What would be your constructive criticism for CMs?

[dmychuds]

Do you have any suggestions that CMs can do to make your trips better?

just wondering...

 

[Disfan1968]

Gosh, most CM's do an excellent job with, what I consider to be the PRIME DIRECTIVE for all Disney CMs... be courteous and pleasant no matter how pleasant or crappy the guest is being.

Every once and a while a CM falls down in this regard... the frazzles waiter/waitress, the front desk CM that is getting hammered on, etc. But we are all human.

But yes, Disney World needs to feel as "magical" as possible, and CM disposition is a huge part of that.

Again, MOST CMs do a fabulous job of this.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Don't make up answers to questions that you don't know the answer to. It's OK to say "I don't know the answer to that."

 

[over50visits]

Do you have any suggestions that CMs can do to make your trips better?

just wondering...

I have found CMs to be almost universally awesome, especially considering the many rude and entitled guests I have seen!

My suggestion: keep up the good work. Please don't let the minority of stupid guests get you down, the rest of us truly love you and appreciate the work you're doing. Remember that, and take pride that at the end of the day you've made a difference in many people's lives.

Seriously - if you care, and realize your job means something to a lot of people, everything else will follow.

 

[JimmyV]

This applies to some CMs, but certainly not all:

Interact with the guests more. I don't know if our culture has changed over time, and if the "texting generation" feels the need to be engaged in a conversation, virtual or otherwise, at all times, but I see way too many instances where CMs are chatting amongst themselves about daily life stuff and disengaging from the guests. If there is a constant need to be involved in a conversation and a desire for persistent human interaction, then engage the guests instead of chatting amonst yourselves. Sometimes the guest is left feeling as if the CM will "get to them when they have a moment" instead of getting to them straight away. And to be fair, this isn't unique to WDW. I see it at banks, grocery stores, retail stores, etc. When an employee is "on the clock", the customer should be the first priority, and filling your buddies in on what you did last night, or who got voted off of what reality show should come second.

Other than that one observation, I think the CMs do a great job.

 

[surferdave]

Don't make up answers to questions that you don't know the answer to. It's OK to say "I don't know the answer to that."

That's the response I came to give. My only real issue with CMs (on the phone and at various service locations) is telling me something I know isn't true because they don't want to admit they don't know the correct answer.

I haven't seen any bad CM behavior that I couldn't shrug off, but if there's a common denominator with the CMs who do or say something unpleasant, it's usually someone who is doing a traffic control job at a hectic time or location. I see this as yet another symptom of Disney trying to cram too many people in.

 

[GillianP1301]

Generally, I think the CMs do a great job.

My two points have already been touched on in this thread.

1) Initiate more in conversation with guests. I understand that some people are shy and some are more outgoing, but if you can chat with a colleague, then you can chat with a guest. As a person who is more on the shy side at first, I would really appreciate this!

2) If you don't know an answer, don't make crap up. Say you don't know, say you'll find out and then actually follow up with the right information.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

On the other hand WDW could do a much better job of notifying cast members when things change.

 

[surferdave]

On the other hand WDW could do a much better job of notifying cast members when things change.

I agree with that, and no doubt the programmatic changes the last year or so contributes a lot to the things they didn't know. I have more patience with them when they give an outdated answer, or one that should be right if everything worked like it should. But the last couple of trips I've gotten too many quick & easy without looking it up wrong answers. For instance, I knew the resort monorail was down during the day on my last trip and check at the resort desk to see what other options were available, and the CM denied it was out until I asked her to look it up.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I LOVE it when they are in character. In fact, some of the most memorable ToT CMS, we would see them even decades later. I think one was named TJ. We said "We remember you!" He was one of the originals. That's a long time to be a bellhop! When ever they act creepy at the gate or when they load you up, it's a little bit of extra Disney magic, and kudos to them.

Another stellar example of disney customer magic service was when it took about 25 min to locate our will-call tickets in the system. It wasn't any of the CMs fault, but when they finally were able to locate them, it was almost 11am by that time, and she wrote us out a hand written Fast Pass (not tied to any system, a freebie) and suggested Soarin' (a good suggestion), and showed us that we could by pass the massive line of turnstyles by going to the RFID readers all at the ends of the gates and saved us LOOTTTS of time. She was a master example of a Disney employee actually being happy to help people be happy, and she didn't have to do any of that. Super pleasant.

