News Several character meet and greets to be cut at Walt Disney World as labor shortage continues

[mikejs78]

That’s…one “take”…

Dude…it’s a “right to work” state…non-binding unions are a smokescreen…you know this

Yeah, um, do you think Disney wants to risk a union strike?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I mean to be technical, does anyone have the data that shows the number of burgers flipped in a 4 hour shift at McD or Wendys versus Cosmic Rays? Don't think that exists, so it's all assumption based.

Disney boasted of its "Broilamater" burger cooker in press releases from the 70s when talking about its specialty fast food process to handle high volumes.

I think it was Tom Morris who said in an interview that when McDonald's suggested using its own equipment for DCA they were told it would never hold up to the amount of food required in a day or lunch rush at Disney vs just a regular McDonald's.

So yes, the volume of food prepared at a Disney quick service restaurant is not the same as your average fast food place. This also doesn't take into consideration consistency or timing of demand, as most restaurants have more slower times of day or even seasons. The staff to customer ratio is likely very different as may be scheduling and shift availability/demand.

Do I know exact number of burgers made per shift per employee? No, but Cosmic Rays is not like Wendy's for a variety of reasons.

 

[mikejs78]

This is dead on. But the fact is WDW is betting that long term the labor market will become less tight and doesn’t want to commit to those higher wages, unless it is for an executive They believe they can make more by offering less. Once again, if WDW wanted to raise wages (yes for everyone) this could easily e avoided. But they would rather have that extra cash be spent as bonuses for management.

Also, anyone remember the number of people Disney unceremoniously canned during the height of the pandemic ?

It’s real simple. They have the money to pay them. They just don’t. End of story.
Record profits… and yet the defenders still come out for them. I’m not saying they should be making 25 bucks a hour but up the salary a few bucks and they won’t have a “ labor shortage “. Most companies have realized that after the pandemic. Some haven’t I see.

They can't pay them more even if they wanted to without union buy-in. And the union wouldn't agree to that without renegotiating salary structures for everyone.

And Disney does that, and wall Street reacts, the stock market plummets, and the executives are either all out of jobs or the price gets low enough that some activist investor executes a hostile takeover, leading to efficiencies and synergies that will make what Chappie has done seem like child's play.

Disney can and should do things to compensate cast members more. But there are major limits on what and how they can do it. It's a bad system but it's the one they find themselves in.

 

[SoFloMagic]

Bob giveth, Bob taketh away

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Fifteen years ago, I'd probably agree. But the "commute" time from West Clock to your site is paid now.

I’m sorry but this isn’t true. Most CMs can’t clock in until they arrive at their location, so no, the 15-20 minutes it takes after arriving to Westclock to get to your location isn’t paid.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I’m not sure Disney knows what to do with CPs. I talked to some recently who are consistently scheduled 30-32 hours per week. Far from being overworked, they have to push to get hours. They are also scheduled for just 6 hour shifts so have to work a sixth day to pick up extra.

Not all CPs are, it depends on their location. I know CPs that work over 50 hours a week, and others who work barley 30

 

[peter11435]

Fifteen years ago, I'd probably agree. But the "commute" time from West Clock to your site is paid now.

That’s not true

 

[LSLS]

I feel both things can be true. There can be a labor shortage, and disney can afford to outspend local competition to not be significantly impacted by it. It would hurt the local and small places a ton, but disney could get out of it if they really wanted. I'm sure there's more to it than just raising rates, but cedar point absolutely did the same thing and was out of their shortage within a month back in 2021.

 

[fgmnt]

It’s real simple. They have the money to pay them. They just don’t. End of story.
Record profits… and yet the defenders still come out for them. I’m not saying they should be making 25 bucks a hour but up the salary a few bucks and they won’t have a “ labor shortage “. Most companies have realized that after the pandemic. Some haven’t I see.

I know a lot of the economy does not actually follow Econ 101, but there is an equilibrium to be had in the current environment between guest spending, park overhead costs, staffing of complementary positions, what the income and expenses look like for current and prospective staff, and the stock price. Trimming these offerings is simply an attempt to reach an equilibrium that prioritiuzes the folks in Burbank not losing any ground.

Seems like the perfect job for all those legal aliens that everyone hates so much. The foam heads don't have to say anything, just stand there and look professional.

This is probably true! I do not want to delve too deep into my personal politics and get my comments on this removed, but the rate of legal immigration was on an increase from WW2 to the onset of the subprime mortgage crisis, and for a variety of reasons has never really recovered. There are fewer people in central Florida willing to work for <$30k a year if only because their previous living situation could have them never realizing that value of their labor over a decade, or worse! This is not really a problem Disney can solve alone. On the contrary, it would take the current governor of the state abandoning a rhetorical tentpole in his eventual presidential run, or this reality being sold to the American people (and them buying into it) as part of the midterm elections. Maintaining these lines in the political sands are more important to those in power than WDW can support a Goofy Meet 'n' Greet in EPCOT.

They can't pay them more even if they wanted to without union buy-in. And the union wouldn't agree to that without renegotiating salary structures for everyone.

And Disney does that, and wall Street reacts, the stock market plummets, and the executives are either all out of jobs or the price gets low enough that some activist investor executes a hostile takeover, leading to efficiencies and synergies that will make what Chappie has done seem like child's play.

Yeah, pretty much this. I will chide the brain trust in Burbank over their ignorance of the parks product but this is a classic 5+ way standoff.

Not all CPs are, it depends on their location. I know CPs that work over 50 hours a week, and others who work barley 30

I do not think this is the thread for it, and I do not really feel comfortable going into specifics that could get people I know in trouble, but they way TDO handles staffing of operations can be... bewildering!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yeah, um, do you think Disney wants to risk a union strike?

