New Generic Option - Costume Shortage

[peter11435]

We noticed when we had dinner at the Biergarten a couple of weeks ago that except for one female server in a dirndl, all of the cast members (except for the performers onstage), male and female, were wearing generic black trousers with white shirts and black vests. We were kind of surprised that such a subtle change could so dramatically diminish the immersiveness of the theming, but it really stuck out. Well, that and the fact that our server was an Italian-American gentleman with a New Jersey accent...

That is not due to the costume shortage. That is due to the lack of international cast to staff the pavilions due to Covid. Only cast from the respective countries are wearing the pavilion specific costumes.

 

[LittleBuford]

Yes, the BoG CM with the catering vest was certainly very jarring.

Honest question, but why is it jarring? Without being told, how would anyone know that her waistcoat is a “catering vest”?

 

[Brian]

Honest question, but why is it jarring? Without being told, how would anyone know that her waistcoat is a “catering vest”?

It's not jarring that it's the catering vest necessarily, it's that it's a major clash in terms of pattern and color. With that said, I am a former Fantasyland CM and that may make me somewhat biased.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's not jarring that it's the catering vest necessarily, it's that it's a major clash in terms of pattern and color. With that said, I am a former Fantasyland CM and that may make me somewhat biased.

Thanks. I personally don't see a clash between the purple trousers and the gold/cream waistcoat, but I appreciate your perspective as a former CM.

 

[castlecake2.0]

We were never allowed to go beyond the Hub in non-MSUSA costumes when I worked PAC (the Hub is considered its own non-themed area). We definitely would not have been allowed anywhere near Town Square...



Yeah, but how will we make it More Relevant, More Timeless, and More Family®?

Oh that’s really weird. Definitely not allowed.

 

[castlecake2.0]

I have no knowledge to confirm or deny this but I often wonder how many costumes they just never got back after the closure, sending CPs / CRs home, ending seasonal, layoffs, etc.

Most likely this paired with supply chain issues and mass hiring

 

[WDWTrojan]

Was it for crowd control? PAC has gone back to deploying people from around the park to do crowd control and they can wear their lands costume for this. Though they shouldn’t be taking pictures of each other on stage, sounds like CPs updating their Instagram pages *eye roll*

No, crowd control for PAC was always the one exception for "cross-theming" and even then they tried hard to ensure cast stayed somewhat close to the area they were from. This was a bunch of CMs from different areas taking pictures on a slow evening in Town Square. They were not working.

 

[WDWTrojan]

I have no knowledge to confirm or deny this but I often wonder how many costumes they just never got back after the closure, sending CPs / CRs home, ending seasonal, layoffs, etc.

One of the great ironies is prior to 2001/2002 all CMs came into work in their street clothes, changed into their costumes, worked their shift, then changed out of their costume at the end of their shift. To compensate for the time spent at costuming and changing, you would be paid an extra twenty minutes at the end of your shift (called "walk time"). Disney decided it didn't want to pay this 20 minutes anymore, so now every cast member could take a week's worth of full costumes home and you'd show up to work dressed. It was a short-sighted decision driven by Erin Wallace and a few other execs who had come out of the industrial engineering side of the business, rather than those with any particular love or understanding of Disney. Not only did this lead to a detriment in brand quality (nothing sadder than seeing a Tower of Terror bellhop at Walmart or a Haunted Mansion butler pumping gas), but it wound up costing the company millions due to costumes that were damaged by people attempting to clean them at home, misplaced/lost and items just never returned as they were kept by departing CPs or other CMs. Plus, they needed to create so many additional wardrobe pieces to allow everyone to have a full set to take home.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Seeing how things are just hitting the fan...Next thing will be the One Park, One Uniform guideline for Disney similar to Six Flags..

