Stupid cast members at WDW!

BuzzLite_Fran · Jan 26, 2004

NOT ALL CM'S ARE BAD

NOT ALL CM'S ARE BAD CHECK OUT MY STORY

MY WIFE, DAUGHTER AND I WERE AT WDW OCTOBER 2003. NOW THIS WAS THE SECOND ANNUAL WDW PILGRIMAGE.....(THE THIRD IS PLANNED FOR NOV 12-20 2004)!!!!!!! YEAAA!.....ANYWAY
TO MAKE A REALLY LONG STORY SHORTER...OUR 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER ALYSSA'S FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE AND CHARACTERS ARE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST AND BELLE... NOW WE HAD DONE THE OBLIGITORY PRINCESS BRAKFAST IN THE NORWAY PAVILION, AS WELL AS DINNER WITH CINDERELLA AT 1900 PARK FARE AT THE GRAND FLORIDIAN, BUT MY DAUGHTER REALLY LOVES BELLE IN HERE YELLOW BALL GOWN. AT HOME SHE WOULD ALWAYS DANCE AND MIMIC THE DANCE BELLE WOULD DO AT THE END OF THE MOVIE WITH THE BEAST.... SHE KNOWS EVERY WORD OF THE MOVIE, AND ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT ALL! ANYWAY WE HAD MET BELLE IN HER BLUE PEASANT DRESS AT THE BREAKFAST.
WE HAD ALSO WENT TO THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST MLIVE ON STAGE AT THE MGM STUDIOS. ONE OF THE CAST MEMBERS NOTICED MY DAUGHTER AND HOW SHE WAS SINGING ALL THE SONGS WITH THE CAST ETC....WE GOT TO TALKING TO HER AT THE END OF THE PLAY, AND WE TOLD HER THAT ALYSSA HAS AUTISM. SHE SUGGESTED THAT WE TALK TO SOMEONE AT THE MK GUEST RELATIONS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF MEETING BELLE IN HER BALLGOWN AT THE END OF THE NEXT DAY'S PERFORMANCE...

WE THE NEXT DAY WHEN WE WENT TO THE MK GUEST RELATIONS AND BEGAN TO RE TELL THE STORY TO ONE OF THE CAST MEMBERS THERE HE ADVISED US THAT THERE WAS REALLY NO WAY HE COULD ARRANGE THAT, BUT SAID HE WOULD TRY TO SEE IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE HE COULD DO. HE TOLD US TO CALL HIM LATER IN THE DAY....WHICH WE DID.
AT 130PM WE AGAIN CONTACTED HIM, AND HE TOLD US THAT HE WAS ABLE TO ARRANGE A PRIVATE MEETING WITH BELLE IN HER YELLOW BALLGOWN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SHARE A DREAM COME TRUE PARADE, TO COME TO CITY HALL
WELL I HAD TO MAKE A MAD DASH TO OUR RESORT (ALL STARS MOVIES) TO RETRIEVE THE REPLICA YELLOW BALLGOWN DRESS WE HAD PURCHASE MONTHS IN ADVANCE OF OUR TRIP...
WE WANTED HER TO BE DRESSED LIKE BELLE WHEN SHE GOT TO MEET HER.!
I MADE IT JUST IN TIME FOR THE PARADE/////// WELL WE SETTLED IN TO WATCH THE PARADE IN FRONT OF CITY HALL. WHEN THE PART WHERE ALICE AND THE MAD TEA PARTY SHOW UP, ALICE NOTICED HER AND PULLED HER OUT INTO THE PARADE AND SHE GOT TO DANCE AND BE IN THE PARADE FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW IT WAS AWESOME

ANYWAY AFTER THE PARADE WE WENT TO CITY HALL WHERE THEY USHERED US INTO A PRIVATE ROOM, OFFERED US SOFT DRINKS, AND WERE SO COURTEOUS TO US THEY TREATED US LIKE KINGS.
WE WAITED A FEW MINUTES AND THEN THE MOST MAGICAL THINK HAPPENED THAT I BELIEVE I WILL NEVER FORGET AS LONG AS I LIVE......BELLE ARRIVED IN ALL OF HER SPLENDOR AND OUR DAUGHTER WAS IN 7TH HEAVEN. SHE SPENT ABOUT 20 MINUTES WITH US AND ALYSSA AND WE TOOK SO MANY PICTURES AND VIDEO...........IT TRUELY MADE MY DAUGHTER'S DREAM COME TRUE AS WELL AS US.....
IT WAS TRUELY THE MOST MAGICAL EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!!!!!! ALL THANKS TO THE DISNEY CAST MEMBERS WHO TOOK THE TIME TO LISTEN TO A PARENT'S STORY ABOUT THEIR DISABLED CHILD AND HER LOVE OF DISNEY MAGIC.........
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I KNOW I HAVE BORED A FEW OF YOU BUT I JUST WANTED TO SHARE MY STORY OF SOME WONDERFUL DISNEY CAST MEMBERS WHO WERE AWESOME...........

