DEBATE: Did disney offer enough?????

[JeffH]

but as is the norm now for eisner they do as little to get by and to make the guests experience even more enjoyable

Not from what I see and experience.
Character meals are everywhere, as are characters.
Parades at all the parks (2 at the Magic Kingdom).
Animal Kingdom was one of the most researched and detailed park ever built, although short on attractions (like MGM was) when it opened.
The landscaping remains pristine, and the live show are everywhere.

 

[Bob O]

Sarangel If i wanted a poll i would have started one, but since i didnt want a poll i didnt start one.
eyeor2u, so this is a new century so we should expect less for our money???? Their is no reason at all that the parks shouldnt be open as long as they were in the past. The only thing that has changed is disney wants there guests out of the parks(unless of course you will pay extra for EE when offered) and spending money on other parts of there property. The guest experience takes a back seat to there attempts to wring more money out of people's wallets. And this is all a slippery slope and as long as people blindly accept all these cuts more will surely follow. Will everybody be happy if they decide to close the parks at 800pm in summer i mean its a new century so it must be ok right???
Jeffh character meals make the parks big money and are done for the parks benefit and not the guests or they would have more places like when the Odyssey Rest was open and the characters would sing/dance several times a day and then come out for pictures/autographs without charging any additional money and you could just sit and wtach the show and not eat and enjoy the experience. I find less characters in the parks, escpecailly in the countries of Epcot and they arent available during ee like they were since they eliminated it. Now to see the characters you have to wait in lines rather than having more spontaneous meetingswith them like i used to experience in the past.
AK"may"have been the most researched park but was opened with a big lack of attractions and still suffers from a lack of attractions and still has nt put in BK which was suppossed to be a big part of the park when it was announced. So for how many years are people supposed to pay full price for a park that doesnt offer a full days worth of activites or offer nighttime hours???

To me it gets down to expectations and as long as people excuse disney's cutbacks and additions like DR we will only get more of the same as its ch eaper to do it that way if people will accept it.

 

[Eeyore2U]

eyeor2u, so this is a new century so we should expect less for our money???? Their is no reason at all that the parks shouldnt be open as long as they were in the past. The only thing that has changed is disney wants there guests out of the parks(unless of course you will pay extra for EE when offered) and spending money on other parts of there property. The guest experience takes a back seat to there attempts to wring more money out of people's wallets. And this is all a slippery slope and as long as people blindly accept all these cuts more will surely follow. Will everybody be happy if they decide to close the parks at 800pm in summer i mean its a new century so it must be ok right???

Bob,

I enjoy what's there. I guess the hours offseason haven't changed and I don't go in the summer. My experience has not impacted at all.

Do you support the *insert any pro sports team*? If you do, why? Do you get more for less?

Does your favorite eating spot charge the same as 5 years ago? Why do you still go? But you are getting more for less.



I think so.

 

[Galahad]

Isn't the demographic for EPCOT older that the other parks? Maybe keeping other parks open until midnight wouldn't help anyway because all of the displaced guests would be asleep.

 

[HorizonsFan]

Sounds to me like disney saved money by sending most of their employees home who worked at epcot.

Not entirely accurate. CMs who had showed up early were re-assigned to other parts of the resort. CMs who hadn't come in yet were told not to report. Some were probably caught in transition and had to go back home, but certainly not "most".
Disney did enough to satisfy most guests. Some guests can NEVER be satisfied...

 

[YoHo]

Bob, now you're switching up the argument from the Specific (did Disney do enough to compensate for Epcot's closing) to the General.

I'm all for debating the General, we do it all the time, but you're stated logic for this thread seems to have been refuted.
Disney left all three other parks open for an extra hour, they comped a day at Epcot, they reassigned Epcot's entertainment to other parts of the World so people could still expireance it, they ran extra parades. They even let the employees already on site work at other locations. (which likely offset many congestion headaches with guests)
Am I to understand that if the MK were open till midnight instead of 11 you would have been satisfied?

That still seems like too slippery a slope for me.

 

[ztbz]

I can tell you that Some Cast Members had to Report to work at Epcot, In my Dept Epcot Cast Menbers were sent to the other parks, because had Disney told them not to come to work, Disney would have to do the same for all the rest of the Cast Members that work in my area at the other parks. So it depended on the area that Cast Members work at, My Dept is a Property Wide Department so that why. but at least everybody get paid that did work.

Also Cast Members that work in Entertainment, Tickets, Parking were also assigned to other parks and Disney Resorts.

 

[jafox]

I was there last week and noticed that it was little more crowded but not too bad. I guess if I was planning on going to Epcot that day and it was my last day I would have been disappointed but probably would have gone back to the hotel and enjoyed so time at the pool.

Josh

 

[AllisonG]

Sounds like Bob O isn't a Disney fan at all. Why bother Bob O? If you dislike WDW so much, why are you here?
and why do you keep changing the subject?

 

[Bob O]

AllisonG- Im as much a disney fan as anybody. I just believe they need to be held to higher standards than some people do. Ive been going to wdw since 1982 and IMHO i have found things slipping be it park hours/all rides not opened when the park is/opening incomplete parks while charging full price as a couple of examples. Too me every minute the park is open less is a reduction in magic and the value you receive in your admission price. I havent changed my subject, but was responding to other posts.
Yoho i would have kept the MGM/MK parks open longer than midnight as compensation, probably till 100am like it was the last time i went too mvmcp. But keeping the parks open till midnight IMHO would have given the guests more time to enjoy the parks which would have been busier due to the unforeseen problems at Epcot. The extra parades were a great gesture,i just would have went further to spread good will and too exceed the guests expectations. I went off topic in responding to other posts on this thread.
eeyore2 I dont support any pro sports team with my money and watch very little of it but if i did and didnt feel the value was worth it i would stop. I also dont eat anywhere if i dont get what i feel is value for the money spent. But as for disney the prices have gone up in the last 5 yrs while park hours have been reduced.

