Napkins at WDW

[lustergirl]

This is that thread, moved here by a mod, I believe. I should say "I hope".

ok... thanks. I come on this side to catch the beautiful pictures everyone posts and low and behold: here we go with the napkin complaining

 

[rock_doctor]

I found this 1993 video on YouTube. I actually have this video somewhere in my house.

Nice, while this thread was an opportunity to complain it was also an opportunity to remember what Disney use to be. Your post does a nice job of that. We were part of the MK club. Back then that was the best way to get cheaper park tickets... Now we just go to UT... Thanks for posting.

 

[rock_doctor]

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[maxiesmom]

I agree that human behavior is probably not much better, but expectations have greatly changed. During those first few visits did you send down a list of demands? Did you request a cupcake at evey single restaurant? Did you bring pillows, pictures, cups and what not for the characters to sign?

I think Disney tries to make it a good experience, but at some point enough is enough.

OllieDannyandMe you answered this post by stating any CEO should be thrilled by people wanting to do those things at their business. No company is "thrilled" to have guests that come with a list of demands. Especially when you are Disney, and those guests demand more and more and are not happy unless you make them feel more special than the person standing next to them. It wasn't nice and magical that Disney sometimes handed out cupcakes. Now they HAVE to do it, or Susie and her mom feel slighted. Towel animals? Now all you see are complaints because people don't get them every day, instead of being happy and tickled when they do get them.

People have forgotten that we bring the magic to the parks with us. If you are looking to and expecting a trip to WDW to make you feel magical, you won't. Go to WDW expecting to be disappointed because the napkins are plain, and because you were not one of the lucky ones to get a free cupcake, and guess what? Your vacation won't be so magical. You need to let the magic and good feelings come to you. You can't demand to feel the magic, that is the way to make sure it doesn't find you.

We bring the magic, and the ability to feel it, with us.

 

[WDSearcher]

Sure. Unfortunately, that is a part of life in our society, and businesses must develop strategies to avoid losses due to such unethical behavior, but that's not what this thread is about. The people who are concerned that Disney is making cut backs that affect "the Show" cannot be equated with the people you describe in your post.

But I would also submit that the people who consider plain napkins as something that truly affects "the Show" might have different expectations than the vast majority of Disney guests. And, frankly, if Disney were to put pictures back on the napkins, that minority would very quickly find something else to complain about. There are people out there who will never be happy until the WDW they see before them meets the WDW of their nostalgic, perfect memories. And that, unfortunately, is impossible.

 

[Mousemom234]

But I would also submit that the people who consider plain napkins as something that truly affects "the Show" might have different expectations than the vast majority of Disney guests. And, frankly, if Disney were to put pictures back on the napkins, that minority would very quickly find something else to complain about. There are people out there who will never be happy until the WDW they see before them meets the WDW of their nostalgic, perfect memories. And that, unfortunately, is impossible.

I'd agree with that. The new guest sees the show of today, and never realizes there was a different one. The return guest is the one who notices, and it just tips the balance a little more in the direction of wondering "... what happened to the magic I used to see.." Nothing wrong with that - but not much right, either. Change happens, and it's up to US -not Disney- to adapt to those changes.
I sincerely doubt that Dis execs sit down with a list and mutter, "Hmm, I wonder what we can cut today to make an extra dollar or two, and p-off a bunch of poeple.." [ of course, I could be wrong ]

Sure, I'd love to see dedicated napkins for every restaurant (or at least each Park-set), or signature dishes being returned to restaurants, towel animals in every window, a return to the Magic Kingdom Club.... All the little touches that I "remember" from before.

But, there is still magic at WDW, it's there to be found - if you bother to look for it, instead of looking inward and bt-ing about what's missing and what was instead of discovering what might be.

 

[maxiesmom]

But I would also submit that the people who consider plain napkins as something that truly affects "the Show" might have different expectations than the vast majority of Disney guests. And, frankly, if Disney were to put pictures back on the napkins, that minority would very quickly find something else to complain about. There are people out there who will never be happy until the WDW they see before them meets the WDW of their nostalgic, perfect memories. And that, unfortunately, is impossible.

