No more free passes for Disney Store CMs

[exDS vet]

ABC, ESPN, WDI, Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, Miramax. These are just a few of the business units of the Walt Disney Company.
Most of these employees get thier 4 free tickets each year, plus a "Silver Pass" which allows them and up to three other guests free admission to any domestic Disney theme park pretty much anytime.

The free entry to WDW for business unit CM's with ID's was a courtesy offered by WDW. It was never available at Disneyland, or if it was, it ended before 2000.

I heard from a Disney Store CM that they no will no longer get their discount on food and merchandise inside the park, and that they also no longer get their measly 10% discounts on videos and DVD's once they go on sale. After Christmas, many DVD's were priced at $14.99, but CM's at DS could not get the extra discount. DS has always extended the CM discount to sale items.

The people who work for some of the Disney Business units can more than afford to pay a discounted admission to any disney park. For the DS cast members, this is just one more negative thing to happen before Disney Store fades into history.

 

[DancingBear]

Originally posted by JimmyMartin
You people got to get it in your head. It is not only DS castmembers but all other employees outside of Disneyworld. They work for about minimum wage to give you a Disney fix. Dancing bear, dont go to disney stores any more and maybe they will close then you can go to Walmart and get your fix there.

First of all, except perhaps for folks working at the Disneyland Resort, none of those employees outside of Disneyworld are delivering luggage or valet parking cars.

Second, if those folks no longer want to work at their current jobs without the ticket perk they can go work elsewhere. Obviously The Disney Store, ABC, etc., don't consider the perk incredibly important to attracting and retaining employees.

It's up to the company to determine what they pay, and what benefits they offer, and it's up to labor to determine if they want to work for Disney or elsewhere. I expect courteous service when I shop at Nordstrom, but I don't get involved in what sort of employee discount they get.

 

[caseymaureen]

Dancing Bear,
If the company didn't see this perk as important to finding and retaining employees, then they are in for quite a surprise. Many Disney Store employees choose to work there for many reasons, including being able to represent the Disney name, but also because of the "Disney Difference." In case you're not familiar with the DD, it is the thing that the company advertises makes working for Disney different than any other company. This includes the wide ranging perks, such as park tickets and discounts, and the supposed equality and atmosphere of working for a "family oriented" company. Many TDS employees are either young or retired and could choose to work at any retail store, they coose Disney because of that acclaimed DD. If those perks are taken away, they might as well work for any store, including those that are more tolerant of different work schedules, personal lives, etc. Disney is going to lose all of those employees who believed in the name and what it was supposed to represent, the key people that work to make Disney itself different. Which I predict, will prove to be the final downfall of an otherwise great store, and possibly the great company as a whole.

 

[mickey4ver]

Originally posted by DancingBear
Obviously The Disney Store, ABC, etc., don't consider the perk incredibly important to attracting and retaining employees.

I expect courteous service when I shop at Nordstrom, but I don't get involved in what sort of employee discount they get.

I expect they don't consider this "perk" of any relevance, but believe me, it is quite relevant to those that continue to serve guests at TDS. If they start pecking away at other "perks", people will leave, this is one of their hiring ploys, "look, we don't pay that much, but you get these great extra perks for you and your family"...take those away and finding good people to work will become hard.

If you really don't feel you need to be involved in a discussion about employee discounts etc., then maybe you might want to skip this thread.

 

[KNWVIKING]

From what I've been able to gather from this thread, the perk was added after the DS's opened. It was never part of your pay plan, it was just an added, goodwill, type benifit. Great, thank you Disney.

Now it is ending and there is outrage. I guess the message to employers should be " If the perks not forever, don't bother giving it at all !"

 

[doombuggy]

Now it is ending and there is outrage

KNWVIKING, I think some of the people that are really upset are those who received, very short notice, that this was being taken away. For example, if I had a trip planned to go to WDW in early January (at TDS, we are not allowed to take vacation in Nov & Dec), now I need to buy a park pass for myself, which is $$$ that I probably did not have put aside (we just celebrated the holdiays). Follow me??

Heck, I wasn't planning on going to WDW this year anyway. We are going to DL in May instead, for the WDAC convention.

