Haunted Mansion Rude CM's at MVMCP

[PurpleFigment]

OK...so the CM's at Haunted Mansion are supposed to be crabby and such as part of their act....that's not the problem here....

My problem with several Haunted Mansion CM's happened at the MVMCP on Sunday. The ride stopped at about 9:15pm...never re-started. They left us sitting there for a good 30-45 minutes before anything was ever done. I was sitting 6 cars away from the exit...I could see the light from the unloading area where I was. About 9:50 THREE CM's walkby and everyone asks what the heck is going on. They just told us "someone will be with you soon." So they go all the way to where the last car of people are deep inside the ride. They let those people out first, leaving all the people right by the exit sitting there. There were two or three other CM's who just kept walking by telling us to be quiet...that's ALL they did. The person in the car infront of me got out his video camera and started doing a Blair Witch kind of video because it was apparent that we were going to be there a very long time. Everytime a CM walked by we all asked why we were still sitting there, right by the exit. All the people that were allowed off were walking by us, many laughing and making fun of us because we weren't allowed off. At about 10:25 I was finally let out. I was stuck on this ride for no reason for more than an hour. I almost missed the parade -- I got a horrible spot of course. I missed the fireworks. I paid $35 (x3...3 people stuck) for these 5 hours in the park and I got about 3 hours worth of stuff. It's not the CM's fault that the ride got stuck and I'm in no way blaming them for it, but they could have worked a lot faster to unload the passengers and could have been a lot nicer about it. Hearing "someone will be with you shortly" said to me in a very rude tone over and over and over again was bad form. I told the CM's several times that their Guest Relations skills could use some work and one of them shouted "someone will be with you shortly" in my face. I then sat there and thanked my lucky stars I work for one of ABC's rival news networks...I decided right then and there I could never work for a Disney-owned company. When I complained to Guest Services they just told me "I'm sorry you feel that way." What the heck is this? I pay a lot of money to come to this event and I'm basically held hostage inside a ride being yelled at. I had a horrible time at this event because of these rude CM's and wouldn't go back for anything. I know I'll never ride that ride again and I'm seriously considering never returning to WDW at all (I go aprox. twice a year).

Something is seriously wrong at Disney....many, many CM's all over the park were rude or totally indifferent on this trip. I found two CM's that were really nice (one in Canada and one at the new Animation tour) and I went to Guest Services at both parks to compliment them. I shouldn't be so suprised that they spoke to me when I spoke to them or that they were just friendly. I guess CM's are just unhappy in their work...I don't know if pay is really horrid, hours are long or what the deal is, but most of the CM's I encountered were in serious need of energy and customer service training.

It makes no sense...things were great when I was there in April, how can things have gone so downhill since then?

 

[imagineer boy]

Well, I think the reason why many CM's have been rude lately is because its the holiday season. There are TONS of crowds and they are getting very tired and overworked. That must've sucked being on there for such a long time. I'm sorry that you had such a horrible night.

 

[Pixie Duster]

Alrighty, I am not sure what has happened, but I am frustrated. If in fact there are all these rude CMs running around I am shocked. It's not that I doubt you.
However, I understand your frustration and Guest Relations should have handled it much better. As far as the process in which you were taken off the ride, I believe that is how they must do things is get people from the inner most part of the ride off first. Also when something goes wrong we can't tell our guests what happened (most of the time). Now if they did use a rude tone I am sorry about that. My belief is something bad happened and they were worried about what was happening.

 

[pjammer]

Those cast members where by no means rude to you. They where just doing your job. When evacuating a ride their are rules and procedures to follow. It was unforunate for you that you where almost at the end and got stuck...but you are no more important being at the end than the people in the middle. Also, as a trainer at disney, when evacuating a ride...we can not stop to talk to people. If you are on your way somewhere, all we can tell you is that someone will be with you shortly...and if people continue to agrue with the CM, than I imagine that the CM will become a little rude, they are only human and im sure you where not the only one complaining. CMs just can't open doors and let you out and wonder where ever you want. Not only that but you don't know the circumstance for why the ride broke down. Maybe someone was hurt. If you kept bugging people when they went by and someone got kurt with you...then you have no one to blame but yourself.

