Overheard outside Hogsmeade Station

[Dwarful]

We haven't been to US/IOA for 2 years. We just returned from an 8 day trip to WDW. We didn't do dining, spent roughly 1000 on all of our meals, drinks, snacks. (family of four all considered adults...girls are 13 & 17). Spent less than $400 on all extras. We decided we need a break from Disney. I think next year we will do a visit to US/IOA/Sea World...then the beach.

I do wonder if guests at US/IOA are more relaxed because they aren't on a schedule and glued to their phones to make sure they are on time to everything. We were run into and bumped by more people this trip...NOT with strollers/EVCS but because they had their heads down focused on their electronic device. Sad we even saw it at sit down meals...families were not connecting...they were checking times, texting, snap chat and FB. it was pretty sad.

 

[BiffyClyro]

Yeah, Disney is known not to be the greatest place to work.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I do wonder if guests at US/IOA are more relaxed because they aren't on a schedule and glued to their phones to make sure they are on time to everything.

Just to be fair, the "being on a schedule" thing existed before Fastpass+. A lot of folks have suggested that its more planning to pick three Fastpasses in advance, but in reality before you had to plan to obtain your paper Fastpasses - getting there early enough, circumnavigating the park to obtain the passes, and you were then still held to a schedule of when to return and when you could get your next Fastpass.

But of course, it would all be a lot less stressful without Fastpass altogether.

 

[Dwarful]

Oh I get that the schedule was there before. For us the new system doesn't work out as well as it did with the old system. But, to be honest, we liked to ride and re-ride favorites and would always be at the parks before rope drop. Usually at least 30 -45 minutes before park opening ..so usually we arrived at the gates at 7:15 for 8 AM EMH. What we noticed was the change in touring for a lot of people. For example, at the early entry into MK we could get quite a bit done before the crowds arrived by 10. This trip (May 31 -- June 8) we noticed a lot of people (ourselves included) made our FPs for first thing in the morning back to back so we could start our fourth FP quickly. This made some of the previously shorter stand by lines longer. That coupled with frequent ride breakdowns we just got slowed down a lot more than we used to. For example...every day we were in MK Pirates managed to break down on us. We were doing stand by and waited 35 minutes before the evacuated the line because they couldn't get the ride back up.
For us, it just wasn't as magical...and we LOVE WDW. Every year when I was growing up my parents drove us straight through from Illinois (St. Louis Mo. area - to California to visit family and go to Disneyland/Knots Berry and Universal) We want to keep the magic. We are going back to WDW in Feb. for a shorter school band trip...we figured taking a summer off might make us appreciate WDW more when we do get back.

Growing up going to DL w/o any type of FP it did seem less stressful...but that was a kids perspective in the late 70s/80s.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Overheard at Universal today:

"Oh, Disney is a total ripoff. All the rides are old! We've only been on two rides so far here and they're both way better than anything at Disney."

... Of course, this translates to "I didn't do any research whatsoever on what the parks offer and plopped down hundreds of dollars, only went to the Magic Kingdom, only rode rides with no wait rather than wait for any E-ticket attractions, and concluded that Disney sucks."

Its a stupid mentality of course, but I'd wager that more and more of the general public is going to have this mentality.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Overheard at Universal today:

"Oh, Disney is a total ripoff. All the rides are old! We've only been on two rides so far here and they're both way better than anything at Disney."

... Of course, this translates to "I didn't do any research whatsoever on what the parks offer and plopped down hundreds of dollars, only went to the Magic Kingdom, only rode rides with no wait rather than wait for any E-ticket attractions, and concluded that Disney sucks."

Its a stupid mentality of course, but I'd wager that more and more of the general public is going to have this mentality.

I'm okay with emptying the parks and letting the great unwashed masses all go to Uni.

 

[CaptainShortty]

"Can I have your job? I work at Disney, but I'll trade."

