Cuts coming to every area of parks and resorts - thanks to Shanghai and Paris

[peter11435]

So are you saying that the elderly gentleman at GF and the classy gentleman at YC will remain?

I'm saying that they are not the front desk curbside greeters that the article mentions. I don't have any factual information on the door greeters you mention.

The article is referring to the cast that do this..

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymag...e'-uses-ipads-to-check-in-guests-curbside.htm

 

[G00fyDad]

Couldn't they save this money by doing away with the free deserts on the Dining Plan and other innocuous "free" things? You know, something we will not miss? This way we still get to keep the CM staff at an appropriate level.

Didn't some airline save a ridiculous amount of money once by removing one olive from the salads served in flight?

 

[Hakunamatata]

Couldn't they save this money by doing away with the free deserts on the Dining Plan and other innocuous "free" things? You know, something we will not miss? This way we still get to keep the CM staff at an appropriate level.

Point of order. Never, EVER, take away the free stuff. People expect free stuff (that is actually built into the pricing).

On a side note, has anyone called these cuts "draconian" yet? Just curious.

 

[PhotoDave219]

...... Man that was some tasty kool-aid. Must have bumped my head because I'm being told that there's going to be WDI cuts.

All of this in the name of maintaining record profits.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Uh, who's the sixth?

Apparently not the guy that counts the other guys.

Actually, that almost makes it funnier.

 

[asianway]

...... Man that was some tasty kool-aid. Must have bumped my head because I'm being told that there's going to be WDI cuts.

All of this in the name of maintaining record profits.

I have a certain WDI CM I hope gets the ax. Fingers crossed

 

[G00fyDad]

Point of order. Never, EVER, take away the free stuff. People expect free stuff (that is actually built into the pricing).

On a side note, has anyone called these cuts "draconian" yet? Just curious.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I have a certain WDI CM I hope gets the ax. Fingers crossed

Hopefully none of my friends lose their job.

These suits also don't realize that they are playing with people's lives when they do this.

 

[RandySavage]

So are you saying that the elderly gentleman at GF and the classy gentleman at YC will remain?

One would hope so: for such a minuscule expense in the grand scheme those roles are huge difference-makers (fondly remembering the legendary Art Lark at the Beach Club) in the WDW experience. Any exec who would put forth down-sizing that role to save metaphorical pennies should be sent packing ASAP.

Having somebody with an iPad at the porte-cochere... I'm fine with the traditional check-in desk.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Hopefully none of my friends lose their job.

These suits also don't realize that they are playing with people's lives when they do this.

I wouldn't go as far as to say they don't realize it. They are just cold, heartless individuals.

 

[insaneshadow]

Uh, who's the sixth?

Supervisor.

 

[wogwog]

Couldn't they save this money by doing away with the free deserts on the Dining Plan and other innocuous "free" things? You know, something we will not miss? This way we still get to keep the CM staff at an appropriate level.

Didn't some airline save a ridiculous amount of money once by removing one olive from the salads served in flight?

The money is in labor hours like any company. Until guests scream cuts will keep going. But they will take any nickle and dime cut elsewhere. Some one in Burbank just wrote down your suggestion.

 

[psherman42]

During my DCP, all of my fellow CPers worked incredibly hard. And most do for that matter. It's simply tough, non-stop jobs with long hours that people get placed in so yeah, from time to time, it will drain CPs - especially if this is their first job (which surprisingly for many, it is).

In short, I found CPs to work harder than PT/FT as they were looking to impress more than those living in Orlando full-time and already working there. It was all about networking.

This. I'm actually really tired of everybody blaming the poor quality of service on the CPs. Sure, some just look at it as a chance to get way from home, live in Florida, and not really work. But plenty take it seriously and want to use t as a springboard to network and move up in the company. And truth be told, at my locations, the Cast Members that in my opinion were the worst and meanest to the guests were the full timers, not the CPs.

"Give free stuff" seems to be the default response to any guest criticism of WDW. Probably because it's faster and easier than addressing the problem and its usually what the more entitled guests have come to expect.

What do you want a Guest Relations CM to do in those situations? They can only do so much. If a guest complains about a ride being down ruining a family's vacation, they can't go fix the attraction. I'd hazard a guess that in most cases, Guest Relations CMs are not the ones that need to hear all of these park complaints, but the suits cutting the budgets. But of course, they're the only ones the guests see so they get the brunt of it and do what they can. But that only goes so far. I can already see the lines over spring break and feel for everybody working there. I just hope that even a fraction of it gets to those actually with the power to change anything but I'm not optimistic.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

What do you want a Guest Relations CM to do in those situations? They can only do so much. If a guest complains about a ride being down ruining a family's vacation, they can't go fix the attraction.

If someone really says a single ride breakdown is enough to ruin their vacation they're the last people who deserve freebies. There is nothing stated on the ticket terms and conditions that guarantees all rides be open during your visit. In that specific case, the GR CM should contact maintenace to let them know about the problem (which they probably would know about by that point) and tell the guest they are working to fix it.

If someone complains to Guest Relations the appropriate response is to listen to the criticism to understand what it is and pass along the information to the relevant party. Free stuff, or worse, sending the guest somewhere else to complain, should not be the de facto solution.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I wouldn't go as far as to say they don't realize it. They are just cold, heartless individuals.

I think heartless is taking money from the federal government to help stimulate the economy then moving operations to Mexico.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Well that's just a non-sequitur. The first part has about as much bearing on the second as if I asked..."Since you're here in Chicago for the annual meeting, what is the average airspeed of an unladen sparrow?"

African or European swallow?

 

[DVCOwner]

Actually finishing Rivers of Light says nothing to how often it will run or the crowd control staffing.

I agree with you that we do not know how these cuts are going to effect crowd control, that is my point. Let's wait and see if there is a problem before complaining about everything.

 

[DVCOwner]

I don't need some random poster on a discussion forum to tell me I'm being unreasonable. I work on the front line and see the impacts first hand on a weekly basis. The cuts have happened (see entertainment schedules) and I have no doubt they will continue over the next few months.

The CP kids get more hours than most part time CMs

If you do not need a random poster telling you that you are being unreasonable; I guess I do not need some disgruntled employee telling me how bad things are going to be when I visit Walt Disney World.

 

[dreamscometrue]

You live 1850 miles from WDW. I live 5. I suspect I have more of a finger on the pulse of WDW CMs.

Okay, but I doubt you know the feelings of 60000+ CMs. I'm sure there are many disgruntled employees, like at every other place of employment everywhere. I work at a great place, but there are people here who are never happy, have crappy attitudes, complain constantly, etc. It's 5%-10% of the people I work with, depending on who's running the place. I doubt the percentage is much different at WDW. If so, that's several thousand malcontents. Perhaps those are the people you have your pulse on.
A read on another site, where some CMs posted that this is not a big deal, is temporary, and they went on to note that it just gives their whiny co-workers another thing to complain about. If it wasn't this, it'd be something else. My cousin currently works there, is affected by this, but said she's still getting 32 hours weekly (I believe 30 hours is full time) so it's fine.

 

[MichWolv]

African or European swallow?

Thank goodness somebody responded appropriately! I'm sure Iger would miss it though, uneducated swine that he is!