Disney Trip-Cast Members

[Disney Doll]

So here I am on our trip to Disney and I have never encountered so many "unmagical" cast members.

Disheartening.

 

[North of Mouse]

So here I am on our trip to Disney and I have never encountered so many "unmagical" cast members.

Disheartening.

Sorry you're having a disappointing trip. Hope it gets better before you leave!

We have never run into any 'unmagical', or less than helpful, CM's and we have been going to Disney since MK first opened.

 

[Klayfish]

That's a shame. Are you talking about at the hotel or in the parks?

I am a huge supporter of CMs and think that as a whole they are absolutely magical. However, we don't stay at the hotels or eat in sit down restaurants, so our CM contacts are the ones who work the attractions, security, tram, etc... I think they are marvelous. The number of magical ones we encounter vs non-magical ones is probably 50:1 easily. But again, that's just our experience and our take on it. Not saying you're wrong or anything else, just that we don't have those experiences. Curious to hear where you're encountering these CMs.

 

[sam_gordon]

Can you give us some examples? Were they "unmagical" as in rude, condescending, ignoring, etc, or "not magical" as in not going above and beyond?

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Sorry you're not having the best experience. I've encountered a few unhappy CMs but most are great. Though I do think people have very high expectations of employees who aren't being paid very much.

 

[bookgirl]

It's been unseasonably cold in FL.....maybe they have the 'winter' blues.

I've met a few unhappy CM's in the past 7 years but no more than I've met at any business. Hopefully you can make your own magic and enjoy the trip.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So here I am on our trip to Disney and I have never encountered so many "unmagical" cast members.

Disheartening.

What "Disney" are you at? There's many locations that fall under the Disney umbrella.

I've found the CMs at WDW tend to interact with guests less than those at Disneyland (CA). But I don't really feel it's "unmagical". Just a different sort of personality.

 

[Mr_Tom_Morrow]

Noticed when I was there between 12/15 - 12/25 that there seemed to be a lot of new cast members because I've never seen so many "higher up" cast members helping out in attractions. Either that or they were very short staffed which I have a hard time believing.

 

[Albort]

Noticed when I was there between 12/15 - 12/25 that there seemed to be a lot of new cast members because I've never seen so many "higher up" cast members helping out in attractions. Either that or they were very short staffed which I have a hard time believing.

its the recent changes for some departments. Whenever a cast member calls in, they accrue points. 3 pts for a single call in, up to 36 for full time. Now, i think they are trying to change this system to PTO time so now cast members can call in and not accrue points if they paid themselves from sick or vacation time. I know it affects some departments but im not sure if its parkwide.

dont quote me on it either, i could be wrong too.

 

[wilkeliza]

Noticed when I was there between 12/15 - 12/25 that there seemed to be a lot of new cast members because I've never seen so many "higher up" cast members helping out in attractions. Either that or they were very short staffed which I have a hard time believing.

That is because it is one of the busiest periods. In December until New Years they do what is called cross utilization and even managers can work shifts in roles that are not normally theirs but they are trained on, i.e. actually working in the attraction they manage, working the floor at the shops, or cleaning up in quick service locations. This has always been a thing the company does to get people out of their offices and out helping during high crowd times.

 

[wilkeliza]

its the recent changes for some departments. Whenever a cast member calls in, they accrue points. 3 pts for a single call in, up to 36 for full time. Now, i think they are trying to change this system to PTO time so now cast members can call in and not accrue points if they paid themselves from sick or vacation time. I know it affects some departments but im not sure if its parkwide.

dont quote me on it either, i could be wrong too.

That system has been around for a very long time at least 4 years since it was that way when I was a CM but my friends who are 10+ CMs say it has been around as long as them too.

 

[Meriweather]

We've been here for a week and everyone has been great!!

 

[Jennasis]

Could you be more specific?

We had an occasional unenthusiastic CM but never one who was outright rude, unpleasant, etc.

 

[lizabu]

I just got home from WDW on Sunday and the entire week was so busy I remember telling my DD that if I was a CM I would hate my life. And just talking about what a crappy job it must be with all the people and how mobs of people act. I never met a CM who seemed to be over the top magical or chipper but I can't say I blame them.

 

[Disney Doll]

We had been out of our room most of the morning spectating/participating in the 10K. Got back. Showered. Went to lunch. Came back quickly to the room at about 2pm to drop off refillable mug prior to heading out again. Room not cleaned which was no problem but the housekeeper saw me go in, knocked, handed me a bunch of towels and said "I probably won't get to your room today". We called housekeeping and asked them to send her some assistance.

