We've gone to Disney World every year for the past 8 years and also in the past (80's, 90's), a week at a time, so we're definitely "experienced" guests.
Anyways...the good:
1. Saw lots of small groups of 3-5 employee badged people around but some not in costume. Asked around and it's "new intern week" or something like that.
2. FINALLY after years of stupidly placing a smoking area directly in front of one of the most popular counter service food vendors in Magic Kingdom, you guessed it...Aloha Isle, they moved the smoking area away from here. They also switched the orange and pineapple stands with each other which confused us initially but it's in a much better place now with a lot more room considering the line can get long at times.
3. Wilderness Lodge was mostly great as usual. Nice rooms, short lines, etc.
4. Fastpass on the Test Track ride is back to where you still do the car design thing. Only single riders skip this entirely. Before sometimes when we've gone the fast pass riders skipped that part and sometimes not. That's better since my kids think that's half the fun of the ride, even if it really doesn't "do" anything to the ride itself.
The bad:
1. Outright rudeness everywhere from a lot of cast members. For example I ordered the chocolate mousse things at ABC Commissary. When I brought it back and showed them the ticket, they got pissed off that I wanted the right dessert. Also I stood trying to get my youngest a cup of ice water at the Frontierland counter service place (I forgot the name) for at least 15 minutes. The folks working behind the counter flat out ignored me and my daughter. I went through the cashier to have the cashier tell me I didn't need to have them put in an order (for $0.00) and just ask. Well, that doesn't work any more because the people working behind the counter only care what's on the ticket. At one time Disney used to have coaches or some such title that roamed the parks basically observing what the cast members were doing and catching these kinds of things. I haven't seen one anywhere recently and they need to go back to instituting this.
2. FastPass plus is horribly poorly implemented all the way around. Examples of problems:
A. The app comes up when I try to update things or get a new fast pass after using up my 3 and it says that I can't do it on the app. Of course the kiosks don't work either.
B. If you miss your allocated time slot, you are screwed. You can't update/change that fast pass, nor can you get a new one. The only way you can avoid this is if you are late due to dining and bring them the bill witht he time stamp on it. The one you miss simply never "expires" out.
C. Doubled the number of staff. On the old system they checked you "at the gate". It was a once-and-done system. Now that person just checks times although you are automatically scanned anyways. Then once inside before you get on the ride, you have to scan in again which actually gives you credit for using the fast pass in the first place. I guess this is in case someone decides not to wait in the fast pass line either but in my opinion it's stupid. This was never needed before and all it does is add to confusion and adds a lot more cast members to the payroll which is probably reflected in considerably higher prices this year. Value add as far as I can see from a guest perspective here is negative.
D. And this goes somewhat back to the rudeness factor, cast members working the "front line" (checking fastpass times in) need to control their area. We constantly ran into situations where people queued up in front of the fast pass kiosks so that we more or less had to push them out of the way to get in, right in front of a cast member whose job it is to keep the area orderly and under control.
2. Lack of rooms on the free meal plan deal, basically forcing upgrades. OK I get it I'm being spoiled. Before when we looked at family vacations for a week (9-10 days total) we kind of kept going back to Disney partly because this deal made it around $3K give or take and to go to anywhere else it ends up being the same price or more. With the shift in "deals", it's now getting to $5K forcing us to rethink our destination next year for the first time in years. Then again we're getting basically the best price you can get so I guess we can't complain a whole lot but most likely next year will not be Disney.
3. New layout for Downtown Disney parking. Let's face it, there's nothing on the "West" side except if you are going to the theatre or La Nouba. So...that meant everyone was parking on the East side close to the World of Disney store, restaurants, shopping at the Art of Disney, pin trader, or Christmas store, etc. So what did they do? Force you to park all the way on the West side and they're tearing out all the parking on the East side for the expansion. So we had to walk end-to-end because the one item my oldest daughter wanted was in the Art of Disney store at the other end and so was our favorite "last day" lunch place (Wolfgang Puck Express). And unlike previous years where the overflow parking was across the street, they had an attendant there that turned everyone away from the HR/training buildings and forced them to go all the way back down to the West side parking deck.
