I apologize in advance for the following novel...
While I disagree with his usual doom and gloom (as you can see by my previous comment in this very thread) I have to say that I do agree with
@ford91exploder about the decline in excitement and little surprises (but I generally try not to focus on it) like being toasted at what I believe is now Boatwright's because we were on our honeymoon - led by the host of the restaurant, or being addressed as Mr. & Mrs. no matter where we went (literally...it was so surprising that EVERYONE who worked at Disney knew who we were!), yes - towel animals, etc. Many, MANY visitors to the parks today simply aren't aware of what's missing because they didn't visit WDW then, or were too young to remember. And what they do expect, they expect for the wrong reasons or only because they were told to expect it by someone else.
This all reflects horribly on TDO - especially the loss of little things that really cost the company nothing.
But it also reflects on us as guests and a society as well. The paintbrushes are no more on Tom Sawyer's Island because people were stealing them; the change from Dixie Landings - with it's own newspaper and backstory - to Port Orleans Riverside, lest we offend those with a distaste for our own history; people cutting in line; shoplifting, vomiting in walkways because they lack the ability to curb their own drinking, people freaking out over towel animals even though they were supposed to be a "maybe you'll be lucky" thing, people screaming at CMs because the fastpass didn't let them skip to the front of the line...etc. etc. The entitlement attitude of today slices both ways - it forces management to try to eliminate throwing money away and to find ways to shuffle the bad behavior under the rug and cause as little commotion as possible, decreases job satisfaction and creates a disdain for guests among those who are meant to give us these stellar "performances", AND it increases bad guest behavior because it spreads like a disease when one person sees a lunatic screaming and being given what they wanted to begin with, so the second person goes ahead and pulls the same thing. It's like giving a child in a store the toy they threw a temper tantrum over...that child is virtually guaranteed to have another temper tantrum the next time he/she is at the store, and you can bet your behind that another kid who saw it will at least give it a shot, too.
Ditching the little niceties that cost money - like the resort newspapers and paintbrushes that cost money to replace - I can totally understand. However, when the guest experience is reduced because of lack of enthusiasm on the part of CMs who get no help from higher ups in enforcing rules or even the proper training to do their jobs...THAT is when there are really deep-rooted problems going on. Personally, I am of the opinion that those who attended business school during the 1980s and 1990s who were trained to have that dreadful "middle-management" attitude bear at least a large part of the responsibility for these kinds of declines. I worked for one for a handful of years, and as optimistic and cheerful as I try to be in my daily life, they're enough to suck the soul right out of you and I thank heaven that I left that job before it did permanent damage to my well-being. Another part of the problem is that Public Relations doesn't seem to realize that throwing freebies at bloggers who don't give honest opinions (and weren't around when WDW was at it's peak) is NOT a way to guarantee stellar reviews - it does the exact opposite by creating expectations of something that doesn't exist, leading to more and more horrible experiences for guests and thus, terrible reviews. Add all of the above to a corporate climate where disconnect from the realities of the front-line, greed, and bonuses are kings, and you've got a recipe for guaranteed declining experiences.
We've never personally had a "bad" experience with a CM per se, but the quality difference is most definitely there, and it's HUGE.
So, while Disney may still have offerings like a Cinderella Castle view, discounts, free dining, etc. that you won't see at other luxury resorts, we have still seen a dramatic decrease in the intangibles and overall quality of the experience while prices have continued to rise at frankly what I consider to be ridiculous rates.
I'm currently one, single class away from completing a bachelor of arts in education with a specialization in instructional design and I have many years of training in my background already...my DREAM job is to work for TDO designing and implementing training for the in-park employees. I would love to realize that dream and hopefully make a difference from the inside-out...maybe we'll get lucky and the "middle-management" mindset will die right along with those who made it a thing to begin with.