Kevin Yee- Airing of Grievances

[disney fan 13]

Thought this article sums up my feelings perfectly.

http://micechat.com/17628-walt-disney-world-grievences/

 

[Calvin Coolidge]

I hadn't actually seen pictures of the Splash Mountain nets before. That's...wow. Disappointing. That load area is BEAUTIFUL.

 

[Lee]

Fantastic article, Kevin.

 

[marni1971]

Fantastic article, Kevin.

Indeed. Especially the three paragraphs under the red trees photo.

 

[janoimagine]

Outstanding. Well done.

@KevinYee

 

[Pentacat]

Next time I'm in the Parks I'll be sure to visit guest services and draw attention to the maintenance problems. I doubt that will make a huge difference unless everyone else does the same thing but what other recourse do I have?

I talked to a BTMRR cast member while in line last year and told her that the queue really looked run down and needed some work. Her response was that maintenance was being delayed because of the upcoming down time. She was very polite about it but I think she was offended by my comments about how shabby things looked.

2012 was the first year since 2005 that I did not go to WDW and some of the problems that I saw in 2011 were a big reason why. I kept a trip log on my iPhone about all the isues that I spotted but never posted it here, now I can't find it.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

It's a shame that the end consumer cares more about the product than those entrusted with it's care.

As a consumer, it's not my job to Quality Control Disney's product. I simply let my pass expire with absolutely no regrets. I now spend my time spending money like crazy up at Universal Resort Orlando

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Kevin Yee is always at the top of his game when his article involves the phrase 'Declining by Degrees'. ​

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Yee understands TDO well: TDO is not autistic, or incompetent. No, TDO understands its business and its guests very well, and acts accordingly. If the price is increased by ten percent, and there is no consequence, then a manager would be daft not to try to increase prices the next year again.​

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However, the same mechanism applies to Yee's call to air grievances: TDO is already well aware already of fans' grievances. They just don't need to care. Because the real customer message TDO receives is that a guest who complains at City Hall is guest who returned to WDW to complain at City Hall. He's there, so he did apparantly pay the higher admission even if last time Splash and Dinosaur were crap already.​

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TDO rightly understands it can use our grievances and written complaints for toilet paper. The only airing of grievances that is effective is done with the wallet. The verbal complaint is only complementary to that. Useful insofar as it tells Disney why one is (considering) taking one's business elsewhere. ('the Yeti', or 'stinking cartoons everywhere', or 'drunks in EPCOT and a Starbucks on MS')​

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Decreased operating hours.

Hard ticket private parties.

Attractions closed without replacements.

FastPass side-effects.

There is a very depressing interplay between these four declines.

Less operating hours means less daily capacity, more private parties mean less operating hours, more closed attractions mean less operating capacity. The depressing results are overcrowding, long lines, much increased guest agression owing to overcrowded, stressful environment. Which is then adressed by fastpass.

Once upon a time, longer operating hours was my fastpass. After the fireworks there was plenty of time to do the big tickets, several times in a row, ensuring I got my day's worth of rides in. There were no private parties preventing me from doing so either.

 

[John]

All right now we have someone who articulated everything a lot of us have been trying to say for sometime. Is he too a D&G'er? Anyone dispute anything he said? Well done Kevin....Well done!

 

[John]

Could we have found....our AL Lutz?

 

[tomman710]

We were seriously considering purchasing a home in Golden Oak (totally superfluous and overpriced but we were pulled in by the living in Disney World hook), we were working through it this year with a Realtor, but ultimately the more we thought about it and were honest with ourselves ... ((besides the ridiculous money) because of the "state of the parks" we couldn't be certain that A) we would want to come back as regularly as we have in years past and B) how far in decline will the parks go before something happens and will that impact the value of the property?

We told the sales people at Golden Oak this as well ... they were nice and listened to us but ultimately I got the impression that I am sure we would get if we went to Town Hall or wrote to TDO ... "OK, who cares, you're one family, we have plenty more, don't forget to walk through the gift shop on your way out."

 

[jmb2676]

This one article summed up everything that I have felt for the last 3-4 years, but there's no way that I could have said it as well. Great job Kevin!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Next time I'm in the Parks I'll be sure to visit guest services and draw attention to the maintenance problems.

They don't bother with those type of complaints anymore. Tried once and all I got was a guest services card with email/phone/address contact info.

 

[SirLink]

Fantastic article, Kevin.

Indeed.

 

[SeaCastle]

Because the grievances that Kevin mentioned are glaringly obvious and unacceptable at any amusement park, how come more people aren't angered or upset by them? How is any of this remotely defensible? (Especially considering the company's rather robust fiscal state?)

 

[Rasvar]

I wish I could find something wrong with Kevin's article. I can't. It has gotten so bad that I just realized I have only spent eight days at WDW this year compared to eight days in Disneyland. I have to fly cross country to get to Disneyland. I'd just rather do that than make the four hour drive to Orlando right now. It is for all the reasons that are listed. WDW is rapidly approaching Disneyland of the early 2000's. I stopped going to DL for ten years because of that.
Fix it. Bring back those special items that really differentiated the experience. Keep it open later, cleaner and pay some money to fix what is broken. I'm pretty darn close to just making one long trip to SoCal every year instead of driving down to Orlando multiple times a year. I used to get excited when Disney opened something new. I still do, when it is in California. Can't say that any of the new items will make me run down to WDW. I used to never miss seeing the parks and resorts during Christmas. Always some amazing decorations. Not so much anymore. The simple things I miss - the red and green lights instead of the white on the MK facing side of the Contemporary, large displays in all of the resorts, EPCOT Lights of Winter.
I could go on and on. Kevin nailed this article.

 

[baymenxpac]

good job, kev.

and let me say: those nets at splash make me sick to my stomach.

 

[Kamikaze]

I want to read it, I really do ... but you need to fix the factualness of the first sentence. Festivus existed in the 60s.

 

[RalphinSC]

There is a very depressing interplay between these four declines.

Less operating hours means less daily capacity, more private parties mean less operating hours, more closed attractions mean less operating capacity. The depressing results are overcrowding, long lines, much increased guest agression owing to overcrowded, stressful environment. Which is then adressed by fastpass.

Once upon a time, longer operating hours was my fastpass. After the fireworks there was plenty of time to do the big tickets, several times in a row, ensuring I got my day's worth of rides in. There were no private parties preventing me from doing so either.

And the worst thing about that is those four sections were taken nearly verbatim from his article he wrote in 2008. It has only gotten worse since then.