WDW's quiet character cutbacks?

[nytimez]

Someone who works at WDW tells me they're cutting back on characters -- bids being made now mean there will be fewer characters in the parks starting in October.

I don't want to say anything more as I don't want to risk adding anything that might help identify the source... but it seems like the penny pinching continues.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Someone who works at WDW tells me they're cutting back on characters -- bids being made now mean there will be fewer characters in the parks starting in October.

I don't want to say anything more as I don't want to risk adding anything that might help identify the source... but it seems like the penny pinching continues.

I can only assume that - if true - they are not finding a strong enough correlation (in their opinion - which is undoubtedly whacked) between character depolyment and photopass and merchandise sales.

my opinion...but i'm not kidding. so IF true...the decision is being made to sacrifice roughly $150 per employee/ per day of overhead (based on a guessed median hourly wage and associated non-monetary benefit cost at 50% over...that i'm gonna guess that my number is probably well over the median) and eliminate character coverage...

That sure makes sense to me

 

[Donut23]

I can only assume that - if true - they are not finding a strong enough correlation (in their opinion - which is undoubtedly whacked) between character depolyment and photopass and merchandise sales.

my opinion...but i'm not kidding. so IF true...the decision is being made to sacrifice roughly $150 per employee/ per day of overhead (based on a guessed median hourly wage and associated non-monetary benefit cost at 50% over...that i'm gonna guess that my number is probably well over the median) and eliminate character coverage...

That sure makes sense to me

As most know, DH is a 33 year castmember. He watched the 2 large layoffs at the beginning of the recession a couple of years ago. Everyone was told..."we will bring people back when things are better". He didn't believe it then....and hates it when he's right.

Those characters did not produce enough revenue so OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

Yea...we all know "payroll is an easy cost center to cut"....but it still breaks our hearts to watch.

This rumor makes me very sad.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

The characters are my children's favorite thing at Disney. We live in Tampa and currently go about once a week or so. Each time we go we generally purchase lunch for me and the two kids (sometimes DH too and even dinner if we go on a weekend). Without the characters we would probably drop our visits to just going once a month with DH. That is a good $100-150 a month they would lose from us on food, snacks and impulse purchases. We'd probably drop our passes down to seasonal too since DH doesn't care for the summer months.

It is a lot easier to visit with characters when you are on your own with 2 kids under 2 than to park strollers and get on and off rides.

 

[Oglet]

I've actually been looking at the bid lines available and there are some reductions. I would not say that from what I have been able to see there will be any major differences for guests but I will say there are some as far as staffing go, a few characters here and there will probably go away but its not to say that they wont ever appear again, just don't look for them on a regular basis.

The problem is that over time Disney are taking a little away here and a little more from somewhere else. Disney are making little changes that are not very obvious however over time these changes add up and become quite a considerable difference.