The Spirited 11th Hour ...

[tribbleorlfl]

yo Dave,

Since the management style of all the parks are changing to "per land" based instead of "per operations" (aka, a single manager manages the entire land and all its parts, instead of the older way of one manager per branch for food, merchandise..etc.. for the entire park)
Do you think there is going to be a mess until they fully establish the new order?

I worked at Universal when they fused F&B and Merch into "Revenue Operations." It was an unmitigated disaster in my opinion. I can't even begin to think how adding Ride Ops to the equation will work.

 

[wdisney9000]

That's not entirely true. FastPass was still controlled by computers to determine if media was valid and eligible for a time. Redemption would still work but new FastPasses would not be issued if the system were to go down.

Cash and credit are still processed with computers. Cash use is already in decline so that is a limited number of people. Cards can be manually recorded, but that means giving someone a paper copy of your card information. Then there is the huge headache of customers and employees who don't understand how a purchase total is calculated.

Your absolutely correct. I was speaking more in terms of how a paper FP cant fail once issued. The only error that could occur is on the user end if they lost or damaged it. Now we have FP+ which allows people to blame the system no matter what. Or the system can crash. Or a scammer can simply claim they reserved a fp+ even if they did not. Ive seen first hand groups of people attempting to use a fp+ before its time and when told by the CM that they need to return in 20 minutes, they make a fuss which in turn jams up the line while they pulled out their phone, logged into MDE and then realized that they were in deed early, or the alternative where a foreigner doesnt speak english or doesnt understand the system. Im not saying legacy was the best system ever, but after using legacy and fp+, I feel legacy was better than what we have now.

But I always forget how many people now claim they had to "sprint" around the park while their family was enjoying the vacation. Funny though, I never saw people sprinting in all those years.

 

[BernardandBianca]

Removing the booth on the main highway but building new on the ramps so it is a little better but still tolls until kingdom come and they get addicted to that revenue.

Keep in mind that they are increasing the tolls at the plaza three miles down the road by (surprise, surprise) the exact amount that the to-be-removed plaza charged. At least according to the OS.

 

[DVC91]

.
But I always forget how many people now claim they had to "sprint" around the park while their family was enjoying the vacation. Funny though, I never saw people sprinting in all those years.

I can attest that my brother and I were those (while not sprinters) "brisk walkers". It felt like the Wolf of Wall Street the way we were able to weave our fast passes. Now I feel like I've been shot in the leg once I use my first 3

 

[ford91exploder]

Keep in mind that they are increasing the tolls at the plaza three miles down the road by (surprise, surprise) the exact amount that the to-be-removed plaza charged. At least according to the OS.

I dislike tolls as much as the next guy but lets face it toll roads tend to be better maintained, The tollbooth by the MCO entrance lets face it was downright dangerous especially if using a SunPass because you needed to cross all those lanes of traffic on the cash side to get onto the access ramp.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Your absolutely correct. I was speaking more in terms of how a paper FP cant fail once issued. The only error that could occur is on the user end if they lost or damaged it. Now we have FP+ which allows people to blame the system no matter what. Or the system can crash. Or a scammer can simply claim they reserved a fp+ even if they did not. Ive seen first hand groups of people attempting to use a fp+ before its time and when told by the CM that they need to return in 20 minutes, they make a fuss which in turn jams up the line while they pulled out their phone, logged into MDE and then realized that they were in deed early, or the alternative where a foreigner doesnt speak english or doesnt understand the system. Im not saying legacy was the best system ever, but after using legacy and fp+, I feel legacy was better than what we have now.

But I always forget how many people now claim they had to "sprint" around the park while their family was enjoying the vacation. Funny though, I never saw people sprinting in all those years.

Then you weren't paying attention. It was a way of touring. You would send a representative to get FP's while everyone else was enjoying the park. It depended on what FP's you were trying to get. It also didn't allow you to get the time that you wanted at all. You either had to change your plans or try and swap with someone that were OK with your time and had one that fit your schedule. You never knew if you were even going to get one, so you couldn't plan your day at all. If you worked it around one attraction that you really wanted and when you got there the kiosks were closed for the day you were out of luck. You still may not be able to get the one you wanted, but, you will know that well ahead of time so you can plan accordingly. It couldn't be simpler. Walk up at your time, scan your card or band and the thing lights up and turns green and, just like that you're all set.