4. As I understand it, the towel situation in the hotels is that the room is stocked according to the capacity. So 4 beds = 4 sets of towels no matter how many stay in the room. If that's the case, when we had a 4 person room, how come it was stocked for either 2 or 3 every time? And this isn't an incident isolated to Wilderness Lodge, nor was it related to one shift since on a 10 day stay we saw multiple shifts, nor did it seem to be even just because it was one bone head that didn't get the message since we called multiple days for towels and asked why the room wasn't stocked properly. I can understand maybe if you're in the Polynesian or the Contemporary where trundle beds and such can push you to 5 people in a room and the only way the staff can know this is if they have a roster for the rooms, but come on. Can they at least follow policy?
5. Test Track is still the same old Test Track from the "crash dummy" days with very cheesy mix of "Tron" and "Stargate" style graphics on top of what was much better thought out originally. The track doesn't dance and sway as much as it used to when it was aluminum and guests would freak out at what you typically see for aluminum structural frames (they shake like a leaf). I guess for me as an engineer it's better not to see the little aneometer wind gauges visible all over it that they used to decide when the ride was unsafe to operate. The underlying ride is still almost the same so you get things like when the car "swerves" for no apparent reason towards the beginning because in the original you were told it was without anti-lock brakes but now it doesn't swerve at all "with anti-lock brakes" so it makes no sense. The surprise "truck" is just some random out of place obstacle...so it feels like some weird ad for "Tron vs. a GM car" instead of a cohesive experience. That's the problem here...nothing has changed. There is no integrated feeling. The display in the car is pretty much unused. The cars on the status boards sometimes work and sometimes not. The actual ride obstacles seem to bear no relationship to the theme. And the new implementations are just cheesy. I mean when it does "environmental testing", a cheesy "lightning bolt" thing shoots down the wall and that's it. Really? Where's the rain/snow/sleet/wind/fog/something to suggest its anything but a jerky cruise down a country Tron road? And the random "truck" which was something of a scary part of the original ride is now just some Tron Program that got its Tron vehicle stuck in the Tron road that the car goes around. At least it can be a lightcycle thing here so crashing would be a real concern or something? Then there's the launch outside...can we have a water effect where it looks like bubbles come shooting out of the purple Stargates instead of just blinking on and off? Sorry but they took a great ride that needed some updating to something that was actually a step back from what it originally started out as. This is in contrast to say Goofy Barnstormer which is clearly and obviously just the same Toon Town ride but with new theming, graphics, etc. I like what they did with that even the first year before they made some more subtle fixes to it. The new theming is an improvement and doesn't detract from the actual ride at all.
6. Some rides are so dated it's deplorable the ones that have been updated. For example Country Bears...I'm from North Carolina. I know what good blue grass bands sound like. My kids are complaining and my youngest daughter (age 8) loves blue grass bands. Desparately time to update it with new sound track and sound as a minimum. Time to take a trip to the Feed & Seed theatre. Wouldn't hurt to change the animotronics although that's a lot more expensive. Another one is Carousel of Progress. I do definitely understand...this is a nostalgia ride. So be it, but the very last section of the ride is permanently stuck in the early 1980's when the intention from Walt was that it would keep up with the times. And the ride itself desperately needs a face lift on everything. Not to "modernize" anything else but it's getting in really bad/dingy shape. As it is right now it seems like other than changing the upholstry on the seats (and even then maybe not judging by the dusty/musty smell), it seems like nothing else on the ride has literally been changed since Walt died.
So in summary, my suggestion here to Disney is...back to basics. You have to get the customer service thing under control right away. And I don't exactly know how to fix this but speaking as an engineer, something has definitely gone wrong as far as "imagineering" goes. I'm no stranger to Disney "imagineering". I use the same PLC engineer Disney used for the fireworks show at Epcot when it was first written. I use the same panel shop they used for all those FastPass Plus kiosks. So I can also say from an engineer perspective that a big part of the job is figuring things out from the customer perspective. The parking situation in Downtown Disney is a total miss. The Tron...err, Test Track ride is a miss. Doubling up attendants for FastPass plus on the rides is a miss. At this rate Disney product quality will soon look like Microsoft (horrible).
