Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
They’re still having trouble keeping the stores stocked so they don’t really care.
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- Thread starter Disney Glimpses
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And they have fairly reasonable lockers at the front of the parks we have used regularly for storing stuff during the day to pick up on the way out.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
Weird that resort delivery has been back at Universal for well over a year.
Disney just isn't trying very hard because guests don't make them. This topic should have been done months ago at the absolute latest.
Also, obligatory comment that the continuing lack of parking lot trams at two parks is sheer madness.
mikejs78
Premium Member
A lot of this can probably be attributed to staffing shortages that Disney has that doesn't affect Universal (college program, cultural representatives program). A lot of regular cast had to get reallocated because of those gaps. Couple that with the general labor shortage and Disney's hiring constraints, and you have a cast that is stretched way too thin, so services have to be dropped.
I suspect with the College program back, and the cultural representation program in the process of ramping up again, that we will start to see more of these things come back in the next few months.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
Re: Parking trams… they don’t care, people are coming anyway and it generates no revenue. Their executives think their customers are too fat anyway.
mikejs78
Premium Member
If that were the case, why have they brought them back to some of the parks?
Honestly sometimes the things people say here are so absurd.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
What part of that post, very specifically, is incorrect or “absurd?”
And please explain the virtuous reasons why the multi-billion dollar worldwide mega-Corp hasn’t brought back one of the most basic theme park services, a service that directly effects not just the comfort but in many cases the health of guests. And don’t tell me it’s just impossible for them to get staff for the service, because that absolutely isn’t true - when WDW really cares about staffing something, it gets staffed.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
To add, there is an army of staff out there directing people to park. The staff to run 2 trams is small in comparison.
mikejs78
Premium Member
The whole post. If they didn't care it wouldn't be back at the parks that it is.
That's absolutely not true. They have had extreme trouble getting enough people to staff things. They've been having job fairs, providing hiring bonuses, etc. Disney just can't get the stuff that it needs to do a lot of things right now. But that should be changing in the next 2 to 3 months.
Which are necessary. They would need those people with or without the trams. And it's not just the people driving the trams, it's the people maintaining the trams, servicing them, etc.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
If they cared, they could pay. You can contort as much as you want to explain why Disney mysteriously can’t find tram staff when relatively minuscule places like Dollywood and Six Flags can, but the bottom line is that Disney cares more about keeping wages low then they do about staffing a necessary component of the park. So odd that the invisible hand of the market only seems to ever work in one direction.
The image of Disney as this poor little company buffeted by forces completely beyond their control, unable to afford staff months or even years after the rest of the industry has returned to very close to normal is so transparently silly it’s insulting.
PS: I assume, since WDW is so completely unable to find staff that they can’t offer basic services, they’ve dramatically cut ticket prices to reflect the diminished product being offered, right?
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I feel like we've been saying "when the college program is back...." for quite some time now. Is it not fully back yet?
I can't believe the park to resort delivery hasn't returned. This is a basic perk that any theme park with associated resorts should have first and foremost.
I can't believe the park to resort delivery hasn't returned. This is a basic perk that any theme park with associated resorts should have first and foremost.
SaucyBoy
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
That's how a lot on this forum are, particularly certain people in this thread. The backwards bending to justify WDW's asinine operational decisions post-COVID reopening are sad. I spent a week in Orlando earlier this month and the only place that still hasn't gotten fully back on their feet is WDW. At this point the excuses about labor shortages are just that excuses. Yes yes CP and CRP blah blah, that excuse can't be used forever. These Disney shills are going to see shortly that their attempts to defend "poor Disney" were in vain.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
This, exactly. And not just keep wages low - increase price points, and implement certain measures (e.g., park pass and hopper restrictions) so they can minimally staff. I also believe this is why certain entertainment that has returned has been curtailed (or on some cases cancelled showings, such as Festival of Fantasy Parade, Festival of the Lion King). Parking tram operators do not increase the revenue for that day - those who use them have already bought their tickets. But notice they had no problem suddenly populating dozens of food booths, notwithstanding a food service worker shortage.
If I had to guess, I think Disney's held off on offering increased salaries with the expectation that the worker shortage would equalize or an economic downturn would depress comparable wages/jobs.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
I'm sorry, are you under the impression that Dollywood and Six Flags are fully staffed? Because they aren't. Neither is Universal. Neither is the fish taco stand in Ocean City, New Jersey. Neither is the Dunkin Donuts off I-95 Exit 7 in Rhode Island.
FutureCEO
Well-Known Member
Gross. Never been in there, really never go to Dunkin Donuts, but I know where it is.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
I didn’t say fully staffed. I was talking about very basic services, like a parking lot tram. A quick glance around the net seemed to show that Dollywood and Six Flags had both returned to pre-pandemic tram service. If that’s incorrect, let me know.
As for Uni, when I was there a bit less then a year ago, they had resort delivery service, regular housekeeping, a full pre-pandemic entertainment slate (including significant streetmosphere), and all shops open (except the Brown Derby hat shop)… and this was during the off-season. Unless I missed something very significant during a lengthy stay, Universal is not letting any staff shortages effect guest experience. Which is the point.
Oh, and they’re also rapidly building a huge new resort complex, which also takes some manpower.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Is it fair to assume you were in one of their top-tier hotels? My understanding is that they had a very top-down approach to their return to services. There was a period of time where their Deluxe-equivalent hotels were getting daily housekeeping and their Value-equivalent hotels were getting nothing at all, not even trash and towels, unless requested by the guest.
mikejs78
Premium Member
Actually, they can't. Disney can't just unilaterally decide to raise salaries for new employees because they have a collective bargaining agreement that sets these things. Any change in the salary structure would have to result in a renegotiation of that bargaining agreement. Typically, in cases like these, let's say Disney wanted to raise the starting salary for these positions by $5 an hour. The union might only agree to this if they raised people with x number of years experience $10 an hour. But in any case it would be subject to agreement, requiring lawyers negotiation and fees along that line. The salary structure is a built-in construct of the agreement.
Universal is not subject to this issue because their employees are not unionized. They can set salaries at will. They also Did not lose tens of thousands of people because of travel bans and the termination of a college program.
Well yes, but that's a whole different ball game. Construction workers are not subject to the above collective bargaining agreements, are not dependent on the cultural representation program, etc. Disney hires firms to do the construction. They hire individuals to manage parking trams and to maintain those vehicles.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
I wasn’t in one of their top tier hotels, sorry. Where did your understanding come from, and what “period of time” are you discussing? Did that period of time come up to today?