Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

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Funmeister

Funmeister

Well-Known Member
I started a thread way back right about the time they were dramatically increasing the amount of Guest Relations CM's in all of the parks. Sad thing is that they were not initially intended to be trained as full-fledged GR and just trained on NextGen. This was in the beginning. The company knew it had a problem on its hands and needed an army armed with ipads to "take care" of the problems. Part of the plan then was to make the team mobile throughout the parks easily accessible to guests.

Agreeing with an earlier poster, Guest Relations is not where anyone wants to be right now.

Just remember one thing. The company does not care about you as a lover of Disney. They are no longer in the business of providing world class guest service to you while you have a once in a lifetime-type experience. A few people on this board always ask why people are so down on Disney? My question is why is Disney so down on Disney? Compare what Disney is capable of doing (Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris Magic Kingdom) to what they are doing (New Fantasyland, Nothing) and you will see that and as long as the pigs come to slaughter they will continue to slaughter.
 
71jason

71jason

Well-Known Member
Funmeister said:
I started a thread way back right about the time they were dramatically increasing the amount of Guest Relations CM's in all of the parks. Sad thing is that they were not initially intended to be trained as full-fledged GR and just trained on NextGen. This was in the beginning. The company knew it had a problem on its hands and needed an army armed with ipads to "take care" of the problems. Part of the plan then was to make the team mobile throughout the parks easily accessible to guests.

Agreeing with an earlier poster, Guest Relations is not where anyone wants to be right now.
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Anecdotal, but I have a friend, fired last year and (IMO) a completely justified DNR, just rehired to be one of these NextGen ambassadors. In other words, they seem kind of desperate for warm bodies to fill this team.
 
Funmeister

Funmeister

Well-Known Member
71jason said:
Anecdotal, but I have a friend, fired last year and (IMO) a completely justified DNR, just rehired to be one of these NextGen ambassadors. In other words, they seem kind of desperate for warm bodies to fill this team.
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Another bad thing for Cast Members working in Guest Relations is that they are classified as office and technical. No unions. No rules. It has happened on MANY occasions at most of the parks when vacation planers were er'd or cut and a GR CM would be put in their place to sell tickets.

The union caught wind of this and all hell broke loose. For what a GR CM has to do and go through it is not worth the pay.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
GymLeaderPhil said:
That information that you received from a TSMM CM may have been accurate. For that day. Each attraction has a specific allotment for each distribution hour that can be affected by any number of variables like vehicles running. FP+ has reached the point where it's booking out attractions earlier and there will be a day when the park opens with nothing of value.

You may ask why they aren't simply flipping the switch for all Guests to utilize the in-park kiosks/book online and disable the paper FP distribution. There's a number of factors such as:
-Paper tickets are still accepted for park entry. In-park kiosks only use RF media.
-Premiere Passports cannot be linked on MyDisneyExperience, usually.
-Swan and Dolphin contractual agreements. They are working on quick fix for this.
-Cast Members cannot use their complimentary media on MyDisneyExperience.

So Disney is stuck with a system that is still being fleshed out. Good luck to those visiting over the next couple of months.
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The Premier Passport - This is a guest who VISITS both coasts and pays through the nose for tickets, And Disney is blowing US off, Obviously we can spend a bit more than the average guest as we can GET to both coasts on a regular basis.

One would think that this class of customer would get preferential service, Somewhat how Amex treats their BLACK card customers or the Vegas casino's treat their 'Whales'
 
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ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
JenniferS said:
When we were there earlier this month, CM's were letting ZERO stand-by riders through as long as there was a single FP+ rider waiting.
One time (forget which ride), the CM could see FP+ riders coming, but they weren't quite at the merge point yet, and he waved us through from Stand-by, almost like he was sneaking us on to the ride.
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It's all a numbers game TDO is fixated on RATIOS x(FP-) to y(Standby) - this is why Standby queues are at a standstill many times.
 
PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Longhairbear said:
Actually I am quite the seasoned guest, and book all my own trips myself. That is why, and as a seasoned guest have had friends( who haven't been to WDW) ask my advice, and then use a travel agent. After a few trips they "get it", and book their own trips. But you are missing my point about travel agents.
As I read on other sites that guests are canceling WDW vacations over frustration with MDE, and asking their travel agents to book them into UNI, or Seaworld. I wanted to know what travel agents see, or don't see as to how many are canceling Disney trips, and replacing with trips to the other resorts. Also if a guest is willing to cancel a Disney trip over MDE, they just might not be a seasoned guest, but a first timer. The greater point that I did not make, is that perhaps frustration over getting MDE to work as intended, might actually be scaring off first time guests...and that's not good. A travel agent would be good source for this information.
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I wonder if this will be used as an example of bad marketing as New Coke is used today in college marketing text books.