 

[Lilofan]

One of the great ironies is prior to 2001/2002 all CMs came into work in their street clothes, changed into their costumes, worked their shift, then changed out of their costume at the end of their shift. To compensate for the time spent at costuming and changing, you would be paid an extra twenty minutes at the end of your shift (called "walk time"). Disney decided it didn't want to pay this 20 minutes anymore, so now every cast member could take a week's worth of full costumes home and you'd show up to work dressed. It was a short-sighted decision driven by Erin Wallace and a few other execs who had come out of the industrial engineering side of the business, rather than those with any particular love or understanding of Disney. Not only did this lead to a detriment in brand quality (nothing sadder than seeing a Tower of Terror bellhop at Walmart or a Haunted Mansion butler pumping gas), but it wound up costing the company millions due to costumes that were damaged by people attempting to clean them at home, misplaced/lost and items just never returned as they were kept by departing CPs or other CMs. Plus, they needed to create so many additional wardrobe pieces to allow everyone to have a full set to take home.

Industrial Engineering is efficient use of systems and processes. Like it or not that group did their job.

 

[WDWTrojan]

Industrial Engineering is efficient use of systems and processes. Like it or not that group did their job.

Except that they didn't, because as mentioned, any savings to the company was largely negated by both the need to create several times the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed AND because you are dealing with constant loss, theft and damage. This was largely non-existent previously. Without much (if any) cost savings, you also have a somewhat significant break in the Disney "illusion." Seeing off-duty cast members in their work costumes at the grocery store, at Denny's or pumping gas is commonplace now. It shouldn't be. If everyone agrees we shouldn't see Cinderella at Denny's, we shouldn't see a Tower of Terror bellhop or a First Order commander doing the same. It's all part of the same show.

tl;dr An "efficient use of systems and processes," as you describe it, can often be shortsighted and isn't always what's best for the company and its brand.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Except that they didn't, because as mentioned, any savings to the company was largely negated by both the need to create several times the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed AND because you are dealing with constant loss, theft and damage. This was largely non-existent previously. Without much (if any) cost savings, you also have a somewhat significant break in the Disney "illusion." Seeing off-duty cast members in their work costumes at the grocery store, at Denny's or pumping gas is commonplace now. It shouldn't be. If everyone agrees we shouldn't see Cinderella at Denny's, we shouldn't see a Tower of Terror bellhop or a First Order commander doing the same. It's all part of the same show.

tl;dr An "efficient use of systems and processes," as you describe it, can often be shortsighted and isn't always what's best for the company and its brand.

We may think it didn’t save the company money but then why else would they have done it? There’s no doubt that more pieces went missing or were damaged, but surely that was offset by not having to pay for walk time and not having to have as many people working wardrobe issue and not having to launder as many pieces all the time . They also charge you for pieces not returned (like the $100 epcot jacket I once had to pay for). I think it was also becoming harder to expect people to get ready for work, drive to work, and then have to get ready for work again once you arrived to wardrobe. For me personally I’d much rather get dressed in my costume at home then have to get dressed just to change again a few minutes later. I agree it’s still jarring sometimes to see costumes shopping at publix, and Im scared to think what flamingo crossing businesses are going to look at because CPs loooove to make it know they’re CMs any way possible. Saying that, the expectation has always been that you should remove your costume before going out to do things after work other than quick errands before or after. From a guest perspective sure it would be great not to see a cm pumping gas, but also being on the other side as a cm I much prefer having the option of getting ready for work at home.

 

[Lilofan]

. If everyone agrees we shouldn't see Cinderella at Denny's,

tl;dr An "efficient use of systems and processes," as you describe it, can often be shortsighted and isn't always what's best for the company and its brand.

You may think otherwise but how companies survive and prosper is with efficient use of systems and processes. The shortsighted attitude is when someone is not in a leadership or exec role to better comprehend. Companies always look for ways to streamline , restructure, and look for more efficient ways to conduct operations to include automation and or outsourcing. That's nothing new. Your take on Cinderella at Dennys is comical. Have you seen that personally? Anyone who looks at the payroll can see that eliminating thousands of staff 20 minutes daily for walk time is millions of dollars of cost savings annually.

 

[peter11435]

Except that they didn't, because as mentioned, any savings to the company was largely negated by both the need to create several times the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed AND because you are dealing with constant loss, theft and damage. This was largely non-existent previously. Without much (if any) cost savings, you also have a somewhat significant break in the Disney "illusion." Seeing off-duty cast members in their work costumes at the grocery store, at Denny's or pumping gas is commonplace now. It shouldn't be. If everyone agrees we shouldn't see Cinderella at Denny's, we shouldn't see a Tower of Terror bellhop or a First Order commander doing the same. It's all part of the same show.

tl;dr An "efficient use of systems and processes," as you describe it, can often be shortsighted and isn't always what's best for the company and its brand.

