Fun With Numbers: MK Maingate Blackout Edition

[Nubs70]

They aren't taking away all seasonal employee admissions. They are just requiring a certain number of hours worked to get 3, 6 and 9 admissions. They tiered it not removed it. And the changes don't go into effect until next year.

Seriously though... Cry a river much? How does changes to seasonal CM park benefits create such animosity? Like someone said earlier, majority of these Seasonal CM don't even live in Florida and work the minimum hours to get free park entry. So by limiting the admissions for CM that don't work consistently year round, you COULD give greater benefits to the CM that work full time or part-time on a regular basis. Getting a little extra benefit for working regularly is a great thing.

A seasonal position I am familiar with are nurses that staff the first aid stations. A RN that works with my wife is a seasonal employee who uses some of her PTO, flies down from Michigan, and works the first aid stations at WDW. The RN is compensated with a small wage and gate passes. The RN then uses these gate passes when she uses remaining PTO as true vacation. If you ratchet up the required hours worked past a certain point, the RN will stop WDW employment as it sucks up too much PTO.

 

[WDWdream97]

Seriously though... Cry a river much? How does changes to seasonal CM park benefits create such animosity? Like someone said earlier, majority of these Seasonal CM don't even live in Florida and work the minimum hours to get free park entry. So by limiting the admissions for CM that don't work consistently year round, you COULD give greater benefits to the CM that work full time or part-time on a regular basis. Getting a little extra benefit for working regularly is a great thing.

This is not necessarily true, I have known several people who lived in Orlando and were seasonal cm's for months patiently waiting for a PT role to open up. Often times these people worked just as much as normal PT cm's.

 

[GoTheDistance]

I think saying all or most seasonal cm's live out of state is a bit much. I just moved back to NY after living in FL for about a year and the apartment complex I was in was almost made up entirely of CMs, many of which were seasonal for one reason or another. That being said, I don't think it's a bad thing to require a certain number of hours worked to get certain benefits. Universal (sort of) does it that way and it works just fine and doesn't threaten anyone else's pass benefits. The seasonal CMs who work consistently will earn their passes anyway, and perhaps those that are keeping the job for the wrong reasons will leave.

I would be very surprised if they completely removed self admission for FT/PT. As wonky as this company can be, they always stressed that they wanted their cast members to be able to experience the magic of the parks so they can help make magic for guests.

 

[emcclay]

The problem is a management team which could use experience on the 'front lines' so to speak, An 'Undercover Boss' experience would do wonders for the current TWDC management team, You have a management team which NEVER visits the park unless surrounded by a platoon of plaid's. A far cry from the Eisner days when Eisner wore fur and dished out QS so he could experience the park and it's operations first hand.

The problem is the current management would be happy if the majority of the 'long term' CM's quit they would replace them with CP'ers and recent immigrants many of whom are functionally illiterate in English, Yes it's not PC but it's true in an putatively english speaking facility I should not have to rely on my high school spanish to communicate with the staff. These people are the ones truly being taken advantage of by TWDC as they are largely unaware of their rights as workers and are simply happy to have a job no matter how badly they are treated.

The key issue is to the Igerbots to them WDW is a place where MONEY happens, Not a place where MAGIC happens and insane amounts of money is a side effect of the magic.

I'm sorry. But, you can't assume all management are robots. Many have families or other obligations outside of work that they have to take care of. Some live up to an hour away. You can't expect everyone to spend every moment in the parks. Certain roles are backstage and only have very few times during the year where they are given the opportunity to see guests face to face.

Yes, most of the immigrants hired consider English as their second language. There are some people who need to be shown what to do rather than asked or told. Not everyone is perfect. If someone takes an opportunity at TWDC to improve things for their family at home, who are we to knock them down? A smile and kind words go a long way.

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm sorry. But, you can't assume all management are robots. Many have families or other obligations outside of work that they have to take care of. Some live up to an hour away. You can't expect everyone to spend every moment in the parks. Certain roles are backstage and only have very few times during the year where they are given the opportunity to see guests face to face.

Yes, most of the immigrants hired consider English as their second language. There are some people who need to be shown what to do rather than asked or told. Not everyone is perfect. If someone takes an opportunity at TWDC to improve things for their family at home, who are we to knock them down? A smile and kind words go a long way.

The point here whizzed right over your head. I was speaking about EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT the guys who's abbreviated title begins with C as in CEO.

As to the literacy of the staff for the price I'm paying to visit those facilities I expect them to be literate in the primary language of the area I don't care where they come from or that they speak with an accent. I do however expect them to be able to understand conversational english. Last time I checked Orlando was not in Mexico or Central America where one expects to communicate primarily in Spanish/Portugese.

Disney hires recent immigrants because they are cheap and easily exploited and are unlikely to go to the authorities with labor law violations and/or complaints about their treatment as workers. These people came here for a better life only to be exploited by the Disney machine.

 

[ford91exploder]

A seasonal position I am familiar with are nurses that staff the first aid stations. A RN that works with my wife is a seasonal employee who uses some of her PTO, flies down from Michigan, and works the first aid stations at WDW. The RN is compensated with a small wage and gate passes. The RN then uses these gate passes when she uses remaining PTO as true vacation. If you ratchet up the required hours worked past a certain point, the RN will stop WDW employment as it sucks up too much PTO.

Precisely, But Disney has already ratcheted up 'seasonal' workers to a minimum of 150 hours already , That's not a small amount of hours that's just under 1 month of full time work. So this is more an experiment in stripping away benefits from workers, If they successfully implement this for 'seasonal' PT will be next followed by FT.

As usual the 'Disney Defenders' are busy as usual defending the indefensible, Actions which if they happened anywhere else there would be picket lines and boycott campaigns.

