Post here regarding WDW cutbacks, changes & Complaints

[Eeyore2U]

Oh woe is me, the canceled my favorite show, HOND.. Let's emai!!!

 

[virginia3001]

Hi everybody!! My first post

Hi, this is my first time on DIS, and I"m glad to say that since EE is back (well, in a shortened form) that it's all good again!!! YAY!!

Thanks for having me here!!


WDW 1993 Offsite
WDW Nov 2002 POR OMG I can't wait!!!!

 

[eeyore0062]

Welcome Virginia, and I hope you find these boards as fun and informative as I have~!

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

I know many of you are upset with cutbacks, etc... but WDW decided to cut back expenses in order to secure jobs, and not have to do major layoffs, which would have a tremendous effect on the Central Florida area. 2/3rds of the Disney CM's who smile and make your stay wonderful live below the poverty level and depend on each paycheck to put food on the table and a roof over their families. Can you imagine what loosing their job would do to them? WDW did everything possible to cut costs, but still meet Guest needs and to be sure that the slowdowns did not cause hard-working cast members to lose their jobs. And I for one, think they did a pretty good job and appreciate I work for a company that would risk loosing market share in order to do everything possible to secure my job.

 

[eeyore0062]

I totally agree with you, Disneygator!

 

[blackshirt]

If 2/3 of Florida's WDW employees are living in poverty whose fault is that ? Perhaps a raise might be in order. Actually, I believe you are mistaken or perhaps a union rep. Most of WDW employees appear to be and actually are students and part time. Their salary, if it was supporting a family, would certainly be insufficent. But since they are only earning spending money, etc. , this doesn't seem to be a huge problem. I believe full time employees with the necessary seniority earn somewhere in the area of $10 to $15 per hour which is not bad considering everything.

 

[ryannkatesmom]

I am trying to find an address to write a letter of complaint to Disney. We had a GREAT time at the parks, however, I have a problem with the COST of the hopper passes and the CLOSING of certain rides 2 HOURS PRIOR to park closing!!! We (6 of us) bought 5 4-day park hopper passes at a cost of almost $1000. I have NO problem paying for something as long as I can get "my money's worth." I really don't feel that the cost is fair when rides CLOSE early & you can't get to see everything. I accounted for the early PARK closings, as it is low season. However, the 2 extra hours that certain attractions were closed would have made a HUGE difference to us. I would just like to voice my opinion to Disney and if anyone has an address to which I can send a letter it would be appreciated! I love Disney, but feel like the "MAGIC" is being foresaken for the "almighty dollar!"

 

[Eeyore2U]

What rides closed early?

If you go to the Rumors and News Board, there are links at the top of the page with the addresses.

 

[ryannkatesmom]

They kept the park open until 8 PM, however, the following rides closed early (just naming what I know for sure!):
Haunted Mansion - 7 PM
The Tiki Room - 6 PM
The Pirates of the Caribbean - 6 PM
The Hall of the Presidents - 6 PM
Thunder Canyon - b/c of rain (which I know couldn't be helped)
We were in Frontierland & Liberty Square, as you can see! We had already covered everything else, except for the above and SOME of Tomorrowland. I think the extra 2 hrs would have allowed us to accomplish MOST of what we had set out to see! Oh well! Better luck next time! Maybe the next trip will be planned around HIGH season for the extra hours!

 

[Disneydenise]

So really what they are offering is two hours in fantasyland and the mountains sort of ? I guess its better than the whole park closing early.

 

[ForestMice]

My family stays up late and sleeps in...so we slept thru the EE anyway!!

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

blackshirt,

If you make 10 dollars an hour, after taxes.. you are probably taking home around 16k a year... what side of the poverty line does that put you? And there are many College Program students, but you forget that they make minimum wage, but still have to pay for a roof over their heads, and food to eat. It's not spending money for them, they are doing it for the experience. But It's not a debate about pay. I love my job, and I don't do it for the money, I do it because I enjoy the people, the guests, and Disney.

