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

[CaptainAmerica]

Unless something has changed with how they grill the burgers since I worked there as a teen, nobody "flips" burgers at McDs.

Pretty sure they don't at BK either but I have no idea what's going on at Wendy's.

Just sayin'

McDonald's is a clamshell, Burger King is a conveyor, Wendy's is a flat-top where the burgers are flipped. But I think you and everyone else knows that "flipping burgers" is a euphemism.

Fun fact, nothing on the McDonald's lunch menu is microwaved, as opposed to the breakfast menu, where loads of stuff is microwaved.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just like the suspension of daily housekeeping was temporary.

Just like the suspension of teams were temporary.

Temporary means something different to Disney bean counters.

The suspension of daily housekeeping *is* temporary, I'm not sure why you're implying it isn't.

What are teams?

 

[monothingie]

Double ticket prices.
No.
Okay.

Don’t need to. Per guest spending is way up! The golden age of unprecedented demand will last forever!

 

[monothingie]

The suspension of daily housekeeping *is* temporary, I'm not sure why you're implying it isn't.

What are teams?

So the cost savings don’t factor into it at all. Right…

I guess all the rest of the hotels in Central Florida are anomalies.

BTW what is USO doing….oh right.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Now if you want to meet characters you must pay for a character meal for you and your family

I will be honest; character meals was our preferred way for our kiddo to meet the characters.

 

[dreday3]

Man, if we can negotiate transportation to work as part of pay, I should be getting a 25% increase dealing with the CTA !

 

[castlecake2.0]

I remember a few years ago, it was a huge win for Fort Wilderness people when golf cart time was moved to paid. That might be one of the only places with a worse commute than Magic Kingdom.

Epcot is bad now. Half the time no backstage parking , have to park in front and take two different busses to get to work. I arrived at 2 the other day, didn’t get to my location till 3.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Man, if we can negotiate transportation to work as part of pay, I should be getting a 25% increase dealing with the CTA !

It’s more that some days it takes me an hour to get to my location after I’ve already parked at cast parking lot. I know every job involves a commute, but this job involves a commute after commuting

 

[MrPromey]

All of this sort of misses the point that *Wendy's can't get enough workers either.*

Everyone is twisting themselves in knots to explain why people are forgoing working at Disney to work elsewhere, but all of those "elsewheres" are struggling with the exact same labor shortage.

Disney isn't struggling to attract and retain workers because it's unattractive relative to other companies. EVERYONE is struggling to attract and retain workers because there are still millions of workforce dropouts who haven't come back post-COVID.

I'm not twisting anything.

I didn't make up what I said and I think I was pretty forward about it being just a single person under circumstances that might make them less willing than others to put up with the job.

Also, you are the one that brought the Wendy's comparison into this (theirs is an attractions position, btw) - not me - so if you think that's distracting from your point, well...

 

[dreday3]

It’s more that some days it takes me an hour to get to my location after I’ve already parked at cast parking lot. I know every job involves a commute, but this job involves a commute after commuting

Yeah I was just playing. If driving, we have to park in a lot and take a shuttle to the hospital. It's not fun.

 

[MrPromey]

Prior to the current clamshell grills they cooked the burgers like other places, I remember having to sit through a VHS tape instructing how to place the patty, squash the patty then flip it before it was done. I know they have sped up the process now with the clamshell grills that cook both sides at once but those didn't always exist. I think they came out in the late 80's or 90's.

My stint through high school and a short while after as a manager was in the early 90's... but that would be late 80's to early 90's is 30+ years now so we're not exactly talking cutting edge tech...

Thinking back, I was half way through my senior year when I became a supervisor left alone in charge of a store with half a dozen or more kids and real adult working. How crazy does that seem now? I mean, what were they thinking?

That said, those were the easy(ier) days when you could make a dozen cheese burgers, a half dozen Big Macs and load up that cute to the counter before everything had to be held disassembled in staging in back until someone ordered.

I'm sure people appreciate getting burgers that can't double as cobblestone but boy did that seem easier and quicker than the way they do it these days.

I guess I should have included "anymore" in my statement but being as how it's been over 30 years, I didn't even think of it as an anymore kind of thing.

... man, I feel old.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Yeah I was just playing. If driving, we have to park in a lot and take a shuttle to the hospital. It's not fun.

I remember one holiday season they were parking us at Epcot to bus us over to studios, but we got treats! Trail mix, rice crispy mickeys, even a copy of Toy Story 3 one day! Things like that help, like I mentioned earlier it doesn’t always have to boil down to pay me more, show me I’m appreciated helps too

 

[dreday3]

I remember one holiday season they were parking us at Epcot to bus us over to studios, but we got treats! Trail mix, rice crispy mickeys, even a copy of Toy Story 3 one day! Things like that help, like I mentioned earlier it doesn’t always have to boil down to pay me more, show me I’m appreciated helps too

It's true!
People underestimate how much just a ordering lunch for us cube farm residents boosts morale. Always nice to remember all the "little people".

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So the cost savings don’t factor into it at all. Right…

Correct. I'm not saying that their recruitment and retention have been good. They've been, frankly, unacceptable. But the conspiracy that they're deliberately slow-playing hiring is just false.