Incidentally, examples of good marketing in text books today include Eisner's "I'm going to Disneyland!" campaign and Apple's 1984 Super Ball commercial.
 
ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Capacity, capacity, capacity. It's all about a lack of E ticket capacity at Epcot, DHS, and DAK. These 3 parks really do need more attractions with a broad-based appeal.

Whether you like them or not, what Universal deserves create for is that their 2 theme parks have lots of E ticket class attractions with mass appeal.

MyMagic+ is corporate Disney's attempt to squeeze pennies out of its guests by strong-arming them into staying onsite longer. "You better stay at one of our Deluxe Resorts for several nights or you're going to end up in hours-long Standby lines."

Guess what Disney, as Universal demonstrated with WWOHP and as you demonstrated with Carsland, if you build something really good, profits will soar!

WDW needs more attractions, not FP+!
 
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PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Capacity, capacity, capacity. It's all about a lack of E ticket capacity at Epcot, DHS, and DAK. These 3 parks really do need more attractions with a broad-based appeal.

Whether you like them or not, what Universal deserves create for is that their 2 theme parks have lots E ticket class attractions with mass appeal.

MyMagic+ is corporate Disney's attempt to squeeze pennies out of its guests by strong-arming them into staying onsite longer. "You better stay at one of our Deluxe Resorts for several nights or you're going to end up in hours-long Standby lines."

Guess what Disney, as Universal demonstrated with WWOHP and as you demonstrated with Carsland, if you build something really good, profits will soar!

WDW needs more attractions, not FP+!
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If I could like this post a thousand million times, I would!
 
Genie of the Lamp

Genie of the Lamp

Well-Known Member
Disney turns responsibility for MyMagic+ over to George Kalogridis (happened some time last week):
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-mymagic-oversight-20131030,0,6491648.story

(edit: On a side note, George is also scheduled to speak at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2013 Lunch and Learn event on Monday, November 18th discussing the following: leadership strategies, keys to his success, and explain how the Walt Disney World Resort pushes the boundaries of creativity and innovation to deliver the best possible experience for guests. A brief question and answer session will follow his presentation.)
 
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njDizFan

njDizFan

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Capacity, capacity, capacity. It's all about a lack of E ticket capacity at Epcot, DHS, and DAK. These 3 parks really do need more attractions with a broad-based appeal.

Whether you like them or not, what Universal deserves create for is that their 2 theme parks have lots E ticket class attractions with mass appeal.

MyMagic+ is corporate Disney's attempt to squeeze pennies out of its guests by strong-arming them into staying onsite longer. "You better stay at one of our Deluxe Resorts for several nights or you're going to end up in hours-long Standby lines."

Guess what Disney, as Universal demonstrated with WWOHP and as you demonstrated with Carsland, if you build something really good, profits will soar!

WDW needs more attractions, not FP+!
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From Jason Garcia's article today:

Analysts who follow Comcast are upbeat about its parks. Jessica Reif Cohen, of Merrill Lynch, called the segment's third-quarter results "very impressive" during the conference call.
"It seems pretty clear that new attractions drive attendance," she said.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
71jason said:
And I spent $100 more for my ticket than you and I can't get a MagicBand or even log into the system.
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This should be interesting with George K now given the official responsibility of making this work.

When it works? It seems to work well. Of course, it seems you have to make an account on Disney World.com. Log onto it. Attach your annual pass with your Magic band. Jump through a lot of hoops online. And then go to the parks.

Unfortunately it is not plug and play. There are more hoops for the guests to jump through and it is nowhere near as easy as go to a counter, buy a ticket,walk into Disney World.
 
wishiwere@wdw

wishiwere@wdw

Well-Known Member
Random observation at Epcot last night. We've all complained about the crazy bright and blinding crowd lights but I also noticed ridiculous flower pots on the base of each tarp post in future world. Perhaps a way to keep drunk ECV drivers from crashing? Anyway, looked out of place. Honestly, in two nights of enjoying the F&W fest I didn't see anything out of line. Just good times. Now the neutered ROE ending is a different story...
 
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