DEBATE: Did disney offer enough?????

[Eeyore2U]

I think a tanking economy has more to do with decreasing attendance then anything else. Can you say Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom and AOL TimeWarner.

 

[JeffH]

Attendance was falling because of 2 reasons:
The slowing economy, which effected EVERYTHING/EVERYWHERE
and
The fact that the attendance figures that people compare 2001 against where those posted during 1999-2000 during the highly successful Millenium Celebration. There were no special promotions in 2001...even if the economy hadn't gone sour, the attendance figures could never have matched those of the new Millenium.

 

[Bob O]

wdhatter In the real world, maybe not wdw, people who work hourly are asked or as part of their contracts if unionized required to work extra hours if needed, its part of life and you deal with it. Everyone in the world, no ,but a majority i would easily say yes. The factors you mentioned IMHO just sound like excuses for not doing something or are we unable to think on our feet anymore and overcome minor problems. The main factor was money and disney's unwillingness to put the guests first!!! And this explains most of their actions lately.
Didnt Walts birthday start right after the Millenuim party ended?? Disney always has some type of hyped promotion that lasts about 18 months it seems.

 

[ralphd]

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

It was announced on the news in Orlando that all Epcot employees received a full days pay. So there was a cost for Disney, not a savings.

ralphd

 

[JeffH]

"The main factor was money and disney's unwillingness to put the guests first!!! And this explains most of their actions lately. "

The facts brought up in this discussion support the conclusion that Disney went WAY out of their way to put the guest 1st, but no matter what facts are brought up you'll never realize that. Then you try to despute the facts, no matter how correct they are to try as hard as you can to try make Disney out to be the bad guy here even though there was a FIRE (disaster) on the property, which any other company would have simply closed down and addressed the problem. I'm sure that Disney lost a lot of money on this.

"Didnt Walts birthday start right after the Millenuim party ended??"

NO it didn't, not even if you say it did. The Millenium celebration ended (ironically) on day 1 of the true beginning of the Millenium, Jan 1, 2001 (which began 18 months earlier on Oct 1, 1999). Walt's Birthday celebration didn't begin until October 1st, 2001 (and which I think will go 18 months) .

"Disney always has some type of hyped promotion that lasts about 18 months it seems."

Which is a good thing...not a gimmick. We enjoy going to WDW during special events, whether it is the Flower and Garden Festival, Food and Wine, Christmas, Halloween, Star Wars days, Soaps Weekend, Donald's birthday, Mickey's birthday, Goofy's birthday, Groundhog day, Meat day, Turd day...it doesn't matter it only adds to the party/fun/enjoyment.

 

[wdhatter]

Thanks JeffH.

I'm now tired of this subject.

 

[C.Ann]

Yes - they did enough..

 

[doombuggy]

I agree w/jeffh and wdhatter. I work at one of the sotre and when we had to close early due to snow last winter, I was paid for my entire shift, even though I did not work the entire shift.
I have been going to WDW since 1974 and have never been disapointed in a trip. I always feel that I get what I pay for and don't feel I am owed something. Many people are afraid to fly (not me, I flew to FLA on Sept 25, 2001), which is a result of last Sepember's events (don't forget the Pentagon or PA) and the bad economy. People are going by car, bus and train. Theya re going b/c they want to. Inevatably, somebody was probably disappointed.
You have a 100% right to your opinion, regardless. I am sorry that you feel the way you do.

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by Bob O
Last week Epcot was closed due to a fire that wasnt the fault of wdw. Due to the fire from the reports i have read wdw kept the other parks open for 1 hr extra. Do you think that was enough???
I know wdw wasnt obligated to do anything but i think all the parks shoul;d have been opended till at least midnight to compensate the guests due to Epcot being closed. The employee's could have been shuffled around to make up for this and it would have shwon that wdw truely values their guests IMHO.

they did all they could, within the WDW labor contract. It states that WDW CM's can only be kept 2 hours after their shift ends, in emergency situations only.

So keeping the park open an extra hour would be the most they could do, because it would require an hour after plark close to make sure everything is... well, closed.

They could make the attempt, but with how low morale is w/ most WDW CM's, I feel that very few would be willing to stay after, regardless of the extra pay.

I feel that there is more they could have done, aside from open the parks later, but given the fact that this has never happened before, and they more than likely weren't expecting anything like this to happen, they did a bang up job.