I guess all the rest of the hotels in Central Florida are anomalies.

BTW what is USO doing….oh right.

Funny you say that because I just called Universal Orlando this morning and spoke to a very nice woman who said that the default for housekeeping is "contactless" (i.e. no service) unless you specifically ask for it, and that even then it might only be honored at Hard Rock, Portofino, and Royal Pacific. She said this is a "courtesy" to guests who are "concerned about their safety," i.e. the same lie that Disney was telling. At least Disney has the decency to write the policy on their website.

If you're under the impression that "all the rest of the hotels in Central Florida" are offering daily housekeeping, then I guess there's no point in continuing this discussion because you and I are operating with a different understanding of the facts.

 

[MrPromey]

McDonald's is a clamshell, Burger King is a conveyor, Wendy's is a flat-top where the burgers are flipped. But I think you and everyone else knows that "flipping burgers" is a euphemism.

Fun fact, nothing on the McDonald's lunch menu is microwaved, as opposed to the breakfast menu, where loads of stuff is microwaved.

Yeah but the problem with a euphemism in a situation like this is it describes things that are sort of similar but aren't the same which makes them problematic when someone's entire premise is that they are the same.

Actually flipping burgers at Wendy's is more work than putting down the hockey pucks at McD's, closing the clamshell and then standing around waiting for a couple minutes until it pops open by itself to scrape them out.

May not matter to people just making blanket statements on the internet to prove a point but for people who do (or have done the jobs - yourself included, it sounds like) you know it actually does matter.

 

[MrPromey]

Some what not related but did all companies in Central FL pay their staff 2 days work when they stayed home during Hurricane Ian like WDW did to their cast?

I'm sure not all.

Mine paid 3. A lot of people ended up without power for a couple of days around here but no flooding like central FL got.

Point is, your mileage will vary on that and it's hard to make a blanket statement in any direction, there.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Actually flipping burgers at Wendy's is more work than putting down the hockey pucks at McD's, closing the clamshell and then standing around waiting for a couple minutes until it pops open by itself to scrape them out.

McDonald's 10:1 patties (the little ones) cook in about 30 seconds. You drop 8, close the first shell, drop 8 on the second shell, close that one, and by the time you have the freezer closed and your gloves changed, it's time to season and pull the first batch. Then it's scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, squeegee, squeegee, and Cabinets calls "ten-one out" and you're on to the next batch. And oh, I need to drop nuggets (which is handled by the fry station at Wendy's), and oh sh*t I need to pull McChicken from the freezer. There's no "standing around waiting for a couple minutes."

It's entirely low skill but it's not less work.

 

[MrPromey]

McDonald's 10:1 patties (the little ones) cook in about 30 seconds. You drop 8, close the first shell, drop 8 on the second shell, close that one, and by the time you have the freezer closed and your gloves changed, it's time to season and pull the first batch. Then it's scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, squeegee, squeegee, and Cabinets calls "ten-one out" and you're on to the next batch. And oh sh*t, I need to drop nuggets (which is handled by the fry station at Wendy's), and oh sh*t I need to pull McChicken from the freezer. There's no "standing around waiting for a couple minutes."

It's entirely low skill but it's not less work.

You must have worked in a small one. I could see that at someplace like the ones inside a Walmart but the franchise I worked for had about 10 stores and they all looked a lot like most still do with the fry vats for the proteins behind the people assembling the food who on top of being the ones that drop and lift that stuff, are the ones making all the burgers.

It's been nearly 30 years for me so I'm sure you're close to right on the 10:1 cook times and obviously, those were/are the more commonly cooked ones to the 4:1.

That said, would you have rather scraped/squeegeed at McDs or done the flipping at Wendy's? (I assume Wendy's has a squeegee for their grease, too). Wendy's seems like more work to me and it seems like they have their folks doing more stuff at once but it's also a lot lower volume.

I know this is mostly off the main subject but to bring it back around, I'll just point out that even among the places people can ride their bikes to work at, it's not the same job from place-to-place.

 

[dreday3]

McDonald's 10:1 patties (the little ones) cook in about 30 seconds. You drop 8, close the first shell, drop 8 on the second shell, close that one, and by the time you have the freezer closed and your gloves changed, it's time to season and pull the first batch. Then it's scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, squeegee, squeegee, and Cabinets calls "ten-one out" and you're on to the next batch. And oh sh*t, I need to drop nuggets (which is handled by the fry station at Wendy's), and oh sh*t I need to pull McChicken from the freezer. There's no "standing around waiting for a couple minutes."

It's entirely low skill but it's not less work.

But what about White Castle's? Do you know how many they have to flip? They're tiny!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You must have worked in a small one. I could see that at someplace like the ones inside a Walmart but the franchise I worked for had about 10 stores and they all looked a lot like most still do with the fry vats for the proteins behind the people assembling the food who on top of being the ones that drop and lift that stuff, are the ones making all the burgers.

Our line stations were Initiate (buns and condiments), Middle (condiments and veggies), and Cabinets (protein and wrap), plus Grill. Our fryers were run by the Grill person if he was good or the Middle person if the Grill person stunk.

Our store was physically small but high volume. We were right on the major on-ramp for beach traffic so our summer lunches were very heavy.