I'm so sad

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I'm sorry.

 

[Bocabear]

I have been a DVC member for 12 years and do not regret buying into it at all. I can remember a few years ago CMs were in dispute with Disney over pay, there were even TV crews filming interviews in some of the car parks, but generally there was not any noticeable difference in service levels. The only thing that we have noticed is that the level of cleanliness seems to have slipped a bit, presumably because of cuts in numbers.
As a comparison, I recently spent a couple of days in Universal Studios and IOA and thought the level of service was appalling. Both counter service restaurants we ate in were very slow in getting served, the food was poor and the staff seems to have a cannot be bothered attitude. Even the security checks at Universal were a joke; inefficient, slow and being delayed by a ridiculous level of checking bags in some lines. I believe WDW are more professional and have better trained teams.

Our last trip to our home resort at Bay Lake Tower we noticed a lot of deferred maintenance...the curtains were pulled down in the bedrooms, the place was not as clean as it should have been...overall drgradation of the units all unchecked. We bought into a premium vacation experience...those units should look absolutely pristine every time we are there...not like the beat up hotel rooms they are becoming...and some of the damage is just ridiculous...it's like the guests that stay there have never been outside a barn before...it's a little crazy.

 

[ford91exploder]

It has everything to do with DVC. It is a post that demonstrates dissatisfaction with Disney, however, being a DVC member, to maintain your DVC value, your options to vacation elsewhere are limited, as you are paying each month to Disney. I understand some experiences will be better than others, but if the current trend continues, DVC members might possibly place less value on their memberships.

Exactly so, I've noticed a constant decline in quality at DVC since 2013 or so, Things like dead refrigerators (in a unit with a full kitchen) broken small appliances and the attitude shown is 'what do you expect ME to do about it' which tells me the front line has little or no support from management.

 

[ford91exploder]

Our last trip to our home resort at Bay Lake Tower we noticed a lot of deferred maintenance...the curtains were pulled down in the bedrooms, the place was not as clean as it should have been...overall drgradation of the units all unchecked. We bought into a premium vacation experience...those units should look absolutely pristine every time we are there...not like the beat up hotel rooms they are becoming...and some of the damage is just ridiculous...it's like the guests that stay there have never been outside a barn before...it's a little crazy.

Same here at BLT - broken major appliances and small ones too, Door locks to the balcony that would not engage (in a GV) and we had toddlers around it was really nice having to 'Stand a Post (ie guard the door)' until the engineer could be found to fix the issue. That's not what I expect and pay for in a deluxe vacation experience.

 

[ford91exploder]

OMG we had some really strange cast interactions in Disneyland Paris...it's like the cast members are not there to serve you, but they feel like they are actually celebrities because they work there... I asked one young woman if I could get some cream for the coffee i just bought and she stopped, looked at me square in the face, and said "no" and then walked away...and she was not kidding. There was a certain haughty arrogance to a majority of the cast members we interacted with... It was very odd...

It's Paris and you are American... what more do I need to say.

 

[ford91exploder]

People's expectations (especially in be customer/guest services department) are higher at Disney than any otherplace.

Hell, Disney trains other companies in customer service at their Disney Institute, but I keep seeing/hearing more and more people dissatisfied with the service at their parks and resorts. Dont get me wrong - there are many outstanding CM's that go above and beyond and make magic, but if Dinsey keeps treating employees like crap while they take in record profits, you will continue to see morale go down and mediocre service.

Interestingly enough one sign of a troubled company is low employee morale, Disney has that in spades recently.

 

[wdwfan22]

People can wear a mask for only so long, Further most Disney CM's dont have the resources to 'find another job' as that would most likely mean moving from greater orlando.

Again that's not Disney's or the Guests problem. When you are hired to do a job you are expected to do it. At Disney this means providing great Guest Service. If you don't like the pay or the work requirements then leave. It's as simple as that.

 

[ford91exploder]

Again that's not Disney's or the Guests problem. When you are hired to do a job you are expected to do it. At Disney this means providing great Guest Service. If you don't like the pay or the work requirements then leave. It's as simple as that.

Glad you are so good at quoting the company line, The reality is "provide the minimum service possible in the shortest amount of time"

 

[wdwfan22]

Glad you are so good at quoting the company line, The reality is "provide the minimum service possible in the shortest amount of time"

It's not the company line its a fact. It's work ethic as well.

