A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Cesar R M]

The Trader Sam's opening should be a case study in social media hype, social awkwardness, and Disney addiction.

Really, any grad students want to tackle that for their dissertation? Side note, I've wondered how long it takes to finish an MA when you spend most of your waking hours discussing Disney theme parks on Twitter. Guess that's not a polite thing to wonder out loud.

Or maybe it's more fun to agonize over acquiring each of the Disney faux-tiki glasses. (Because, you know, the glasses are only special and worth having because they're "Disney" -- this is where the Disneyana hype man shows up with his mouse ears, Magicband, and limited edition Disney aloha shirt and says, "Collect all twelve!")

Well, what if they might plan on working on disney? that "knowledge" might be handy there.. but anywhere else? I dont think so.

 

[BrerJon]

If Disney spent the profits from P&R for a couple of years on a park renovation project and built new attractions at DHS there is no reason both could not be completed in a couple of years.

That would be small fry compared to what has been accomplished in the past. To pick a few years at random, between 1994 and 1998 WDW opened a whole new theme park, a water park, and several major parades, fireworks shows and attractions in existing parks, including Tower of Terror - widely regarded as one of Imagineering's finest achievements.

There's no way all that would have been less than the cost today would be of giving all the parks a renovation and overhaul, and adding a few attractions to DHS. When you factor in how many more billions the company has in the bank, the numbers to make that happen would be even more insignificant.

I sometimes think some people today, who perhaps never went to the parks in the 90s or before, really have no idea just how normal it was to have large expansions every year without quality or maintenance being compromised or things having to close to make up for it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Saw photos immediately after with people at the bar, etc. For some people this is their 'job' so I don't hold any grudges about that... meanwhile I'm buried in the engine bay of my car for the afternoon. There are worst things people could be tied to. Different strokes for different folks...

But what is interesting is... they already are saying the nautilus cup wasn't available... just think of all those people in line who wanted XYZ cup and won't get it. I sure hope Disney stocked heavy on the front side for their mugs Imagine the fanboi angst over cup shortages!

I say we have our own tasting out at Cactocin Creek.

 

[theRIOT]

I agree that the guaranteed hours is/was BS. I think they addressed the issue in some way when they moved the minimum wage up for everyone including cp's to $9 an hour. This I think diswades the scheduling team from giving preference to cp's solely based on budget concerns. Now that they have done this they also need to reduce the number of guaranteed hours . I have to say however that full timers are only garenteed 32 hours a week. The reason it's not higher is because the union wasn't willing to fight for it. Also part timers are not garenteed any hours.

As for cp's giving away hours I'm sure you as well as many others, especially part timers, were happy to take the shifts. I don't see what's wrong with giving away shifts provided the cp's realize they can't just call in if they can't get rid of it. That actully was the larger concern in my area as we only had one one extra scheduled per sex ( I was custodial). After two call ins we were short staffed and everyone else had to pickup the slack.

We absolutely were happy to take them. It just felt a but unfair that the full-timers wanted the hours but weren't guaranteed them. Glad to hear they've made some changes since then.

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree that the guaranteed hours is/was BS. I think they addressed the issue in some way when they moved the minimum wage up for everyone including cp's to $9 an hour. This I think dissuades the scheduling team from giving preference to cp's solely based on budget concerns. Now that they have done this they also need to reduce the number of guaranteed hours . I have to say however that full timers are only guaranteed 32 hours a week. The reason it's not higher is because the union wasn't willing to fight for it. Also part timers are not guaranteed any hours.

As for cp's giving away hours I'm sure you as well as many others, especially part timers, were happy to take the shifts. I don't see what's wrong with giving away shifts provided the cp's realize they can't just call in if they can't get rid of it. That actually was the larger concern in my area as we only had one one extra scheduled per sex ( I was custodial). After two call ins we were short staffed and everyone else had to pickup the slack.

Edit: fixed my horrendous spelling.

Yes and by limiting the FT CM's to 32 hours per week they cleverly avoid the Obamacare FT requirement giving the CM's the worst of all worlds ie they get to pay the penalty for not having insurance yet income is not sufficient to purchase on the exchanges...

Well done Mr Iger you have truly shown your worthiness to be an oligarch.

 

[GoofGoof]

That would be small fry compared to what has been accomplished in the past. To pick a few years at random, between 1994 and 1998 WDW opened a whole new theme park, a water park, and several major parades, fireworks shows and attractions in existing parks, including Tower of Terror - widely regarded as one of Imagineering's finest achievements.

There's no way all that would have been less than the cost today would be of giving all the parks a renovation and overhaul, and adding a few attractions to DHS. When you factor in how many more billions the company has in the bank, the numbers to make that happen would be even more insignificant.

I sometimes think some people today, who perhaps never went to the parks in the 90s or before, really have no idea just how normal it was to have large expansions every year without quality or maintenance being compromised or things having to close to make up for it.

Here me out on this. I started going to WDW in the 80s. I've lived through the Eisner growth period. It was a blast to know there would always be multiple new attractions every trip. The 90s were not unlike what Universal is experiencing today. I'd love a return to that, but I'm a realist. It's probably not coming back any time soon, maybe ever.

In the world of WDW that we live in today with long drawn out projects, if I have to choose what comes first between something new and fixing what's broken id prefer a fix. I want both (of course) and would be thrilled if they decided to go all in and do both at the same time. I just think that adding new stuff will potentially result in the attendance bump they want and they may never come back and fix the original issues. Look at Frozen summer. It helped attendance and masked the fact that the park is a mess.

