No More Dropping Items Off for Autographs!

[melyseb]

I'm sure this has been posted before, but it's with repeating. Guest services no longer allows you to drop things off for character autographs. According to the guest services representative on the ship, 'the characters love interacting more with each guest' so you must now get your own signatures at meet and greets.

I was disappointed to learn this, but can understand that it was probably just growing too large.

(Rumor is that they only stopped doing it in the last 2-4 weeks.)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm sure this has been posted before, but it's with repeating. Guest services no longer allows you to drop things off for character autographs. According to the guest services representative on the ship, 'the characters love interacting more with each guest' so you must now get your own signatures at meet and greets.

I was disappointed to learn this, but can understand that it was probably just growing too large.

(Rumor is that they only stopped doing it in the last 2-4 weeks.)

Yep already reported:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/dc...ey-mail-being-discontinued-in-august.3433165/

 

[Orukal]

I fully believe that was what once just a hidden perk blew up too much due to internet sharing and it just went beyond what they were willing to commit to. And I can understand it, especially since it wasn't an advertised offering.

 

[melyseb]

Completely agree! I can't imagine having to keep track of so many people and who they want autographs from and which state room their in and making sure the characters sign everything (on top of their already busy appearance/show schedule). I was bummed, but absolutely understand!

 

[wcw57]

wow! I hope they don't mess with the alcohol policy. and the arcades...I love the arcades...

 

[Maggie'sMom]

wow! I hope they don't mess with the alcohol policy. and the arcades...I love the arcades...

How soon until someone reads this and misses that you are being sarcastic?

 

[wcw57]

ooooooooh, about 3 more minutes. that's the way i figger it.....

 

[Orukal]

wow! I hope they don't mess with the alcohol policy. and the arcades...I love the arcades...

And could you imagine them changing other things like hot-tub hours. Heck, any one of those things could make one reconsider a competitor's cruise over a Disney cruise.

 

[wcw57]

WAIT?!?!?!?!? there are other cruise lines? I mean, besides the Pacific Princess??

 

[FloridaBabe]

Definitely yesterdays news.

 

[wilkeliza]

Completely agree! I can't imagine having to keep track of so many people and who they want autographs from and which state room their in and making sure the characters sign everything (on top of their already busy appearance/show schedule). I was bummed, but absolutely understand!

Totally not to burst anyone's bubble but when you drop stuff off a Gr it isn't always the friends of someone who signs the stuff. A lot of Gr CMs are trained in signing for characters and can do the fab 5 and some princesses.

 

[squirk]

Completely agree! I can't imagine having to keep track of so many people and who they want autographs from and which state room their in and making sure the characters sign everything (on top of their already busy appearance/show schedule). I was bummed, but absolutely understand!

As wilkeliza said, the people in the costumes are not necessarily the ones signing the stuff. And that is what bugs me about this "wanting to spend more time interacting with the guests" excuse they give. For what DCL allegedly pays their CMs, I would imagine it's a pittance to pay a few more people dedicated exclusively to fulfilling these signature requests. But what do I know?

If this whole deal got out of hand due to unanticipated popularity, go ahead and put limits on it. Only one item per stateroom, or only generic items (i.e., nothing unique, custom or otherwise irreplaceable) in case a signature gets messed up, or whatever. But this is a prime example of DCL taking away something that makes them different; something directly leveraging the very brand they use to justify the premium they charge.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Oh man I hadn't heard this yet and I convinced my hubby to buy one of the 9" blank vinyls on our honeymoon at WDW last month just so we could drop it off on our Alaskan cruise next summer.

 

[chirurgeon]

I really didn't care if it was the actual character signing my object. I'm just happy I have my signed 9" vinylmation.

 

[wilkeliza]

As wilkeliza said, the people in the costumes are not necessarily the ones signing the stuff. And that is what bugs me about this "wanting to spend more time interacting with the guests" excuse they give. For what DCL allegedly pays their CMs, I would imagine it's a pittance to pay a few more people dedicated exclusively to fulfilling these signature requests. But what do I know?