You’re forgetting that there was also “outside” pressure to change those costuming rules at the time. It wasn’t entirely a Disney decision.

 

[TYOTimer]

I have no knowledge to confirm or deny this but I often wonder how many costumes they just never got back after the closure, sending CPs / CRs home, ending seasonal, layoffs, etc.

I know a decent few who kept their costumes, most plan to cut out the chips and sell them

 

[castlecake2.0]

You’re forgetting that there was also “outside” pressure to change those costuming rules at the time. It wasn’t entirely a Disney decision.

I couldn’t remember for sure if the union was getting involved but I thought so. Same with changes to Disney look, i think it was more going on behind the scenes.

 

[WDWTrojan]

You may think otherwise but how companies survive and prosper is with efficient use of systems and processes. The shortsighted attitude is when someone is not in a leadership or exec role to better comprehend. Companies always look for ways to streamline , restructure, and look for more efficient ways to conduct operations to include automation and or outsourcing. That's nothing new. Your take on Cinderella at Dennys is comical. Have you seen that personally? Anyone who looks at the payroll can see that eliminating thousands of staff 20 minutes daily for walk time is millions of dollars of cost savings annually.

You continue, for the second time, to miss the point. I understand how companies survive and what IE does. However, Disney was in no danger of going bankrupt due to how it was handling CM costuming for 30+ years. What you continue to miss is that while on paper the cancellation of walk time looked like it would save X, this was mostly negated by an explosion of lost and missing wardrobe pieces from outgoing CMs and the need to continuously create + maintain 4x the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed. When you factor in the brand degradation when you see off-duty CMs in full costume shopping or dining out, it was not a good business decision and saved them little money due to a number of unforeseen issues.

 

[WDWTrojan]

You’re forgetting that there was also “outside” pressure to change those costuming rules at the time. It wasn’t entirely a Disney decision.

I was in numerous meetings about the process change and "outside" pressure never came up. It was always about how do we save on walk time. They just never counted on thousands and thousands of pieces going missing every year thanks to CPs.

 

[castlecake2.0]

You continue, for the second time, to miss the point. I understand how companies survive and what IE does. However, Disney was in no danger of going bankrupt due to how it was handling CM costuming for 30+ years. What you continue to miss is that while on paper the cancellation of walk time looked like it would save X, this was mostly negated by an explosion of lost and missing wardrobe pieces from outgoing CMs and the need to continuously create + maintain 4x the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed. When you factor in the brand degradation when you see off-duty CMs in full costume shopping or dining out, it was not a good business decision and saved them little money due to a number of unforeseen issues.

Id be interested in the data on this because I can’t see how this change didn’t create savings, especially when we are charged for not returning a piece.

The other issue now with crurent shortage is with anyone being able to wear either gender costume. With more people checking out « option b » aka traditional male costumes, there’s not enough pieces for everyone.

 

[Lilofan]

You continue, for the second time, to miss the point. I understand how companies survive and what IE does. However, Disney was in no danger of going bankrupt due to how it was handling CM costuming for 30+ years. What you continue to miss is that while on paper the cancellation of walk time looked like it would save X, this was mostly negated by an explosion of lost and missing wardrobe pieces from outgoing CMs and the need to continuously create + maintain 4x the amount of wardrobe that was previously needed. When you factor in the brand degradation when you see off-duty CMs in full costume shopping or dining out, it was not a good business decision and saved them little money due to a number of unforeseen issues.

You fail to miss the point, that execs want to make can impact by restructure , strive for efficiency methods regardless of Disney not going bankrupt. You seem to hung up on Cinderella eating at Denny's etc. Shareholders and guests from all over could hardly care less about your opinions on cast in their off time wearing their costumes eating at Denny's etc. Saved them little money? By eliminating 20 min walk time daily for thousands of cast 12/365 doesn't equate to saving the company little money according to you.