That is what I am thinking too. I am no new Disney visitor, I have been going almost every year sense 1995. With my last trip just this past March. And I don't see the decline in "show" that so many other say they see.

I think we all remember things better than they are. We have a rose colored view of how things used to be, but they were never really that way. I know when I look back on family vacations all I remember is how wonderful they were. But once we are all on vacation again I remember how we fight over what time we eat at, and complain that Uncle Kevin always waits until we are ready to leave to head for the bathroom.

All the small, irritating stuff is forgotten when we "remember when". It was still there, but we just don't remember it as important.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

I'd agree with that. The new guest sees the show of today, and never realizes there was a different one. The return guest is the one who notices, and it just tips the balance a little more in the direction of wondering "... what happened to the magic I used to see.." Nothing wrong with that - but not much right, either. Change happens, and it's up to US -not Disney- to adapt to those changes.
I sincerely doubt that Dis execs sit down with a list and mutter, "Hmm, I wonder what we can cut today to make an extra dollar or two, and p-off a bunch of poeple.." [ of course, I could be wrong ]

Sure, I'd love to see dedicated napkins for every restaurant (or at least each Park-set), or signature dishes being returned to restaurants, towel animals in every window, a return to the Magic Kingdom Club.... All the little touches that I "remember" from before.

But, there is still magic at WDW, it's there to be found - if you bother to look for it, instead of looking inward and bt-ing about what's missing and what was instead of discovering what might be.

Not arguing that there is still magic to be found at WDW. I agree.

I will speak to my personal experience, but I do not believe I am the only one. From the perspective of a business, I am a great customer--polite, easy-to-please, appreciative, and somewhat of a spendthrift.

For a long time, Walt Disney World did a phenomenal job of meeting my needs, and Disney still meets my needs better than any other vacation destination that I have found.

But Disney is no longer meeting my needs as well as it once did, so I am beginning to open my mind to other vacation destinations that might be able to provide that Disney "magical" experience.

If anyone knows of such a place, please let me know!

(Although, I hope it won't be necessary. I would rather Disney simply give a little more attention to the Show.)

 

[maxiesmom]

(Although, I hope it won't be necessary. I would rather Disney simply give a little more attention to the Show.)

Can you please be specific about that? As I said, I have been going to WDW on an almost yearly basis (many times twice a year) starting in 1995 and I can't figure out what part of the Show you find lacking.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

Can you please be specific about that? As I said, I have been going to WDW on an almost yearly basis (many times twice a year) starting in 1995 and I can't figure out what part of the Show you find lacking.

Several things are lacking for me now.

First, and foremost, I really was scared for my safety when I was caught up in a crowd in December 2008 before the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Couple that with what happened on the monorail when the parks closed after the Fourth of July in 2009, and now, I am sure Disney has made cutbacks over the years that have put cast members and guests at an increased risk. It was easier for me to suspend disbelief and enjoy the Show, when I felt safer at Walt Disney World.

Disney is more careful with the monorail now, but I am not yet convinced that safety measures in other areas of park operation have been reinstated, and that concerns me.

Second, I believe customer service training is lacking, as compared to what it once was. Customer service has always been paramount to the Disney brand. From 1976 to 1992, I never once met a cast member that did not greet me and make me feel welcome. Now, it happens frequently.

It's not that I expect perfection either. Anyone can have a bad day. In 2009, I met a cast member who was rude at Hollywood Studios, but after I thought about it, I realized that she had probably had a hard day. So I am not talking about those instances.

I am talking about walking into a gift shop in Future World at Epcot and being completely ignored, even when I try smiling at cast members and asking for help. I am talking about looking around for a cast member to ask a question in the Magic Kingdom, and having them walk quickly by me, purposefully not making eye contact with anyone.

I do not think Disney treats its cast members as well as they once did.

There are many cast members who go above and beyond, and every wonderful experience I have ever had at Disney is because of the cast members. I am so grateful to them for every magical moment.

But when I visit now, I routinely see cast members who look overworked and tired. I see cast members that seem resentful. Noticing that DOES take a way from the Show.

I would rather pay more for less at Disney and encounter lots of happy cast members, than pay less for more and encounter unhappy cast members. A disinterested or untrained cast member takes away from the experience.

