Fun With Numbers: MK Maingate Blackout Edition

[matt9112]

Not sure why you're jumping down my thorat. All I said was that I think it's absurd I can't get my family into MK for all of December. Entitled would be writing an essay on all the ways this ruins my life. (Hint: it doesnt) It's just an inconvenience, nothing more.

Also, I'm not sure what my being a millenial has to do with any of this? Yeah, I am. So what? You don't know MY life. And what is a "real job" to you? You sound like the type of person who sits behind a desk all day, which would explain your contempt and "I'm better than thou" attitude you continually show for Disney CMs on this board. So why don't you take about 50 steps off your pedestal?

bravo. your service is greatly appreciated millions of memory's are made (to some extent) by you.

edit (this goes for any cast member)

 

[RWilliams]

I find it VERY interesting that the staunchest defenders of TWDC seem to look down upon the 'lowly' CM the people who make the magic possible. At one time being a CM was one of the best jobs in Central FL, Now with "Todays Disney" many CM's are forced to live in Igervilles. And these same 'Defenders of Disney' applaud the devaluation of one of the last remaining CM benefits.

This! So much this! Thank you. It's a disturbing trend isn't it? As cast we know we don't mean much to the company (they make it more and more obvious each year) but we stay in jobs we love because of the happiness we can bring to people. Then to see comments like that from the "fans" really hurts. What if all of us who cared about the guests and go above and beyond every day left to get "real jobs"?

 

[BigThunderMatt]

So word is now spreading that seasonal Cast Members who only had 6 entrances per main entrance pass per year are having their passes cut completely. Disney is starting to make it less and less attractive to work for the company than it already was, I wouldn't be surprised to see them remove main gates for all but salaried cast members within the next 5 years. It's a shame really.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So word is now spreading that seasonal Cast Members who only had 6 entrances per main entrance pass per year are having their passes cut completely. Disney is starting to make it less and less attractive to work for the company than it already was, I wouldn't be surprised to see them remove main gates for all but salaried cast members within the next 5 years. It's a shame really.

Good. The only reason seasonal cast members exist is to abuse and exploit the main entrance pass privilege. I know people who lived in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and other places who would maintain "seasonal" status for no reason other than to get free park entry. They'd go down to Orlando for a week at a time to log their hours and keep their status active just so they'd keep passes and merch discounts. It's a complete joke and it was never the intent of the seasonal program. The program was supposed to be to supplement the labor force during the busiest times of the year, not for CMs from the northeast to pick and choose when they felt like working for the company in order to receive inordinate amounts of perks.

Seasonal cast are also among the worst abusers of the merchandise discount, buying products in the parks or at DisneyStore.com at a 20 or 35% discount and reselling them for a profit.

 

[ford91exploder]

So word is now spreading that seasonal Cast Members who only had 6 entrances per main entrance pass per year are having their passes cut completely. Disney is starting to make it less and less attractive to work for the company than it already was, I wouldn't be surprised to see them remove main gates for all but salaried cast members within the next 5 years. It's a shame really.

Yet more financial engineering, The more I see of this the more I wonder about the fundamentals of the company, At least in my experience the 'seasonal' employees tended to be snowbirds who really loved Disney and WDW. I agree that the maingate pass is probably the next benefit to disappear. Disney figures it can get cheap immigrant labor to run WDW and these workers will be so cowed and happy to have ANY job that benefits will cease to be an issue. Color me disgusted.

 

[Nubs70]

Good. The only reason seasonal cast members exist is to abuse and exploit the main entrance pass privilege. I know people who lived in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and other places who would maintain "seasonal" status for no reason other than to get free park entry. They'd go down to Orlando for a week at a time to log their hours and keep their status active just so they'd keep passes and merch discounts. It's a complete joke and it was never the intent of the seasonal program. The program was supposed to be to supplement the labor force during the busiest times of the year, not for CMs from the northeast to pick and choose when they felt like working for the company in order to receive inordinate amounts of perks.

Seasonal cast are also among the worst abusers of the merchandise discount, buying products in the parks or at DisneyStore.com at a 20 or 35% discount and reselling them for a profit.

Why not just raise the minimum required hours to qualify as seasonal?

