Not if a dozen of them all looked like the good humor ice cream man checking our ticket stubs at the park entrance back in the day.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News New Changes Coming to the Disney Look 2021
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Exactly. “You’ll love vacationing at Disney because Disney is great because of all the little details”
*slams breaks*
you’re gonna let a little detail ruin your vacation? Something must be wrong with you!
Amidala
Well-Known Member
I think it's more a question of whether that specific detail (whether or not a CM has a small tattoo on their wrist or is wearing red nail polish) was ever actually of value to guests.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Which small details are? Do any guests care that there are 5 shades of white on the grand Floridian?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Understaffed or “more efficiently” staffed?
This all gets to the question of costuming. Is the role of a Cast Member to fill a role or express themselves? Are you supposed to notice the designed environment or the employee’s jewelry?
el_super
Well-Known Member
In this regard, where the Disney Look part of the corporate culture was out of date, discriminatory and in some instances illegal, why shouldn't it be discarded?
I just know something’s getting messy when frequent Disneyland boarders have found their way up here
We were sort of directed here... I can only hope it was a purposeful decision to bring some reason to these discussions. Disneylanders are always known as the level-headed ones.
el_super
Well-Known Member
It's not an either/or decision. Cast Members can still play a role and be given more freedom to express themselves.
This "playing a role" bit, is also the reason why at Disneyland, they would not allow women to be Jungle Cruise skippers for the first couple decades of that ride's existence. Why they wouldn't let men be tour guides. Those practices eventually bowed to societal pressure, and I don't see anyone advocating that those practices from Walt's day be brought back. Why is it so distracting and wrong to have a Jungle Cruise skipper have a tattoo, if we are perfectly willing to break the illusion to have women and people of color in that role? Why allow one but not the other?
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
On staffing:
If a customer expectations at guest relations is to receive help within 3 minute getting in line yet does not receive help in 5 minutes, the customer perception is being understaffed.
If the customer does not leave, the business perceives itself as "efficiently staffed"
On costuming:
The employee is employed to serve a role not express themselves.
My last visit a month ago, I saw an increase in an irritating trend that being the simple chit chatting between CM's. I am used to cast members acknowledging you as you leave the park, saying thank you, have a magical day, etc... Many times the CM's were engaged amongst themselves and not the customer. This is one of those "little" things.
What was even worse was the fact Sam did nothing
el_super
Well-Known Member
Quoting myself to insert a somewhat sad fact. I went to go look this up and found an article indicating that females were not allowed to be Jungle Cruise skippers until 1995. I could have sworn this started changing in the last 70s/80s but wow does that seem embarrassing in retrospect.
Not-so-fun little quote:
Magic Kingdom managers first tried to cast women as the wisecracking Jungle Cruise skippers in 1974. But Kimbrell said, "The public was not ready to accept women daredevils."
Disneyland to Allow Women To Skipper Jungle Cruise Ride
After 40 years of men taking visitors on a boat journey through a perilous rain forest,...
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
I wonder if this is a josh thing? I never saw this at any Disney park until my Disneyland visits while Josh was in charge.
Weird that we were there just a few weeks ago and noticed no such thing. Where specifically did you think it was understaffed?
Oh, and I've been going to WDW since 1978, so hundreds of repeat visits, and 3 even since COVID started.
Mac Tonight
Well-Known Member
Yes, I was being sarcastic, and you bring up a great point. Cast Members are unique human beings. However...
None of the examples you used to illustrate your best CM interactions had anything to do with the CM's costumes or piercings, or hair color, or visible tattoos. I think a false dichotomy is being created here to suggest that somehow "more self-expression" will automatically equal "better customer service".
For most people here, Disney has been (or used to be) the gold standard for customer service (and yes, everyone can share their bad examples, blah blah blah). But those standards were set across the board by certain levels of cleanliness, attentiveness, helpfulness, and overall spreading the magic. Decisions like the ones made have left myself and others on here feeling like those same standards are now not as important to Disney as much as making sure individual cast members feel "comfortable" in their job. And yes, if there were things that actually discriminated or infringed upon people's rights, that would be one thing... but I don't think we're anywhere near that point.