Surely, you can't blame the computer system because people are not smart enough to read when their time is there. Also... how do we know that many of those times when the kiosks were closed and we were told that the FP's were used up for the day, it wasn't really a computer misfire, but, we didn't know it. The grass is never greener on the other side, it's just that our memories are cloudy when we think that something doesn't work exactly to our benefit. It does work for many others, me included.

 

[PhotoDave219]

yo Dave,

Since the management style of all the parks are changing to "per land" based instead of "per operations" (aka, a single manager manages the entire land and all its parts, instead of the older way of one manager per branch for food, merchandise..etc.. for the entire park)
Do you think there is going to be a mess until they fully establish the new order?

I think nothing will change.

Reshuffling of the deck chairs, thats all.

Nothing will truely change unless they cull the ridiculous amount of middle management they have.

 

[BrerJon]

The resort is full of "earning their ears" and I'm guessing they hadn't gotten to the "making sure the fountain is ready for the lunch crowd" part of the training and regular staff was overwhelmed with the newbies. But I've never been in a restaurant ANYWHERE where they served drinks from behind the counter and they didn't have Coke for their customers.

Sounds like CP training at that location needs a bit of an overhaul. I doubt they would have been out of Coke, they just needed someone to change the syrup box, but my guess is the trainees didn't know that, so when they saw only water was coming out of the Coke taps, they didn't know what else to do but apologise to the Guests and offer an alternative.

 

[wogwog]

I think nothing will change.

Reshuffling of the deck chairs, thats all.

Nothing will truely change unless they cull the ridiculous amount of middle management they have.

Your last statement is the goal. If Vegas posted a line I would bet it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Your last statement is the goal. If Vegas posted a line I would bet it.

One can hope. I mean for years and years we've had this debate that rather than raising prices and making cuts that impact the guest experience, if they just cleaned house and eliminated some of the paper pushers and peter principle managers, the company would be far better for it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Sounds like CP training at that location needs a bit of an overhaul. I doubt they would have been out of Coke, they just needed someone to change the syrup box, but my guess is the trainees didn't know that, so when they saw only water was coming out of the Coke taps, they didn't know what else to do but apologise to the Guests and offer an alternative.

I can partially accept that, but that is what management is for. Even if that is what they thought they would have informed someone that there was no coke. It is possible that they did run out of coke and were waiting for it to be delivered from a central warehouse. Stuff like that happens, it's not a perfect world. All it takes is one missed communication and just like "magic" they are out of something temporarily. That doesn't mean that an hour later it wasn't up and running.

 

[NearTheEars]

Removing the booth on the main highway but building new on the ramps so it is a little better but still tolls until kingdom come and they get addicted to that revenue.

Yeah, no way they would eliminate them completely. They want that $$$$.

 

[ford91exploder]

One can hope. I mean for years and years we've had this debate that rather than raising prices and making cuts that impact the guest experience, if they just cleaned house and eliminated some of the paper pushers and peter principle managers, the company would be far better for it.

And more profitable too, All those managers have a cost as well. It would not be so bad if they were 'working' managers actually on the front lines interacting with guests.

 

[PhotoDave219]

And more profitable too, All those managers have a cost as well. It would not be so bad if they were 'working' managers actually on the front lines interacting with guests.

Most GSMs are stuck "babysitting" their cast to actually go out and interact with guests.

Then you have area managers who are simply biding time until they get their 20 years in and have zero intention of career development or direction for anyone who works underneath them.

From my POV? If a manager is not willing to dedicate several hours of their day to interacting with guests and problem solving, they need to find employment elsewhere. Its possible to do your paperwork in the first part of your shift and spend the second part out and about.