 

[jakeman]

Exactly so, I've noticed a constant decline in quality at DVC since 2013 or so, Things like dead refrigerators (in a unit with a full kitchen) broken small appliances and the attitude shown is 'what do you expect ME to do about it' which tells me the front line has little or no support from management.

Have you considered talking to a professional about your issues with the broken fridge? It seems to have caused you great trauma:

Well unless the photos are fakes and the poster on the other board is outright lying I would have to say it happened now I have not looked at the photos with a EXiF editor which pulls the metadata from the photo to get time/date/lat long to assure they are authentic.

But I checked into AKL on Monday with family and on arrival the front of the refrigerator door was smashed and the sheet metal creased, milk was splashed on the wall and not cleaned and the TV in one of the bedrooms was not working. Front desk was NOT helpful in resolving these issues.

Family still at AKL I'm on another business trip for a sudden issue. But with my experience I find that posters issue to be entirely credible.

It might be rash but I don't think so. When I checked in THIS MONDAY the room which we waited 6 hours for had a badly damaged refrigerator, Milk splashed on the wall and a non-functional TV in one of the bedrooms.

The response from the front desk was not 'We'll send someone right away", Rather "So, What do you expect ME to do about it" It's the ATTITUDE from the CM's which makes me say 'Service is dead at WDW'.

My motivation for going to the front desk is of course twofold making sure a manager sees the damage so I don't get billed for it and of course getting it fixed.

Reality is things get broken at Hotels, Good hotels FIX them with a smile, Disney too often gives guests attitude instead of service.

My agenda is against the way the parks are managed NOW.

I'm a long time DVC member and I have more than 800 points that I've had for a very long time. I'm very sour about my last few DVC visits due to broken major appliances in a Grand Villa. These are the types of issues which should NEVER happen in a hotel's top class of accomodation. And no Disney was not gracious about fixing the issues. No I did not want free swag I just wanted things like the refrigerator to work I guess that's entirely unreasonable for a room which rents for $3000/Night.

This is OT if you want more PM me.

Really, You can get free stuff when you complain??, I spent the better part of a day complaining at the front desk about a broken refrigerator in a Grand Villa at BLT - got bupkis. All I wanted them to do was to FIX the bloody thing (it had lost the ability to make cold air) when the engineer finally arrived (he was great BTW) engineer noted that because of cutbacks there are not enough engineers to go around to FIX all the broken appliances in the hotel and apparently there are a LOT of them.

I'd guess they did not want to comp because it meant that someone would look at the QA checks and find they were not being done, I'd say a warm refrigerator rates a 'room not ready' Oh yeah I reserved this for 10 days, This was not an 'upgrade' and paid full boat as well.

It's stuff like this which makes me down on WDW's current management practices.

For those who will ask how do you check a fridge open it and touch the inside if cold it works if not well it's broken or not plugged in or turned on

Just try to get service out of WDW these days, Over the holidays I had a grand villa in BLT, Refrigerator was broken, Needed to camp out for hours at the front desk to get it fixed, Oh and the balcony door would not lock and we had 3 toddlers - took 2 hours to get an engineer meantime it meant that someone had to sit in a chair by the door to prevent the kids from getting out. This is not acceptable in a room which rents for 2K+ per night, heck it's not acceptable at a Motel 6.

I travel for business extensively and the only hotels I have issues in getting service in are DISNEY hotels, Marriot and Hilton fix issues immediately and with a smile. Disney's attitude seems to be 'what do you want ME to do about it' - How about FIX the issue for starters.

I'm really not surprised that otherwise calm people are pushed over the edge at WDW, Especially at the hotels it seems one needs to channel their inner Hulk to get things done which at most places you never even need to think about.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience, Unfortunately this is becoming increasingly common across all room categories, I had a similar experience at BLT in a Grand Villa where one would reasonably expect for a room which rents for 2K+ per night everything would be perfect or better and if not it would be fixed IMMEDIATELY if not sooner, No I needed to camp out at the front desk to get the issues fixed (broken refrigerator and door lock). It seems Disney no longer cares about quality it's just a cash grab these days.

Yes I was nice initially but when the issue was not fixed in a couple of hours I began the transformation into fire breathing dragon. Understaffing the maintenance department is NOT my problem, Not receiving what I paid for IS my problem. Rest of family went out and had a great time in my family I'm the designated heavy.

