News Disney Park Pass System announced for Walt Disney World theme park reservations

[mickeyfan202]

I don’t know their angles for certain…but I can take guesses from past experiences. I’m just saying that could be an angle.

Of course, I understand. This point seemed so very possible for me personally, Last fall we were on a very short trip. While at DHS, I kept hanging on to an Open Table reservation at Springs until I assessed the wait situation that day. That park makes me crazy. Despite not being a Disney restaurant, the possibility of spending $$$ on merch is possible.

Anyway, thank you to everyone for your thoughts and ideas.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Not if they staffed the park with lower expected attendance with fewer cast members.

And that's exactly what this park reservation system does. It gives them idea of how many people are going to be at each park so they can staff accordingly. Stinks for guests who decide to hop to Epcot after 2pm and the park gets busier and they don't have the staff for the increased crowds because the park wasn't expected to be "busy" per the reservation system.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

They need to start opening EVERYTHING back up to capacity. Restaurants, shows, start running attractions at full capacity... If you're going to take away the mask requirements, then there is zero reason everything shouldn't be fully up and running now. The parks are too crowded to not be running at full speed ahead now.

 

[MisterPenguin]

They need to start opening EVERYTHING back up to capacity. Restaurants, shows, start running attractions at full capacity... If you're going to take away the mask requirements, then there is zero reason everything shouldn't be fully up and running now. The parks are too crowded to not be running at full speed ahead now.

All industries and businesses are experiencing a labor shortage.

The current cap on attendance on the parks is not because of pandemic restrictions, but lack of bodies staffing the place.

(Although one could argue that lack of international CMs is due to the pandemic, but, that has nothing to do with masks or distancing.)

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They need to start opening EVERYTHING back up to capacity. Restaurants, shows, start running attractions at full capacity... If you're going to take away the mask requirements, then there is zero reason everything shouldn't be fully up and running now. The parks are too crowded to not be running at full speed ahead now.

They don’t need to when people show up and pay more for the privilege of showing up.

All industries and businesses are experiencing a labor shortage.

The current cap on attendance on the parks is not because of pandemic restrictions, but lack of bodies staffing the place.

(Although one could argue that lack of international CMs is due to the pandemic, but, that has nothing to do with masks or distancing.)

It’s the college and mostly the international program…near slave labor that they grew to about 20% of their workforce

It is what it is.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

All industries and businesses are experiencing a labor shortage.

The current cap on attendance on the parks is not because of pandemic restrictions, but lack of bodies staffing the place.

(Although one could argue that lack of international CMs is due to the pandemic, but, that has nothing to do with masks or distancing.)

Is the college program back up and running?

 

[mightynine]

And that's exactly what this park reservation system does. It gives them idea of how many people are going to be at each park so they can staff accordingly. Stinks for guests who decide to hop to Epcot after 2pm and the park gets busier and they don't have the staff for the increased crowds because the park wasn't expected to be "busy" per the reservation system.

Well, I assume they bump up staffing levels based on historical data once park hopping is active, saving them from having a full day’s expense for that.

I’m sure someone will come along and say yet again there’s a labor shortage, which sure is playing a part, but let’s not act like The Walt Disney Company wouldn’t find a way to control expenses on behalf of their shareholders, labor shortage or not.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Well, I assume they bump up staffing levels based on historical data once park hopping is active, saving them from having a full day’s expense for that.

I’m sure someone will come along and say yet again there’s a labor shortage, which sure is playing a part, but let’s not act like The Walt Disney Company wouldn’t find a way to control expenses on behalf of their shareholders, labor shortage or not.

Everything is done to benefit shareholders. They could run every attraction at half capacity with 2+ hour waits for every single one.. quick service location lines could be out the door with 2 registers open at peak times and if bringing on more staff took even a dime away from the shareholders pockets, they wouldn't hire more CMs.

 

[nickys]

Is the college program back up and running?

Yes.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Is the college program back up and running?

Yes.

The question is to what level?

