FinnWhitman
Member
Hi, I'd like to offer some insight and perspective into this as a current College Program participant.
I agree that quality of service at Disney World has gone down in recent years, but disagree that it is worse than Universal, having spent quite a lot of time in both Disney and Universal parks since moving down here to Florida. Furthermore, I take issue with your assertion in your original post that the reason the CM was yawning was due to boredom.
You said the CM was working at HM. HM is located in the busiest park of the resort, and that CM was most likely a CP. It is likely they are working 50 hours a week, with very little time between shifts (closing the park and then having to be there the next morning with only 8 hours in between) and so are exhausted thus possibly causing them to involuntarily yawn. It has happened to me on multiple occasions, despite my best efforts to ward it off. Please, give them the benefit of the doubt for something so involuntary, natural, and otherwise inconsequential.
Also quick note on cell phones in the parks: I've never witnessed any CMs use their personal phones when on stage. That is a strict no-no. If you see a CM on a cell phone, I can basically guarantee it is a work phone. Disney provides certain cast with iPhones in a black LifeProof case to use as a work phone, and you will often see them attached to the hip or lanyard or in a pocket of a CM. They are used often to coordinate and manage cast in that particular area and communicate with various other cast members across property. They are an invaluable asset we have at our disposal.
As multiple other people have suggested, the issue of a decrease in quality at the parks can be directly attributed to bad leadership, and I agree with this. I have come in contact with multiple leaders who don't inspire us cast to be putting on a good show, who aren't leading by example, who are sitting in their offices most of the time and only coming out to bark orders and rudely correct us when things go wrong rather than using it as a teaching moment and allowing us to understand why one way is better and how to improve our process.
Furthermore, as some others have pointed out, another cause of low quality is low morale. You mentioned here poor working conditions and poor pay. This is especially true for College Program participants. College Program participants sacrifice quite a bit to come here to Florida to work for Disney because we are sold on the "dream" of being a cast member. We, myself included, often put our lives on hold, move thousands of miles away to a place where we don't know anyone, and often spend a decent amount of money to get here, all to be placed in a role we have little choice over and a location we have no choice over. We don't get to choose what we work as like a normal job would, Disney decides for us, sometimes against our wishes. We don't know what the location on property is where we will be working in until about a month before we move to Florida. If we receive a job offer, we are told the general role, but not the location or any other specifics, and we have 48 hours to accept or decline the offer otherwise it is rescinded. Our current pay rate is $11 an hour, which was just raised from $10 this summer, and is below the normal CM pay rate of $13.50 an hour. Both of those rates, or at least especially the CP rate, however are below most other rates you can get at basic entry jobs like Target, which has committed to paying $15 an hour by the end of 2020 and is even in effect already at my local store. I took a pay cut from my previous job to come here and work for Disney. When we finally get here to Florida, we may not like our role, our location, or whatever but we already have so much invested in being here that its hard to quit and leave. If we are living in company-sponsored housing as most CPs are, if we quit we have to be fully moved out by 11am the next day. The housing we are provided is very poor quality for the price we are paying. The apartment Disney has me living in is a 6 person 3 bedroom unit. All roommates together, we are paying over $3,000 a month for this apartment. Way overpriced. So this "dream" we had of being a cast member when we are treated poorly by Disney with our scheduling, our pay, our housing, and dealing with leaders who berate us, can quickly die and lead to a poor morale which leads to a poor guest experience. A lot of CPs just are exhausted and want to go home or no longer care, guest experience be damned.
I am sorry this happens and I'm sorry you did not enjoy your vacation. I try to always put on a smile and create a great guest experience because that's what I grew up with coming to the parks as a kid, and thats what I want everyone especially the kids visiting to experience from me. This is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed from the top at Disney. They just shook up resort leadership and replaced the President of the resort, so hopefully this new president and executive leadership team can start tackling some of these issues.