When I say last couple of stays were hell, Lets just say on checkin to AKL we had several trips to front desk (at Jambo) to get MB's to open door on trip #5 I refused to go back without a front desk CM (did not work for THEM that trip) so 6 round trips to desk, When we finally got in coffeemaker and microwave were both 101,

Another trip this time in a BLT grand villa, room was not ready till 7PM, When we got in locks to balcony were broken in the unlocked position (we had two toddlers) and refrigerator was dead that took most of night to fix.

I spend about 120 days a year on the road and this level of service is simply unacceptable and at one time it did not happen at WDW,

Yeah I did stay at UNI for a short trip to see the lights one last time it was a tossup between the new Hilton and UNI but chose UNI so I could walk back to hotel after seeing Mannheim Steamroller. I did not stay at Disney b/c I was only there for 2-1/2 days and I did not want to spend any of that time dealing with Disney's screwups.

As have we, Last time we stayed in a BLT GV it looked like a wild party had taken place there chunks of veneer torn off the fixed furnishings, dented and non-functional fridge plus we did not get into the room until 7PM...

Somehow not surprising DIS home of the 'Refrigerator Swap' and 'Photopass Share' yes both of those are real things.

Exactly so, I've noticed a constant decline in quality at DVC since 2013 or so, Things like dead refrigerators (in a unit with a full kitchen) broken small appliances and the attitude shown is 'what do you expect ME to do about it' which tells me the front line has little or no support from management.

Same here at BLT - broken major appliances and small ones too, Door locks to the balcony that would not engage (in a GV) and we had toddlers around it was really nice having to 'Stand a Post (ie guard the door)' until the engineer could be found to fix the issue. That's not what I expect and pay for in a deluxe vacation experience.

 

[ford91exploder]

It's not the company line its a fact. It's work ethic as well.

Go back and tell your masters in Celebration Place that you tried and failed,

I'd love to wear a hidden camera and record my interactions with CM's and get the surly responses and other less than magical behaviors which are now typical for a WDW Visit down on tape, The reason I will not is because doing something like that as an individual is downright creepy, But it would be an interesting project for a aspiring journalist wanting to show what Disney is REALLY like today.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I'm sure this happens, but I simply don't get the same feeling when I'm there. Nearly every cast member is overly polite and willing to do their job exceedingly well.

Perhaps some of it depends on how you approach cast members?

 

[Brad Bishop]

I've noticed this a lot with restaurant CMs. Lots of chatting at the servers station, ignoring guests. I was seated at Hollywood Brown Derby for my scheduled ADR for 20 minutes without receiving a menu or water or any sort of acknowlegement at 11AM while CMs just stood around chatting. We finally got up, told the check in desk we were leaving and why and left. Unfortunately, the only thing we could do was CS in DHS and, as predicted, it was quite bad.

This isn't just a Disney thing. This is now a regular thing at restaurants everywhere. I think it's all of those kids who received "your special" and "participation trophies" for everything entering the workforce.

What used to, say 20 years back, be good, standard service (you're greeted, they ask for drinks, bring you menus, make sure you have silverware and napkins, bring you food, keep your drinks full, check on you but not as to be annoying, etc.) appears to be gone, for the most part, and, when you experience it, because everything else is so crappy, it seems to be excellent service now.

I can go into a restaurant, just a random one, and I bet it's 20-30min before I can finally catch someone's eye to check on me. This is standard now. It sucks. I'll even have servers walk by and they won't even acknowledge me and, I'm guessing but I'm not sure, that I'm either not their table or they haven't been specifically told to wait on me by someone inside. I don't get it. Further, they all expect 20%+ as a tip as just the base (for doing nothing - they don't see it as "earning" their tip but that you just owe them that whether or not they've done a good job).

It's a guess that it's the participation/special kids, but I don't know for sure. It sucks everywhere right now. I've finally had enough and made a personal rule that if someone can't get to me within 10min of me sitting down (which is an exceptionally long time for them NOT to get to you) then I just get up and leave. I'm not going to sit at a table for 30+ min hoping some entitled server might finally notice me.

Bartenders seem to be a lot better and that works in my favor as a single guy.

Keep in mind, I'm not looking for 5-star service, here, but just what used to be standard service in any regular restaurant or diner 20 years back.