 

[jasminethecat]

All industries and businesses are experiencing a labor shortage.

The current cap on attendance on the parks is not because of pandemic restrictions, but lack of bodies staffing the place.

(Although one could argue that lack of international CMs is due to the pandemic, but, that has nothing to do with masks or distancing.)

Labor shortage, I call BS on that because it implies that there aren't people willing to work. The reality is that there aren't people willing to work for what disney offers in hourly wages and benefits.

Search the web for disney's Q1 2022 financial earnings statement. Disney turned a profit of $1.5 billion dollars in the parks and experiences division. Spend some of that money and offer people better wages and benefits like they deserve. They absolutely have money to hire more people. With ~200,000 employees in 2019, 1.5Billion could offer each employee $7500 more per quarter, or $30,000 per year more, which would also save disney on taxes because they wouldn't be paying their supposed 29% income tax on the $1.5B in revenue. Ironically, medical coverage in the US typically would also cost about $7500 per year for each employee, with the employee paying 15-20% of that themselves.

What I am getting at is that Disney could actually take their profits and give everyone full coverage medical insurance with one quarter of the annual profit. And give everyone a $3.50 per hour raise (assuming everyone worked 40 hours, which I know isn't the case) with the 2nd quarter's profits. They could be greedy and keep the rest, but do you really think they'd have a labor shortage if they offered $3.50 more per hour than current plus payed for 100% of medical insurance for each cast member?

This also doesn't sound like they have staffing issues impacting their attendance. In their own words:
"In fiscal 2022, our domestic parks and experiences are generally operating without significant
mandatory COVID-19-related capacity restrictions, such as those that were in place in the prior-year quarter; however, we continue to manage capacity to address ongoing COVID-19 considerations with respect to guest and cast health and safety."

 

[DisneyCane]

Labor shortage, I call BS on that because it implies that there aren't people willing to work. The reality is that there aren't people willing to work for what disney offers in hourly wages and benefits.

Search the web for disney's Q1 2022 financial earnings statement. Disney turned a profit of $1.5 billion dollars in the parks and experiences division. Spend some of that money and offer people better wages and benefits like they deserve. They absolutely have money to hire more people. With ~200,000 employees in 2019, 1.5Billion could offer each employee $7500 more per quarter, or $30,000 per year more, which would also save disney on taxes because they wouldn't be paying their supposed 29% income tax on the $1.5B in revenue. Ironically, medical coverage in the US typically would also cost about $7500 per year for each employee, with the employee paying 15-20% of that themselves.

What I am getting at is that Disney could actually take their profits and give everyone full coverage medical insurance with one quarter of the annual profit. And give everyone a $3.50 per hour raise (assuming everyone worked 40 hours, which I know isn't the case) with the 2nd quarter's profits. They could be greedy and keep the rest, but do you really think they'd have a labor shortage if they offered $3.50 more per hour than current plus payed for 100% of medical insurance for each cast member?

This also doesn't sound like they have staffing issues impacting their attendance. In their own words:
"In fiscal 2022, our domestic parks and experiences are generally operating without significant
mandatory COVID-19-related capacity restrictions, such as those that were in place in the prior-year quarter; however, we continue to manage capacity to address ongoing COVID-19 considerations with respect to guest and cast health and safety."

Your math has an issue. If you are saying that by paying everybody more they could get more workers, you have to calculate the cost of the additional workers PLUS the additional cost for the current workers.

The conceptual issue is that the reason for a business to exist is primarily to make as much profit as it can, not to pay employees as much as possible without going into the red. Employee compensation will only increase if it is deemed to be a necessary step to maintain profit.

 

[mikejs78]

Labor shortage, I call BS on that because it implies that there aren't people willing to work. The reality is that there aren't people willing to work for what disney offers in hourly wages and benefits.

There is a labor shortage. Your BS is meaningless. Disney isn't the only company having this issue. There are far more jobs than people willing to work.