mkt · Jan 26, 2004

good story..

you may wanna watch the caps lock key next time though

BuzzLite_Fran · Jan 26, 2004

sorry:hammer:

General Grizz · Jan 26, 2004

From JimHillMedia:

Hi Jim,

Just got back from six glorious days at Walt Disney World. Some of the highlights included gaining a wonderful new sister-in-law (my brother got married at the Grand Floridian on Thursday) and seeing the fabulous Wishes fireworks three more times. I also found new appreciation for "Big Thunder" after riding it eight times with my five-year old daughter

My biggest complaint with the entire trip was the embarrassing neglect of my favorite attraction, "Splash Mountain." "Splash" has everything one can ask for in a theme park experience: a good story, attention to detail coupled with a grand scope, a few thrills and a reasonably long ride-to-wait ratio. Plus the water element makes the ride more dynamic, and thus repeatable. If I had to be stuck on one ride for the rest of my life, it'd be "Splash Mountain." It is sad to see such a wonderful attraction in such pitiful shape.

Want some examples? I count no less than three non-working AA figures in the attraction, and they've been broken for months. Unsightly black cracks in the wall in the showboat scene have gone unpatched and unrepaired since at least October 2003. The plastic wood-like rings on the backs of several logs has partially separated, causing the plastic to sway back and forth in the water when the logs are moving. All of these things are plainly visible to all guests, and must surely be noticed by even the most casual of observers.

But the really glaring example of neglect is the trash that goes uncollected on the attraction every day, remaining there for repeat visitors to see again and again. Last Tuesday night, I noticed an empty blue "Dasani" bottle had been thrown on the rocks on the right side of the attraction a little past the waterfall after the big drop. The bottle was still there Wednesday morning. I mentioned the bottle to my family at dinner Wednesday, and enough of them were curious to see it that we rode again that evening. Sure enough, the bottle was still there. As it was on Thursday. And Friday. By Saturday morning, every adult in my family wanted to brave the wind chill to see whether the bottle was still around. Just like Brer Rabbit, Brer Blue Bottle was still part of the attraction. A call from my brother confirmed the bottle was still there as of Sunday morning.

What does this mean? It means that for at least six days, no Cast member walked around the attraction to check the show elements. No member of management got on the ride to make sure the whole experience was working. For six days, no one saw what the guests all saw. And that, I think, sums up the current state of cutbacks at Walt Disney World: no one is looking at it from the guest's perspective. I don't blame the hourly Cast members for this: most of them are young kids who are just learning. I blame management for not showing the Cast members how to perform their jobs correctly.

I'm sure the folks high up have all kinds of PowerPoint presentations on how much money they're saving the company by deferring maintenance or cutting budgets. But none of them, apparently, actually ride the rides. And that's sad, because the theme parks have generated enormous good will for the company over the years. I don't live anywhere near Florida, and I still go to the parks about as often as I go to a Disney or Pixar film, and I probably spend more time in front of attractions than I do watching ABC. Once that reputation for clean, well-maintained, high-quality attractions is lost, Disney will find it staggeringly expensive to regain. Frankly, I doubt they'd have the guts to spend that kind of money. They'd probably just lower their expectations. But who's going to bring their kid to a theme park broken-down, dirty attractions?

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. My brother's in Orlando for a few more days, and is promising updates on the blue bottle. I'll let you know what he says.

L.T.

I saw that Dasani bottle in October. I cannot believe this.

"Disney" is really losing its meaning.

Djali999 · Jan 26, 2004

Originally posted by General Grizz

I saw that Dasani bottle in October. I cannot believe this. "Disney" is really losing its meaning.

yeah, Splash Mt. is currently like some sort of disaster zone.

Main Street USA · Jan 26, 2004

Yeah, I would imagine Splash is one of the most difficult attractions to keep in 100% working order because of the many different AAs and working parts.

That doesn't excuse not picking up trash, though. That's bad.

Djali999 · Jan 26, 2004

Originally posted by Main Street USA
That doesn't excuse not picking up trash, though. That's bad.

Splash has been slipping so much, I wonder if that attraction hasn't been hit especially hard by the cutbacks.

J.E.Smith · Jan 27, 2004

Wonder if they'll spot the stupid bottle when they do the painting in the next few weeks...

Pixie Duster · Jan 27, 2004

:brick: :hurl: NEGATIVE.

THX-1701 · Jan 27, 2004

What about stupid guests at wdw,god knows there plenty of them?

durhay · Jan 27, 2004

You mean none of you have heard of B'rer Desani ?

Maybe it's a marketing gimmick - Hidden Desanis. Coming Soon, El Rio Del Desani, Desani's Scary Adventures. It's also in the Norway film, during the viking montage when the kid is in the musuem. Ax hits wood, vikings rushing to the ship, viking pausing with a cool Desani, kid in musuem stares at boat.