I think there are 2 things at play here.

1. A dedicated staff member or 2 just for signatures is a big deal for a ship. They would have to figure out who to cut and move to a nonguest facing back of house roll. Even if they just added 2 additional GR CMs so they could rotate this as a position they would have to lose 2 people somewhere else. There is only so much room on th boat especially in the crew areas.

2. People were getting all their signatures in one shot. No need to stand in line and inevitable miss a few people. You could get the fab 5 or the princesses so easily. Guess what that meant? No need to return! As silly as that sounds some people do book more cruises or parks visits because their kids nag and nag and nag about a missed character. So now you missed that signature your princess desperately needed. You have several hours until your flight and have to head back towards Orlando anyways. Why not stop at WDW just for a few more hours? Some people may even plan an extra day or two. Not saying a huge portion is going to do that but I would be someone thought they could get more business out of something that wasn't an advertised offering.

 

[jrabbit]

I think that this whole getting you stuff signed at GS was eventually going to stop ... just because how big of a deal it became here on the DIS / Internet. I never had anything signed.
BUT
the "unintended consequences" of them dropping this service is that the picture lines are going to move even more slowly now than they used to - leading to high customer DISsatisfaction (say goodbye to all of those excellent ratings and price vs value ratings). And that doesn't count all of the groups that need 15 different arrangements of people and pictures taken with 10 different cameras, toss in several autograph books to be signed and only about 10 groups per session will get their pictures taken and that leads to fewer Shutters sales.

 

[Bella29]

the "unintended consequences" of them dropping this service is that the picture lines are going to move even more slowly now than they used to - leading to high customer DISsatisfaction (say goodbye to all of those excellent ratings and price vs value ratings). And that doesn't count all of the groups that need 15 different arrangements of people and pictures taken with 10 different cameras, toss in several autograph books to be signed and only about 10 groups per session will get their pictures taken and that leads to fewer Shutters sales.

THIS. The lines for characters are already way too long. I just want my kids to get a high five and a quick picture, and I end up waiting 45+ minutes for each character in each outfit... that's not a magical experience. We already get way fewer character pics than I want due to the lines. If getting more stuff signed is going to make the lines even longer, that's just plain stupid. The characters are a huge part of the Disney magic for us - without them we might as well be on another cruise line.

 

[emilyann415]

I think it's only a matter of time before they say that they can only sign autograph books......I'm disappointed that we won't be able to use the service on our upcoming cruise but I imagine it was a nightmare keeping track of who's stuff was whos and which autographs they wanted and then the complaints of the wrong characters autographed this or something was broken and they just didn't have the time or the people who could do it.....

 

[squirk]

But here's the thing: any company can kill a service claiming that it was logistically difficult. But this is precisely the kind of "magic" that Disney claims only it can do to justify their higher pricing. They are (or are supposed to be) the one company that finds ways to make these things work.

 

[emilyann415]

But here's the thing: any company can kill a service claiming that it was logistically difficult. But this is precisely the kind of "magic" that Disney claims only it can do to justify their higher pricing. They are (or are supposed to be) the one company that finds ways to make these things work.

And I guess I respectfully disagree. It's not magic anymore, to me anyway, when anyone can just go down to the guest services and drop off an item and get it autographed. Heck, if I wanted to get something autographed for my kids bad enough, I would just practice how to sign it and do it myself if they weren't going to watch the characters actually sign anything.....Magic are the little extras that come without me planning them in advance. For example, my daughter met Peter Pan and he was done and said he couldn't stay because Tink had gotten off at the port and he needed to make sure she had gotten back on the ship before they left. My DD fretted that poor Tink had missed the ship. She asked someone at Shutters if there was a way to find out if she Tink had made it back on the ship....later that night she had a letter from Tink herself saying she was A-OK.....that, IMHO, is magic!