I am not saying that other cast members may have not been "rude" to you. But the example you gave, was just not a good example. It was unforunate. But they where doing their job by the book. Can you imagine that if when a ride was evacuated CMs just went walking around opening random doors and then leaving letting people just find the exit themself. It would be mass chaos. I'm sorry you had an unenjoyable evacuation...but if you judge that ride and all of Walt Disney World and their cast by that one inicident without even knowing the circumstance of the evacuation...then I think thats ignorance on your part.

 

[Testtrack321]

They go from the middle of ride and then evacuate from the middle and then goes to the beginning and the end, so nobody can sneak around the ride.

 

[lebernadin]

Originally posted by Pixie Duster
Alrighty, I am not sure what has happened, but I am frustrated. If in fact there are all these rude CMs running around I am shocked.

I think this is just a case of one person posting their story and then others being reminded of their own and feeling they should post their stories now as well. So it just looks bad when 3 of the most current threads are about rude CM's.

 

[PurpleFigment]

Originally posted by pjammer
Those cast members where by no means rude to you. They where just doing your job. When evacuating a ride their are rules and procedures to follow. It was unforunate for you that you where almost at the end and got stuck...but you are no more important being at the end than the people in the middle. Also, as a trainer at disney, when evacuating a ride...we can not stop to talk to people. If you are on your way somewhere, all we can tell you is that someone will be with you shortly...and if people continue to agrue with the CM, than I imagine that the CM will become a little rude, they are only human and im sure you where not the only one complaining. CMs just can't open doors and let you out and wonder where ever you want. Not only that but you don't know the circumstance for why the ride broke down. Maybe someone was hurt. If you kept bugging people when they went by and someone got kurt with you...then you have no one to blame but yourself.

I am not saying that other cast members may have not been "rude" to you. But the example you gave, was just not a good example. It was unforunate. But they where doing their job by the book. Can you imagine that if when a ride was evacuated CMs just went walking around opening random doors and then leaving letting people just find the exit themself. It would be mass chaos. I'm sorry you had an unenjoyable evacuation...but if you judge that ride and all of Walt Disney World and their cast by that one inicident without even knowing the circumstance of the evacuation...then I think thats ignorance on your part.

That's right, it was all MY fault. It was MY fault that there were a bunch of CM's just standing around telling people to be quiet and that someone will be with them shortly. It was MY fault that the CM shouted in my face when I questioned why I had been sitting there for over an hour. It was MY fault that I was left sitting in the ride for 30-45 minutes before CM's ever entered the ride. I should be banned from the park for life because it was all MY fault. [Just for the record, I'm being sarchastic here.]

Like I said in my original post, I in no way blame the CM's for the ride breaking down. I know they can't control that. They can however control their behavior when handling the problem. They can do something other than yell at the guests when they question what is going on. They can "do their job" without being rude. These people are in customer service...they need to treat their customers with respect as without us, they have no job. There were two CM's standing right by the exit the whole time, all they did was shout at us when we asked why we were still sitting there. And when I complained to Guest Relations, all I got was "I'm sorry you felt that way." I'm sorry I paid $35 per person for three people for five hours of Disney fun only to get three hours, no fireworks and a distant view of the parade.

Every trip I've come across one or two CM's that weren't too happy to be there, but this trip it was like no one wanted to be there. Like I said earlier, I went to guest relations at Epcot and MGM to let them know of two CM's that were friendly and seemed happy in their work. I ran into another CM at the POC shop that was horrible...I said "Hello, how are you?" with a smile and he grunted at me...never spoke a word (not even to give me the total due) and he balled up my t-shirt and threw it in the bag. Everywhere I went I felt like I was bothering the CM's just by being there. I have a problem with that.

