The closed embassies will probably be the biggest problem with hiring international CM's. Who knows when the embassies in some of the harder hit countries will return to anything close to normal... and when they do I would expect them to have a huge backlog of visa applications that will make getting an application for a person only now applying a very slow process.
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Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion
- Thread starter Parker in NYC
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You'll probably change when you get married and start a family. You quickly find that you the expense of taking your family to a movie becomes so expensive that it is cheaper to buy the DVD/Bluray and have food delivered to your house than it is to go see a movie and get popcorn and drinks for everyone... Even if I were single I would simply invest in a good projection system which may cost a bit up front but gives a much better movie experience than I can get in most theaters today. While I will admit that the theaters near me have finally started taking care of their screens, (they used to be dirty sometimes torn) the biggest problem today is that nearly every theater near me wants to serve food to you while you are watching a movie and I get very annoyed with trying to watch a movie while some water is delivering food in front of me and the people around me are eating and making more noise than I would expect at a feedlot when they feed the cattle. If your theaters are still old fashioned and don't serve food then enjoy them while you can because once they start serving food the theater experience become crap.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Disney was not going around to every individual before... hiring from remote is not something new.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Exactly this. Every time I go to the movies there’s a relatively good crowd. I’m sure that’s not true for every release, but that’s what I seen when we go to (most of) the new Disney/Pixar movies and a few other big titles.
Calmdownnow
Well-Known Member
I think I read somewhere in this thread that international visitors make up as much as 20% of visitors at particular times of year. A business can deal with an adjustment of that order, BUT the economic dislocation in the U.S. market caused by the pandemic, with many people having a dramatic reduction in disposable income and savings over the next 6-18 months, will also reduce the number of domestic visitors. The two together, depending on Disney's own projections, may require very difficult business decisions to be made.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Wearing masks at a theme park/amusement park just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. You won’t be able to wear them on the rides.
Phil12
Well-Known Member
Don't know if this NYT article has been posted or not. Several people on this forum discussed the danger created by Spring Break crowds:
currently.att.yahoo.com
The Costly Toll of Not Shutting Down Spring Break Earlier
MIAMI -- You could find Beatriz Diaz at this spring's Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, giving out hand sanitizer.It was early March. She knew the coronavirus was beginning to make its way around the world, but she figured if she kept her hands clean and avoided sweaty people, she would be safe
currently.att.yahoo.com
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
Just in time for food and wine...no festivals in summer anyway.
Calmdownnow
Well-Known Member
The recruiters they contract in each country to manage this process were doing a lot of the vetting, face to face stuff, paper sifting, visa assistance, etc, so it has never been Disney doing this. These agents will have a vested interest in trying to keep the process going, because otherwise they won't get paid and will go out of business. However, the process has become more difficult.
- AUGUST 1st: Stacy submits her application on the first day applications are open.
- AUGUST 31st: Applications close.
- SEPTEMBER 15th: Yummy Jobs email Stacy to tell her that she has a pre-screen interview.
- OCTOBER 6th: Stacy attends her pre-screen interview at the Yummy Jobs offices.
- OCTOBER 20th: Yummy Jobs email Stacy to say that she's invited to a face-to-face interview.
- NOVEMBER 17th: Stacy attends her face-to-face interview at the Disney offices in London.
- DECEMBER 5th: Stacy's friend gets a start date of March 13th but she herself is told she's on the waitlist and that she'll hear more in April.
- APRIL 7th: Stacy is offered a program that starts on October 1st.
- AUGUST: 12th: Stacy attends the US embassy to get her visa.
- SEPTEMBER 30th: Stacy flys out a couple of days early.
- OCTOBER 1st: Stacy checks-in to Disney housing and her program begins.
Example of up-front costs a UK applicant needs to meet:
"If you’re fortunate enough to be what Disney are looking for in a Cast Member, congratulations! It’s the best feeling in the world. The first thing you need to do after you receive your offer email is to pay a program fee of $225 dollars. This is to confirm your place on the program and a spot in Disney Housing! It also goes towards Cast Member events and more magic whilst you’ll be working for Disney. You MUST pay this fee.
Here’s a few other fees you must pay:
£85 – DBS check.
£160 – American Embassy appointment for your visa.
£19 – Passport return from American Embassy (if you don’t choose to collect it from the nearest place listed).