 

[mktiggerman]

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

nope.. with less than 24 hours notice, the CM's are going to be getting paid. The contract states that w/ less than 24 hours notice of a shift change (9/11 was the most widespread test of this policy at WDW) a CM must either be paid, or given an alternative assignment to "earn their keep." Most were probably just paid to stay home.

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by 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.

alright then... in the "fake world" of WDW, we have a contract which WDW must abide by... which states 24 hours notice for any shift change... and in emergency situations we can be forced to extend. Maybe WDW CM's are spoiled, or maybe you're getting less than you deserve by your boss.

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by Bob O
wdhatter In the real world, maybe not wdw, people who work hourly are asked or as part of their contracts if unionized required to work extra hours if needed, its part of life and you deal with it.

bob o...

it has taken every ounce of restraint in my body to keep any of my replies to your nonsense posts from turning ugly...

and I've been doing a bang up job thus far.

However... remember... to more than 50,000 people, WDW is a job. It is the real world to a lot of us. So don't call it otherwise. WDW is a highly unionized environment, w/ more than 30,000 of us working under the same contract. Maybe we got a better contract than you. Ours leaves us w/ the possibility of being kept an extra 2 hours after our shift, and no more. Maybe rather than bashing the WDW labor contract, you should work on making yours as "nice" as ours.

Originally posted by Bob O
The main factor was money and disney's unwillingness to put the guests first!!! And this explains most of their actions lately.

if you're going to start a thread about the Epcot fire, and Disney's response, don't bring up things from the past. IMO, it makes you sound childish and bitter.

If you're going to start a "Disney is going down the Tubes" thread, do that, and don't try to mask it as something else

 

[DaveO]

mktiggerman,

Thanks for some usefull REAL info.

Dave O.

 

[YoHo]

Thanks mktiggerman. It would seem that Walt Disney World did an amayzing Job with this and While I would like to here it, we don't much need input from Landbaron, because there's not much left to be said.

All employees were payed a full days wage
park hours were extended to the extent that the Employee contract would allow. shows were added and epcot entertainment shuffled to the other parks.

I say way to go Disney!

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

and While I would like to here it, we don't much need input from Landbaron, because there's not much left to be said.

HEY!!! How did I get drug into this!?!?! I haven't even posted on this thread... until now!!

BTW, Disney did just fine that day. I WAS THERE!!!

 

[YoHo]

Landbaron, we were waiting with baited breath for your opinion, but so many people have given so much positive evidence, that your very important opinion became in many ways moot.

 

[Jasmine13]

I have 2 people to address, and then I am done with this nonsence.

1st, great posts Tiggerman, and fine use of restraint!

2nd, BobO...were you there? did it affect you personally? No? Well then what are you complaining about?

 

[Bob O]

If all the employee's were paid it made no sense at all to just have them stay home and not have them work somewhere on the grounds, be it at Epcot or somewhere else on there property.
Well if Jeffh is going to call this a disaster than a disaster would require a emergency response, and part of that response would be too extend the hours of all the parks beyond the 2hr contract limit!!
The facts show disney made a good faith attempt to make up for a problem they couldnt control, but that they went way out of their way NO!!!!!
I wasnt sure when the promotions started/ended thats why i asked Didint Walts birthday start after the other promo, i wasnt certain of the start/end dates. And what is Turd day??? I havent seen any promo for that yet???
Jasmine13 if you read the post your question would be answered!!!
mktiggerman since Jeffh called the fire a disaster woudlnt the company have been able to claim a emergency response was needed to respond to this??? And in the real world people cant be held to the restriction of only being allowed to work 2 hrs if the job requires more than that. If i wanted to start a post about disney going down the tubes i would have and even though i disagree with some points you have made i wont resort to belittling you or your comments!! I have found your comments informative and enlightening and its bad that morale is low. Everybody's job is different but some jobs you dont have the ability to stop working because of a time clock or union contract language.

 

[ralphd]

Great response mktiggerman. The CM's do an outstanding job of representing themselves and Disney each and every day.
We have never had an unpleasant experience at WDW. Sure there have been CM's who were rushed or tired at times, but that is to be expected. Generally the CM's have gone out of their way to answer a question or to help us.
We were in WDW on 9/11 and were impressed with the way Disney and the CM's handled the situation.
We arrived at WDW the day of the Epcot power loss and did not hear any real complaints in the way Disney and the CM's handled that problem.
If you have nothing better to do than try to find fault with something, go ahead and bum yourself out.

ralphd

 

[mickey4ver]

turd day....wouldn't that be the day before Friday??