 

[jakeman]

Go back and tell your masters in Celebration Place that you tried and failed,

I'd love to wear a hidden camera and record my interactions with CM's and get the surly responses and other less than magical behaviors which are now typical for a WDW Visit down on tape, The reason I will not is because doing something like that as an individual is downright creepy, But it would be an interesting project for a aspiring journalist wanting to show what Disney is REALLY like today.

First, accusing people of being a plant is very 2011 and is now frowned upon by the moderators.

Second if you interact with the CMs the way you interact with folks here, I'm not surprised they tell you to off.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

I'm sure this happens, but I simply don't get the same feeling when I'm there. Nearly every cast member is overly polite and willing to do their job exceedingly well.

Perhaps some of it depends on how you approach cast members?

same. If anything I get annoyed because they are TOO peppy. *I'm looking at you Magic Music Days person*

I've only ever encountered one rude/visibly unhappy CM. It was a custodial worker on Hollywood Blvd. She had her cellphone out and was texting away. I just stood with my mouth hanging open staring at her. The look she gave me was pure vile. I tried to find her name on her name tag but she got away too quick for me to report.

 

[wdwfan22]

Go back and tell your masters in Celebration Place that you tried and failed,

I'd love to wear a hidden camera and record my interactions with CM's and get the surly responses and other less than magical behaviors which are now typical for a WDW Visit down on tape, The reason I will not is because doing something like that as an individual is downright creepy, But it would be an interesting project for a aspiring journalist wanting to show what Disney is REALLY like today.

If being a plant is someone who doesn't agree with your negative agenda then count me in.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

First, accusing people of being a plant is very 2011 and is now frowned upon by the moderators.

Second if you interact with the CMs the way you interact with folks here, I'm not surprised they tell you to ****** off.

Some folks just love negativity and have no way to see the good side of things. A couple bad interactions with CMs and every CM is bad. What's interesting is the amount of people on this board that dislike Disney, yet still go and still actively post. For me, if I dislike something so strongly, I'm not going to post my feelings about it on the internet...it's just not worth my time.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Man, I'm shocked to see this actually. I think Disney cast members might be better than ever, particularly characters.

I've said this before, but I still can't get over how much Disney gets out of employees literally making $10/hr.

The only subpar employees I encounter at Disney are at the Magical Express counter at the airport. I don't even think they are truly Disney employees (although they wear Disney name tags).

I think much of it depends on how you come off as a guest. I see a lot of guests coming off as entitled, rude, lacking respect when talking to cast members, and being generally annoying. If you walk up to a cast member, don't just say "When is the parade?" You walk up to them like a person and say "hello" first and maybe try taking off your sunglasses to make eye contact.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I'd love to wear a hidden camera and record my interactions with CM's and get the surly responses and other less than magical behaviors which are now typical for a WDW Visit down on tape, The reason I will not is because doing something like that as an individual is downright creepy, But it would be an interesting project for a aspiring journalist wanting to show what Disney is REALLY like today.

I have no doubt that you are all sunshine and unicorns in your dealing with the CMs at WDW.

I'm sure this happens, but I simply don't get the same feeling when I'm there. Nearly every cast member is overly polite and willing to do their job exceedingly well.

Perhaps some of it depends on how you approach cast members?

We have had only one single unmagical interaction with a CM ever, and that was several years ago at Soarin'. We reported it to his manager immediately, and we never saw him in Soarin' again that week, or any subsequent visit. Every CM we've had interactions with has been awesome and helpful. And we talk with many of them every day. Of course, we treat them like humans, and not slaves that are there to satisfy our every whim.

First, accusing people of being a plant is very 2011 and is now frowned upon by the moderators.

Second if you interact with the CMs the way you interact with folks here, I'm not surprised they tell you to ****** off.

I have no doubt that he interacts with everyone this way. I would tell him to eff off as well.

 

[blueboxdoctor]

I don't know, I haven't really noticed any big decline in cast member quality. In my experience, the majority are very good and then there are a few that go above and beyond. Now, there was a lot of issue with the cast members a couple years ago at the entrance of the Beauty and the Beast restaurant when it was set up for counter service, that was a big mess that seemed to go all the way up to the managers in charge of the cast members in that area. But the majority of the experience with cast members has been positive.