Magic...it seems to be slipping...

[cheezbat]

So yeah so often people complain about TDO and the way things are run in Orlando and how cheap things sometimes seem...yet others defend Disney to the bitter end.

I visited the Magic Kingdom today...and yes it was a busy summer day, but I have never encountered more 'less magical'...screw it - RUDE cast members in my time. I saw several guests YELLED at instead of politely handling situations. There was a rude attendant on one of the Fantasyland dark rides today that gave me the whole, "yeah yeah get off the ride please" line. My friend even got bumped into by a cast member who wasn't watching where he was going and he just gave us this rude look. All of this is VERY Un-Disneylike.

On top of that, I continuously found trash on the ground in different places throughout the park...and even watched two cast members stroll right by napkins and cup lids on the ground in Tomorrowland.

Yes, the rocks are back and the tarp is gone on Big Thunder Mountain...yay...but the rocks aren't moving. In Splash I noticed a number of Brer Foxes that didn't move their mouths...and the guitar playing rooster in the big finale scene of the ride was hunched over his guitar. In numerous places in Tomorrowland, as well as on Crystal Palace, I noticed many lights out. What's up with maintenence?

Now, there are a number of places where people are still putting on their best smiles and being polite, as well as construction walls and fresh paint going up alot more recently it seems...but there are still very many glaring issues...and it saddens me to see the MK in this state while the Disneyland resort seems to be shining bright and running the way it should.

Is the Magic truly slipping in Orlando?

 

[Zummi Gummi]

This is gonna be a fun one!:sohappy:

 

[El Grupo]

The description could have been fitting for Disneyland just a few years ago. Knowing a bit about the turnaround in Anaheim gives me hope that the same will occur in Orlando.

 

[cheezbat]

The description could have been fitting for Disneyland just a few years ago. Knowing a bit about the turnaround in Anaheim gives me hope that the same will occur in Orlando.

Exactly...that's truly what I'm hoping for. It really saddens me to see my home park in the state it was in today. Many of the employees made me feel like I was at Six Flags or someplace other than Disney.

 

[misterID]

The description could have been fitting for Disneyland just a few years ago. Knowing a bit about the turnaround in Anaheim gives me hope that the same will occur in Orlando.

Agreed.

As for the thread, it's very, very rare when I've seen a rude CM. The worst was waiting an hour for a pizza at the boardwalk and the manager popping his head out and saying, "Oh, I forgot about you." And then one of the CM's came out and lit up a cigarette and said, "Dude, you haven't got your pizza yet? That's *effed* up." :lol:

 

[invader]

Maybe four parks is just too much to handle in these times. I also don't think money going towards new DVCs, Cruise Ships or Parks are helping with the situation.

 

[Scuttle]

Apparently Meg crofton is blind. The white lights on the grand floridian that are out look horrible and it's a crying shame that they haven't been replaced yet. It's not like it's just a couple of lights are out. It's hundreds. But even I have hopes still and am thinking it is because of the recession maintenance cuts they made a few years back.

 

[CountryBearFan]

Can we please leave Meg out of this conversation?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Can we please leave Meg out of this conversation?

Why would we leave someone out of a conversation who happens to be responsible for overseeing all maintenance and cast member affairs? She is the president of the Walt Disney World resort (and now has even more responsibility as president of the worldwide park and resorts operations). She is at the very top of maintenance approval or disapproval and it lies in her hands to decide whether to fix broken things or leave them broken (not to mention make sure cast members are doing their job properly).

I still don't get what your issue is with people who put the blame on Meg- the person who is in fact responsible for the upkeep of the parks. While she doesn't directly sweep, paint, and fix it herself (physically), she is responsible for telling the maintenance crews to do so and enforcing such maintenance. It's as simple as that, people are pointing fingers at the people directly responsible for all that goes wrong at WDW. They're also not blaming YOU for the issues either, so i dunno why you're so adamant to defend her actions (which are legendary for being poor). What's your motive for defending someone that doesn't have anything to do with you and doesn't even care about what you think or whether you defend her (unless you have some connection to her)?

 

[The Duck]

As far as the rude CM's are concerned, there's no excuse for rudeness under any circumstances but at the same time I think that I can relate to their situation. I also work in a high stress, (relatively) low paying job and every week my department manager tells me that corporate is "cutting back". The retail store where I work is so short-handed that the store can barely function on a daily basis. Corporate expects the same level of productivity with fewer people in less time since our hours keep getting cut. One of the many problems with this business strategy is that we're unable to properly wait on our customers and our department looks shabby at times. All of this results in losing more and more customers to the competition and the store is in a death spiral. Meanwhile, corporate look only at the bottom line. All of this leads to horrible employee morale and sometimes tempers can flare. The sad thing is that WDW seems to be run in a similar fashion except for the fact that our store doesn't have a turnstile ticking tens of thousands of times a day.