That was said by a guest to a cast member standing in front of the Hogwarts Express entrance. I thought some of you might find it interesting.

Also, just walked by Forbidden Journey and it had a 90 minute wait - the Potter hype is palpable right now.

Sounds more like a Disney Cast Member who's a big fan of Harry Potter wishing they would work in the land based on one of their favorite franchises. Not something I'd read into more than that.

Many Cast Members work at more than one of the "big 3" parks if solely for the purpose of the free pass and discounts. Many others (including myself) have annual passes to one or all of the others. This includes Universal CMs having annual passes to Disney. From the hourly cast perspective, we don't hate each other as much as the rest of the world makes it out to be. From a corporate standpoint the competition is there and IMO it makes both parks better because it's there.

 

[wilkeliza]

As of the end of the month I'm not longer a Disney employee but I do know most of my friends who did work at Universal and Disney left Universal as soon as they could get a full time position with the mouse. The only person I know who stayed with Uni stayed because she got guest relations. She wanted it super bad at Disney but in the two years I knew her she didn't do anything to prove herself to be an above and beyond employee. She would just stand under the fans and pass off guests to other CMs. She also barely knew the attractions proper spiel and often told guests how she hated where she was. She would do all this and then complain she never got recognition or a promotion.

I don't know how Universal's pay scale works but I have to imagine most people who say they get paid more at Universal than Disney only get the extra ump because of their Disney ties. Universal sees you as an asset because they don't have to train you for exceptional customer service. Disney already took care of that for them. It is probably similar to the reason why in college I started at 9.50 instead of 7.50 at Wal-Mart. I worked for a competitor for a year and went to try and work at the same store as my cousin. Since I was coming directly from a competitor they paid me more in hopes that I would say they treated me better than the other guy.

 

[katiekinzakat]

I don't know how Universal's pay scale works but I have to imagine most people who say they get paid more at Universal than Disney only get the extra ump because of their Disney ties. Universal sees you as an asset because they don't have to train you for exceptional customer service. Disney already took care of that for them. It is probably similar to the reason why in college I started at 9.50 instead of 7.50 at Wal-Mart. I worked for a competitor for a year and went to try and work at the same store as my cousin. Since I was coming directly from a competitor they paid me more in hopes that I would say they treated me better than the other guy.

Actually, on June 1, Universal raised its base hourly pay to $9/hour across the board. I started working at Universal three summers ago for $8/hour, I now make $9. I started working for Disney three months later for $7.95/hour, I now make $8.15. So no, I do not make more at Universal because of my Disney ties, considering the fact that I started working there first.

 

[wilkeliza]

Actually, on June 1, Universal raised its base hourly pay to $9/hour across the board. I started working at Universal three summers ago for $8/hour, I now make $9. I started working for Disney three months later for $7.95/hour, I now make $8.15. So no, I do not make more at Universal because of my Disney ties, considering the fact that I started working there first.

Like I said I didn't know Universal's pay policies. I know as of a few weeks ago at least Disney and the union were in negotiations so maybe a raise will be coming to WDW as well.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Sounds more like a Disney Cast Member who's a big fan of Harry Potter wishing they would work in the land based on one of their favorite franchises. Not something I'd read into more than that.

Many Cast Members work at more than one of the "big 3" parks if solely for the purpose of the free pass and discounts. Many others (including myself) have annual passes to one or all of the others. This includes Universal CMs having annual passes to Disney. From the hourly cast perspective, we don't hate each other as much as the rest of the world makes it out to be. From a corporate standpoint the competition is there and IMO it makes both parks better because it's there.

That's actually what my post was referring to (which is why I mentioned where this took place, as well as Forbidden Journey's lengthy wait at the time). It was simply a Disney CM who would have loved to see the new areas, reflecting the serious hype for Potter right now.

Still, the ensuing discussion has definitely been interesting, and speaking for myself, I'm much more interested in working at Universal now (whereas Disney has always been a dream of mine).