Finally, one of the reasons I originally chose to be a repeat customer at Walt Disney World is because they made me feel special the first time I visited. I wasn't expecting it, but there it was. And it was nice. I had never experienced being a VIP until Disney.

Now, making customers feel like VIPs no longer seems to be part of their focus. It is no longer a part of the average Walt Disney World experience. That's fine. Disney provides other products and services that are WONDERFUL. But I miss feeling special.

Should I be embarrassed about that? I am not. It was amazing. For a week or two, every year or so, I felt like a movie star. It was a role play, and Disney was complicit in it. Their customer service was so good that I felt like I was living an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

That's not what I am buying at Disney any longer. Instead, I am buying the opportunity to visit bigger and better theme parks, and that's great, too.

But when you work hard all year, it is wonderful to go to Walt Disney World for a couple of weeks and feel like a VIP. Disney did that better than any place on earth. I wish they would focus on safety and taking better care of their cast members, so it could happen again.

 

[teentoddlermom]

Several things are lacking for me now.


But when you work hard all year, it is wonderful to go to Walt Disney World for a couple of weeks and feel like a VIP. Disney did that better than any place on earth. I wish they would focus on safety and taking better care of their cast members, so it could happen again.

Agree!

 

[Capt. Barbosa]

Golly these napkins sure are plain?

 

[maxiesmom]

Golly these napkins sure are plain?

Did you just get those? That would be too funny, all this stress for nothing!

 

[Capt. Barbosa]

No those are from the 90's, we always seem to pick up little bits and pieces from our Disney trips still have some of the original Disney soaps and shampoos before they went with the spa ones they have now.

 

[doodle]

I will join you in celebrating the positive. I love Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom. Neither of those parks existed in 1984, and today, both of them thrill me.

But more than just small things are gone.

As a child, I went to Walt Disney World just about every other year from 1976-1992. Then, I did not go to Disney again until 2002. In those 10 years, between 1992 and 2002, important things were lost from my Walt Disney World experience.

The one that was the MOST shocking to me was that in 2002, all of a sudden, it seemed that at the end of every attraction, guests were spit out into a gift shop. Disney never did that in the 1980s. It turned the park experience into something crass and commercial to me. Maybe it was done gradually over those 10 years, and most guests did not even notice the difference, but I sure did.

With a gift shop at the end of every attraction, it became blatantly obvious that Disney World was putting profit ahead of guest experience. I like a subtle approach better. That kind of in-your-face materialism is offensive to me. I am able to put blinders on to it today, but I do miss the old feel of the Magic Kingdom.

Another loss, for me, is the increase in crowd levels. In the 1980s, all of my family vacations were from June 26th to July 5th. Even on the Fourth of July, Disney never felt too crowded. Of course, there were crowds, especially for the parades and fireworks, but nothing like the crowds that exist now.

In December 2008, I was nearly trampled, in a bottle neck in front of the Crystal Palace, while trying to navigate a stroller out of the park before the fireworks began.

That sounds extreme, but it's actually pretty accurate. People were stuck and no one wanted to back up. One side of the crowd was yelling at the other side to move, and neither side was willing to budge. I didn't care which way we went, as long as I eventually got my four year old safely out of the park.

I was standing on the bridge near the Crystal Palace, and I could hear a child crying that she had to go potty. Several young adult males started shouting obscenities at the crowd to move. I was backed up against the guard rail on the bridge so tight that I was afraid I was going to go over it. A middle aged woman stepped into my daughter's stroller without asking permission and started climbing on top of people to get out. It was insanity. And I really believe it was negligence on Disney's part to allow that situation to occur.

My third example combines the commercialism with the crowds, MNSSHP and MVMCP. You would think those two events would be welcome additions to the Disney experience.

Well, I was about two hours into my first MVMCP when I realized what Disney had done. Although I had paid for park admission that day, they had closed the park several hours early and coaxed me into paying for park admission a SECOND time that day. Then, they said there would be free hot chocolate and cookies (watered down and hard-as-a-rock) and SNOW (some kind of strange soap flakes, that I was scared to inhale, falling on one small section of Main Street).

