Do you think Disney has changed?

[burninup4nick]

I love WDW alot and I dont want this to make people think I dont but Im just really curious if anyone else feels this way.

On our recent trip in October we noticed alot of things in Disney were very poorly maintained.

For one in the TSM line right before you bored there was a HUGE place where paint had been removed from the wall and it was really noticeable. We rode the ride two days in a row and it wasnt fixed the next day either.

There was also a lot of spider webs at Pop century in the staircases....and alot of the hedges at pop needed to be trimmed badly.

In Soarin...by the sign on the wall that says Soarin in the waiting area...there was a bunch of dirt and stuff that was accumulating...it was there three days in a row.

And also there were people working on the outside of the American Idol experience while the park was still open.

I remember when You NEVER saw anything dirty or unpainted in WDW. There wasnt a detail that wasnt tended to. Everything was perfect and spotless. And I dont recall ever seeing or hearing people working on construction for an attraction. I thought at night they were supposed to go in and touch all this stuff up and make it look perfect for the next day.

I still love Disney and Im not trying to like complain about it but I just wondered if other people noticed it too or if I was loosing my mind.

Thank you!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Walt Disney World gets better and better every time I visit.

Do I sometimes notice little glitches? Sure, but compared to a Six Flags or other park, Disney is still head and shoulders above the rest.

 

[disneydiva72]

I love WDW alot and I dont want this to make people think I dont but Im just really curious if anyone else feels this way.

On our recent trip in October we noticed alot of things in Disney were very poorly maintained.

For one in the TSM line right before you bored there was a HUGE place where paint had been removed from the wall and it was really noticeable. We rode the ride two days in a row and it wasnt fixed the next day either.

There was also a lot of spider webs at Pop century in the staircases....and alot of the hedges at pop needed to be trimmed badly.

In Soarin...by the sign on the wall that says Soarin in the waiting area...there was a bunch of dirt and stuff that was accumulating...it was there three days in a row.

And also there were people working on the outside of the American Idol experience while the park was still open.

I remember when You NEVER saw anything dirty or unpainted in WDW. There wasnt a detail that wasnt tended to. Everything was perfect and spotless. And I dont recall ever seeing or hearing people working on construction for an attraction. I thought at night they were supposed to go in and touch all this stuff up and make it look perfect for the next day.

I still love Disney and Im not trying to like complain about it but I just wondered if other people noticed it too or if I was loosing my mind.

Thank you!

I agree with you 100%, I have noticed everything you have stated and much much more which is why this will be our last year for a long while, we are going to see some vacation life outside of the "world"

 

[fosse76]

Walt Disney World gets better and better every time I visit.

Do I sometimes notice little glitches? Sure, but compared to a Six Flags or other park, Disney is still head and shoulders above the rest.

Not just that, but is Disney slacking, or are people merely more prone to notice these little "glitches" that may have existed "back in the day" and simply didn't notice them? An example would be peeled paint. Is it really true that Disney would have spotted it the day it happened and painted it immediately? I doubt it. Small things that people here seem to nitpick about (peeling paint, cobwebs, etc.) can happen on such a microscale that it could take weeks before a CM would notice and have repaired. I mean really, do people think that the appearance of a spiderweb in a staircase at Pop Century is the topmost concern of Disney executives?

And do people honestly believe that "back in the day" CMs walked around the property daily looking in every single crevice and fixture for any imperfections? I am starting to think that people's perceptions have changed based on what they are expecting to see, and are simply more prone to notice things when they aren't perfect.

Perhaps it DOES take them longer to get to repairs, but that doesn't mean things were instantaneously repaired "back in the day" as so many here like to say happened (again, talking on a microscale). The OP said there was never anything left unpainted or dirty...but is that really true? Simply because he didn't notice it doesn't mean it wasn't there. "Back in the day" he may not have been looking for those things...but he was clearly looking for them now. And you will always find imperfections when you are looking for them. There are more visitors now than ever, so daily wear and tear is expected, and you can't possibly expect that small minor imperfections of no real consequence are going to be dealt with immediately.

 

[Kelsybelle]

I don't know what to say...nothing stays the same forever but I always thought of Disney as something that would get better with age, not the other way around. Hopefully this is just a glitch in management and things will improve.

I didn't notice that things were poorly maintained on my last visit this past April but I did notice that some people were very disrespectful with their trash, such as tossing or leaving a water bottle on the ground, ice cream wrappers being thrown on the ground, things like that. It broke my heart! I was actually picking trash up and throwing it away...

 

[rsoxguy]

 

[daliseurat]

I agree with the OP. I love Disney, I do. But I do see that upkeep is NOT what it used to be. You never used to see cobwebs and dirty areas. They were kept clean by conscientious cast members. It takes very little time to clean up many of these small messes if you do them as you se them. I used to play a game where I'd drop a piece of rubbish and see how long it took for a cast member to notice. It used to take seconds. Now it could be hours or never. Cast member quality has gone down, and I'm betting it's more of a MANAGER problem than a frontline problem. Most cast members I've encountered are still wonderful. But a growing number of them seem to only do specifically what they are told, instead of what needs to be done.

