A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[tissandtully]

That would certainly benefit the workers, going from 60 to a hard limit of 40 hours and getting paid the same.

Obviously they still aren't making a ton of money, but they won't have to work as long.

Actually, I seriously doubt hourly CMs are getting jacked on overtime. It would be the salaried employees, so, yes, that would probably work out better for them.

 

[NearTheEars]

Actually, I seriously doubt hourly CMs are getting jacked on overtime. It would be the salaried employees, so, yes, that would probably work out better for them.

Yep, I only meant the salary folks making $47K and under. I assume they'd just make them stop at 40. Better for them, unless they really enjoyed working for free.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Actually, I seriously doubt hourly CMs are getting jacked on overtime. It would be the salaried employees, so, yes, that would probably work out better for them.

I'm not talking about the hourly CMs. Its the GSMs who pull down 28k and are forced to work 60 hour weeks.... thats gonna be an issue.

And @gmajew I wasnt specifically picking on you.... I applaud you for always paying for health care for your employees.

 

[PhotoDave219]

They shouldn't be too quick to underestimate Arendelle. I am speculating WWOHP (phase 1) level of crowds at Epcot once this gets going.

Last my bothan spies heard (before they took off to the beach to kick back and earn 30%) some peopel within the mouse were expecting a serious attendance bump at Epcot. At least double digits.

And no, they wont get WWOHP crowds.... thats an entirely different ballgame.

 

[tissandtully]

I'm not talking about the hourly CMs. Its the GSMs who pull down 28k and are forced to work 60 hour weeks.... thats gonna be an issue.

And @gmajew I wasnt specifically picking on you.... I applaud you for always paying for health care for your employees.

Yeah, I read that whole thing wrong.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

Pricing your resort like a once in a lifetime trip for a large percentage of people and then releasing opening dates 5 years out for new lands and rides will cause people to hold off a few years on those once in a lifetime trips. The price hikes are comically out of touch as well.

I agree with this assessment. I know of casual fans of WDW who are "waiting for new stuff to arrive" before they spend the equivalent of a year at College for their trips. The Star Wars promotion is falling flat. I wonder if the delays for ROL and Frozenstrom have resulted in cancellations?

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Spirited Quickee of WDW News that is sure to be lost in posts about burgers and why we should or shouldn't be on FB:

WDW summer projections are in the toilet. No one is clearly excited by the Awakens promo, which is almost non-existent compared with marketing for UNI and now SW/BGT. You could tell something was up by the lack of CM blockouts this summer. Then we had the 35% off AP rates at WDW resorts. And now ...

Now, WDW is about to announce that those FL resident tickets that were supposed to be blocked out for the entire summer will now be good the entire summer (except for July 1st-4th).

Yup. Nothing is wrong in the swamps. The ticket increases and food and beverage increases and cuts are having no effect at all ... sure.

OK, y'all have great afternoons and go back to whatever you were talking about.

But I thought that was all part of the Weatherman's grand plan? Remember that nonsense from the earnings call a few weeks ago about "price adjustments sometimes at the expense of attendance" or along those lines?

Gotta hand it to Disney; they've really put WDW in a pickle with all of the contradictory decisions of the past decade. You can't:

- Increase prices by 40-50% over 5 years and expect people to not notice.
- Build new hotel rooms and DVC but not new rides or park areas.
- Increase resort attendance while failing to invest in new transportation infrastructure.
- Cut back on maintenance and expect 20-30 year old attractions to still work reliably (or even look decent).
- Nickel and dime guests and CMs over things like soda and guest passes while continuing to throw money at things like NGE/MM+.

In short, you can't have a reliable, healthy return on investment if you're unwilling to invest in your business.

 

[TLtron]

And no, they wont get WWOHP crowds.... thats an entirely different ballgame.

I pray you are correct and I am wrong on that projection. I was fearing massive lines stretching all the way past Mexico and further upward into FW for the majority of the summer.