 

[Cardinals314]

So earlier I posted on here that Disney wasn't going to do their Super Bowl commercial since the NFL was going to charge Disney double the price to produce the commercial at the big game. Disney decided that they can actually still have the commercial but will change up the formula by filming the commercial at Disney. With the original news of Disney not being able to do the commercial at the game, Peyton Manning actually reached out to Disney and stated that if they won he would like to go and do the commercial for no fee. In the past, he always asked for around 10 million dollars to be in the commercial and fly out to Disney. This price was always 2-3 times the amount every other player was offered. Thus when Manning previously won the Super Bowl Tony Dungy went to Disney World. If the Panthers win, Cam Newton has agreed to go to Disney. I'm glad that Disney is still doing the commercial even though it will be different than the ones in the past.

 

[PhotoDave219]

So earlier I posted on here that Disney wasn't going to do their Super Bowl commercial since the NFL was going to charge Disney double the price to produce the commercial at the big game. Disney decided that they can actually still have the commercial but will change up the formula by filming the commercial at Disney. With the original news of Disney not being able to do the commercial at the game, Peyton Manning actually reached out to Disney and stated that if they won he would like to go and do the commercial for no fee. In the past, he always asked for around 10 million dollars to be in the commercial and fly out to Disney. This price was always 2-3 times the amount every other player was offered. Thus when Manning previously won the Super Bowl Tony Dungy went to Disney World. If the Panthers win, Cam Newton has agreed to go to Disney. I'm glad that Disney is still doing the commercial even though it will be different than the ones in the past.

That's..... Well that's interesting.

You're assuming the MVP is one of those two people.

 

[hopemax]

AK day went pretty uneventful. Other than staffing seems to be so thin that things don't get refilled when empty. The same thing happened at DHS in actuality. So in the bathrooms most paper towel dispensers were empty and ketchup pumps you had to try multiple which is annoying at Flame Tree because they're so spread out.

No my big problem today was MDE. Since I'm the only one who knows what you have to do to get overlapping FP for Mine Train for 5 people with less than 24 hour notice I took it upon myself to get it setup. One person at a time, then walk the times until they work. Going alright until the person I mentioned in my previous post...it suddenly said I didn't have permission to edit her fast passes. But only for tomorrow and only on the app. I could edit it just fine on the computer, and I could set up Wed FPs for her from the app.

The whole process took 2 hours constantly refreshing for any availability and then to adjust the times. Both working the app (because on the computer you can't take a group of 7 and change the ride for 1 person only) and the computer (because its easier to change the times for 5 separate slots on the computer than the app). All to avoid a 50 min wait... And I'm not even riding the ride. I did this just so my friends could ride but the times I could get are after my Dad and I might have left already.

 

[Cesar R M]

I worked at Universal when they fused F&B and Merch into "Revenue Operations." It was an unmitigated disaster in my opinion. I can't even begin to think how adding Ride Ops to the equation will work.

and why the hell they did that?
to cost cuts on management? did they split these again back to what they were after the disaster?

 

[Cesar R M]

Your absolutely correct. I was speaking more in terms of how a paper FP cant fail once issued. The only error that could occur is on the user end if they lost or damaged it. Now we have FP+ which allows people to blame the system no matter what. Or the system can crash. Or a scammer can simply claim they reserved a fp+ even if they did not. Ive seen first hand groups of people attempting to use a fp+ before its time and when told by the CM that they need to return in 20 minutes, they make a fuss which in turn jams up the line while they pulled out their phone, logged into MDE and then realized that they were in deed early, or the alternative where a foreigner doesnt speak english or doesnt understand the system. Im not saying legacy was the best system ever, but after using legacy and fp+, I feel legacy was better than what we have now.

But I always forget how many people now claim they had to "sprint" around the park while their family was enjoying the vacation. Funny though, I never saw people sprinting in all those years.

people nowadays do not sprint.. they roll or chug in their scooters

 

[Cesar R M]

One can hope. I mean for years and years we've had this debate that rather than raising prices and making cuts that impact the guest experience, if they just cleaned house and eliminated some of the paper pushers and peter principle managers, the company would be far better for it.

Pretty sure they would increase the prices and cuts regardless of how big the cull is