 

[wdhatter]

I still ask, with less than 24 hours notice, what more than what I and others have listed do you expect? As it was, Cast Members were forceablely (is that a word? LOL) extended to work the extra hour later without being asked. Many people were not happy about that at all. Yes, most CM's care that people didn't get to go to Epcot, but being forced to stay does not make one happy when you are told that day when you get to work. Also, many have child baby sitting issues. Being forced to work even later with no notice at all is NOT a fun thing. And don't say that they could have had the Epcot PM shift of people work the other parks' later shifts. That doesn't fly for many reasons...they aren't trained in the other parks, their schedules had them off earlier at Epcot as well, so they too would be forced to extend past their normal shift with no notice.

In a perfect world, a later close would have been nice, but again, I say that with less than 24 hours notice (even less than that really!), they did the best they could.

 

[mistermouse]

Just the smell of jagermeister....

Disney's repsonse was fair given the circumstances. It really is a huge logistics issue to do more than was done. Park hours were extended, employees shuffled, parades/shows added, park passes given out to disgruntled guests.

I certainly imagine the closure was frustrating/disappointing for many guests at the time, but fortunately not everyone feels victimized by these types of events. It seems more and more folks exhibit a me/victim attitude each day. While feedback is crucial, the kinda of attitudes some folks can display in these situations would seem to ruin a vacation much more readily than the actual event. (Not suggesting that Bob O is in such a group)

Relax, WDW is not going to throw a clutch and come to a grinding halt. The resort has always treated it's guests way above any norm and continues to do so. Part of the problem is with skewed expectations or perhaps has more to do with an increasingly spoiled rotten adult population. Disney should be given credit for it's response to the Epcot fire/closing.

 

[YoHo]

Okay, Bob, I'll grant you that you were responding to other posts, but It still sounds like sour grapes. Should Eisner have gone to each hotel room with mickey and personally appolgized? It sounds to me like given thier current Schdule, midnight and later was not something that was feasible on such short notice. I just can't understand what is so magical about Midnight? even in the 70's and 80's they sometimes weren't open till midnight. Even in the summer.

 

[DisneyKidds]

 

[Bob O]

wdhatter-Employee's having to work extra hours is part of everyday life in the real world and while they may not like it, so be it. Several times a week when it is slow and almost daily when its busy i work longer hours without any notice at all so i have no sympathy for anybody who may have to work extra hours on any given day. When i have to work extra im not asked at all and no concern is shown in the least so why that argument may be copmpelling to some its not to me. I would think people who work in Rest/Stores/general laborer's could easily work in both parks and they could find employee's to run attractions if they wanted to. And with a stagnant economy i would bet alot of people would like to make a little extra money as their will be less hours once summer is done and things slow down.
Yoho I dont think einser should gone to every room(it might have been a nice gesture, escpecially if he had visited with dvc Landbaron LOL). Midnight is magical because i was at the parks in the past at midnight as part of normal daily hours and always had a great time when the parks were open later at night. When you left you truely knew you got your money's worth and werent being paraded out of the park early so they could re-open it and let in more paying guests or being flushed out into downtown disney or a mintiaure golf course as the expense of visiting the parks.
Its not sour grapes as i wasnt at the parks and didnt suffer anything as a result of what took place but believe while disney did do alot to make up for a probelm that wasnt there fault i believe they could have done more and is just what i percieve to be the midset of the current regime when it comes to the guests experience, they are content not too excedd expectations.

 

[Eeyore2U]

Originally posted by DisneyKidds

DK,

Did you see my tag?????

 

[YoHo]

See Bob, the way I see it, sure they could have done more. Walt COULD have done more too.
They exceeded guest expectations, because they exceeded what the Corporate Heads in Burbank would have liked. They exceeded expectations, because the proceeded in a Walt like way in the face of Burbank's ever present Sharp pencil. They exceeded despite their limitations.

It's a PR triumph for everyone at the WDW resort.

All that being said I cannot wait forMr. Landbaron's report, because he tends to disagree with these kind of things and has an explination that I simply never would have thought of.

 

[Bob O]

Yoho Im sure they exceeded some guests expectations and didnt exceed others and i agree that DVC should have a different take on it than we will and a first hand one at that.
Maybe the parks are slower now then when i used to go in the summer, but in years past when i went in the summer it was very busy and the closing of Epcot would have increased the wait times and business of the other parks greatly. And thats why i always loved EE and late closings as it gave you a chance to get away from the masses of humanity.

 

[wdhatter]

Bob, no offense, but you just don't know. Not everyone in this world who is an hourly worker is made to work extra hours at a last minute notice. Salary workers....yes. Hourly...no. If they are asked to stay, they are asked and not usually forced to stay. Disney pretty much forces you to stay.

Also, just because you are trained in an attraction in one park doesn't mean you can run an attraction in another park. At Disney that is a HUGE safety NO-NO.

I know I'm probably sounding rude. I'm not meaning to be. But I just think that there are too many factors that outweigh that the parks needed to be open until midnight. On such short notice, you are expecting too much considering the MANY variable factors involved.

I'm done and not going to add anymore to this subject.

 

[manning]

If Disney is exceeding expectation, Why has attendance been falling prior to 9/11??