In a right to work state you have no strikes. Because semantics don’t outweigh laws written to ensure certain “realities”

I could do a PowerPoint of how it works…but I’m tired

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I kind of see this as one of the reason they are cutting the free meet and greets. Instead of charging to do a meet and greet outright they just mash it into bad buffets and then most customers don't realize how they are being screwed over yet again.

I don't buy the labor shortage because it is only a shortage when you don't pay enough and given their continual increase of tickets and other fees they are simply making a conscious decision to raise revenue while holding labor cost down to increase profits.

Red alert

Don’t you know there’s no “price” for an “experience”

(Now I’ll hide as the hoard gets torches and storms your castle, Beast)

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They can't pay them more even if they wanted to without union buy-in. And the union wouldn't agree to that without renegotiating salary structures for everyone.

And Disney does that, and wall Street reacts, the stock market plummets, and the executives are either all out of jobs or the price gets low enough that some activist investor executes a hostile takeover, leading to efficiencies and synergies that will make what Chappie has done seem like child's play.

Disney can and should do things to compensate cast members more. But there are major limits on what and how they can do it. It's a bad system but it's the one they find themselves in.

You are talking about unions like the magic kingdom is in Massachusetts. That’s not how it would play in Orlando.

Union negotiations never get what they want…or all that close to it. Yet there are no stoppages.
Do you wonder why?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

If you’re attractive enough to be a face character for Disney, there’s even a small chance you can spin that into a Patreon or slightly spicier platform. Make all of your own money and set your own hours.

This is very true… any attractive young American with a smart phone can make good money if they want. It’s really that easy.

Heck… you can be ugly and stream videos games on twitch all day and make as much as Disney pays.

I worked at McDonald's for 5 years and Disney for 11.

Doing what role(s) at each?

 

[JoeCamel]

You are talking about unions like the magic kingdom is in Massachusetts. That’s not how it would play in Orlando.

Union negotiations never get what they want…or all that close to it. Yet there are no stoppages.
Do you wonder why?

But they get those cool pictures of the picket line in front of the LBV entrance sign on the news.....

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

But they get those cool pictures of the picket line in front of the LBV entrance sign on the news.....

Yeah that too…

But for the record: it’s functionally impossible to strike in Florida.

Unions are non-binding and nobody makes anything…there’d be more holes in the picket line than the Lions defense within seconds.

So Disney having their “hands tied” because of faux powerful unions isn’t a valid reasoning as to why their labor pool isn’t full.

You know what are valid:
“holding out” for basically free college and international programs…

…deciding not to increase base wages that are permanent in lieu of disposable “bonus” schemes that even Florida sniffed out.

If we want to talk…let’s at least have one foot on the ground?

 

[WorldExplorer]

This is going to be a dumb question; are they actually looking?

Whenever I look I end up on Disney Careers. A while back they only wanted parade performers. Now they only want one specific height range (the one they're currently cutting characters that fit). Pretty sure for a while there were just no offers.

Is there some kind of internal already-employees-only page? Am I looking in the wrong spot? Was there a big wave of audition calls a long time ago and they figure they've hit enough people that retrying isn't worth it? Do I just keep missing the other offers?

I mean, honestly...I would be a sucker and try out. But I haven't seen them ask for my height range. Even though I'm a good height for multiple extremely popular characters that used to have multiple proper meet and greets and now don't.

I seriously don't understand any of this.

 

[Lilofan]

They aren't the same. Even if everything else is equal, someone flipping burgers at Cosmic Rays is likely flipping a ton more burgers in the same shift as someone at a BK and that alone makes it harder. That likely applies to most hourly positions in the parks. You end up doing more work over the same amount of time for the same money you would get elsewhere.

Some don't understand what a " lunch rush " is in the food business. Cosmic Rays lunch rush is hours on end not the same as your typical neighborhood Wendys.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Some don't understand what a " lunch rush " is in the food business. Cosmic Rays lunch rush is hours on end not the same as your typical neighborhood Wendys.

Exactly. Comparing the Main Street Starbucks (non-stop line) to my local Starbucks (rush times but also slow and chill times) I know which one i would pick. Plus if you actually work for Starbucks and not Disney you get benefits!

 

[ceecee101]

This is going to be a dumb question; are they actually looking?

Whenever I look I end up on Disney Careers. A while back they only wanted parade performers. Now they only want one specific height range (the one they're currently cutting characters that fit). Pretty sure for a while there were just no offers.

Is there some kind of internal already-employees-only page? Am I looking in the wrong spot? Was there a big wave of audition calls a long time ago and they figure they've hit enough people that retrying isn't worth it? Do I just keep missing the other offers?

I mean, honestly...I would be a sucker and try out. But I haven't seen them ask for my height range. Even though I'm a good height for multiple extremely popular characters that used to have multiple proper meet and greets and now don't.

I seriously don't understand any of this.

I know DL has been advertising on TV here (and I live 100 miles away) for CMs. Never seen that before and yet we are a much different state than FL, higher minimum wage for one thing.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

We’re struggling to get fully staffed in Vegas also, a lot of people won’t do customer service anymore regardless of the pay.

They’d rather make $15-20 an hour working on the phone or in a warehouse than make $30+ an hour putting up with miserable people all day.

Disney could easily afford to buy their way out of this problem but it’s not going to be cheap, it’s not enough to just pay a couple bucks an hour more than the Amazon warehouse or even the local restaurant who can hire people who live nearby, the difference needs to be substantial to convince people to deal with the inconvenience of getting to work and to deal with the guests once they get there.

I’ve worked some form of customer service for 25 years and customers are getting less patient, more rude, and more aggressive every year.