Millions Saved Thru Costuming Changes

[fillerup]

Orlando Sentinel's Jason Garcia has written a lengthy (if somewhat dry) article about WDW & Disneyland's cost cutting efforts in unifying their costuming approach.

If you wade through it, it offers some insight into the mindset of the company I think.

Here are the opening three paragraphs followed by the link to the full article:


"One of the original attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the Jungle Cruise is a tongue-in-cheek voyage that, on both coasts, carries riders past robotic lions, zebras, snakes and hippos. And yet, for years, the boat captains in California wore different costumes than their Florida counterparts.

That changed just a few years ago, when Disney adopted identical outfits for both Orlando and Anaheim — the same ones, in fact, now used in Disney’s Animal Kingdom by drivers in the Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction.

Such moves are discreet examples of the cost-cutting under way at Walt Disney Co.’s domestic theme parks in an effort to merge many operations at Disney World and Disneyland. Dubbed “One Disney,” the initiative rapidly accelerated early last year when Disney, its profits under pressure amid the global recession, eliminated 1,900 jobs at its U.S. resorts."

Disney Finds Big Savings Inside Buzz Lightyear's Spacesuit

 

[RobVanDam]

Interesting read....

At first when I started reading the subject I thought Disney was switching to a neutral costume for all attractions and I was about to throw a fit. I've also only been awake for about 15 minutes, so my mind is not all active yet.

 

[disneycouple07]

Great article. Thanks for sharing!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Most of this seems to be talking about making the Meet & Greet costumes. I can definitely see where having one unit, that makes both costumes for each resort makes sense.

The one potential problem I see with having one set of costumes is weather. A costume that is comfortable to wear in California may be utterly miserable in the humid, Florida summer and vice versa.

My biggest complaints with most costumes is how they are supposed to look like they are comprised of layers, but are a single piece that looks like a flat, single piece.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

The one potential problem I see with having one set of costumes is weather. A costume that is comfortable to wear in California may be utterly miserable in the humid, Florida summer and vice versa.

Good point. My guess is WDW would have the dominant designs in most cases, and DL would do the most adapting. Something that can be comfortably worn in Florida is going to work fine in California, simply because just about anything is going to be comfortable there.

These changes sound like common sense to me. It might add to a little homogenization between resorts, but even for the biggest believers in "Disney details," I think it's pushing it to say that seeing different costumes being worn at the same ride on opposite coasts is a crucial piece of what makes Disney special. Most fans will never see both WDW and DL in a lifetime.

 

[RobVanDam]

I just hope we don't see it turn into Six Flags costuming. Same costume, every ride.

 

[unkadug]

I just hope we don't see it turn into Six Flags costuming. Same costume, every ride.

It would save a bundle. Just imagine...they could even do away with costuming altogether. All it would take is one person to hand out one-size-fits-all overalls to everyone.

 

[kramden88]

Homogenizing Disneyland and Disney World will save them money in the short term but will cost them in the long term. People that go to Disney World will soon have no incentive to go to go to Disneyland and vice-versa (like me).
I'm really not happy with the direction these MBA's are taking the Disney Company.

 

[DisneyNut2007]

Homogenizing Disneyland and Disney World will save them money in the short term but will cost them in the long term. People that go to Disney World will soon have no incentive to go to go to Disneyland and vice-versa (like me).
I'm really not happy with the direction these MBA's are taking the Disney Company.

I do not agree with your pessimism at all.

Wilt Dasney's points are a lot better.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I must say, that was a rather informative article. To be honest, this seems pretty common sense to me, like standardizing clothes sizes so that a size 12 is the same at WDW and DL. And cutting back on varieties seems reasonable in some cases, too, like with aprons; for goodness sake, now they only have 250 styles instead of 500. As long as Disney doesn't pull a Six Flags when it comes to cast outfits, I don't see a problem with this. :shrug:

 

[Brian Noble]

People that go to Disney World will soon have no incentive to go to go to Disneyland and vice-versa (like me).

Let's be honest. If you're the sort of person who would notice that the skipper costumes are the same on both coasts, you'll be visiting both of them anyway.

 

[fireworkz]

Let's be honest. If you're the sort of person who would notice that the skipper costumes are the same on both coasts, you'll be visiting both of them anyway.

Agreed. Plus these savings might have actually cut down the number of layoffs.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Homogenizing Disneyland and Disney World will save them money in the short term but will cost them in the long term. People that go to Disney World will soon have no incentive to go to go to Disneyland and vice-versa (like me).
I'm really not happy with the direction these MBA's are taking the Disney Company.

There is a difference between every attraction being the same and the Cast Members at the Jungle Cruise or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad wearing the same outfit, to fit their very similar attraction. Now, in cases such as the upcoming Ariel's Undersea Adventure, I could have a problem with the cast wearing the same costume.

 

[techgeek]

Where do you draw the line between what is acceptable and what has become 'Six Flags'? Of course, it's reasonable and even expected that the JC costumes match between parks, but no one has yet picked up on the more questionable fact that they are also used at KS, an entirely different sort of ride experience set in an entirely different world.

Or how about the same costumes being used at Mansion and ToT?

I don't know about you, but those two examples from the article are getting into a grey area. How many other 'shared costumes' are we looking at?

 

[Victoria]

I couldn't care less if cast members on both coasts are wearing the same costume. :shrug: It's not like I am ever going to go to both coasts in one day. I also don't mind if the cast members are all wearing the same black pants or no longer wear an apron. I wonder why it took them so long to discover how much easier and cheaper it is to have the plastic dyed rather than painted.

 

[peter11435]

Where do you draw the line between what is acceptable and what has become 'Six Flags'? Of course, it's reasonable and even expected that the JC costumes match between parks, but no one has yet picked up on the more questionable fact that they are also used at KS, an entirely different sort of ride experience set in an entirely different world.

Or how about the same costumes being used at Mansion and ToT?

I don't know about you, but those two examples from the article are getting into a grey area. How many other 'shared costumes' are we looking at?

They do not use the same costume at Mansion and ToT. The article is talking about how they use the same costume for those attractions at Disneyland as they do at Disney world.

 

[GenerationX]

So, have they figured out which park gets the costumes on which days? Or, are they going to share the costumes each day (WDW from 9:00am - 3:00pm EDT, then fly them to DLR for ~4:00pm - 10:00pm PDT)? Seems like the transportation costs would offset the savings.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Homogenizing Disneyland and Disney World will save them money in the short term but will cost them in the long term. People that go to Disney World will soon have no incentive to go to go to Disneyland and vice-versa (like me).
I'm really not happy with the direction these MBA's are taking the Disney Company.

I can't imagine that a single person would ever cancel a trip to WDW or DL based solely on the fact that they've already seen the same costumes at the other resort. :shrug:

(I suppose all you have to do to prove me wrong is to say that you personally would...but I still can't imagine it.)

 

[Wilt Dasney]

So, have they figured out which park gets the costumes on which days? Or, are they going to share the costumes each day (WDW from 9:00am - 3:00pm EDT, then fly them to DLR for ~4:00pm - 10:00pm PDT)? Seems like the transportation costs would offset the savings.

Actually, I think they bundle the costumes as cargo on the same cross-country flight that Mickey's been taking every day since 1971. They realized they had all that unused space in the overhead bins, and the light bulb clicked!

 

[raven]

This is only one example of how they are saving money right now. Nearly every department has been hit up to cut back on spending in some way, whether it be a simplistic costume change, using a competitive company for supplies, etc. It's nothing new to Disney and it certainly won't be the last time they do it.