Anyways...the good:
1. Saw lots of small groups of 3-5 employee badged people around but some not in costume. Asked around and it's "new intern week" or something like that.
2. FINALLY after years of stupidly placing a smoking area directly in front of one of the most popular counter service food vendors in Magic Kingdom, you guessed it...Aloha Isle, they moved the smoking area away from here. They also switched the orange and pineapple stands with each other which confused us initially but it's in a much better place now with a lot more room considering the line can get long at times.
3. Wilderness Lodge was mostly great as usual. Nice rooms, short lines, etc.
4. Fastpass on the Test Track ride is back to where you still do the car design thing. Only single riders skip this entirely. Before sometimes when we've gone the fast pass riders skipped that part and sometimes not. That's better since my kids think that's half the fun of the ride, even if it really doesn't "do" anything to the ride itself.
The bad:
1. Outright rudeness everywhere from a lot of cast members. For example I ordered the chocolate mousse things at ABC Commissary. When I brought it back and showed them the ticket, they got pissed off that I wanted the right dessert. Also I stood trying to get my youngest a cup of ice water at the Frontierland counter service place (I forgot the name) for at least 15 minutes. The folks working behind the counter flat out ignored me and my daughter. I went through the cashier to have the cashier tell me I didn't need to have them put in an order (for $0.00) and just ask. Well, that doesn't work any more because the people working behind the counter only care what's on the ticket. At one time Disney used to have coaches or some such title that roamed the parks basically observing what the cast members were doing and catching these kinds of things. I haven't seen one anywhere recently and they need to go back to instituting this.
2. FastPass plus is horribly poorly implemented all the way around. Examples of problems:
A. The app comes up when I try to update things or get a new fast pass after using up my 3 and it says that I can't do it on the app. Of course the kiosks don't work either.
B. If you miss your allocated time slot, you are screwed. You can't update/change that fast pass, nor can you get a new one. The only way you can avoid this is if you are late due to dining and bring them the bill witht he time stamp on it. The one you miss simply never "expires" out.
C. Doubled the number of staff. On the old system they checked you "at the gate". It was a once-and-done system. Now that person just checks times although you are automatically scanned anyways. Then once inside before you get on the ride, you have to scan in again which actually gives you credit for using the fast pass in the first place. I guess this is in case someone decides not to wait in the fast pass line either but in my opinion it's stupid. This was never needed before and all it does is add to confusion and adds a lot more cast members to the payroll which is probably reflected in considerably higher prices this year. Value add as far as I can see from a guest perspective here is negative.
D. And this goes somewhat back to the rudeness factor, cast members working the "front line" (checking fastpass times in) need to control their area. We constantly ran into situations where people queued up in front of the fast pass kiosks so that we more or less had to push them out of the way to get in, right in front of a cast member whose job it is to keep the area orderly and under control.
2. Lack of rooms on the free meal plan deal, basically forcing upgrades. OK I get it I'm being spoiled. Before when we looked at family vacations for a week (9-10 days total) we kind of kept going back to Disney partly because this deal made it around $3K give or take and to go to anywhere else it ends up being the same price or more. With the shift in "deals", it's now getting to $5K forcing us to rethink our destination next year for the first time in years. Then again we're getting basically the best price you can get so I guess we can't complain a whole lot but most likely next year will not be Disney.
3. New layout for Downtown Disney parking. Let's face it, there's nothing on the "West" side except if you are going to the theatre or La Nouba. So...that meant everyone was parking on the East side close to the World of Disney store, restaurants, shopping at the Art of Disney, pin trader, or Christmas store, etc. So what did they do? Force you to park all the way on the West side and they're tearing out all the parking on the East side for the expansion. So we had to walk end-to-end because the one item my oldest daughter wanted was in the Art of Disney store at the other end and so was our favorite "last day" lunch place (Wolfgang Puck Express). And unlike previous years where the overflow parking was across the street, they had an attendant there that turned everyone away from the HR/training buildings and forced them to go all the way back down to the West side parking deck.