 

[ford91exploder]

Why not just raise the minimum required hours to qualify as seasonal?

It's obvious why not this move allows Disney to eliminate an entire benefit class and it's administration costs.

 

[friendofafriend]

Why not just raise the minimum required hours to qualify as seasonal?

They tried that already, the results must not have been as favorable (for the company) as they expected. Seasonal status went for needing to work one shift a year to 150 hours on a rolling calendar with much more stringent guidelines and a tedious quarterly check in procedure.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Why not just raise the minimum required hours to qualify as seasonal?

They upped it to 150 hours a year divided into quarters like three years ago.

Example: You go seasonal January 1st. You have until January 1st of next year to work 150 hours to maintain your status or be separated from the company. You divide it evenly between all four quarters (not the most likely scenario) which means you work 37.5 hours every quarter. When January 1st hits the following year, the initial 37.5 hours you worked from January to April of the prior year have now fallen off your total and you have until April 1st to regain that many hours.

Now, like I said, this wasn't that common. More likely you'd see someone frontload the hours on their first year, working 80-90 hours in the first quarter. That's all well and good but guess what? When the first quarter of the next year hits, you have to work another 80-90 hours to make up the difference, assuming you only did the 150 minimum. This doesn't sound that hard except for the fact that Disney requires the Cast Member's to provide the availability, but Disney isn't obligated to schedule them. Seasonal Cast Members are the absolute last Cast Member scheduled into any area. It's more likely they get their hours from picking up shifts from other people rather than actually being scheduled.

What @CaptainAmerica described was what lead to the initial change in hour requirements, and was a follow-up to a previous decision where Seasonal Cast Members had to actually work one 8 hour shift before receiving their main entrance pass for the year.

 

[Mike C]

The passes provided for the families burn through very quick with 2-3 kids and the crazy amount of blackout dates.

So effectively the MK blackout dates (for example, the entirety of October) very much limited them. We are talking about full time long term cast members, not seasonal. They are calling it an indirect pay cut. They love there job, but are for the first time, seriously considering getting out.

What it'll effectively do is drive down the quality of cast members and rely more and more on college program folks as some of the longer term cast members reach their limits. "The remainder are just suckers" is what I've heard a few say. These benefit drops *ARE* lowering morale across the board, even among the full timers. (They aren't oblivious to whats happening to their seasonal co-workers)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It's obvious why not this move allows Disney to eliminate an entire benefit class and it's administration costs.

Yeah... that's not true at all. The cost to administer the benefit to seasonal cast is zero. The program is already in place for full-timers and it doesn't cost any more or less to add or subtract names from the eligibility list.

 

[ford91exploder]

Yeah... that's not true at all. The cost to administer the benefit to seasonal cast is zero. The program is already in place for full-timers and it doesn't cost any more or less to add or subtract names from the eligibility list.

In business EVERYTHING has a cost that's allocated on a per-employee basis. If you eliminate a benefit for a class of employee there is always a 'savings' Plus every maingate and employee pass from the POV of management is one fewer paying guest so PCGS (including admission) is diluted by this benefit.

It's just reality in a world managed by spreadsheets - you take away a benefit you have 'saved money' from a cost accounting perspective EVEN if you spend the same amount of cash on benefit administration. You also create an argument for removing the benefit altogether because by removing it from SOME employees the cost goes up for the remaining employees.

 

[ford91exploder]

The passes provided for the families burn through very quick with 2-3 kids and the crazy amount of blackout dates.

So effectively the MK blackout dates (for example, the entirety of October) very much limited them. We are talking about full time long term cast members, not seasonal. They are calling it an indirect pay cut. They love there job, but are for the first time, seriously considering getting out.

What it'll effectively do is drive down the quality of cast members and rely more and more on college program folks as some of the longer term cast members reach their limits. "The remainder are just suckers" is what I've heard a few say. These benefit drops *ARE* lowering morale across the board, even among the full timers. (They aren't oblivious to whats happening to their seasonal co-workers)

Just a matter of time before the maingate and passes are pulled entirely from hourly employees.

 

[matt9112]

Just a matter of time before the maingate and passes are pulled entirely from hourly employees.