Your Flight and Hotel
A huge chunk of money is likely to be spent on your flight to Orlando. I booked a return flight for a random date as it was cheaper than one-way! I’ll be cancelling the return flight nearer the time.
My flight with Virgin Atlantic from Manchester to Orlando cost me £532."
Plus, of course, if word gets around that the last lot of International CMs were ushered off property, out of their accommodation and out of the U.S. with just 3-4 days notice, well before their scheduled end date, I can imagine a fair number of Mums and Dads telling their kids that it might not be a good move to apply this year...
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GoofGoof
Premium Member
You are assuming they would still have a food and wine festival. If the park is open I guess it’s still possible even if they scale it down some for lower crowds.
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Lora Baines Bradley
Well-Known Member
For better or worse, Disney is a much bigger beast than it was when it opened. It costs much more to run nowadays and I'm sure they're way more dependent on international travelers than they used to be in order to keep it running. I definitely think they're going to have to cater to US visitors for now, no doubt about that. But in some shape or form, they're going to have to get international guests visiting, and soon. Even if it's just Canada or the UK.
Oh, no doubt that it's more expensive to go to the movies with a family. My family used to have a tradition of seeing each new Star Wars movie in the theater- that was easily 70, 80 bucks once you factor in drinks and popcorn. But not every visit had us getting popcorn, and not everyone went each time. I may have snuck cheesecake in the theater when I went to see Frozen 2...
Personally, it's just not the same with a home theater. I've seen movies in other's home theaters and you just don't get that community experience, like others have mentioned. Not that it wasn't a good experience, I just think theaters offer something different. Unfortunately I think they may be on the way out, though.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I personally think that masks in the Florida will create more sweat, grime and transfer via face to hand contact than going without.
Do people forget the heat and humidity sucks there about 8 months a year on average & it gets worse every year?
It’s not Tokyo...or Paris...or even L.A.
Just a thought.
Do people forget the heat and humidity sucks there about 8 months a year on average & it gets worse every year?
It’s not Tokyo...or Paris...or even L.A.
Just a thought.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
What Food an wine?
You mean extra queue lines and an extra 500 employees handling food and receipts and passing it along?
Lora Baines Bradley
Well-Known Member
If they have F&W, they could make it mobile order only.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Ok...but that doesn’t eliminate standing around waiting for stuff and handling/transfer.
trainplane3
Well-Known Member
I'd almost be fine with that. Not fine with the jobs lost but fine with the idea of enjoying a movie at home without Karen checking her phone that's cranked to full brightness while little Jimmy screams at the screen.
And I don't have to wear pants either!
I thought about that but the other classic issue arises: where will people eat? Oh right, on trashcans like always.
Since my April trip is sunk at this point, I'm debating a fall trip before the "big" December trip. Is it bad I'm hoping there's no festivals? Aside from a few unique food offerings, I won't miss the drunks and stupid amount of booths strangling WS's walkway.
Lora Baines Bradley
Well-Known Member
It’s definitely not a perfect solution. Plexiglass between the guest and CM might help, though? And no matter what, you’ll have the issue of people standing around while they wait for food.
It could, but if you think about how many visitor WDW has had in the past, it has been profitable when it was only getting maybe 10 million visitors per year. That would be about 3% of the US population, while I expect half the population of the US to be royally screwed from this pandemic I expect their will be more than enough people that aren't really impacted that could be pulled into WDW with the right discounts and marketing. I don't think the economy will be as big of a problem for them as the social distancing rules will be which is why I think the biggest hurdle for them will be a vaccine. Once a vaccine is out and in use they will be making money hand over fist as usual.
Overlordkitty
Well-Known Member
I work at a hospital in a non-clinical department. For weeks they complained about not being given masks, and now that they are required to wear them, I cannot get them to wear them correctly. No way are required masks going to work at Disney.
Also, and I know correlation is not causation but did anyone else notice that just as Disney World started to paint their castle pink again, a plague descended on the land?
Also, and I know correlation is not causation but did anyone else notice that just as Disney World started to paint their castle pink again, a plague descended on the land?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
So visiting the parks would require owning a smartphone?
I’m sure they will make a big push for mobile ordering and even without that push more people will use it. Which will create its own set of problems. Many time when I use mobile order it creates a bit of a mess because people waiting for their order block the counter for people who’s order is ready.
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