4. As I understand it, the towel situation in the hotels is that the room is stocked according to the capacity. So 4 beds = 4 sets of towels no matter how many stay in the room. If that's the case, when we had a 4 person room, how come it was stocked for either 2 or 3 every time? And this isn't an incident isolated to Wilderness Lodge, nor was it related to one shift since on a 10 day stay we saw multiple shifts, nor did it seem to be even just because it was one bone head that didn't get the message since we called multiple days for towels and asked why the room wasn't stocked properly. I can understand maybe if you're in the Polynesian or the Contemporary where trundle beds and such can push you to 5 people in a room and the only way the staff can know this is if they have a roster for the rooms, but come on. Can they at least follow policy?
5. Test Track is still the same old Test Track from the "crash dummy" days with very cheesy mix of "Tron" and "Stargate" style graphics on top of what was much better thought out originally. The track doesn't dance and sway as much as it used to when it was aluminum and guests would freak out at what you typically see for aluminum structural frames (they shake like a leaf). I guess for me as an engineer it's better not to see the little aneometer wind gauges visible all over it that they used to decide when the ride was unsafe to operate. The underlying ride is still almost the same so you get things like when the car "swerves" for no apparent reason towards the beginning because in the original you were told it was without anti-lock brakes but now it doesn't swerve at all "with anti-lock brakes" so it makes no sense. The surprise "truck" is just some random out of place obstacle...so it feels like some weird ad for "Tron vs. a GM car" instead of a cohesive experience. That's the problem here...nothing has changed. There is no integrated feeling. The display in the car is pretty much unused. The cars on the status boards sometimes work and sometimes not. The actual ride obstacles seem to bear no relationship to the theme. And the new implementations are just cheesy. I mean when it does "environmental testing", a cheesy "lightning bolt" thing shoots down the wall and that's it. Really? Where's the rain/snow/sleet/wind/fog/something to suggest its anything but a jerky cruise down a country Tron road? And the random "truck" which was something of a scary part of the original ride is now just some Tron Program that got its Tron vehicle stuck in the Tron road that the car goes around. At least it can be a lightcycle thing here so crashing would be a real concern or something? Then there's the launch outside...can we have a water effect where it looks like bubbles come shooting out of the purple Stargates instead of just blinking on and off? Sorry but they took a great ride that needed some updating to something that was actually a step back from what it originally started out as. This is in contrast to say Goofy Barnstormer which is clearly and obviously just the same Toon Town ride but with new theming, graphics, etc. I like what they did with that even the first year before they made some more subtle fixes to it. The new theming is an improvement and doesn't detract from the actual ride at all.
6. Some rides are so dated it's deplorable the ones that have been updated. For example Country Bears...I'm from North Carolina. I know what good blue grass bands sound like. My kids are complaining and my youngest daughter (age 8) loves blue grass bands. Desparately time to update it with new sound track and sound as a minimum. Time to take a trip to the Feed & Seed theatre. Wouldn't hurt to change the animotronics although that's a lot more expensive. Another one is Carousel of Progress. I do definitely understand...this is a nostalgia ride. So be it, but the very last section of the ride is permanently stuck in the early 1980's when the intention from Walt was that it would keep up with the times. And the ride itself desperately needs a face lift on everything. Not to "modernize" anything else but it's getting in really bad/dingy shape. As it is right now it seems like other than changing the upholstry on the seats (and even then maybe not judging by the dusty/musty smell), it seems like nothing else on the ride has literally been changed since Walt died.
So in summary, my suggestion here to Disney is...back to basics. You have to get the customer service thing under control right away. And I don't exactly know how to fix this but speaking as an engineer, something has definitely gone wrong as far as "imagineering" goes. I'm no stranger to Disney "imagineering". I use the same PLC engineer Disney used for the fireworks show at Epcot when it was first written. I use the same panel shop they used for all those FastPass Plus kiosks. So I can also say from an engineer perspective that a big part of the job is figuring things out from the customer perspective. The parking situation in Downtown Disney is a total miss. The Tron...err, Test Track ride is a miss. Doubling up attendants for FastPass plus on the rides is a miss. At this rate Disney product quality will soon look like Microsoft (horrible).