My point was that a large amount of the cutbacks were to make sure people didn't loose their jobs. Jobs that they depended on for food, a roof over their head and insurance for themselves and their families. And Disney did everything possible to make sure their was as little impact to the Guests as they could, without having to sacrifice the lively hood of their hard-working cast. I appreciated that emensely.

I know cutbacks to some looks like only caring about the bottom dollar, but to others it looks like commitment and loyalty to your staff and your community as well as preserving your brand and market share. Not too shabby corporate characteristics in this day in age.

 

[Disneydenise]

It makes me feel better to hear from a CM that Disney does still have a conscience. I have never had a bad experience with a cast member. I only go to DW maybe once a year. I think the folks who are there constantly are just pickier. I am hoping that my DD will be able to get a summer job in DW this summer. She really has wanted to do this since she was 7 and realized that she could get a job there.

 

[maggie767]

disneygator i'm so glad that disney cares enough about their employees and i'm so glad you still have your job. i work for the local hospital here and believe me they don't care even about the patients. there is so many cutbacks that the patient is the one that suffers. sooo i'm so very glad for you and all the others that work for disney. there is so many things to do at disney , i'm sure we can always go back to the hotel and if nothing else go swimming. as for ee so you have an extra hour to sleep in. all of you workers do a wonderful job and we love every moment we spend at disney. we will be down there next year and hope to see you there. keep up the good work and may god bless all of you. love disney.

 

[MBD1215]

I don't know if this is the correct forum to discuss this but... I have tried to ignore all the negative talk about service being sacrificed for the bottom line,but I'm almost ready to jump on the band wagon.I have been a loyal Disney customer for over twenty years now, getting ready to go on our second Disney cruise at the end of the month.Over the last year I just haven't gotten the service I had become used to from Disney.Back in July we booked a stay at the Cont., booked it back in Feb.At time of booking, and a t time of final payment made a few requests,was told that everything possible would be done to honor my request, the only thing I really requested was a MK view. We had planned this trip just for the 4th, and requested the MK view just to see the fireworks form our room. Got to Disney didn't get the room we asked for,got what we got and that was it.Tried to go to Calif. Grill to watch fireworks instead, it was closed for a private party, had to run around like a nut to find a place to watch them.Figured ok busy week for Disney... But now I'm having problems with the cruise,booked a cat 5, upgraded myself to 4, was charged more than the web site said(explination,web site not 100% correct), emailed to ask about upgrade, was told they don't upgrade(although lots of members here claim to have recived them), as of yesterday my docs had not arrived yet, although other members here have had them for two weeks,called Disney, was told Fed Ex could not deliver them, TA's address had changed,but no one, not Disney,not Fed Ex ever called me or TA. Good thing I picked up the phone.(they offered to let me pick them up at the port,that might have worked,BUT MY TRANSFERS ARE IN THE DOCS.) After about an hour Finally made arrangements to have them sent to me, then they suggested my neighbor, then my Ta, I requested to me, they called TA he ok'ed,finally settle on my neighbor.Asked to be transfered to Castaway Cay Club, all they would do is confirm they would be sent to my neighbor.Booked Poly Cocierge for after cruise, again requesting MKview, we'll see what happens.I don't know, I'm spending a lot of money to try and insure I get what I want, but don't know if I will.When all is said and done, I'll spend around 7k-8k on this vacation, the last time I looked that was a considerable amount of money.We all know Disney vacations are not cheap, but I go to Sandals or Beaches a couple of times a year,and if something gets messed up they try to make me happy, in fact they upgrade me just for being a return guest, without me haveing to ask. With all the time and effort I have spent to plan this trip, and then deal with the complications, I would figure Disney would do something to restore my confidence, I haven't even recived an appology... We'll see how this turns out, sorry this was so long, but I'm feeling a little like I'm just number and dollar signs in Disney eyes, I remember when times were better

 

[MBD1215]

Docs came, but not without incident.. we live at 91, set up to deliver to neighbor at 89, fed ex tried to deliver to other neighbor at 88, no one home, they left,lucky neighbor saw truck,called my wife at work, she called fed ex, fed ex tracked down driver and had him deliver to original neighbor... boy this has been fun!!Now lets hope they are correct.

