A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Phil12]

Truly awesome work @marni1971
I was never able to experience this, and it made it seem like I was right there in the sub
Thank you for putting these together!

I had the pleasure of experiencing the 20k subs on many occasions. The real joy of the subs is that you really felt as if you were on a real submarine! It was always very hot because the A/C systems never worked properly. And the heat was compounded by the oppressive humidity. The boats always had water sloshing around on the floor due to the leaky hatches. When they closed up the subs it felt as if you were in sweat shop. Of course being crowded into a small space with 39 other people was a great way to get to know your fellow travelers and smell their aromatic aromas.

I have always thought that if they had ever intended to reopen 20k, they would have adopted the Jungle Cruise technique of having the skippers entertain the guests with rapid fire corny jokes. I suppose they determined that even comedy couldn't save 20k.

 

[Mike S]

I had the pleasure of experiencing the 20k subs on many occasions. The real joy of the subs is that you really felt as if you were on a real submarine! It was always very hot because the A/C systems never worked properly. And the heat was compounded by the oppressive humidity. The boats always had water sloshing around on the floor due to the leaky hatches. When they closed up the subs it felt as if you were in sweat shop. Of course being crowded into a small space with 39 other people was a great way to get to know your fellow travelers and smell their aromatic aromas.

I have always thought that if they had ever intended to reopen 20k, they would have adopted the Jungle Cruise technique of having the skippers entertain the guests with rapid fire corny jokes. I suppose they determined that even comedy couldn't save 20k.

The subs in DL must have had better AC cause it didn't feel hot in there. It didn't leak either.

 

[Nubs70]

Yeah but seeing as most of them are made by those on Light Duty*, it should have no bearing on housekeeping duties.

(*Or at least it used to)

The follow-up step will be to eliminate the Light Duty classification. VSM will consider light duty as less than fully able ability at full wage. The differential is considered waste. Therefore, if you are at less than 100% ability, then you go on short term disability as there is no job classification as Light Duty*.

Unless there is a Light Duty clause in the CBA and your position is covered by said CAN.

 

[theRIOT]

But could you imagine them with today's society?

Do you know how much crap would be thrown from them? Or other activities go on inside them?

It's good that they've gone… They were nice for the time. But it's time to move on from them.

I dunno. We have a set of them at our local zoo and I've always found the riders very civil.
Not sure Disney's reason for taking them out, but I wish I could have experienced them.

 

[Frankie The Beer]

Anyone discussing the potential 1 billion dollar investment Disney has to make in Anaheim to keep the entertainment tax off Disneyland? Big news on the Street as it might effect stock price, but news like this, I would guess, should worry us who want new shiny and chrome stuff at WDW. One billion dollars has to come from somewhere.

 

[polynesiangirl]

Have they always done towel animals? I don't seem to remember ever seeing one on anything approaching a regular basis until the last maybe 10-15 years. Then the next thing I knew they were all over every trip report and became a Thing. I might have just been oblivious before that though (and/or Mousekeeping didn't love us enough to leave us towel animals every time.)

 

[ScoutN]

Thank you again @marni1971 for making our childhood live again.. preserving history.. and sharing the fun design and ops details. If only Disney would create such media... you rock.. end of story.

My mother is telling me about the first time riding it and the jitters she got about feeling literally deep down in the sea. Oh man, I wish I would have been able to experience it.

 

[ChrisFL]

Excellent video. I especially appreciate how good the quality of the black light scene is.

This is still the WDW attraction I'm most fascinated with, and the one I wish the most was still around. They'll never build something like this again, it had so much potential to have its effects improved, and no ride will ever look as cool from the outside as seeing those steampunk submarines travelling through that coral coloured water.

Well Tokyo has one, the ride system is quite different, but it is very well done.

 

[PhotoDave219]

The follow-up step will be to eliminate the Light Duty classification. VSM will consider light duty as less than fully able ability at full wage. The differential is considered waste. Therefore, if you are at less than 100% ability, then you go on short term disability as there is no job classification as Light Duty*.

Unless there is a Light Duty clause in the CBA and your position is covered by said CAN.

I'm just saying what has occurred in the past.

I'm not going to go hunt down the Union Contract all in the name of a towel animal.

 

[Lee]

This would be tell tale sign of BPO using the technique of Value Stream Mapping. VSM analyzes each step of an activity. In the case of housekeeping, towel animals, while valued by guests, provides no added value to P&R. VSM categorizes the activity of towel animals as a non value added activity. Therefore, towel animals are waste and the activity must be discontinued.

This is a clear example of how Lean Management conflicts with Guest Experience.

Ugh...
Business theory makes me nauseous.

Whoever came up with this VSM and Lean Managment, or any other such nonsense that negatively impacts Guest Experience, should be subjected to extreme verbal abuse and possibly slapped around a bit.

 

[flynnibus]

My mother is telling me about the first time riding it and the jitters she got about feeling literally deep down in the sea. Oh man, I wish I would have been able to experience it.

I am told I cried the first time but When I was older I really dug the navy uniforms, the organ music, etc. I really liked the 20k movie

 

[ScoutN]

I am told I cried the first time but When I was older I really dug the navy uniforms, the organ music, etc. I really liked the 20k movie

Tis a timeless movie that I wish held a greater presence today. My parents had kids later than most (mid-late 30s) and for that I am thankful. I have a level of appreciation for stuff not many my age do.