I can't judge every single CM based on the ones I encountered, but of the hundred or so I came in contact with, 2 stood out as being friendly...just 2%. That's not acceptable to guests and shouldn't be acceptable to Disney or to Disney CM's. My last trip to Disney had been in April 2003....it was like the CM's did a 180...they were great in April and horrid in December. I have no idea how or why that happened.

On a side note, I went to Universal on Wednesday and only ran across two rude CM's there...the ladies at the Spiderman ride loading area needed some serious training (they couldn't hear squat in there, but that doesn't excuse their behavior). Everyone else there was fantastic!

 

[netenyahoo]

I would have just exited the ride myself. There is no way I'd sit there for a hour.

 

[ucf disneyfan]

Originally posted by netenyahoo
I would have just exited the ride myself. There is no way I'd sit there for a hour.

And its people like You exiting the ride that make a bad experience for people like PurpleFigment. Like said earlier, there is a certain way rides need to evacuated. For all you know the evac took a long time because people were jumping out in the middle of the ride. When something like this happens it slows down the whole process because every guest and every zone of the ride have to be accounted for. So if you would have gotten out you would be a jerk. Disney does everything in a way to keep you safe.

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

i see both sides of the story here...

pjammer, i don't know all the ends and outs of Disney World and how to evacuate rides and all that jazz. but i do understand there are regulations that most people don't know about, and i know that these CM's were probably just following the book. that's fine, that's their job.
BUT i also agree with purple figment. yes, they were doing their jobs, but it's all about how you go about your job. maybe at any other park, that kind of tone would be acceptable...but not at the "happiest place on earth". you can do your job, and be not have to be rude about it. ok, maybe something bad really did happen, and they were all worried about it, but does that give them the excuse to yell at concerned guests? ok, maybe ALL the guests were asking what was going on, maybe even some guests were getting rude with the cm's, but does that give the cm's the excuse to not be understanding and patient? not in my opinion! i understand that cm's are not supposed to stop and/ or explain to guests what exactly is going on. but they could have at least told guests at the end of the ride that they have to unload the middle first, and that they would be evacuated shortly...i mean, that wouldn't be an explination of what was wrong, and i'm sure that would have quieted several guests. wasn't it bad enough that these poor guests were stuck on this ride for that long? the cm's could've been a little more patient, if you ask me...THAT'S their job as well!
for crying out loud, we pay HOW much to have a good time at WDW? and then our expensive, good time is ruined by being yelled at by rude cm's.
yes, i'm sure that all these recent threads about rude cms are being brought up because people are being reminded of their experience. but these experiences are RECENT experiences. it's not like people are recalling bad cms from 5 years ago...these are in the past year. there's something wrong with that! we shouldn't be hearing all these stories of rude cms from this past year...we should be hearing about one or two rude cms, if that!
thankfully, i ran into very few, if any rude cms on my Thanksgiving trip. actually, the majority i ran into were very friendly! some even went out of their way to be friendly! THAT'S the kind of Disney cm's we SHOULD be hearing about!
the kind like Bob at PotC, who is truely a pirate (but a curteous one) who asks every guest "Ahoy! And how might you be?". or Jon at MK guest relations who willingly gave all the info he knew about any given subject. THOSE are the kind of cm we USED to encounter at WDW, and THOSE are the kind of cm that we should STILL be encountering! yes, they should do their job, but they should also be courteous about it, and go out of their way to give people a magical memory.

btw, purple figment...please, don't let one bad experience ruin your view of WDW. it was just one unfortunate experience. if you don't want to ride HM again, then that's your business, but you can't let one bad mishap change how you feel about a whole company, ya know? from the looks of it, lots of people have been having problems with rude cm's...be we have to keep hoping that things will get better, and SOON!

 

[Mickeyman819]

Well i went to MVMCP last night ant went to Haunted Mansion. I didnt experience any mean CMs last night. we had to wait right before the loading statiion to get into a doom buggy but that was because of a bad sound system. Maybe this was the problem in the your ride when it broke down. Welll i dont know but i didnt have any trouble