I heard from a Disney Store CM that they no will no longer get their discount on food and merchandise inside the park

I don't know where you heard this, but as far as we have been told, this is not true.

Everyone have a safe and happy new year!

 

[Another Voice]

If memory serves, the sign-in benefit was pretty much in place right from the beginning. It had been general company policy that any employee could get themselves into the parks with their IDs, hourly employee received free tickets during the year and salaried staff received annual passes of one sort of the other.

It was felt that "cross knowledge" in Disney was important. This was especially true of the Stores. Since they were little outposts of Disney scattered throughout the country - they would be Disney's first and primary face-to-face with the majority of its customers. Having a knowledge staff in the stores, especially when the stores themselves sold a huge number of tickets to the parks, was considered a primary selling advantage. A cast member that can give recommendations and answer questions from experience about WDW is vastly more effective than someone who has to refer to a book of canned responses. If the cost of that was sign-in privileges to encourage cast members to spend their own money, that was a small price to pay.

It was more than just the parks too. The Company had tried to promote a "we're all Disney" mentality in the staff. Again, "synergy" means those employees with the most direct contact with the consumers should have the broadest knowledge of all the cross-promoted products: you have to know the characters from the film in order to sell the plush. Plus, getting free tickets is an important benefit because of the unique nature of Disney. Anyone in the mall can offer employee discounts and a certificate for a free turkey around the holidays, but only Disney can offer tickets (which a lot of people treasure like gold).

Far from being just a "perk", park admission had been considered an important company policy that promoted corporate performance and was a significant employee benefit. It was also a sign of respect that even though the cast members were far removed from WDW or the studio lot, they were still "Disney".

But as the company became more and more focused on personal wealth creation (or as the largest private shareholder greedily put it - "the company's sole focus is to enhance shareholder value"), respect and the long term best interests of the company were dropped in favor of immediate cash in the pocket. Why worry about getting a consumer to drop $5,000 on a vacation next spring when you can con them out of another $20 for a t-shirt today.

I do have to wonder why there is hostility on this board to the people losing this benefit. There is always the "Disney always right, never wrong" crowd - but there seems to something more personal in the air. One hopes that the Disneyland annual passholder disease of "no one can have more than us" hasn't been caught by the DVC membership.

 

[mickey4ver]

Another Voice, very nice post and thanks for sticking up for the little guy, the CM's who are paid the least, work the hardest

I don't agree though that it always was a perk to use one's ID for entrance into the parks when one worked for TDS. That has only been a fairly recent benefit, the last couple years. And also, TDS CM's have not been allowed entrance to DL on their ID's, must have a comp pass to go in there, so that one is nothing new, just more of the same, but seems they are now saying that even resort CM's cannot enter either resort without a comp ticket or a purchased one, no more ID entry for them either at each others respective parks.

Like you said, thanks Disney.

At least you are seeing the frustation on the part of TDS CM's, and showing a little "feeling" about the whole thing. More of a "how" it was told to them rather than the fact that it has been a discontinued perk is what seems to be bothering most TDS CM's. Sometimes it's not the message, but how the message is conveyed that gets one's britches in a knot.

 

[KNWVIKING]

***"I do have to wonder why there is hostility on this board to the people losing this benefit. There is always the "Disney always right, never wrong" crowd - but there seems to something more personal in the air. One hopes that the Disneyland annual passholder disease of "no one can have more than us" hasn't been caught by the DVC membership."***

I don't know if this was directed towards me personaly or not - as I am a DVC member- but I assure you I have no "no one can have more than us" mentality. My only expectation from DVC and Disney is that they honor the contract I signed.

Does losing a perk stink ? Sure it does. For the 23 years I've worked at my job my boss has always given a Christmas bonus. Not as a part of my pay plan but just because he wants too. If next year he choses not to give a bonus, do I have the right to be pissed ? I would be disappointed, but not upset. I also have never bought something in advance, counting on the bonus to pay for it.

I don't know the history of this perk, but a perk -any perk- can end without notice. I'm not saying Disney is right or wrong for ending the perk. I just don't like it when people think they are owed something that was never theirs to begin with.

