Does anyone have inside knowledge on huge lines for Guest Relations?

[asialeigh]

If we are talking about City Hall then most of those standing in line are there for ticketing upgrades/issues, DAS (disability), dining reservations, lost and found and complaints. A good majority of it is DAS and lost and found to be honest. MyMagic+ related issues are most often directed to the Service Center which are specifically there to deal with those issues so contrary to popular belief a very slim number of those in line have to do with Magic Bands.

 

[asialeigh]

Guest Relations has tripled it's responsibilities since last January. RFID tickets, MagicBands, Park Entry, MyDisneyExperience, FastPass+, Service Centers, Regional Kiosks, DAS Cards, MemoryMaker, Credit Card Guarantees for all Restaurants, and more. It's a perfect storm of policy changes and intangible issues with technology that is operationally unstable. Couple that with the fact that their existing faculties were not expanded and that they are relying on iPads with lackluster applications, they are struggling on even the slowest days. There are no quick fixes.

You then have Cast Members and managers who are reluctant to change with the times to learn these new things. They haven't seen a significant raise based on the responsibilities they have taken on. They've also tripled the number of Cast Members on hand. These brand new Cast who don't have the level of training to effectively or efficiently solve challenges.

Then factor all of the negative things that have taken place this year... poor planning for most Limited Time Magic events, Annual Passholders not getting plastic cards, FP+ limited to resorts, then only same day FP+ for most, Downtown Disney, Candlelight changes, Frozen characters, and Monorail downtimes. Then the normal declining of degrees and standards slipping while the prices increase. Add in an ever growing population of non-domestic and non-English speaking clientele with very different cultural backgrounds too.

I hope this answers your question.

Actually the newer cast members hired are usually more capable than the older cast members because those new who are coming in are trained from the get go on how to deal with MyMagic+ where as the older cast members are thrown into it and are not used to dealing with those sort of issues.

 

[Mad Stitch]

1) The amount of people making same-day dining reservations is enormous. Or should I say trying to make same-day dining reservation. 99.9% of the time all the restaurants are fully booked, especially in the Magic Kingdom where generally only something like The Plaza might be left. You will genrally spend 10-15 minutes with each party going through an exercise in futiliy as they insist you check for an open spot at Cinderella's Royal Table. It takes a long time to get into a guest's profile in the current dining system and it also takes a while to check every table at every time at every restaurant (which is what they want). The funny part is that you will do this for one family then have to do the exact same thing you just checked and already know is full for the next family "just in case."

They need to check each individual table in the restaurant!? Regardless, it sounds like searching for dining reservations is due for a referb.

 

[jaklgreen]

Perhaps most frustratingly is that when the line is long, a cast member will come out to triage the line. This is for the guests' benefit- many of them can be helped elsewhere and don't need to be in the line. And yet, even when told this, many guests will stubbornly refuse to leave the line because they seem to think GR has some special cache or ability to make things happen.

I have witnessed this, I needed to go to the quest relations booth outside of epcot to get my new annual pass and there were 2 people(just that I saw) that all they wanted to do is by a ticket. So they walked past the ticket booths and got in line for guest services. DUMB! There was also a guy that got his tickets online somewhere and was shocked when they were invalid.

 

[Supermatt70]

Actually the newer cast members hired are usually more capable than the older cast members because those new who are coming in are trained from the get go on how to deal with MyMagic+ where as the older cast members are thrown into it and are not used to dealing with those sort of issues.

I beg to differ...

GymLeaderPhil's excellent answer pointed out that the new Cast Members are not at a level of effective problem solving. While you are correct that the new Cast Members have taken to, and may be better at, say, booking or modifying FastPass+™ for a Guest, they are woefully unskilled at anything of substance in ATS (the ticketing system). And I won't even bring up how terrible many of them are at just traditional Guest Relations of being informative and knowledgable about Walt Disney World and Disney or how a majority of the new Cast Members have no clue what empathy is or that listening to a Guest is important.

Everyone asking why there are now so many lines at Guest Relations, please, go back and read GymLeaderPhil's post. Why are there lines? Because a Cast Member that's been in Guest Relations for under 100 days is trying to solve your issue, while a Cast Member with 15 years in Plaid is standing at park entrance wearing an apron and swiping tickets/MagicBands® Into the park. Bloated; bad technology; poor hiring decisions; under paid; just plain indifferent; Guest Relations has sadly become Walt Disney World's DMV.

 

[asialeigh]

I beg to differ...

GymLeaderPhil's excellent answer pointed out that the new Cast Members are not at a level of effective problem solving. While you are correct that the new Cast Members have taken to, and may be better at, say, booking or modifying FastPass+™ for a Guest, they are woefully unskilled at anything of substance in ATS (the ticketing system). And I won't even bring up how terrible many of them are at just traditional Guest Relations of being informative and knowledgable about Walt Disney World and Disney or how a majority of the new Cast Members have no clue what empathy is or that listening to a Guest is important.

Everyone asking why there are now so many lines at Guest Relations, please, go back and read GymLeaderPhil's post. Why are there lines? Because a Cast Member that's been in Guest Relations for under 100 days is trying to solve your issue, while a Cast Member with 15 years in Plaid is standing at park entrance wearing an apron and swiping tickets/MagicBands® Into the park. Bloated; bad technology; poor hiring decisions; under paid; just plain indifferent; Guest Relations has sadly become Walt Disney World's DMV.