 

[englanddg]

Yes and by limiting the FT CM's to 32 hours per week they cleverly avoid the Obamacare FT requirement giving the CM's the worst of all worlds ie they get to pay the penalty for not having insurance yet income is not sufficient to purchase on the exchanges...

Well done Mr Iger you have truly shown your worthiness to be an oligarch.

Well, Disney is exempt (for a period) from the Employer Mandate...one of quite a long list of companies.

That said, 32 hours wouldn't qualify to keep them from ER mandate compliance.

30 hours per week, or 130 hours a month, who work for more than 120 days per year are considered full time.

So, they'd need to keep it under 29 a week and/or under 130 hours per month for their "long term part-time" employees to keep them from ER mandate compliance fines.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yes and by limiting the FT CM's to 32 hours per week they cleverly avoid the Obamacare FT requirement giving the CM's the worst of all worlds ie they get to pay the penalty for not having insurance yet income is not sufficient to purchase on the exchanges...

Well done Mr Iger you have truly shown your worthiness to be an oligarch.

While I want to pin that on Iger, that first started right after 2001. This isn't a new thing.

 

[englanddg]

While I want to pin that on Iger, that first started right after 2001. This isn't a new thing.

In most organizations I'm familiar with, the 32 hour "schedule" limit for hourly "Full Time" workers is generally to allow for some "hourly creep" in the weekly schedule to keep people from earning overtime.

 

[PhotoDave219]

In most organizations I'm familiar with, the 32 hour "schedule" limit for hourly "Full Time" workers is generally to allow for some "hourly creep" in the weekly schedule to keep people from earning overtime.

Yeah Disney isn't doing this as a response to The Affordable Healthcare Act. This is crap they've been pulling for years for exactly that reason.

 

[englanddg]

Yeah Disney isn't doing this as a response to The Affordable Healthcare Act. This is crap they've been pulling for years for exactly that reason.

Yeah. In one company I worked for it was 36 hours as the limit we were allowed to "schedule". Same reasoning.

 

[ford91exploder]

Well, Disney is exempt (for a period) from the Employer Mandate...one of quite a long list of companies.

That said, 32 hours wouldn't qualify to keep them from ER mandate compliance.

30 hours per week, or 130 hours a month, who work for more than 120 days per year are considered full time.

So, they'd need to keep it under 29 a week and/or under 130 hours per month for their "long term part-time" employees to keep them from ER mandate compliance fines.

My point was CM's are getting short end of stick here under the ACA, Working enough hours to be 'full time' yet not having employer paid plan or sufficient income to purchase on their own.

 

[englanddg]

My point was CM's are getting short end of stick here under the ACA, Working enough hours to be 'full time' yet not having employer paid plan or sufficient income to purchase on their own.

Many employees are getting the short end of the stick with ACA. We took a whole dept and converted it from 3 full time workers to 7 part time workers, just to keep them from eligibility.

It's a real number that hits the bottom line, and not always is the decision as simple as "big bad rich company wants to screw the little guy".

That said, what I posted are the definitions of "full time" according to ACA, which oddly do not necessarily jibe with the definitions of "full time" according to many employers for benefits enrollment (which, generally range from 32 through 36 hours, from what I've seen) nor the definition of "full time" according to BLS (which, iirc, uses 35+ hours as the "full time" definition for hourly workers).

In addition, their income is what will define if they are eligible for benefits under ACA through the exchanges. If their income is low enough, they will get a lot of subsidies.

However, the key is that their employer does NOT offer them appropriate options. If they are "full time" according to the definitions I listed, then the employer can decide not to offer compliant plans, but if they don't, they will be forced to pay a fine of 2k per employee (less the first 30 employees, but in Disney's case, that's rather moot).

That's...quite steep. Granted, as I noted, Disney has an exemption that I don't recall when it runs out (something like 2020, iirc), but...I think you are conflating overtime management with ACA cost controls, in this case.

 

[roj2323]

Yes and by limiting the FT CM's to 32 hours per week they cleverly avoid the Obamacare FT requirement giving the CM's the worst of all worlds ie they get to pay the penalty for not having insurance yet income is not sufficient to purchase on the exchanges...

Well done Mr Iger you have truly shown your worthiness to be an oligarch.

well the law is actually 30 hours per week. http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-employer-mandate/ http://www.hrbenefitsalert.com/calculating-full-time-employees-affordable-care-act/

All full time employees are offered insurance after 90 days. College programers may or may not have the option ( i haven't asked) but they might be exempt from the mandate anyway as they are considered Paid interns.

 

[RSoxNo1]

In addition to Trader Sam's, Aunt Polly's was also open today.

 

[PhotoDave219]

In addition to Trader Sam's, Aunt Polly's was also open today.

I heard, I'm jealous. I never got to eat the fried chicken from there.

 

[PhotoDave219]

This is why we can't have nice things!

Sorry, yo.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Apparently the company that does the baggage handling for Disney's Magical Express (Aircraft Service International Group) is laying off 200+ people.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/...agical-express-contractor-to-cut.html?ana=twt

 

[bhg469]

Apparently the company that does the baggage handling for Disney's Magical Express (Aircraft Service International Group) is laying off 200+ people.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/...agical-express-contractor-to-cut.html?ana=twt

Did they possibly put themselves in this position by under bidding themselves into this contract?

Article is a little vague but it's a bummer when that many more people are out if work.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Apparently the company that does the baggage handling for Disney's Magical Express (Aircraft Service International Group) is laying off 200+ people.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/...agical-express-contractor-to-cut.html?ana=twt

Makes complete sense.

With Disney's domestic hotel occupancy up 8% last quarter, why do they need all those bag handlers?