 

[njDizFan]

Get your facts right and understand how the business works.... I invest 3 million in a restaurant. I generate a profit of 7% on that investment if the store is decent. 15% if it is high. This is on sales of between 1.8m and 2.5M per unit. My mangers with bonus made 75-90K with bonus but we are bonus driven. This law takes away my incentive to motivate wth bonus as that does not count towards salary. So I will see a reduction in profit further because they no longer will manage the establishment as they are given x pay no for sure.

It happens it is a truth and a year of test in some one of my markets of 10 restaurant shows it. I am now making now between 4-8% profit on this investment and with loans etc the stores do not cover the payment at the low end.

Pay what people are work but pay for performance because most people will just take a check. Now the GM have been fine assistants have been horrible and not caring as they are now hourly with over time. They used to work 55 hours a week as we tracked it the job the same job is now taking them 60 or more.... hmmm wonder why....

I'm not quite understanding. I sort of get your points but there are some holes in this story.

So am I to assume this is a chain restaurant(or your private business)? You have a GM who has a base salary(below the 47K limit?, that seems very low). And some some assistant GMs, like front/back of house managers and head cook?(once again all below the 47K minimum?)

Now what are these assistant managers doing that would require them to stay that far past their closing schedule?(start time should be a static number with no variables) Can't you put a timeline on this procedure and if not completed then there could be repercussions or admistrative consequence?

I think it comes down to management, in terms of motivating employees to do the job correctly and in a timetly manner. You cannot have an open ended timeline, people will continue to push that. I understand that a restaurant's closing can be tricky and it's not always an exact science( I was in food service for 20 years) but I scheduled for a specific time each night and we were able to stick fairly close to that timeframe. If they are consistantly staying an hour extra every night rolling napkins or cleaning the floor, new procedures need to be set and unless there is an observable reason this is happening there should be consequences. If they are truely unable to meet the required timeframe then they should either get paid more of have their schedule adjusted.

Also would it not be possible to just restructure their pay? If an assitant manager has a base pay of 30K but is expected to work 50 hours. Can't you just lower the base pay to incoprroate the base salary with added overtime to still come up with the same 30K number? Honestly I have not read the bill to see if there are restrictions. I mean they still want a job, you still want to turn a nice profit, they are still getting paid the same for the same hours?

Maybe I'm missing something here.

BTW as far as insurance, I would shop for a better deal. I know healthcare has gone up but that number is much more than what I have been hearing from local shops.

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm not talking about the hourly CMs. Its the GSMs who pull down 28k and are forced to work 60 hour weeks.... thats gonna be an issue.

And @gmajew I wasnt specifically picking on you.... I applaud you for always paying for health care for your employees.

Here's whats going to happen at Disney, The GSM position will cease to exist and two 'Guest Service Lead' hourly positions will be created with 29 hours max hours with no benefits etc because the hourlys will be cheaper than paying the current full timer OT

 

[ProfSavage]

Last my bothan spies heard (before they took off to the beach to kick back and earn 30%) some peopel within the mouse were expecting a serious attendance bump at Epcot. At least double digits.

And no, they wont get WWOHP crowds.... thats an entirely different ballgame.

I have no comment on this, just wanted to say: "hehehehe Bothans..."

 

[GoofGoof]

Here's whats going to happen at Disney, The GSM position will cease to exist and two 'Guest Service Lead' hourly positions will be created with 29 hours max hours with no benefits etc because the hourlys will be cheaper than paying the current full timer OT

Do they have to pay benefits for the 29 hour max positions? If not, it seems to me that from a business prospective that would be the best way to go. Instead of paying 1 person for 18 hours of OT plus benefits just pay 2 employees 29 hours each and you avoid both the OT and benefits. I'm sure reducing full time employment isn't the intent of the regulation, but it could be an unintended side effect. Not good for the workers.

 

[bhg469]

I did the one in east Amherst on transit. Grover's is a much better option and the new Bugsy's is quite amazing as well.

Well Grover's is..... GROVERS!!! Its a great burger and its not always easy to get in there, its just so busy all the time. I recently had one at a place in Olean called The Burton... It was insanely good. Never heard of Bugsy's but I'll look into it. Gabriel's gate is always a winner too and recently I tried allentown burger venture but the place is LOADED with hipsters. We are talking Man Buns and tight jeans everywhere. Also most of the burgers have mushrooms, which I really don't enjoy, but they make their own tots and they're pretty stellar.