 

[Planogirl]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
[BI don't know the history of this perk, but a perk -any perk- can end without notice. I'm not saying Disney is right or wrong for ending the perk. I just don't like it when people think they are owed something that was never theirs to begin with. [/B]

If the CMs' understanding was that the pay isn't great and the hours stink but at least park admission is free then is no longer getting this perk a loss? I would personally consider it one and I can more than understand why CM's are angry, disappointed or whatever. I would imagine that at least some are having more trouble remembering why they want to work for the mouse right now.

 

[KNWVIKING]

***"If the CMs' understanding was that the pay isn't great and the hours stink but at least park admission is free then is no longer getting this perk a loss? "***

You know what ? If a person is willing to take a job with lousy pay and stinky hours just to get free park admission- basically the value of an AP- then I guess I have no arguement worth posting on this thread.

Of course, I think I'd rather find a job that pays 50 cents an hour more. Working just 20 hrs per week for 50 weeks pays for an AP. But that's just me.

 

[Another Voice]

I've always seen the sign-in privileges as a sign of courtesy and respect that Disney extends to their employees. It can be a big deal to a person making minimum wage and is a trivial amount of money to the company. I'd wager that one of Eisner's cross-country jaunts on the corporate jet to play Big Swinging, er, Executive on Wall Street costs Disney far more money than all of the sign-ins for an entire year.

Real business decisions have little to do with how Disney operates today.

Taking away this perk (old or new) is simply a quick and painless (for executives) way that managers can play at running a business. If anyone would sit for a moment and think about what they are doing, the decision wouldn't have come down this way. Even at the most base level, it's better for a business to have employees that want to work for you than employees who are only there because you offer fifty cents more than the store next door.

But thinking isn't how Disney operates today either.

As for Mr. Viking, no the comment wasn't directed at you. It's just a tone I've been sensing in a lot of the posts recently. A sense of privilege has existed out here among Disneyland Annual Passholders for a while now and it's ruining the park. I don't know if anyone followed the "Super Fastpass" whining or the chaos that became of the Special Assistance Pass or even the general mess the parks are on the weekends. The "it's mine" attitude among a fraction of the guests can ruin the parks just as much as overflowing trash cans and vacuum cleaners. There are some comments in this thread that seem extremely hostile to Disney Store cast members for no apparent reason - other than they get a perk others don't (although they "deserve" it too).

 

[MDDisneyFan]

KNWVIKING . . . CM's don't work at the Disney store simply for free passes to the parks. As you arrogantly pointed out, getting a higher paying job would pay for an AP. Part of the reason CM's work at TDS is because they enjoy being part of the DD. CM's are neither stupid nor greedy. As a previous post indicated, many CM's are unhappy because of the way that the news was communicated and that this is one more sign that the DS experience may be coming to an end (with the sale of TDS). Everything doesn't always have to boil down to money.

 

[KNWVIKING]

***"I've always seen the sign-in privileges as a sign of courtesy and respect that Disney extends to their employees. It can be a big deal to a person making minimum wage and is a trivial amount of money to the company. "***

You're right AV. I honestly see the loss of the perk as almost being meanspirited on the part of upper management. I wish I could offer my employees some perk - that in reality would cost me very little - that would keep them happy and motivated the way Disney was keeping their employee happy with passes.

But I just don't like it when people treat perks as income or something that HAS to be given to them because it was in the past. I get irratated over on the DVC board when old timers who got the free passes as a buy-in incentive over a decade ago cry that Disney/DVC has to give them something now that that program has ended. That's bs. Disney/DVC owes them nothing.

 

[KNWVIKING]

***"CM's don't work at the Disney store simply for free passes to the parks. As you arrogantly pointed out, getting a higher paying job would pay for an AP. "***

First, there was no arrogance in my reply. Second, I was replying to a specific comment directed to me by another poster. Read that post again. It deals with a person taking a job with lousy pay & hours but also getting free passes. Basically, this person is chosing to work at DS for the passes,not the pay. My point was to screw the passes, get a better paying job with better hours and just buy the passes a you need them.