Just because you call it BS doesn't mean it is. The labor shortage is well documented outside of Disney. It's a national problem. We could get into all the reasons why, but that would be delving into politics which isn't appropriate here.

 

[monothingie]

There is a labor shortage. Your BS is meaningless. Disney isn't the only company having this issue. There are far more jobs than people willing to work.

Just because you call it BS doesn't mean it is. The labor shortage is well documented outside of Disney. It's a national problem. We could get into all the reasons why, but that would be delving into politics which isn't appropriate here.

People are also discovering that they can make more per hour at just about anywhere else with better hours and benefits than working as a CM.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There is a labor shortage. Your BS is meaningless. Disney isn't the only company having this issue. There are far more jobs than people willing to work.

Just because you call it BS doesn't mean it is. The labor shortage is well documented outside of Disney. It's a national problem. We could get into all the reasons why, but that would be delving into politics which isn't appropriate here.

…there’s this…

People are also discovering that they can make more per hour at just about anywhere else with better hours and benefits than working as a CM.

…then that


The one thing that looks to be clueless is the contention that Disney is powerless to control this at all. That is a cherry pick I can’t eat.

But I see “armchair economist” has become a thing here…we really do have a lot of geniuses around here, don’t we?

 

[TikibirdLand]

…there’s this…

…then that


The one thing that looks to be clueless is the contention that Disney is powerless to control this at all. That is a cherry pick I can’t eat.

But I see “armchair economist” has become a thing here…we really do have a lot of geniuses around here, don’t we?

Here’s the joke:
Man to woman: Would you sleep with me for one million dollars?
Woman: Sure.
Man: How about for ten dollars?
Woman: What do you think I am?
Man: We’ve already established what you are. All we’re doing is bargaining about price.

Seems to sum up the economics of labor in the US.

 

[jasminethecat]

There is a labor shortage. Your BS is meaningless. Disney isn't the only company having this issue. There are far more jobs than people willing to work.

Just because you call it BS doesn't mean it is. The labor shortage is well documented outside of Disney. It's a national problem. We could get into all the reasons why, but that would be delving into politics which isn't appropriate here.

I don't think I was being political, and if you cannot explain a labor shortage without being political then I doubt you have a good argument. Here is mine:

"Well documented labor shortage" - yes companies want to pay too little and offer no benefits to employees because it will cut into profits and they never had to do that before. During Covid we celebrated teachers and front line workers as heroes for 20 minutes then crapped on them as soon as we could. If you offer $11 per hour as a teacher's assistant and Target offers $15 an hour as a cashier, then we have a shortage of teacher's assistants. And that $15 an hour is sadly comparable to $30K starting licensed teacher salaries in many states, teaching jobs which require a 4 year degree. So we have people leaving teaching in droves. Same with bus drivers. Same with other industries. Companies need to pay more, and those unwilling or unable to pay then cry about a labor shortage. The public sector (like jobs in education) are harder hit because they require lawmakers to approve raises which takes time and public appeal, where a company can quickly react if they deem it necessary to stay in business.

The same thing happened with disney cast members who were fired when covid hit. Many of those CM's probably thought disney would have their back. Then they thought the government would have their back with unemployment benefits. When all of that ended, they ended up getting jobs elsewhere. Would they come back for better pay and better benefits? Yes. People want to make more money, they want to make enough to not worry about missing one shift and going broke. They want to be able to go to an ER and not have to file for bankruptcy. So they look for jobs with benefits and better pay. Until disney provides that, you can say it's a labor shortage but I call it a pay shortage. Unlike some small businesses which have the business model where you need to take advantage of very cheap labor on tiny profit margins, Disney is still turning 1.5 Billion in profits in the first quarter and their cruiseline isn't running at full steam (pun intended). You cannot honestly say that Disney cannot afford to offer better pay or benefits, you can only say that they choose not to. That's not a labor shortage, that's not outside of their control.

I gave specific examples of how disney could reinvest in their employees with their profits inside of that one division. Doing that would offset taxes and increase customer satisfaction, which would end up making them even more money in the long run. In their quarterly statement they made absolutely no references to labor shortages. Why is that? Please come back to me with something more than "believe me, your arguments are meaningless but I cannot say why!"