 

[ford91exploder]

I think saying all or most seasonal cm's live out of state is a bit much. I just moved back to NY after living in FL for about a year and the apartment complex I was in was almost made up entirely of CMs, many of which were seasonal for one reason or another. That being said, I don't think it's a bad thing to require a certain number of hours worked to get certain benefits. Universal (sort of) does it that way and it works just fine and doesn't threaten anyone else's pass benefits. The seasonal CMs who work consistently will earn their passes anyway, and perhaps those that are keeping the job for the wrong reasons will leave.

I would be very surprised if they completely removed self admission for FT/PT. As wonky as this company can be, they always stressed that they wanted their cast members to be able to experience the magic of the parks so they can help make magic for guests.

Sorry for TWDC just follow the money these days, Benefits cost money, WDW for the short term would experience a bump in profits if this class of benefit was discontinued. So expect it to be discontinued and TWDC has shown over and over again that they do not CARE about the guest experience anymore so this benefit is no longer necessary to corporate strategy.

 

[emcclay]

The point here whizzed right over your head. I was speaking about EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT the guys who's abbreviated title begins with C as in CEO.

As to the literacy of the staff for the price I'm paying to visit those facilities I expect them to be literate in the primary language of the area I don't care where they come from or that they speak with an accent. I do however expect them to be able to understand conversational english. Last time I checked Orlando was not in Mexico or Central America where one expects to communicate primarily in Spanish/Portugese.

Disney hires recent immigrants because they are cheap and easily exploited and are unlikely to go to the authorities with labor law violations and/or complaints about their treatment as workers. These people came here for a better life only to be exploited by the Disney machine.

Thanks for tHE CAPS. I HAD NO IDEA THAT IS WHO YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT............

Spanish is easy. Start learning Haitian-Creole. It will help you out much more because Haitians do not habla espanol.. And there are far more Haitian employees than those from Mexico or Central America. It really sucks that America has to be so culturally ignorant. Then everyone here wonders why other countries don't like us. Or their egos are so big from being so entitled they assume everyone loves us.

(PS. I'm available for lessons in English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole and Cantonese)

Back to the point of this thread- TWDC will more than likely continue the heavy amount of blackout dates. They will never get rid of the Maingates. If there is ever a day when a CM is blocked out, they receive comp tickets twice a year which can be used for that purpose.

 

[Katie G]

This is not necessarily true, I have known several people who lived in Orlando and were seasonal cm's for months patiently waiting for a PT role to open up. Often times these people worked just as much as normal PT cm's.

But those people would meet the requirements to get them to the same number of admissions as they had before the change. I know there are exceptions to every rule, and I wasn't trying to exclude all the different people who maybe don't fit the out of state Seasonal role stigma. But when a majority of any group does something, the entire group tends to suffer from changes. Perhaps the people who were abusing these benefits will drop out of the program leaving more room/hours available for those Seasonal CM who need them.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

I would be very surprised if they completely removed self admission for FT/PT. As wonky as this company can be, they always stressed that they wanted their cast members to be able to experience the magic of the parks so they can help make magic for guests.

Considering the entire point of this thread is how much block out dates have increased year over year, at MK in particular, they must not want them to experience it that much.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

If there is ever a day when a CM is blocked out, they receive comp tickets twice a year which can be used for that purpose.

Except for the days where even those are blocked out. Which they have done before.

 

[Katie G]

Except for the days where even those are blocked out. Which they have done before.

Comp tickets have not been blocked out, though they do have expiration dates. Those tickets are typically distributed twice a year with a minimum of two and up to the number of dependents. So conceivably you could get you entire family in twice a year when MK is blocked.

You must be thinking Cast Holiday tickets which have the same blockouts as the Main Entrance Passes now, but did not used to a couple years ago.

 

[WDWdream97]

But those people would meet the requirements to get them to the same number of admissions as they had before the change. I know there are exceptions to every rule, and I wasn't trying to exclude all the different people who maybe don't fit the out of state Seasonal role stigma. But when a majority of any group does something, the entire group tends to suffer from changes. Perhaps the people who were abusing these benefits will drop out of the program leaving more room/hours available for those Seasonal CM who need them.

It's alright I didn't think you were being malicious. And you are right it is unfortunate when a small group of bad seasonal cast members ruin it for the ones that do truly want to be there.

 

[Mike C]

It's official starting January 1st there no longer any maingates for the 3rd party, College Program, or seasonal cast members. On top of that the 35% discount drops to 15%.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It's official starting January 1st there no longer any maingates for the 3rd party, College Program, or seasonal cast members. On top of that the 35% discount drops to 15%.

I heard that last night.

I'd have to do some digging but I dont ever recall CPs getting maingates when I worked there in 2004. I recall them getting comps. And it took me six weeks to get my maingate back then as FT

 

[PhotoDave219]

Except for the days where even those are blocked out. Which they have done before.

Its insanely rare for Comps to be blocked out.

 

[asianway]

I heard that last night.

I'd have to do some digging but I dont ever recall CPs getting maingates when I worked there in 2004. I recall them getting comps. And it took me six weeks to get my maingate back then as FT

I wonder if it will thin things out to the point they relax some of the block out dates

 

[ford91exploder]

Its insanely rare for Comps to be blocked out.

I expect that will change as well since in the last earnings call PCGS was up by only 1%

 

[ford91exploder]

I wonder if it will thin things out to the point they relax some of the block out dates

Personally I doubt it, I expect that maingates are going to go the way of the dodo bird for all CM's next year.

 

[ford91exploder]

Considering the entire point of this thread is how much block out dates have increased year over year, at MK in particular, they must not want them to experience it that much.

I'd say at all