Disappointed with Disney

[homer424]

Having just returned from Disney less than a month ago I am still basking in the glow of the happiest place on earth so this may be a bit biased-I think it is a great place! Like many have said it can be a bit head swirling to have rides on top of one another (more than they are now in some sections-ie., Adventureland). I am still smarting from what they did to Journey into Imagination so I am not asking for anything new anymore-LOL kidding.

The trash situation can be kinda disheartening. My daughter dropped nearly an entire box of popcorn and I stopped to pick it up to throw it out and some lady walking by looked at me, laughed and said "I would just leave that mess! you're crazy!" I just ignored her-it is that kind of attitude that creates big messes. I have never known Cast members to be anything but sweeter than sweet and courteous in the 7 trips we have made. This past time we did across a monorail guy who screamed at us and made my 2 year old cry when he told us we could get on the monorail then changed his mind when he realized it was too full. And I agree, these things are products of the society we live in.

I guess I should come back in about a month after the afterglow has worn off and I have had time to think about it all!

 

[tigger1968]

I have to agree that the shift in society's ethics and general attitude are to blame for some of the problems we see at WDW. People really don't seem to care where their trash ends up, and I'm sure there are CM's who could care less if they offend anyone. Having said that, I will state that I think the powers that be could be doing a better job. If they keep closing attractions and not replacing them, and they keep building new resorts, what are we going to do with all these new on-property guests? I feel that Disney should be introducing some new rides at MK, instead of expanding Main Street to add more merchandise shops, and they really should be looking at some of the more long term maintenance issues, like the ones at IASW. They are hell bent on building new resorts, but they can't do anything with the 20K lagoon except let it turn into a stagnant pond. Heck, fill it with fish, and sell the old bread from the restaurants to people as fish food. Even that would be better than what's there now. I often wonder what Walt thinks about WDW as he looks down on us. Ours is a different era. The Disney company has to worry about Wall Street, not just Main Street, and that makes me a little sad, because it wasn't always that way.

At any rate, I've rambled enough. I love WDW, just like the rest of you, and I think it's awesome that we all care this much. It's awesome that we have a website this great to come to and discuss these things. Thanks to Steve for that! I think it says volumes that we now have over 3,300 members on this discussion board!

I guess I'll add one more thought to this mess of a post... I just wanted to throw out a word...PASSION. Be passionate about WDW, and the rest of the Disney empire for that matter. If you see something you don't like, don't just gripe about it, write to the company. If you think a ride is dirty, SAY SOMETING. Go talk to someone in guest relations, write an email when you get home, hell, write to Eisner, just tell someone what you think. If you see someone littering in a park, SAY SOMETHING. Even if you them off, at least you've got them thinking about it for the next time. If a CM is nice to you, THANK THEM and tell them how much you appreciate it, because it lets them know they matter. Will any of this do any good? Who knows. But just think about what could happen if we ALL did it......

 

[redkenwolf]

I couldn't agree more that part of the problem is that the WDW and DL guests don't respect the magic of Disney. But I have a feeling that there isn't as much of the magic of Disney in Disney hear lately. I understand Disney has to keep up with the times and change for society, but look at the DIsney Channel. I remember sitting in the living room as a little girl and watching Merry Melodies with all the great Disney characters. Now it is so hard to find Disney animated cartoons and such other than in the stores to buy. The only characters I have seen repeated are in the THOUSANDS of remakes- Lion King !! Return of Jafar, Return to Neverland etc. I'm not saying I don't love Disney's new movies and Lilo and Stitch looks hilarious but I guess I just don't think it has as much ummph as previous movies. I don't know maybe it is just me and I'm not wanting much change but I guess it breaks my heart sometimes.

But I also couldn't agree more that a marjority of the problem in the parks is the lack of respect from the guests. I hate it. My family is a Disney family. My dad has gone there since he was little and so have I. And he always told me since I was four years old that Disney was like our vacation home- and if we were going to come back the next year I better not do anything there that I wouldn't think about doing at home.

 

[dizpins14]

Well yes people shouldn't throw their trash on the ground but I see Cast members with brooms just step over it cause they are too lazy. The cast members are just plain rude now. I had a monorail person yell at us and call us names in front of us, because I didn't take my little brother off my shoulders at the monorail station. He said when we walked up "you are going to need to take him down" I figuered he ment before entering the monorail. So when we are waiting for the monorail to come, he runs over and starts yelling at us for not listening to him. Guest Relations is a joke now the do nothing. I remember you would get appologies when I cast memeber is rude now they just say "they are under stress. It's not our fault" it is there fault for having idiots work for the parks. It's rediculous. I love Disney but there has been a noticable change over the last year or two of the quality the parks have become.

 

[WDWFanatic]

I agree with just about everything said. They do need to fill in their blank spots and slow down with new parks. Concentrate on what you have built and the clients you are dealing with now. Disney is still the best place to go to get away and i dont think i will ever not be a huge Disney fan. As long as the parks are clean employees keep the Disney attitude and they keep the new ideas comming they will be forever the greatest. Thats why so many companies are adapting disney customer service and attitude into their own programs. I hope there are some higher ups on the disney food chain that read these forums. We are quite a group.

 

[leeocean]

I've never really noticed a trash problem when I went there. However, I do think some people just shouldn't be allowed in Disney because they do not respect other people's property. I hate the litterers (find a trash can - there's one every 18 steps), the smokers (there are designated areas) and line cutters (get a freakin FastPass if you don't want to wait). It's not completely Disney's fault just some of the trash that goes there.

 

[Dwarful]

We just got back from our ten day vacation. We were there May 25-June 3. The trash situation was at its worst after June 1st. It was not the fault of guests ignoring the cans..it was the fault of the cans NOT BEING EMPTIED! People just started piling up the trash around the cans. it got worse as the day went on and people started dumping the trash in the ride lines. Disney should realize that with high temps. they will sell lots of drinks...meaing lots more trash! We are true Disney Fans. But this trip we noticed alot less Magic than usual. We were at Epcot at 820am and guest relations only had one window open and a line 15 people deep. When we checked into our resort our CM was extremely less than friendly. On the other hand. Vickie, our monorail driver was the nicest, sweetest person we ran into. The girls sat in the front with her, she let them go the whole way around because they didnt want to get off so we ended up back at the Magic Kingdom which was fine with us anyway. Several of the bus drivers yelled at us. One guy even started letting people get on the bus before we got off...we had 3 adults, five children and one stroller..needless to say my husband was not to thrilled with that experience. The driver just said "Well, at this place you have to be fast on your toes to avoid problems!" We noticed several instances like this that we have never encountered before. But we will go back, we love Disney, wejust dont want to see it slide downhill!

 

[redkenwolf]

I'm sorry there were problems for you Dwarful. I've never stayed at a Disney resort before and we are going to WDW in January for our Honeymoon and we are staying at the AKL. I've either heard really good comments about how wonderful the CMs were and I've also heard that since this is the newest hotel the newer CMs are not as into Disney as the more experienced older ones at other hotels so they tend to be ruder.

 

[WDWFanatic]

http://www.wdwblues.com/

This site has the white glove out and looking for all disney defects that arent being attended to.

 

[Dwarful]

My husband tells me that our problems were minor and they were..nothing that kept us from having a great time. We had some excellent CM's and kept our eyes peeled for Tyler..but never found him. I will hit the site above to let them know of our experience...mostly ours was with the trash and one slightly rude bus driver...we just really missed all the joking around the drivers used to do. I must add that we had the five kids and we did get luggage assistance at All Star Movies without any problems, something I thought wasnt available at the AS Resorts.