General Grizz · Jan 28, 2004

. . .But at the same time, I am almost scared to do so because of the current state of things. Yes, Disney will never go away because of its ubiquity, but what happens in the mean time, well, I can only hope for the best.

But hopefully this story will have a happier ending. While I was in the parks during my days off, I noticed that Corporate was surveying the area around Splash Mountain. How do I know it was corporate? The two of them had the blue manager tags with the gold slash through it (which is the designation for corporate). So maybe they were experiencing for themselves the state of things, and hopefully there will be some action taken on that soon.

As a separate note, I wanted to just let you know about the cast members' views on Michael Eisner's visit to the WDW resort. It was January ***, and I had picked up an overtime shift at MK's **** department. I asked my friends what they thought of the whole Roy vs. Michael ordeal, and (again) a whole can of worms was opened.

No one had anything positive to say about Eisner. In fact, they were laughing at Michael's recent visit because everyone knew that it was a big internal publicity stunt. We saw through the marketing and PR that was trying to show that our top dog had our backs.

When you watched the video of Michael saying he was having a great time, it seemed so forced. He was not sincere about it at all -- not to mention the fact that he looked very tired and worn out from things. Hearing him say that he appreciated our work was almost a slap in the face, considering that this was the man who had previously said that he could hire monkeys to put in the character suits and have them do the job for cheaper but look just as good.

It is a commendable effort if Eisner is going out there and doing the rounds because Michael finally has realized what he needs to do...but I think that's not the case. Rather, I think someone in PR said "Hey, you need to do this" and he is doing this to try and save face. The funny thing is? I don't feel he is saving face and that his efforts are not genuine. It's not improving cast member morale.

Speaking of morale, I think that is directly related to why the upkeep is lacking. The CM's don't feel the need to go the extra mile. Why? Because people (specifically management) don't notice. The company is so concerned with doing things by the rules and is very keen on handing out reprimands for small infractions, that they often don't seem to appreciate the good that CM's do.

YES, there is still plenty of recognition, and we still do try and honor those around us (Partners in Excellence is one of the best internal recognition for a company that I have seen), but I think a small example is that in Entertainment and ODF, they used to have these things called 5-star's. Cast members could recognize each other when they did something that was above and beyond the call. About a year ago, they got rid of them. Every once in a while, it really does feel good to get a "paper pat on the back", especially if you don't get them often.

Another thing that just disheartened me was a phrase that I had never heard before, but had started popping up recently. Before we were going on set, I mentioned that something didn't look right with (Unnamed character). The response? "We're paid to wear, not to care".

I had never heard that before, but that wasn't the only time I heard it while I was visiting over the holiday break. It's just another sign that things aren't they way they used to be, or should be for that matter.

Oh well. I can only hope that Roy's efforts are fruitful and that positive changes will be brought about soon.

I want to thank you for your time Jim -- I know that you are a busy man. I hope you don't think that I am a bitter CM who is jaded from working there. I love working at Disney, and I hope that through the combined efforts of all the people who cherish what Disney is and should be, that we can help to bring about positive changes for the company -- both Cast Members and Disneyana fans.

I am reminded of the phrase "It's always darkest before the dawn," and I hope that this certainly holds
true for things here at Disney.

Sincerely,

BertCP

OR

I used to know the people who work at Splash...Big Al and Wayne McSwain, good ol Shelly---miss ya girl---and the old days with Cory and Elton. These were good people who took their jobs seriously and always took care of "Splash" and complained when things weren't right and needed "fixing". Ever since deployment, the crew that works at this WDW attraction has begun slowly but surely to adopt an "I don't give a damn attitude" which led to more lackadaisical work habits.

When a guest had a problem in the past, we always took care of it because no one worried about screwing up rotation or screwing up the computer. Nowadays, we pass the buck to someone else because we don't want to leave rotation in case we get our break soon, because deployment is frugal when it comes to handing out breaks. If there is a mess, we don't usually do anything about it because of our anti deployment attitudes. The hell with it...We are not getting a fair shake. So why should we return one in kind?

This is the kind of culture that is developing. No one likes being controlled by a computer. People like knowing they have some control over their jobs, especially when they are supposed to be incredibly helpful and smiling each and every day as they help people rid their memories of 9/11 and bills and everyday problems and help fill their hearts with childhood memories and facilitate their escape into days gone by and days that will never be.

Now it isn't about that, Jim. For the cast member, it is all about "When am I getting my break?" and "Why haven't I had my lunch?" These were never concerns of our old computer-free rotational system, but they are now.

Whether management wants to admit it or not, cast deployment, by far and away is the #1 reason why no one cares anymore. Every time we complained, the labor people always said that deployment has saved so much money and that this will help improve the guest experience in the future. I say that that's Bull ____*t.

Sincerely yours,
Big Mike

Stupid cast members at WDW!

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