In defense of these cm's about barking orders. Unfortunatley we have to do that. At each attraction we strive to hit a certain number of riders per hour. We call it our OHRC. If we arent hitting that OHRC constantly we usually have managers on our back yelling at us to pick up the pace. You will see this yelling alot at attractions with Fastpass. They have to merge the fastpass line and the regular line. The faster that the people load and unload, the faster the line moves and the less complaints we get from people in the stand by line. When we are moving the station along quick also it will reduce guest wait time. This isnt great show but sometimes we have to do it. We dont do it all the time and most of us try to do it in a manner that doesnt upset guest.
I'm all for moving rides along as fast and efficiently as possible...I certainly get the whole point of good operations management...but managers also need to be mindful of guest experiences...I personally would be put off by a cast member barking orders of my family...and I'm the sort of guest that would report that kind of treatment to a shift supervisor... I'm THAT guest...the one that makes sure management knows about a CM that goes "above and beyond" and also THAT guest that makes sure they know about service that falls way short.
I would be very upset that you CMs would have such pressure put upon you that management would prefer you bark orders at guests rather then treat them with the usual decorum. Especially on rides like Space Mountain or Kali River Rapids that can be QUITE intimidating to young, first time riders... I know last year my daughter was very anxious about riding Kali River Rapids the first time... I certainly didn't want to push her to go on the ride...but she was walking a thin line between whether she felt brave enough to do it... I'd have hated to have waited in line with her only to have her bail at the last minute because a CM frightened her right over the edge! (In the end she liked the ride... but she could have easily backed out at the last minute!)
Your managers should not expect you to be drill sargents while operating a ride... I get that some guests just go "tharn" when it's time to load a ride... that probably drives you a bit crazy when you've got quotas to meet...but you gotta do the best you can with what you've got.
Me? I'm always on the alert for someone looking for another single rider (we still have small children that require us to baby swap, so I am often riding alone these days)...so I'll help make up the difference in keeping the lines moving.
Overall, I find that Disney CMs are extremely courteous and helpful... I certainly WOULD have reported the CM that shrugged his/her shoulders about the bathroom conditions..
Back in the 70s when the parks opened, the bathrooms and streets were so clean I swear you could've eaten off them... Over the decades Disney has become much dirtier overall...but still heads and shoulders above any other place around.
As for the guest experiences... that happens... I find that you have to look at the numbers. Considering the huge numbers of people that Disney attracts, the overwhelming majority of guests are EXTREMELY well behaved. This is why the guests that DON'T behave stick out like sore thumbs. And yes, they really can ruin the magic... You've just gotta step over them and step around them, and pity them that they "don't get it." I try to excuse teenagers left to run loose and realize that they are in a very self-centered stage of their lives...hopefully they'll learn, eventually. I agree that it is more bothersome when whole families condone bad behavior... And people who keep their kids in the parks so long without a break that they are screaming and crying their frustration need to get a clue...they ruin it for the rest of us with kids who are allowed to be well rested and expected to behave...guests without kids tend to lump us all together... (I have a schedule that I try to stick to that requires a lot of extra work on my part--getting the kids up and ready and out the door EARLY in the morning--when they are anxious and rearing to go, but DH and I are still strying to get our eyes screwed back in--but we get more done and get OUT of the parks for a mid afternoon break before trying to tackle something else).
My biggest gripe is with smokers who don't observe park rules in regards to that particularly nasty habit. I don't want to be walking in a crowd behind someone s__________g on a cigarette... I don't need to be sharing in that...or worrying that I'm going to get a cigarette burn when trying to navigate a crowd. (That's happened more times than I'd like to count).
Okay...this got longer than I'd anticipated!!!
Disney still rocks... the positives outweigh the negatives by a titanic margin. :sohappy: And the CM's are better than any other employees anywhere!