But of course, none of that mattered, because there was limited admission, and we had special tickets--NOT! The Magic Kingdom was more crowded that evening than it had been all day. It was standing room only at the special shows, and tall people with hats on stood in front of me. My four year old couldn't see a thing. The character meets had lines a mile long. The rides had lines a mile long. The whole experience was one big bust, and I was fool hardy enough to pay double the cost of admission for all of us.

And then, along with the over-the-top commercialism and crowd levels, it also seems that the customer service has slipped at Disney. Some cast members are as wonderful as ever, but a noticeable number do not make eye contact or greet guests. It's not their fault. The customer service training is not the same as it was in the 1980s. I do not believe the cast members are treated as well by Disney as they once were either.

I do hope that cast members are treated well, because they deserve the very best Disney has to offer.

Finally, I feel that Disney continues to make cutbacks that detract from the guest experience (closing Pleasure Island, cuts to the monorail schedule, even Fantasmic was cut to two nights per weeks for a while, although park attendance was strong). Another area with significant cutbacks has been the dining plan. First, they took away the gratuity and appetizer, and now, they are taking away the second snack on the quick service plan. Did they really need to do that? Not to mention that dining plan in general has caused many of the restaurants to no longer offer some of the more unique and special dishes, and food quality has suffered.

Other details that I miss have been discussed here ad infinitum (i.e. resort specific merchandise, Mickey shaped pats of butter, and logo napkins), but suffice it to say that there have been noticeable losses that negatively impact my experience as a guest, and no, bigger and better theme parks do not, necessarily, make up for those losses.

But I will go with what is and appreciate what Disney has to offer. It's still my favorite place to vacation and I DO appreciate the new attractions and look forward to the future fantasyland expansion.

ITA! On a trip we made in 1990, a CM was at Epcot at opening with coffee. She handed it to us and said, "It is on the mouse". Sigh....

 

[bizeemom4]

Oh dear God. Someone bumped the napkins thread.

 

[Zife]

I don't like bumping old threads, but since someone else already did, I'm gonna jump in.

As a kid, I went to Walt Disney World once. It was 1994, and I was 8. I remember some things, but not a lot. So for me, my first real trip was in February 2008, at the age of 22, for my honeymoon.

I'm sure a lot had changed since 1994, there are actually a few things that I remember that I know change, but it was still amazing. The fact that almost every CM we saw said "Congratulations" because of our Newlywed pins was astonishing. We likened it to saluting in the military. To pick out those Pins in those crowds is like picking out a Captain in a sea of Corporals. And we had so many CMs that just wanted to chat. Something that still happened in our 2012 trip. From talking to AKL CMs about their homes to Monorail CMs about how we look to young to be married, the CMs make us feel special just by talking to us. Maybe we're just easy to please.

I'm sure there are other things that used to happen that would make us feel even more special, but what happens is enough for us. And maybe that's because we haven't seen the 'steady decline' over the years. Maybe we're blind because we just don't know any better. But someone mentioned (much) earlier that WDW used to make them feel like a VIP. Well, we still feel like VIPs every time we visit. There have been snags here and there, but Disney always manages to make up for them without us even asking them to.

I'm honestly not sure if I should feel bad for the people that have been able to go every year for the past 20 because they've seen things get worse, or happy for them because they've been able to experience the magic for so long. All I can hope is that the magic continues to be there for me whenever I go. And that those that may have lost it can find it again. Either at Disney or elsewhere. But to paraphrase a previous poster, we bring the magic with us just as much as we find it waiting for us.

 

[WINTER]

19 pages about napkins! haha Just returned from DL and I think the plain brown napkins are lacking! (it's the little things, Disney)

 

[Disneylove12]

I noticed they were plain on my last visit to Disneyland, and i had 3 from back early 2000 in a draw inside a plastic bag. Unfortunately tonight my son in law decided not to ask about them but used them to wipe grease off the floor with them. Im so devastated :'-(
I'll never have those napkins again. Alot of memories came with those.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I was in DH's truck the other day and opened up his console to grab a napkin for a spill and found some logoed white Disney parks one from a few years ago. I couldn't use them for the spill, just couldn't do it, knowing they are now a special Disney thing of the past!