 

[Nubs70]

I'm just saying what has occurred in the past.

I'm not going to go hunt down the Union Contract all in the name of a towel animal.

No need to go on a towel animal/CBA safari.

I'm just hypothesizing the next step. It is not uncommon for companies to state "There is no Light Duty" It is either Full Duty or No Duty.

 

[GoofGoof]

Disney has permitted the auction of D33 passes for charity auctions before obviously with permission so this by no means is a verboten activity. I think TWDC is salivating over collecting a fresh new initiation fee and using this as an excuse. For crying out loud this guy is a CHARTER MEMBER of Club 33 I think he knows the rules.

If he knows the rules then he shouldn't have broken them. I'm not sure how being a charter member allows him the right to not follow the rules. If every member broke the rules there would be complete chaos. I said it before, this entitled attitude needs to be nipped.

It makes no sense to imply that they are intentionally revoking his membership to get an extra initiation fee. Where is the pattern of this behavior? Are they revoking multiple memberships a year? Did this guy have any prior offenses or did they just revoke after 1 isolated incident? If there is 1 case of a membership being revoked isn't it much more likely that the guy just broke the rules (possibly multiple times) and is being properly punished vs a grand conspiracy theory for a multi-billion dollar corporation to gain an extra $20K in revenue.

As far as TWDC choosing to give away passes to charity that's their right. Every member of the club probably has a favorite charity that they feel strongly about. Why should this guy's charity get to benefit while other's charities don't because they actually followed the rules. If he really wanted Disney to support the charity that his "friend" gave the pass to he could have gone through the proper channels and maybe even used his status as a charter member of club 33 to get authorization. Instead he assumed that being a charter memeber they wouldn't punish him for breaking the rules. I don't know anything about it personally, but from several other posts here it sounds like he was a repeat offender too.

 

[PhotoDave219]

No need to go on a towel animal/CBA safari.

I'm just hypothesizing the next step. It is not uncommon for companies to state "There is no Light Duty" It is either Full Duty or No Duty.

Ok. However in the past to Disney has not been one of those companies.

 

[Nubs70]

Ok. However in the past to Disney has not been one of those companies.

But my fear is Disney is becoming one of these companies. If recent past is precedent, I feel the elimination of light duty is not far off.

 

[ford91exploder]

This would be tell tale sign of BPO using the technique of Value Stream Mapping. VSM analyzes each step of an activity. In the case of housekeeping, towel animals, while valued by guests, provides no added value to P&R. VSM categorizes the activity of towel animals as a non value added activity. Therefore, towel animals are waste and the activity must be discontinued.

This is a clear example of how Lean Management conflicts with Guest Experience.

Yep and the time saved will NOT go into extra effort in cleaning the rooms, Mousekeepers will simply be assigned MORE rooms to clean in the existing timeslots.

More evidence if it was needed that Disney only wants to deliver Motel 6 levels of service, while charging Deluxe Hotel prices.

There are certain amenities which one expects at a deluxe establishment perhaps not towel animals but fresh robes being laid out etc.

 

[ford91exploder]

But my fear is Disney is becoming one of these companies. If recent past is precedent, I feel the elimination of light duty is not far off.

Why not? There is always another recent immigrant looking for any job under any condition, The sad thing is once Disney was indeed one of the best employers anywhere and a Disney job no matter how menial was a good job.

Without delving too deep into Politricks, This is what the 'open borders' immigration policy results in a race to the bottom in employment markets and viewing workers as disposable as a used kleenex.

 

[ford91exploder]

Ugh...
Business theory makes me nauseous.

Whoever came up with this VSM and Lean Managment, or any other such nonsense that negatively impacts Guest Experience, should be subjected to extreme verbal abuse and possibly slapped around a bit.

It's not LEAN's fault, Lean is extremely useful on the factory floor, Here is a simple scenario you are stamping a ring out of metal, you are also stamping a square smaller than the ring. You have two machines one stamping rings one stamping squares, You need to double production.

Choices

1 - Buy 2 more machines and staff accordingly
2 - Redesign the stamping dies so each machine produces one of each during each cycle.

LEAN dictates the use of option 2 as it not only doubles production, in the event of a machine failure the line only slows instead of stops because of the lack of a part.

LEAN is NOT applicable in a deluxe guest service environment where the 'wasteful' steps are your service differentiators.

Now LEAN could be used to optimize the Mousekeepers workflow, Instead of those giant inventory control carts with the keypads, Give each mousekeeper a small cart with everything they need so they are not constantly walking back to the cart to get something that would ALSO reduce cleaning cycle time.

But Nooo that would deny the cost accountant the ability to know how many bottles of sundries have been dispensed and the count of garbage bags used, Typical cost accounting mindset they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

 

[michmousefan]

Today's society seems to do just fine riding one in Tampa and other parks around the country.

Yep, we have one at Cedar Point, and in many ways the crowd behavior is not nearly as family-oriented as you'll see at a Disney park (I realize I'm generalizing here). People seem to be able to keep their collective acts together on this ride; can't see why it would be any worse at a Disney park. Disney lawyers might just be a bit more safety-crazed and lawsuit-averse.