no offense I have worked for places like the Marriott and other guest service location ... and employees are there to provide for the guest... so we couldn't get lunch during peak lunch time in the restaurant stuff like that.. if an employee would like to eat at a place like be our guest they can book a room and spend the 1000's the on site guests spend I really cant hate on Disney for not giving the same oppurtunities that the guest paying 1000's to stay on property is paying.. again no offense but you have to look at it from a corporate stance...
picture this ...
you have spent 2500 dollars to take you and the kids to Disney... you cant get a fpp because they are all gone ... you go to get a walkup and there aren't any... and just as you are leaving a group makes it apparent they are cast members on there day off enjoying lunch there on their free park passess.... even
Except this isn't just a certain time of year, they seem to want to make this permanent. And there's no guarantee that booking a room will get them that coveted BOG FP, as many people have attested to that here.
Now, I don't terribly mind Disney or Marriott saying, "Okay, these days are super busy and we want to make sure as many guests as possible eat here, so for these handful of days of the year, CMs are blocked out." But I very much disagree with any company full out preventing their employees from taking part in an attraction/activity/whatever that they themselves run. CMs are the heartbeat of the company - without them, the company wouldn't exist. Plus, their money is just as green as anyone else's. Also, it's not as if CMs are racking in the dough - I would probably eat at BOG one or MAYBE two times a year. It's not like Space Mountain which I try to ride every single time I'm there (and even then, I avoid the super busy times simply because it's busy. You'll only ever run into me at the parks when it's cold and/or not crowded so I'm hardly affecting anyone's vacation.)
Also, let me tell you something - as a CM, I have been shoved, spat on, sworn at, called every colorful name in the book, threatened, and just very much disrespected by many guests, as have a majority of frontline CMs (I'm not a rude or mean CM, it's just when you deal with the number of people that we do, you are bound to run into a few bad eggs). Now, these awful guests are probably .001% of the total number of guests I deal with, but they are often the ones that stick out in my mind because, well, the awfulness of our interaction. They make me quite cynical towards other guests no matter how hard I try not to project the bad guests onto the good ones. You know how I snap back to my happy, magical CM self? I go to the parks. I go as a guest and experience what the guests experience and take off my CM ears and just look at the experience through the eyes as someone who is there for only a short time. I am reminded of how most guests are super happy and generally kind to CMs and how wonderful it is that I have the opportunity to be part of that magic that the guests come for. As more and more experiences go to FP+ only, thus making it next to impossible (or in case of BOG, flat out impossible), that means I'll never get to have that "reset" if you will to erase the bad guest interactions and replace them with the good. And what about my children? I can't get any kids over 2 in unlimitedly, so it's not as if they can go whenever they want like I could go on my own. Why should my children be punished by being blocked out of Disney experiences just because their mother just happens to work there? Sure, we can go 16 days a year, which is more than most people, but what good is it if they won't be allowed to do anything? How on earth is that fair to them? Same with when I have family in town - "Well, I'm super glad you came to visit, and yeah, I can get you in for free, but you'll only be able to ride Small World and the Tea Cups, and buy merchandise. The rest? Well, you can look, but you can't touch. Have a magical day, Mom." It's not as if we're paid well either. We get by, and we're not on welfare, but we certainly couldn't afford to visit Disney if we didn't have the ability to get in for free. If Disney wants its guests to have a wonderful time, then they need to go "above and beyond" for its CMs as well, so that we don't all become cynical grumps. I haven't reached that level yet - I don't want some Disney exec to find this post and hunt me down and fire me. I love my job and I, for the most part, support the company's decisions. This one, however, is NOT one that I am a fan of.