Driving into Epcot the morning of the marathon and the parking attendant motions us to stop. So we stop. She says $20. I said "Oh we're staying onsite. There's the parking thing in the windshield. Did you need to scan my magicband?" I didn't say it in a fresh tone of voice. I figured maybe she didn't see the parking thing right on the dashboard and so if she scanned my magicband it would show my hotel. She says "don't get fresh with me". I said I wasn't being fresh but if the parking paper wasn't enough would she need the magicband. She takes the handheld scanner and scans the band. The scanner didn't work (which BTW seems to be a common problem)so then she says "$20 or you can't go in". At that point we just drove in. I figured if the Disney police got us we had 2 things indicating free parking.

Those are 2 examples. In general, the CMs seemed "meh" to me. Makes me sad because it didn't used to be that way.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am sorry you experienced that lack of magic. I must say that in December we had an entirely different experience, and encountered not one "unmagical" member. The only thing I can imagine is that they CM's were overwhelmed. The housekeeping issue is not okay, but I would have landed that on management, and done as you indicted uyou did...have them handle the the problem. The parking lot? No idea. I think that sometimes a person just seems to be stuck in that path...and once you start to notice, you cannot stop. It's a shame really

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We had been out of our room most of the morning spectating/participating in the 10K. Got back. Showered. Went to lunch. Came back quickly to the room at about 2pm to drop off refillable mug prior to heading out again. Room not cleaned which was no problem but the housekeeper saw me go in, knocked, handed me a bunch of towels and said "I probably won't get to your room today". We called housekeeping and asked them to send her some assistance.

Driving into Epcot the morning of the marathon and the parking attendant motions us to stop. So we stop. She says $20. I said "Oh we're staying onsite. There's the parking thing in the windshield. Did you need to scan my magicband?" I didn't say it in a fresh tone of voice. I figured maybe she didn't see the parking thing right on the dashboard and so if she scanned my magicband it would show my hotel. She says "don't get fresh with me". I said I wasn't being fresh but if the parking paper wasn't enough would she need the magicband. She takes the handheld scanner and scans the band. The scanner didn't work (which BTW seems to be a common problem)so then she says "$20 or you can't go in". At that point we just drove in. I figured if the Disney police got us we had 2 things indicating free parking.

Those are 2 examples. In general, the CMs seemed "meh" to me. Makes me sad because it didn't used to be that way.

What a way to start your day.

I feel like it started with the MYW Dining Plan. (2005, I believe.) All of a sudden it started getting stressful in restaurants when people were arguing about whether their tip was included in the plan or not and all sorts of other little discrepancies and problems. It changed the atmosphere and then it slowly went downhill from there. Now we have all this technology that people are stressed about. It has to wear on you day in and day out. Combined with cost cutting, crowds, expectations, perhaps low pay (idk), and who knows what else, it's a sign of the times, IMO. Fortunately there are still some shining moments. Those are probably the times we need to focus on, otherwise it does get disheartening.

 

[ronandannette]

What a way to start your day.

I feel like it started with the MYW Dining Plan. (2005, I believe.) All of a sudden it started getting stressful in restaurants when people were arguing about whether their tip was included in the plan or not and all sorts of other little discrepancies and problems. It changed the atmosphere and then it slowly went downhill from there. Now we have all this technology that people are stressed about. It has to wear on you day in and day out. Combined with cost cutting, crowds, expectations, perhaps low pay (idk), and who knows what else, it's a sign of the times, IMO. Fortunately there are still some shining moments. Those are probably the times we need to focus on, otherwise it does get disheartening.

Good post! And add to that the seemingly unrelenting drive to have the "perfect, magical vacation in the pristine Disney bubble". It's a recipe for disappointment and I agree with whoever it was upthread that once a negative incident pings your radar, it tends to make one hyper-sensitive to further perceived incidents.

 

[Sweetpancake]

Sorry to hear of the difficult experiences. Sounds like you just very unluckily dealt with the wrong people that day. I think we have greater expectations of Disney than other companies and when customer service is less than stellar, we're a little more surprised. When I worked in Disney World, it certainly reminded me of just how human everyone who worked there was. Hoping you have a better experience next time!

 

[DisneyHardin]

We had been out of our room most of the morning spectating/participating in the 10K. Got back. Showered. Went to lunch. Came back quickly to the room at about 2pm to drop off refillable mug prior to heading out again. Room not cleaned which was no problem but the housekeeper saw me go in, knocked, handed me a bunch of towels and said "I probably won't get to your room today". We called housekeeping and asked them to send her some assistance.

That stinks. We had some problems with housekeeping during our trip in November. We were the last room on the hall and so I guess we were the last to be cleaned. I stunk to get back to the room mid-afternoon and it still not be made up. One day we were in there when they came and they asked if we still wanted it cleaned and I said yes, but I could tell it was really making her nervous that I was there, so I just told her to leave the towels and stuff and not to worry about it.