 

[manning]

I sure hope these CM own Disney stock. Roy could use their help.

 

[Sandy541]

5 years ago I retired from teaching and Disney has always been something special to me. They were opening a store in my city so I applied. I worked there until this spring..The store had stopped carrying the items that I loved, watches, WDCC merchandise and other collectibles. The denim shirts with the beautiful embroidery were gone also except for our cm shirts. I had been given a few raises over the years, but still didn't make over $6. I stayed because I still loved the way I felt when I worked---silly me, I thought perhaps a little pixie dust. My husband and I go to Orlando several times a year and I really enjoyed walking into the parks by showing my id. It made all the on calls, long Christmas hours and not such nice guests fade away. I am returning to Orlando, but other than Downtown Disney I will be not be enjoying the Parks. No more sitting on MainStreet enjoying the atmosphere and yes, spending money. I am glad I left Disney before they took the free entry away or I would have felt very betrayed. I know how hard DS cast members work: trust me you have to love Disney to do it.
Disney Store cast members, I really feel for you. You are not greedy, you just wanted to feel a little special.

 

[Planogirl]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
[BFirst, there was no arrogance in my reply. Second, I was replying to a specific comment directed to me by another poster. Read that post again. It deals with a person taking a job with lousy pay & hours but also getting free passes. Basically, this person is chosing to work at DS for the passes,not the pay. My point was to screw the passes, get a better paying job with better hours and just buy the passes a you need them. [/B]

People have different reasons for doing things. During my unfortunately fairly vast experience in the workforce, I've noticed that the little things sometimes mean a lot. At one workplace, people were thrilled when they got free soft drinks, at another I heard a lot about an extra 5 minutes being added to a break and yet at another, the big deal was the chance to win tickets to various sporting events.

In the case of the Disney Stores, I feel that the perks were looked upon by some CM's as a way to connect with the company. They were kind of a way of feeling like they were a part of the Disney family. It's not simply money but a perk that makes a Disney CM who happens to be a fan feel different from Joe Bubba that simply walks in to buy a pass when the urge hits.

I'm not saying that ALL CM's felt this way but I've heard often on the other boards and other places that people want to work for Disney to be a "part of the magic". And the passes seemed to often be a part of that "magic".

 

[ohanafamily]

Hi everybody, I just wrote a 2 page letter to Roy Disney of support. I found the link to his website on this thread, but I will post it again.

www.savedisney.com

We haven't heard the last from him.

There are very few CM's at my local TDS who have been there long enough to remember 3 years ago. I am sad to say that the manager is very by the book, and a company woman. I used to love to go to the stores and talk to real people about how wonderful everything Disney is. now they are pushing Plush and Magical Gatherings. I still enjoy talking to the CM's, but I could not ever think of meeting the new manager at WDW if our trips were to coincide...oh, wait is she loosing her pass privileges too?

I just get very depressed when I walk into TDS lately, I haven't even been tempted to go on a spending spree before my Disney Club Card expires.....

Go to Roy's site and support him! He shares a lot of our views.
(Yes it is an arrogant command because I feel we all support his views)

 

[exDS vet]

There has been some great dialog here. I think the support of the hourly DS CM's is great. And I feel for you all as well. At least for those of you who got to go to WDW that often. As a DS Store Manager, I was fortunate enough to have the coveted "Silver Pass." This was a great perk because I got to go to the parks almost anytime, and I could bring in an additional 3 guests with me.

The Silver Pass with the 35% merchandise discount were part of my overall pay package. It was an incentive used to recruit managers and I'm sure it still is today. I also received the complimentary tickets every six months, along with Ei$ner's stupid letters. I always gave my tickets away.

Whenever I hired a CM, I would include the free tickets along with the 20% discount in our discussions about compensation. But it was not a main selling point, and I didn't think it was that big of a deal for them. Except for the big fans, of course.

For those of you working for DS (and I intentionally us DS, because they dropped the "T" several years ago), the best perk you will ever get from that job is going occur when you put it on your resume for your next job. Disney Store goes a long way when you are shopping around for a new employer. Good luck to all of you.