 

[LydiaAch]

DH and I spent our honeymoon at the BC and then on a cruise and were a tad but disappointed at the BC portion of our stay. We were told to tell everyone it was our honeymoon and we would get all this great stuff. We didn't get anything! (I'm not out for freebies, but sheesh!)

The lack of characters at the parks was disappointing. We had to wait in line forever to get pictures with characters and I almost got into a fight with a mother who just HAD to have a picture with Pooh and didn't understand the "line" concept.

We missed alot of shows because they were few and far between...

We still had a magical honeymoon and will forever love Disney World, though.

 

[StevieD]

Originally posted by LydiaAch
DH and I spent our honeymoon at the BC and then on a cruise and were a tad but disappointed at the BC portion of our stay. We were told to tell everyone it was our honeymoon and we would get all this great stuff. We didn't get anything! (I'm not out for freebies, but sheesh!)

We just returned from an 8 day visit to BC (Beach Club Villas) and we were also disappointed with overall decline in service. This was our 3rd trip in about a year and a half, and we definitely noticed the difference on this trip. I hope this isn't a trend.

 

[Eeyore2U]

Originally posted by StevieD
We just returned from an 8 day visit to BC (Beach Club Villas) and we were also disappointed with overall decline in service. This was our 3rd trip in about a year and a half, and we definitely noticed the difference on this trip. I hope this isn't a trend.

Can you cite specifics? I'm interested since for every negative post you get a postive post.

 

[StevieD]

Originally posted by Eeyore2U
Can you cite specifics? I'm interested since for every negative post you get a postive post.

Sure, here's a few encounters:

BC Check-in - We checked in early in the day - had asked for an Epcot view. When we inquired about the view we had requested, CM laughed and told us "Yeah, right. Those rooms are booked way in advance" (as we all know, that simply isn't true, but I wasn't about to argue with her). So we asked for a "quiet room". Was told "We've only got one non-smoking room available - take it or leave it". We took it, but were surprised at the callous attitude.

BC Guest Relations - My wife came down ill which, after one excruciating night, ended up requiring a trip to the emergency room. We were extremely upset, as you can imagine. When I called Guest Relations for help in finding a hospital or urgent care center, I was instructed to check the phone book in my room. Gee thanks, I hadn't thought of that!

BC Guest Relations - Due to the emergency room visit (which lasted 8 hours - but my wife eventually was seen, received medication, and spent the next 2 days recovering), we missed our PS to the new Storybook Breakfast. No big deal in the overall scheme of things, but I later went back to BC Guest Relations to see if they could help arrange for us to get into the Storybook Breakfast on another day (we still had 6 days of our trip left). I've already posted about this incident - but needless to say, the CM didn't help at all - and at the end of our trip, all he could offer up was "Oh well, those PS's are hard to get". Not very compassionate.

Those were, perhaps the most blatant examples. Other, more subtle examples included:

Bellman who said not one word to us as he walked us to our room and helped us with the bags - no smile, no hi, no small talk. Not very welcoming
CM in Atlantic Beach who ignored my wife at checkout and attempted to wait on someone else (and it was the someone else who pointed out my wife and said "she's first").
CM at Cape May Cafe Character Breakfast who, when checking us into our 9AM PS told us "It's a 35 minute wait", and when she noticed our surprised look, said "I guess You should have picked a less crowded day for breakfast".

There were several very nice CM's at BC - including our waitress at Beaches and Cream, the CM's in the Sandcastle Club, the very nice CM at the pool shop where they rent tubes, and the CM boat captains for MGM.

Overall, though, the bad examples outweighed the good. Since we just bought into BCV this year, I am really hoping that this is not a trend. But I will say, that in our last 3 visits to WDW, we have noticed a definite downward trend in overall "niceness" of CM's.