I also love the buttons! The I'm CELEBRATING buttons etc, or anniversary etc. Those go a long way to keeping us happy!

I'm also completely delighted with the food service CMs. Last year at Backlot QS, their whole system went down and they were writing down orders and trying to fill them in the back, this was at 12:30. Those poor girls! And they smiled and apologized to everyone and all the nasty customers and they never lost their happy smiles despite the frustrating system, and they were even getting the orders right. Kudos to you girls, what a tough day peak lunch for your order system to go down!

I do have somewhat unhappy CM stuff, for instance, when we had paid for Fantasmic vouchers in hand, there were lots and lots of priority benches available, and they did NOT want to let the rest of our group into sit with us. They finally acquiesced when I jumped up and down like a maniac. If you pay for Fantastmic ($57 pp including dinner which was great), they should be HAPPY to let you in 10 min before the show starts if there are plenty of seats. We never ever would have paid to eat at Brown Derby and never have before, but it was the Fantasmic VIP package that scored Disney an over $300 dinner! So if you don't mind, give us our VIP package!

Otherwise, I have nothing but happy things to say about the CMs from years back, and same on our cruises too.

I really, really feel for them because of so many unhappy people and its usually not their fault.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think a lot of the College Program CMs look miserable. Not sure what you can do about that.

 

[jeffbear]

I think a lot of the College Program CMs look miserable. Not sure what you can do about that.

Based on a couple of current or very recent college program kids I know personally ... get them some bloody sleep. Sadly when you're that young you think it's OK to work a shift at MK starting at 6:30 in the morning after staying up until 1:00 AM the night before seeing a band in downtown.

You'd look grumpy too.

 

[PSUGuy]

Sorry, didn't read any replies/advice but here's my 2 cents. In 15 WDW vacations since 1999, most of 8 or more park days, we have yet to have anything like a negative experience with a CM. We're early 60's, we've seen plenty of lousy customer service in our lives, such service seems not to exist in WDW. Every point of contact with a CM added to our enjoyment.

Bill From PA

 

[LilyWDW]

On the other hand WDW could do a much better job of notifying cast members when things change.

Then again, after being a retail manager, sometimes it doesn't matter WHAT you do. Some employees just don't seem to absorb the new information. I remember one time we have given all employees the new information in a sheet, told them personally, AND had the information posted in back and out front. We still had at least one employee get it wrong. I mean, really? How much more do I have to do LMAO.

But I have never had a bad CM. Some have been better then others, but never one that I felt was untrained or not polite enough. In fact, I have most encountered amazing CMs who have been wonderful with everything. Maybe I am lucky. Who knows.

 

[agavegirl1]

I would sum it up as this. You are called cast members for a reason. This is a show. Know your role well and perform it while "on stage". This pretty much takes care of everything.

 

[NewmanFamily6]

Mine is for Disney in general. When I am staying in a Disney resort and need something I want to speak to someone actually at the front desk that can be held accountable if something goes wrong. I don't want to speak to someone in India that isn't really going to get the toilet paper or towels etc that I am requesting. Then I have to trek to the desk and go over the whole thing again. This would save so much aggravation

 

[JimmyV]

I would sum it up as this. You are called cast members for a reason. This is a show. Know your role well and perform it while "on stage". This pretty much takes care of everything.

Absolutely perfect.

 

[flicx]

Cast members do a great job 99.9% of the time. I would like to give some constructive criticism to Mr. Iger and a few other execs!

 

[dmychuds]

Thanks for the responses. I am just wondering as I am a CM and found these boards when I first started - wanting to find out what mattered to the guests and then being able to handle things as they arose. I guess I'm saying I wanted to see WDW from the perspective of a Guest and then never left the DIS. I know there are more on here who do the same.

It's nice to hear nice things about the CMs, but it's also important to hear how we can improve.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Cast members do a great job 99.9% of the time. I would like to give some constructive criticism to Mr. Iger and a few other execs!

Agreed. The CMs generally do a great job, especially considering how GROSSLY UNDERPAID they are. The WDC makes obscene profits, year in and year out, and they can't pay higher than minimum wage to their front line employees? How shameful is that?