 

[Duckberg]

a little needed CM TIGHTEN UP :brick: @ WDW SMILE

 

[powlessfamily4]

Wow - The country is going through a heat wave. It is very hot and if you add to the mix tens of thousands of irritable over heated people in a crowded park you are sure to get some bad attitudes. I know here in Georgia we have broken a record of 56 consecutive days over the 90 with most of those hitting around 96 before any heat indices are added. Guess what... it's not just WDW. People are hot and cranky everywhere. It's been a long hot summer and we are all ready for some relief.

I say cut CMs and everyone a little slack. I agree rudeness is just not acceptable... but I can understand how it might happen.

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

I was in WDW from July 6 - 15 and didn't encounter any rude CMs. In fact, i had a great time.

However, my complaint would be with the RUDE guests. The trash thrown on the ground in the queues is inexcusable. Big Thunder Mountain's queue was so bad you were wading through trash. For this I blame tourists not CMs.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Wow - The country is going through a heat wave. It is very hot and if you add to the mix tens of thousands of irritable over heated people in a crowded park you are sure to get some bad attitudes. I know here in Georgia we have broken a record of 56 consecutive days over the 90 with most of those hitting around 96 before any heat indices are added. Guess what... it's not just WDW. People are hot and cranky everywhere. It's been a long hot summer and we are all ready for some relief.

I say cut CMs and everyone a little slack. I agree rudeness is just not acceptable... but I can understand how it might happen.

It should be noted that it has actually been hotter in some more northern states than Florida than many parts of Florida. And heat in the summer is nothing new here anyways, Florida has always been hot. So not the best excuse to give.:lol:

 

[captainkidd]

I had the same experiences as the OP. I definitely felt a loss of the magic this past trip. Not from all CM's, but from more than normal. As for rude guests, it's just unbelievable how many there are, and what incredible pigs people can be.

 

[LoriSue]

We just got back from our cruise on the Dream, got to spend about 2 1/2days in the parks and one thing I know from talking to different CM's is that the tour groups are miserable. I know I HATE going when they are there. They are rude and inconsiderate, seeming bent on trashing our country as they have their own. While we have to deal with them until we leave, they have to deal with them until the groups all leave. I agree, rudeness on the part of CM's is never okay, just as it is never okay in my job regardless of my stress level but I know how these groups can, with no effort on their part, drive someone to the brink of doing something drastic. :lookaroun

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Whenever standards are slipping at a Disney resort - Anaheim, Orlando, Paris - CM's usually are the last element to drop their standard.

I must say I am still overwhelmingly positive about average CM behaviour. Even so, a company functions as a whole, deterioting standars will eventually reach CMs too. From slipping pride, to ruder guests, to less pristine perfect surroundings to work in. Sad, but true.

 

[captainkidd]

We just got back from our cruise on the Dream, got to spend about 2 1/2days in the parks and one thing I know from talking to different CM's is that the tour groups are miserable. I know I HATE going when they are there. They are rude and inconsiderate, seeming bent on trashing our country as they have their own. While we have to deal with them until we leave, they have to deal with them until the groups all leave. I agree, rudeness on the part of CM's is never okay, just as it is never okay in my job regardless of my stress level but I know how these groups can, with no effort on their part, drive someone to the brink of doing something drastic. :lookaroun

We refused to ride on the same train as one of the groups at BTMRR. The CM there was nice about it. He said " I don't blame you. Just feel lucky you only have to deal with them for a week. We have to deal with them all summer."

It's pretty clear that the CM's don't like the tour groups either, but until management lays down some ground rules (or enforce them), nothing will change.

 

[WDWLOYAL1971]

I say it takes a rude guest or guests to bring any CM o their limits. About the trash, guess who's throwing it on the ground? It all comes back to the nastiness and rudeness of guests. They just want to throw their own nastiness aroung and expect the C.M to put up with it, well that is the wrong frame of mind to have and that is exactly what will ruin a magical place like WDW, not the C.M, but the guests.:fork:

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I say it takes a rude guest or guests to bring any CM o their limits. About the trash, guess who's throwing it on the ground? It all comes back to the nastiness and rudeness of guests. They just want to throw their own nastiness aroung and expect the C.M to put up with it, well that is the wrong frame of mind to have and that is exactly what will ruin a magical place like WDW, not the C.M, but the guests.:fork:

Flawed and narrow minded argument. Guests are certainly a cause of trash, but you group ALL guests into the same category. The simple fact is that not all guest are causing this trouble, only a few are. The flawed part is that cast members can lash out and attack guests who are behaving themselves. My family ALWAYS behaves itself, never litters, and is always very friendly and pleasant to both cast members and other guests. The problem here is that we've met more bad tempered cast members than you can imagine (and have complained to managements about it). They were that way for no reason. And trust me, i don't tolerate that sort of behavior unless i deserved it (and i never give them a valid reason to be rude, i always treat them with respect even when they don't deserve it).

Cast members aren't supposed to be unpleasant to anyone at any time. If they've got a short fuse, they shouldn't be working there. At the same time, Disney's cast members SHOULD crack down on bad guest behavior, but the cast members should always be well behaved and polite. Especially to guests who aren't even causing trouble.

In the end, we're paying for their paychecks, regardless of how guests act. If guests are acting bad, they should be told to leave or whatnot. But CM's should always behave and control their temper.