What has become of Disney?

[ULPO46]

To answer the OP's title question, what has happened to America as a whole. Companies have downsized, cut corners, raised prices and aren't the same place my grandfather spent 50 years working at and retired with a decent 411k plan. Disney is lucky because they aren't just the worlds most visited theme parks, they are a multi leveled business filled with everything from Film and Television, to Books and Consumer Products. Sadly, principle ideas brought from Japan during the early 2000's, ala Six Sigma and Kaisan, have really left companies imagining that they can make more profits with offering less. Now I get a lot of heat around here for saying it, but i'm lucky to work for one of the most beloved companies on the planet. Indeed, there are times that I hate the corporate greed and hate that ideas aren't liked as much as you once thought. But after watching an unbiased documentary on Walt Disney's life from PBS, wow! It perfectly explains a lot. Disney has always been this way in a sense, maybe not as bad as it is today, but it always had greedy business man. Even Walt Disney refused to pay his early employees well. I'm sure that somewhere down the Romanticized version of the DL and WDW story, he wanted to cut cost somewhere. Sure this will get heat but it's my disillusioned opinion. I read plenty of forums, I go by countless names and usernames across the forums, and I am always saddened to hear people be disillusioned with Disney as a whole. But maybe I looked at it through a child's perspective and never noticed anything. But ones things certain I'm a member of a generation who if we do nothing to fix our current present problems, they will never get any better and they might as well get worse.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Maybe it comes down to preference. I only ever had cheap umbrella strollers with my kids. The ones I bought reclined a little bit. Of course, I only used them from 0 to 3 so I imagine you are right when you say they don't work for older kids. But they certainly worked for newborns just fine.

My daughter was 15 mos on our last trip. We rented a stroller from Orlando Strollers. It was wonderful. It had a huge sun shade and completely reclined. My daughter is very strong willed and can wiggle her way out of a lot high chairs, grocery carts, ect.The stoller had a five point harness that kept her in. Since it's impossible to carry her the entire day, or let her walk on her own (we'd never get anywhere!), I used a stroller. Since she was in it a LOT, I wanted a nicer stroller that protected her from the Florida sun. I can't wait until the day we don't need a stroller as the thing is cumbersome, but I was very attentive with it and never cut anyone off, or ran into anyone. If we stopped I always tried to park out of the way. I hate that some people who are bad with strollers ruin the idea of nice strollers for everyone.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

And I don't mean you @French Quarter I just meant that in this thread several times people seem to be bothered by strollers. If I couldn't have a stroller, I couldn't go.

 

[JoeV]

I didn't mean that no one cared, I meant that no one should.



If you are in public (this does not include a restroom) you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

This is probably just semantics now and depends on how people define privacy. I am not talking about someone taking your picture. I am referring to private personal information that is not normally available to the public and would require them to gather such information by covert means without you knowing and approving. This is illegal. Doesnt matter who you are or if you are on their property. If you dont give permission, nobody is entitled to this private information. You could go to jail, for a long time.

 

[George]

Does one have en expectation that one would not be filmed on video camera inside a restroom stall or changing booth? Yes.

The whole reason cameras are in the stalls are so that we can generate a chart of "temporal regularity" with respect to BMs so we know the the time of day (9:18 am) it is most important to have pristine pottys.

 

[rucifee]

The whole reason cameras are in the stalls are so that we can generate a chart of "temporal regularity" with respect to BMs so we know the the time of day (9:18 am) it is most important to have pristine pottys.

There are certain restrooms where FP+ could be a good idea.

 

[JoeV]

There are certain restrooms where FP+ could be a good idea.

Outside the eateries in the Mexican pavilion.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

And I don't mean you @French Quarter I just meant that in this thread several times people seem to be bothered by strollers. If I couldn't have a stroller, I couldn't go.

We're in the same boat. We have been looking at getting a double wide Citi Mini that fully reclines and has a sun shade. Is it wide? Yes. Is it more practical for a family with two kids who are under 3? Absolutely. If we couldn't have a stroller in the park...it'd be a tough time trying to get around. Plus with a stroller, it allows us to buy and stroll around all of the Disney goodies that we buy. If we couldn't have a stroller, then we couldn't spend any money in the parks.

 

[JoeV]

I didn't get a reply from the feedback/complaint I sent but I just completed a survey I got in an email from Disney World. A bunch of questions about the visit, hotel stay, rating food etc...

There was an extra comment section where you could enter additional thoughts etc..

I just put "Epcot was very nice and the highlight of the visit. Hotel accommodations were much better than expected and staff was receptive. The shuttle bus service was flawless and I never waited more than five minutes. Food and dining ran from Good to Excellent. However, I had multiple issues with the Magic Band service from the start and it was frustrating at times. Also, management desperately needs to expand the Magic Kingdom park to accommodate traffic. Outside of the characters, employees there appeared a bit frazzled or flustered at times, likely due to the crowd size. The Park is just too small for the amount of visitors and it puts a damper on the overall experience in this park. Magic Kingdom was the only major disappointment of the trip."