 

[DisneyCane]

I don't think I was being political, and if you cannot explain a labor shortage without being political then I doubt you have a good argument. Here is mine:

"Well documented labor shortage" - yes companies want to pay too little and offer no benefits to employees because it will cut into profits and they never had to do that before. During Covid we celebrated teachers and front line workers as heroes for 20 minutes then crapped on them as soon as we could. If you offer $11 per hour as a teacher's assistant and Target offers $15 an hour as a cashier, then we have a shortage of teacher's assistants. And that $15 an hour is sadly comparable to $30K starting licensed teacher salaries in many states, teaching jobs which require a 4 year degree. So we have people leaving teaching in droves. Same with bus drivers. Same with other industries. Companies need to pay more, and those unwilling or unable to pay then cry about a labor shortage. The public sector (like jobs in education) are harder hit because they require lawmakers to approve raises which takes time and public appeal, where a company can quickly react if they deem it necessary to stay in business.

The same thing happened with disney cast members who were fired when covid hit. Many of those CM's probably thought disney would have their back. Then they thought the government would have their back with unemployment benefits. When all of that ended, they ended up getting jobs elsewhere. Would they come back for better pay and better benefits? Yes. People want to make more money, they want to make enough to not worry about missing one shift and going broke. They want to be able to go to an ER and not have to file for bankruptcy. So they look for jobs with benefits and better pay. Until disney provides that, you can say it's a labor shortage but I call it a pay shortage. Unlike some small businesses which have the business model where you need to take advantage of very cheap labor on tiny profit margins, Disney is still turning 1.5 Billion in profits in the first quarter and their cruiseline isn't running at full steam (pun intended). You cannot honestly say that Disney cannot afford to offer better pay or benefits, you can only say that they choose not to. That's not a labor shortage, that's not outside of their control.

I gave specific examples of how disney could reinvest in their employees with their profits inside of that one division. Doing that would offset taxes and increase customer satisfaction, which would end up making them even more money in the long run. In their quarterly statement they made absolutely no references to labor shortages. Why is that? Please come back to me with something more than "believe me, your arguments are meaningless but I cannot say why!"

You oversimplify teacher's pay. When comparing teacher's pay to other jobs with similar salaries, you need to take into account that teachers get far more time off than most other jobs. They also get very good benefits and they get very good pensions that, assuming they put in enough years, pay them a higher percentage of their working salary in retirement.

It's easy to point to the starting salary (which goes up every year) to show how underpaid teachers are but there is much more to consider. Even though the starting salary might be similar, it would be much better from the standpoint of compensation to become a teacher than it would be to be a CM at WDW or a cashier at Target.

 

[TikibirdLand]

You oversimplify teacher's pay. When comparing teacher's pay to other jobs with similar salaries, you need to take into account that teachers get far more time off than most other jobs. They also get very good benefits and they get very good pensions that, assuming they put in enough years, pay them a higher percentage of their working salary in retirement.

It's easy to point to the starting salary (which goes up every year) to show how underpaid teachers are but there is much more to consider. Even though the starting salary might be similar, it would be much better from the standpoint of compensation to become a teacher than it would be to be a CM at WDW or a cashier at Target.

There are pay and compensation packages at some retail that match or exceed states. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Starbucks come to mind. Oh, and their pay is better too.

 

[Disneydad1012]

There is a labor shortage. Your BS is meaningless. Disney isn't the only company having this issue. There are far more jobs than people willing to work.

Just because you call it BS doesn't mean it is. The labor shortage is well documented outside of Disney. It's a national problem. We could get into all the reasons why, but that would be delving into politics which isn't appropriate here.

This is so true. I work for a bank. I've had 2 openings for almost 2 months. The pay is $25-$40/hr and take a guess how many applicants I've interviewed. If you guess 0 you'd be right. So money isn't always the problem.