Cost cutting is costing them money. When you buy souvenirs you want something that is special and that the average person does not have... When they have the same things in all the stores, those items become mundane as everybody has them. Thank goodness there is always the outlet stores and golden corral...

 

[mountdew1]

And what is the point of having custodial in the parks at all times sweeping and picking up garbage when someone else will just add more? Why not just have all the custodial staff only clean in the hours the park is closed? That would save significantly more money than the fraction of a cent each napkin costs.

I really hope that statement is a joke?

It's a joke as I would never hope they would do it. It is also serious as it follows the same argument as when people say that they just throw out the napkins in 30 seconds after using them once. When spend the time and/or money on making a small thing that doesn't seemingly add alot to the end product. Whether or not the napkins have a design on them doesn't seem like alot, but neither does having dozens of CMs who are constantly cleaning. It's something that most people never notice or think about, but then if it goes away, its a big deal. Heck, why should a CM say "Welcome home" when you walk into the resort, you will just be leaving in 7 days.....

It's more the constant decline by degrees. For ages the merchandise used to be different in almost every store. Now lots of it is the same. They used to have WDW bags and logoed boxes in the stores. Now the bags are Disney Parks, and the boxes are plain white. For years we would reuse the boxes at Christmas, and didn't even need to wrap them. And each year we would remember the trips we had done and the good times we had as a family. Now a plain white box? Not so much. No way to remember if it was a good time at WDW or if it came from the local Hallmark store. These are all things that separated WDW from other places.

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

Exactly my sentiments.

 

[baler31]

You would think they had saved enough over the past few decades by not having Disney matchbooks.

 

[lucas]

I no longer care. I used to love the different napkins and cocktail stirrer thingies at each restaurant. They went in my dd's scrapbook next to photos. Then, Disney did away with them, and went with generic napkins. Now it seems even the printed generic napkins were too expensive.
Disney made huge changes to the Christmas Party...they took stuff away, yet charged more to get in, and sold many more tickets, with fewer discounts.
They took away the Lights of Winter...said it was obsolete technology..now, something is indeed missing from Epcot. Things change....I change accordingly. Have I stopped eating at WDW restaurants because the napkins have changed? Of course not. But, I have stopped eating at so many of them. Why? The cost has gone up, the choices have gone down. The Christmas Party?? I used to go every year. Now?? Every other year. Does Disney care? I highly doubt it. But, it's up to me to decide how to spend my vacation dollars.

Disney can continue to cut it's costs. I can continue to choose what to spend my money on at WDW. I seldom buy anything in the shops...overpriced and much lower quality than it used to be. No more park specific stuff..or at least, not nearly as much as there used to be. Same with the resorts. Nope, pretty much done spending a ton of money at WDW.

 

[earthfaries]

Maybe they're trying to cut costs ... I mean, a design isn't necessary, but I sure enjoyed it!

​

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

This thread does crack me up.

For all of those out there condemning the "bean counters", I am one of them. That is my job. Yes, it's my job to make sure my company does not overspend. I am called a "pitbull" (no offense to that animal) and I do my job extremely well. And yes, I would say using plain napkins would be the best call if it saved the company money and no one minded. And who is minding it? People who take the darn things home! We are two people who take two napkins when we eat. Why take more? It's this waste that causes prices to go up. If you want cute napkins, go to the dollar store, get a big container and stamp "Disney World 2012" or whatever on the things. PAY FOR IT YOURSELF.

And I can guarantee you my grandkids have absolutely no idea what was on the napkins on their trip earlier this year. They just enjoyed the time spent there. I don't think my dad cared. Nor my stepmother. Nor anyone else. Come on - a Disney World vacation is much more than a freaking napkin!

I spend thousands of dollars at Walt Disney World every single year. I am paying for the napkins myself. And I am also joining in the condemnation of the the bean counters at Disney.

From the early 1980s, Disney World has been a place where I could go on vacation and enjoy products and services that are not essential, but rather luxurious.

I loved being entertained by the latest technology in the theme parks.

I loved the attention to aesthetics and art on the grand scale AND in every little detail.

I loved the high quality, resort specific merchandise--not the stuff with a generic Disney Parks logo.

I loved the little touches, like the small pats of butter shaped like Mickey Mouse at every restaurant and the orange juice that was fresh squeezed (that morning) from Florida oranges at every breakfast.

Those things have been slipping away for years, and I miss them, each and every one of them. Maybe everyone does not notice the little details, but I do! And for me, that is where quality is found. It is in those details.

I do not want my Disney World vacation to turn into some discount special. Discount stores are fine, and they have their place in society, but that has never been what Disney was about, until now.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

There's one more thing that I would like to add: Sometimes bean counters can count themselves right into the poor house.

Many bean counters do not know how much good will can be garnered by giving a little of something away for free.

The mom who gently folds a Disney napkin into her child's lunch box has Disney in the forefront of her mind. When it comes time to plan a vacation, what is the first idea that springs to her thoughts--Disney!

Is that worth the price of a napkin?

When I carried around my resort specific mug with the Wilderness Lodge logo, it sparked dozens of conversations about that great resort (and an opportunity for me to brag on Disney for all its worth). Several of my friends booked vacations there because of those discussions. My generic Disney parks mugs might, if I am lucky, get one or two "Oh, you went to Disney" comments from my friends, but that's about all. No subsequent vacations have been booked because of them.

Is that worth the added price of resort specific merchandise?

Come on bean counters, wake UP! Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little. It's not ONLY about saving money.

 

[Suellen]

"Plain napkins?! Will the insanity never end? First they are cleaning the streets with people still in the parks and now this???

Crazy, crazy Disney!

Some day I hope they will wise up and figure out how to run a successful business!", said no investor ever.

 

[joe1946]

You would think they had saved enough over the past few decades by not having Disney matchbooks.

And the golf pencils!

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

"Plain napkins?! Will the insanity never end? First they are cleaning the streets with people still in the parks and now this???

Crazy, crazy Disney!

Some day I hope they will wise up and figure out how to run a successful business!", said no investor ever.

No investor has ever needed to say that, because The Walt Disney Company has always been a corporation with passion. Walt Disney saw his mission as greater than just a way to make a living. His business was one that was able to define its brand well and put its customers' needs first.

If Disney stops doing that, then yes, successful businesses can and do run themselves into the ground.

I believe the reason the DISboards currently have several threads devoted to Disney's change to generic napkins is because the brand that Walt Disney defined is changing. These threads are the harbingers of change.

 

[maxiesmom]

I believe the reason the DISboards currently have several threads devoted to Disney's change to generic napkins is because the brand that Walt Disney defined is changing. These threads are the harbingers of change.

All businesses have to change, or die. The trick is making the right changes.

In the grand scheme of things, whether a napkin has WDW on it isn't going to make people add or subtract a trip to the parks. Disney is doing plenty of adding on a much larger scale, and those things will attract guests.

Would I rather have a new and improved Magic Kingdom or a napkin with some writing on it. To me, not a tough choice.