 

[French Quarter]

Some people to have this notion or idea that people should only be allowed to talk about subjects those people want to read and talk about. There are obviously some taboo subjects excluded as we've both learned about in this thread, but I'm not sure why anyone else cares so much about the things we talk about. They might want to exercise their unwatch links.

No. You have got me wrong. I didn't ask the question to say that you shouldn't be talking about MBs. Discuss away! It was a sincere question. I couldn't figure out why the OP wrote quite a bit about how problematic MBs are only to then say, but there's nothing wrong with them. I'm confused about the point he is making.

 

[draybook]

The crowds this September had nothing to do with school breaks, unless we're discussing foreign school schedules here. I would venture a guess that 85% of the crowds were foreign visitors.

A CM told us that their marketing overseas was becoming more and more effective and it looks like he was right. Marketing + discounts = crowds.

 

[French Quarter]

And I don't mean you @French Quarter I just meant that in this thread several times people seem to be bothered by strollers. If I couldn't have a stroller, I couldn't go.

Thanks for the clarification. Because I have no problem with strollers, scooters, segways, hover crafts, shopping carts, or anything else.

 

[French Quarter]

This is probably just semantics now and depends on how people define privacy. I am not talking about someone taking your picture. I am referring to private personal information that is not normally available to the public and would require them to gather such information by covert means without you knowing and approving. This is illegal. Doesnt matter who you are or if you are on their property. If you dont give permission, nobody is entitled to this private information. You could go to jail, for a long time.

Except it's not illegal. Are you trying to say that Disney is breaking the law? And if not, what is your point in relation to Disney?

 

[draybook]

Yes, that's the best description. The MK has never been crowd friendly.

Funny you say that, i was at MK Monday and I've never seen so many 7-9 year olds in strollers ever. I really thought they had some medical condition, until they jumped out and started running around. When did this start happening?

Scooters really don't bother me until the riders abuse the thing by driving recklessly fast while cutting through crowds and not watching where they're going and take someone out.

We were waiting for our ADR at Sci Fi last month and this girl was sitting in the stroller being pushed by her mother. You've all seen my pictures in my TR. You've seen how tall my son has grown. This girl was almost as tall as him. She would sporadically get out and walk and she appeared to be absolutely normal. She was far from the only kid that we saw that had no business being in a stroller.

 

[French Quarter]

We're in the same boat. We have been looking at getting a double wide Citi Mini that fully reclines and has a sun shade. Is it wide? Yes. Is it more practical for a family with two kids who are under 3? Absolutely. If we couldn't have a stroller in the park...it'd be a tough time trying to get around. Plus with a stroller, it allows us to buy and stroll around all of the Disney goodies that we buy. If we couldn't have a stroller, then we couldn't spend any money in the parks.

Completely off top but wanted to make sure you knew...you do know that you don't ever have to carry your parcels with you right? If you are staying onsite, they will send them back to your resort and if you are offsite, you can have them sent to the front of the park where they will hold them for you until you are ready to leave. Certainly do not leave things in your strollers unattended if you care about keeping them.

 

[rucifee]

No. You have got me wrong. I didn't ask the question to say that you shouldn't be talking about MBs. Discuss away! It was a sincere question. I couldn't figure out why the OP wrote quite a bit about how problematic MBs are only to then say, but there's nothing wrong with them. I'm confused about the point he is making.

Oh my mistake then, and my apologies. After the way the thread went yesterday, I'm probably overly paranoid.

 

[POLY LOVER]

Except it's not illegal. Are you trying to say that Disney is breaking the law? And if not, what is your point in relation to Disney?

Disney is not stupid, IF they are using the information or selling it to a third party somewhere in the magic band or ticket information you have agreed to it. You may not have realized you did but you did agree at some point. They would not expose themselves to being sued.

 

[Andrew C]

Thanks for the clarification. Because I have no problem with strollers, scooters, segways, hover crafts, shopping carts, or anything else.

I dunno...hover crafts are very difficult to control...

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Completely off top but wanted to make sure you knew...you do know that you don't ever have to carry your parcels with you right? If you are staying onsite, they will send them back to your resort and if you are offsite, you can have them sent to the front of the park where they will hold them for you until you are ready to leave. Certainly do not leave things in your strollers unattended if you care about keeping them.

I know they do this. We usually drive over for the day and don't stay on site overnight. Typically we grab stuff on the way out of the park and it's nice to just shove everything under the stroller instead of having to carry it. Plus strollers allow us to bring the diaper bag, snacks, camera, etc. Long gone are the days where we showed up with nothing in our hands with just our AP card in our pockets.

 

[French Quarter]

Disney is not stupid, IF they are using the information or selling it to a third party somewhere in the magic band or ticket information you have agreed to it. You may not have realized you did but you did agree at some point. They would not expose themselves to being sued.

You agreed to it when you gave them your personal info to begin with and took the tracking device they have given you and put it on your arm. All of this shows knowledge and consent. This is just a weird discussion.