With current attendance trends and the hyberbolic rate of exspansion.....wouldn't shock me. Granted according to @CaptainAmerica we should just cut operating costs and that will some how fix the problems. That seasonal program seems a little silly. Not seasonal in the terms of say Wal mart where you are more or less guaranteed hours for two months or so. Looks like it's more as a sort of overflow.. I cry when I work only 40 hours....these guys should be chomping at the bit for these hours.

 

[emcclay]

If they pull maingate admission from FT CM's, that gives me more of a reason to leave and explore another career. It would also give current CM's (that enjoy this benefit) a reason to leave. This would probably be a horrible decision for the company to make. CM's, and certainly CP's, give lots of their paycheck back to the company through merchandise, resort reservations, dining, etc. If they don't plan on raising the pay, I don't foresee many CM's choosing to stay.

 

[ford91exploder]

If they pull maingate admission from FT CM's, that gives me more of a reason to leave and explore another career. It would also give current CM's (that enjoy this benefit) a reason to leave. This would probably be a horrible decision for the company to make. CM's, and certainly CP's, give lots of their paycheck back to the company through merchandise, resort reservations, dining, etc. If they don't plan on raising the pay, I don't foresee many CM's choosing to stay.

The problem is a management team which could use experience on the 'front lines' so to speak, An 'Undercover Boss' experience would do wonders for the current TWDC management team, You have a management team which NEVER visits the park unless surrounded by a platoon of plaid's. A far cry from the Eisner days when Eisner wore fur and dished out QS so he could experience the park and it's operations first hand.

The problem is the current management would be happy if the majority of the 'long term' CM's quit they would replace them with CP'ers and recent immigrants many of whom are functionally illiterate in English, Yes it's not PC but it's true in an putatively english speaking facility I should not have to rely on my high school spanish to communicate with the staff. These people are the ones truly being taken advantage of by TWDC as they are largely unaware of their rights as workers and are simply happy to have a job no matter how badly they are treated.

The key issue is to the Igerbots to them WDW is a place where MONEY happens, Not a place where MAGIC happens and insane amounts of money is a side effect of the magic.

 

[Katie G]

They aren't taking away all seasonal employee admissions. They are just requiring a certain number of hours worked to get 3, 6 and 9 admissions. They tiered it not removed it. And the changes don't go into effect until next year.

Seriously though... Cry a river much? How does changes to seasonal CM park benefits create such animosity? Like someone said earlier, majority of these Seasonal CM don't even live in Florida and work the minimum hours to get free park entry. So by limiting the admissions for CM that don't work consistently year round, you COULD give greater benefits to the CM that work full time or part-time on a regular basis. Getting a little extra benefit for working regularly is a great thing.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

They aren't taking away all seasonal employee admissions. They are just requiring a certain number of hours worked to get 3, 6 and 9 admissions. They tiered it not removed it. And the changes don't go into effect until next year.

Do these admissions allow the seasonal CM to let Guests in? Or do they essentially work like comp tickets? The reason this is creating such animosity is because Disney loves to conduct "tests" like this. If this proves to be a "success" with Seasonal Cast Members based on heavily skewed data, they will move to make the change with full and part time hourly Cast Members next.

 

[Katie G]

Do these admissions allow the seasonal CM to let Guests in? Or do they essentially work like comp tickets? The reason this is creating such animosity is because Disney loves to conduct "tests" like this. If this proves to be a "success" with Seasonal Cast Members based on heavily skewed data, they will move to make the change with full and part time hourly Cast Members next.

The way I understand it is that these admissions are the # of times they can use their Guest passes. Employee self-admission is rarely blocked out and would be blocked out for all CM at the same time, not just Seasonal. Guest pass use would be tiered based on the number of hours worked. Once a Seasonal CM gets to a certain level of hours worked, they unlock the additional Guest Pass usage.

 

[ford91exploder]

Do these admissions allow the seasonal CM to let Guests in? Or do they essentially work like comp tickets? The reason this is creating such animosity is because Disney loves to conduct "tests" like this. If this proves to be a "success" with Seasonal Cast Members based on heavily skewed data, they will move to make the change with full and part time hourly Cast Members next.

Exactly so