 

[Chernabog]

While i don't disagree that the park has changed some, i also think that in our deep love and devotion and attention to detail we're more critical now than say when we first visited.
Everyone remembers how clean the park was the first time they went, but go more often and you'll notice that there really is trash on the grounds. Not as much as any other place as heavily populated, but it's not a perfect world.
And unfortunately in order to save money for the company and the guests lots of outside contractors are hired for work and they only operate during the day time. Saving moeny up front saves money for you down the line. Think how much more expensive tickets could be.

I agree with the OP that things don't seem as great and perfect as they once were and maybe i'm too critical, or maybe it is declining. But you can help by simply pointing these little "mistakes" out to cast members. When you see the same thing everyday you sometimes forget to really look. Perhaps no one really noticed it except you.
Tell someone and help keep your favorite place the way you like it to be...or clean it yourself (if you can of course).

 

[Luxornv]

Cast member quality has gone down, and I'm betting it's more of a MANAGER problem than a frontline problem. Most cast members I've encountered are still wonderful. But a growing number of them seem to only do specifically what they are told, instead of what needs to be done.

That seems to be a quality of people working anywhere today. People seem to be under the impression that if they are not told to do it or it's not explicitly in their job description, then they don't have to do it. There are still people that will go to the wall for their jobs, but there are just a lot fewer of them now.

 

[Susan Savia]

Funny we've never noticed these things. :veryconfu Too busy taking in the magic, the sounds, the smells and overall experience I guess.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Beat me to it.:lol:

I'm really getting sick of these threads...:lol:

 

[DisneyJoe]

I used to play a game where I'd drop a piece of rubbish and see how long it took for a cast member to notice. It used to take seconds. Now it could be hours or never.

So let me understand - you would drop a piece of rubbish to see how long it took before a cast member would notice - and you would leave it there for hours or longer???

I think you should set some time limits on your own game and clean up after yourself....

 

[slappy magoo]

So let me understand - you would drop a piece of rubbish to see how long it took before a cast member would notice - and you would leave it there for hours or longer???

I think you should set some time limits on your own game and clean up after yourself....

Amen to that.

Like any business, WDW risks being micromanaged to death. It keeps getting bigger, yet they keep trying to cut costs to improve the bottom line (and in the current economic climate, that's going to get worse before it gets better). Almost like a microcosm of the nation as a whole, we may start to notice little things within the infrastructure that go unattended for far too long, but in the grand scheme, they're not considered an immediate necessity to fix or improve. But by that time, the rot seeps deeper within the infrastructure. By the time they figure out they've been pushing off extremely necessary improvements to save, in retrospect, chump change, there is intense need for even larger, more comprehensive (and more expensive) repairs.

I hope that's not what happened, and certainly WDW's management can take a step to make sure this doesn't happen as long as they don't mind eating into the profits a little more. Is it worth stockholders taking a hit of a few pennies per share if it means staving off major repair to the infrastructure, which would cost even more, later on? Who wants to be that whistle blower if/when the time comes?

 

[RonAnnArbor]

I don't think this problematic trend is new -- it started in 2000 or so, and has gotten progressively worse as time has gone on --

Between Disney's own budget cuts, and the inability to find adequate work staff across the entire "World", you have lots of things...

In addition to the painting and dirt, there are also cracks in sidewalks, weeds growing in the flower beds, unrepaired cracks in wood on benches throughout the property, and other increasing maintenance issues.

This is due to not only the labor issues, but also the aging park infrastructure which now requires more upkeep than it ever did -- add to that failing economy and less money spent on the physical plant, and you will see things like that popping up.

 

[disney9752]

I love WDW alot and I dont want this to make people think I dont but Im just really curious if anyone else feels this way.

On our recent trip in October we noticed alot of things in Disney were very poorly maintained.

For one in the TSM line right before you bored there was a HUGE place where paint had been removed from the wall and it was really noticeable. We rode the ride two days in a row and it wasnt fixed the next day either.

There was also a lot of spider webs at Pop century in the staircases....and alot of the hedges at pop needed to be trimmed badly.

In Soarin...by the sign on the wall that says Soarin in the waiting area...there was a bunch of dirt and stuff that was accumulating...it was there three days in a row.

And also there were people working on the outside of the American Idol experience while the park was still open.

I remember when You NEVER saw anything dirty or unpainted in WDW. There wasnt a detail that wasnt tended to. Everything was perfect and spotless. And I dont recall ever seeing or hearing people working on construction for an attraction. I thought at night they were supposed to go in and touch all this stuff up and make it look perfect for the next day.

I still love Disney and Im not trying to like complain about it but I just wondered if other people noticed it too or if I was loosing my mind.

Thank you!