I am one of those newer cast members. And of course those who have been for years are much more capable than me but in my experience most of them are working the window and not service center and are unsure of many MyMagic+ related issues. And that's okay, I'm just saying in that respect newer GR CMs have had better first hand training on that.

And I take some offense to that because while many of the new CMs are uninformed I pride myself in being knowledgeable and always trying to learn more.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

I think that in reference to new versus old Cast as far as MyMagic+, it's all in how receptive they are to change and how quickly they are able to absorb new technology. Age definitely plays a factor.

The new Cast Members though aren't receiving the level of training, the attention to detail and soft skills, that the ones before did because they are simply throwing as much labor as possible to make up for MyMagic+ shortcomings. And as a result that they are pulling more people to the department - people that a year ago wouldn't have made it past the interview process.

The focus of Guest Relations has switched so much from complete resolution of a Guest's concerns to an IT escalation center with FastPasses and complimentary tickets as their quick fix bandages. Their standards have dropped significantly and it's a shame that this initiative has disrupted one of the last vestiges of excellent front line Cast Members.

 

[Susan Savia]

We went by the GR in Epcot one day last week and found it had lines coming out the door and decided to come back and about 2 hours later found no lines and walked right up to the counter. We were cancelling a dining reservation.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

They were giving out coupons for free turkey legs.

 

[tissandtully]

We went by the GR in Epcot one day last week and found it had lines coming out the door and decided to come back and about 2 hours later found no lines and walked right up to the counter. We were cancelling a dining reservation.

Can't you cancel dining reservations over the phone and on the app?

 

[wogwog]

We ended up in the guest relations line 6 or 7 times over a 3 day weekend because of a magic band that was only partially functional and a problem no one was able to resolve (unfortunately). Each encounter with the cm took a minimum of 10 minutes. Frustrating but I'm sure I'm not the only one whose had this kind of problem and has added to that lines wait time.

This is the new high volume reason for the fiasco at GR and the attraction so called FastPass Minus. Internally it is sometimes called "Igergate" or "Iger's folly". WDW has been forced to greatly expand the number of cast in GR. Plus the new position at the fancy kiosks require multiple hundreds of additional cast that will all be paid for with the next round of price increases. Day tickets up, food up, and so on. Food prices are already being methodically increased without notice by infrequent visitor. Iger will take more and more of your money to make his nightmare work.

 

[wogwog]

Can't you cancel dining reservations over the phone and on the app?

The app seldom works reliably. Many "fixes" have not solved the issue. Igergate.

 

[tissandtully]

The app seldom works reliably. Many "fixes" have not solved the issue. Igergate.

The app works great for me, I've canceled dining reservations, made new ones and all that.

 

[JimboJones123]

The app works great for me, I've canceled dining reservations, made new ones and all that.

The app works differently on different devices. I hear some of the Apple phones work perfectly. My Galaxy S3 is HORRIBLE. It has been well documented one these boards that there are much different levels of quality.

 

[Cesar R M]

the good thing of the whole mm+ debacle is.. at least they hired more people for these jobs.
the bad? the money for these guys might come from somewhere else.. so I am no surprise with the rumors of constant cuts in other zones.

 

[kelknight84]

The app works differently on different devices. I hear some of the Apple phones work perfectly. My Galaxy S3 is HORRIBLE. It has been well documented one these boards that there are much different levels of quality.

My Galaxy S3 works perfectly....

 

[RandomPrincess]

Can you still go up to any TS check in and have then cancel ADRs for you or check on other locations openings?

 

[Nubs70]

I am one of those newer cast members. And of course those who have been for years are much more capable than me but in my experience most of them are working the window and not service center and are unsure of many MyMagic+ related issues. And that's okay, I'm just saying in that respect newer GR CMs have had better first hand training on that.

And I take some offense to that because while many of the new CMs are uninformed I pride myself in being knowledgeable and always trying to learn more.

Take pride in your knowledge and desire to learn, but you are a newbie. Whether a PhD or fry technician at McDonald's, you have to acclimate to the culture to really learn how to efficiently resolve issue. Training does not equal ability to troubleshoot.

 

[asialeigh]

Can you still go up to any TS check in and have then cancel ADRs for you or check on other locations openings?

Don't believe so.

 

[ThemeParkExpert30]

Also, Don't forget as well as that some of the guests go to Guest Relations to get the special occasion buttons like the 1st Visit buttons, Anniversary buttons & the Happy Birthday buttons for family members or for friends! I have a friend who worked for Disney for 16 years & this May will be 3 years since she retired. She gets 3 people in for free & I only get to go to Disney once a year. But I always invite different friends to go with me on each of my Disney trips that I take. I always invite my friends that go with me that either have never been to Disney before & have always wanted to go to Disney or I invite my friends if they haven't been to Disney in a really long time like if they haven't been in a few years or even 15 to 16 years. For instance, Last year I had two friends go with me that hadn't been to Disney in 15 years! Whatever Disney park we start out first, I always take my friends over to Guest relations to get them a 1st Visit button or if the trip is close to their Birthday, then we go over & get them a Happy Birthday button where they put their names on the button. Usually it only takes just a couple of minutes to do that! So that's definitely another thing to add to the list on top of the other things that Guest relations does as well!