I'm someone who enjoys wearing a baseball hat about 99.9% of the time. It makes me feel like "myself" as most people have come to associate me with a hat on. But when I worked for Disney, I understood that that wasn't allowed and I did my hair according to what was asked of me. Would I have been more comfortable wearing a hat? Sure! But ultimately the job wasn't about me. And if I let my work performance be hindered because I wasn't as comfortable as possible, that's 100% my problem, not Disney's. There is a good reason why the players of a sports team all wear the same uniform when they play and don't get to pick and choose which one makes them feel good. Off the court, wear whatever floats your boat.
I'll end here, and I'm sorry I kind of hijacked this response into a broader post I was planning to make already. Are some of us making a mountain out of a molehill here? Maybe so. And to be frank, my feelings about this are tied into the growing trend (not just in Disney, but in society) to really, and in some cases literally, wear your individuality on your sleeve and "live your truth" as the kids say. And while that's fine in it's proper context, problems do arise when an individual falls under the misconception that everything in life is about them and their preferred comfort level... On second thought, that's a can of worms better left alone
Where do you think they are understaffed and why did you feel that way?
With diversity being the trend when is DHS going to have an African American female playing the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Frozen at DCA used blind casting.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
Yes, but the recent Disney+ series WandaVision went to great lengths to re-create the 1950's look, as outlined in the Assembled series that followed. Wanda Vision spent a great deal of money trying to authentically and accurately recreate the 1950's.
Even the live audience sat in 1950's style chairs, while doing their best to wear 1950's style clothing.
In short, Disney has no problem with evoking the 1950's, and this is just about the most recent show Disney has created.
I'm thinking the topic of the thread is mundane to the point that it probably wouldn't have generated much traffic just a few years ago, but now the members of this forum are at each others' throats over this. As another thread recently pointed out, the level of civility on this forum has greatly diminished, and that's just not healthy.
We can choose to see every post in the worst possible way, or we can choose to be a little kinder to each other.
WDW is supposed to = fun.
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
I love inclusion. I am the global leader for the LGBT+ Network where I work and I strive to be inclusive and create a safe space for all employees. Inclusion is amazing. I am happy to see Disney revamping the guidelines for the CM's costumes and removing gender. My only concern is when you do something like allowing only one ring her hand, but no guidelines for the CM's with facial hair other than it should be trimmed and neat. I can say, even before this new dress code, it is not managed. We see so many that can't trim their facial hair. A neck beard is not trimmed. So if you are going to scrutanize people with the number of rings, or a bracelet is not allowed to be more than 1" wide, you really need to police your policies a bit better.
el_super
Well-Known Member
And the opposite seems to be true as well: that more self expression seems to automatically translate into reduced customer service. While people keep insisting that the rules and standards are important (and yes, I agree they are), they can't really give a detailed example of why seeing a person with a tattoo or piercing creates a reduced experience.
If the implication is really supposed to be that people are in a role and this further deviates from an ideal image of that role, then the case needs to be made why that's more important than the Cast Member's comfort. Obviously LOTS of exceptions have been made (forever) in creating the image of a role that aligned with Cast comfort over realism. Gender based stereotypes have been broken even when a role would traditionally require only one gender (like the Jungle Cruise). Maybe historical accuracy demands that only certain races of people be in a role? Cast Members are required to shower when, despite historical accuracy demanding otherwise. Cast Members are allowed to wear sunblock and sunglasses to protect themselves from the heat and plastic rain ponchos, because safety is more important than show right?
So if you make all these concessions on how accurately a role is portrayed, why draw the line at tattoos?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Well typically the debate is “who cares about small detail” - in this case one side thinks it’s morally wrong to care about the detail because it means those of us who care are prejudiced or old fashioned.
I care about the blank napkins and that keys to world cards aren’t themed to the specific resort I’m staying at. But the argument is just that I shouldn’t care, not that caring makes me a bad person because the napkins should be able to express themselves however they want.