I think this is one of the causilties of the "Eisner era" that will never get fixed. Things were very well maintained, routine maitenance was done during non operating hours, the parks & resorts used to be maintained better. i will give an example i found during my trip at the beginning of October. One of the resorts on the monorail loop, i went to lunch at one day, used the restroom in an "off the beaten path" area. I noticed in the stall that it looked like someone had blown their nose on the wall & a cm was just leaving the restroom when i went in. I went in almost 24 hours later, the same spot still there. when i was leaving a custodial cm went in the restroom, now 48 hours later being the 3rd day of my trip i went in the same restroom again. a cm was in there cleaining again, was just finishing up as i went in. I went in the same stall & the same nasty "snot" was still all over the wall. I used a different stall again that day, but when i left i went to one of the resort courtesy phones & called the front desk & ask 2 have the duty manager paged to come to the area i was in. it took a lil while, but another manager with a blackberry came by, i stopped him EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked if he was the duty manager he said no but can i help you, i said ummm sure i want to show you this nasty spot that has been on this bathroom wall for 3 days now. after we left he was on his blackberry having someone sent 2 clean it immediately. now i can say that before eisner came along that this would have never happened. not to mention the nasty condition of the monorails, from what i recall, the mark IV's were cleaned nightly, the VI never was thus the nasty shape they are in.

 

[MR. CRAFTSMAN]

It is ironic that on the aniversery of Jonestown I am reminded that some poeple refused to see that they were drinking the poisened KoolAid. Same thing here some people refuse to see the bad in anything. This past trip my wife and I ate outside of Pecos Bills by the fry cart and there were two Disney cleaning crew poeple and they stood and talked for over a 1/2 hour while the dirty tables did not get cleaned finally when we left I disposed of the refuse and was appalled by the worker behavior. This is not the only time seeing things like this. I for one love Disney but it is lacking the true cleanliness it wonse had.
So :fork:flame away I am sure that Disney will send out more juice!!!!!!!!!

 

[daliseurat]

So let me understand - you would drop a piece of rubbish to see how long it took before a cast member would notice - and you would leave it there for hours or longer???

I think you should set some time limits on your own game and clean up after yourself....

Okay...I'm exaggerating. I would drop...say a gum wrapper. Used to be it would literally be picked seconds later. Last time I did it, last year, I dropped it while I was taking a break, sitting for 15-20 minutes. Several cast members were in the vicinity. I watched them walk past it, over it etc. And there was more bits of rubbish dropping from other folks as well. After twenty minutes, I got up to leave, and yes, picked up my own rubbish, as well as some other peoples. Any place other than Disney, this would be normal. My point is that things used to be WAY better in the pride and upkeep department. People doing their jobs properly and and taking pride in it s something I have always enjoyed about WDW. And they still do it better than everyone else. But not as good as they themselves once did.

 

[disney4life2008]

I agree with the OP. I love Disney, I do. But I do see that upkeep is NOT what it used to be. You never used to see cobwebs and dirty areas. They were kept clean by conscientious cast members. It takes very little time to clean up many of these small messes if you do them as you se them. I used to play a game where I'd drop a piece of rubbish and see how long it took for a cast member to notice. It used to take seconds. Now it could be hours or never. Cast member quality has gone down, and I'm betting it's more of a MANAGER problem than a frontline problem. Most cast members I've encountered are still wonderful. But a growing number of them seem to only do specifically what they are told, instead of what needs to be done.

I love the Disney College Program. However, I think that Disney has placed a lot of the visible jobs on the college program students (dining, cleaning, host/hostess, etc). While it is nothing wrong with that, I think that may contribute to some of the Disney change. Many years ago, I remember even the cleaning crews (at the worst jobs imaginable), smiled when you passed them. That still exists to some degree today. But Disney has minimally changed but it is still NUMBER 1.

 

[princessrachel!]

Funny we've never noticed these things. :veryconfu Too busy taking in the magic, the sounds, the smells and overall experience I guess.

i guess we have the same disease..

 

[COProgressFan]

Amen to that.

Like any business, WDW risks being micromanaged to death. It keeps getting bigger, yet they keep trying to cut costs to improve the bottom line (and in the current economic climate, that's going to get worse before it gets better). Almost like a microcosm of the nation as a whole, we may start to notice little things within the infrastructure that go unattended for far too long, but in the grand scheme, they're not considered an immediate necessity to fix or improve. But by that time, the rot seeps deeper within the infrastructure. By the time they figure out they've been pushing off extremely necessary improvements to save, in retrospect, chump change, there is intense need for even larger, more comprehensive (and more expensive) repairs.

I hope that's not what happened, and certainly WDW's management can take a step to make sure this doesn't happen as long as they don't mind eating into the profits a little more. Is it worth stockholders taking a hit of a few pennies per share if it means staving off major repair to the infrastructure, which would cost even more, later on? Who wants to be that whistle blower if/when the time comes?

Well put. It's a shame because like you said all the supposed "little" things that go unrepaired over time are going to cost a lot more in the long run to fix. WDW is 40 years old. By deferring so much necessary maintenance, they are getting to a point where much of the major maintenance and infrastructure work will need to be done all at once and cost way more than if they had just done the smaller projects over time.

In DL, before their 50th birthday, a skilled management team came in and addressed the many of age and infrastructure issues and that mindset has continued since. I'm not sure WDW (or even WDP&R) management even sees this as a problem yet, which is concerning.

We can only hope that someone shakes things up soon and recognizes the importance of meeting the standards that were once set by Disney themselves.