 

[ford91exploder]

Do they have to pay benefits for the 29 hour max positions? If not, it seems to me that from a business prospective that would be the best way to go. Instead of paying 1 person for 18 hours of OT plus benefits just pay 2 employees 29 hours each and you avoid both the OT and benefits. I'm sure reducing full time employment isn't the intent of the regulation, but it could be an unintended side effect. Not good for the workers.

The result will certainly be a reduction in full time employment and this is going to hurt a lot of people.

 

[Nubs70]

Well this seems like a good of a place as any to put this…

The Department of Labor has issued new overtime rules. As of December 1, anybody who makes less then $47,000 a year is entitled to overtime pay regardless as to whether they are a salaried employee or an hourly employee.

So all of those guest service managers but Disney hires right out of the college program and tease junk change to in exchange for working 60 hours a week are about to get fairly compensated for their time… Or more fair then it's been in the past.

What does this mean to us? Well… Disney's labor costs are about to go through the roof in all segments, not just theme parks.

If the positions remain in existence in current format. I am pretty positive that 2 positions will be consolidated into 1 wherever possible with remaining duties reclassified to the $12-$15/hr pay range. In the end, many I'll be laid off and labor cost may even drop.

 

[alissafalco]

Spirited Quickee of WDW News that is sure to be lost in posts about burgers and why we should or shouldn't be on FB:

WDW summer projections are in the toilet. No one is clearly excited by the Awakens promo, which is almost non-existent compared with marketing for UNI and now SW/BGT. You could tell something was up by the lack of CM blockouts this summer. Then we had the 35% off AP rates at WDW resorts. And now ...

Now, WDW is about to announce that those FL resident tickets that were supposed to be blocked out for the entire summer will now be good the entire summer (except for July 1st-4th).

Yup. Nothing is wrong in the swamps. The ticket increases and food and beverage increases and cuts are having no effect at all ... sure.

OK, y'all have great afternoons and go back to whatever you were talking about.

Good, I hope this means more lower rates to come.

 

[Mike S]

Seeing the money crazed Mickey Mouse on South Park right now is oh so satisfying.

 

[ford91exploder]

If the positions remain in existence in current format. I am pretty positive that 2 positions will be consolidated into 1 wherever possible with remaining duties reclassified to the $12-$15/hr pay range. In the end, many I'll be laid off and labor cost may even drop.

Sadly correct.

 

[COProgressFan]

Fixings bar been gone for a long time buddy, couple years maybe. Food at the Mara is indeed good but prices raised every time I stay. Other noticeable nickle and diming here are the the zebra domes, used to get 6 per pack which went down to 5 with a prices increase, then the following visit they were down to 4 with a further increase, was expecting a triple pack this May but was pleased to just find a price increase

I thought they used to give more zebra domes....not surprised at all though.

The food quality at Mara is actually still quite good. But there were lots of cost cutting shenanigans I noticed during our stay last fall. They are absolutely understaffed during peak meal times -- 30 minute waits just to put your order in at the counter at dinner, running out of coffee in the big urns several mornings, an inability to keep the coffee milk/creamers filled, running out of items in the grab and go refrigerator cases nearly every night we were there (including all the sides and milk that came with kids meals). There's no legitimate reason NOT to fully stock the coolers with the apple slices, grapes, carrot sticks, and kids milks. They're perishable items, but they are pre-packaged and if they don't sell one day, they certainly will the next. But under some bizarre Disney accounting principles they don't want to leave a single item unsold at the end of the day, so if they've run out by 6pm, tough luck.

Again, for Disney prices, the product was still good and somewhat varied compared to other locations. But operationally, it was a disaster.

 

[ford91exploder]

Seeing the money crazed Mickey Mouse on South Park right now is oh so satisfying.

Which episode is this? I'm not really a big South Park fan, But of course Disney Springs is a real life SoDo SoPa