Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 For those of you unaware, WDW has been running the MK from 8 am until midnight on Christmas Eve for years now (actually 7 a.m. with EMH) but that wasn't always the case. WDW closed the MK 'promptly at 6 p.m.' and EPCOT Center 'promptly at 7 p.m.' back in the 1970s and 80s and perhaps the very early 90s. This was so CMs could go spend time with their families much like malls closed and restaurants and the like. It was traditional. Some would say it also was the right thing to do. Sometime in the 1990s, the parks were pushed open later the 8-10 p.m. time period sounds about right. But not anymore. Now, Christmas Eve is just like Christmas Day and Dec. 26th and so on ... Now, DL still closes somewhat early at 9 p.m. with DCA even earlier at 7. My question is what do you guys/gals think about this? Is it right? Is it fair for CMs to perhaps have to work until 2-3 a.m. on Christmas morning? Is it just an example of corporate greed? (because Disney has no problem closing the park early for hard ticket events) I started thinking about this a few weeks ago when I saw so many places open on Thanksgiving Day, including grocery stores and fast food outlets. And then those Black Friday sales just keep getting earlier too ... but I digress ... is what Disney doing just an off-shoot of this current environment that says to workers 'you must work any and all days, but maybe we'll throw some extra change your way?' I'm negative toward all of it ... but I kinda wonder if I'm just a 'purist' who is 'living in the past.' So, thoughts? ...
Originally Posted By leobloom Disney abuses its CMs in numerous other ways. Why should this be any different? Yeah, it's disappointing, Spirit. But gotta keep those tourists happy at all costs! And you know the CMs. They love the magic!! They won't mind working Christmas and Christmas Eve
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Well, first of all, there is no doubt but that this problem is entirely due to the feminists. ;-) But Disney is really in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If they close early, thousands and thousands of Christmas time visitors complain about WDW shutting early during the busiest time of the year. If they don't close early, they take flak from the Spirit and a few of his fellow travelers about staying open on Christmas Eve. I don't know... which would YOU choose if you were WDW management? ;-) I don't know that people working in the Service Industry see this as a big problem. It is more or less a given that you are going to have to do your celebrating around your work shifts. It is not like you have no time off... you just don't have it off at the same time most people do. And that can be OK. This last weekend my wife and I traveled up to Brainerd MN for "Early Christmas" with members of her family there. They manage a popular up-scale, year-round resort in that area. Like WDW, they are jammed during Christmas week but pretty empty during early December. So we all get together in early December and have our Christmas with them then. It is a great deal of fun with eating, drinking, gift opening, fireworks, and games. Some years I actually remember most of the activities!! I just don't think it is a big deal. Thirty-five years ago when I was a High School/College student working in the service industry I didn't question working during normal holiday hours. In fact I usually liked it... everyone; both the customers and the bosses, were generally in a pretty nice mood. It was actually one of the most fun times to be at work in the entire year. But of course we didn't have The Spirit suggesting that we might be victims of corporate greed. Who knew??
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I agree road trip. If you work in a service industry then you must expect that you are going to be more likely to work on the days that others are not, thus being able to utilize the services. This is especially true of big entertainment venues such as Disney. Also I don't believe that when Disney has a "Hard Ticket" event and they close it to the general public they just let all the CM's go home. They are still open for business and employees are required to be there. Technically, it seems unfair but there is nothing greedy about it. Life isn't always the way we like it. There is a solution though, since, it is clear to everyone that Disney is open during those times and the CM's accepted those jobs knowing those conditions, if it isn't workable for the CM they can always leave and get a job that is more compatible with the desired lifestyle. Now the topic of Retail is an example of Corporate greed, but anyone that has been in retailing will know that the holiday season is "make or break". This is when they must have sales high enough to pull out the year. Making people work on Thanksgiving day to get a jump on Black Friday is pure greed.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal While I think that there are many ways the CM's could be treated better, this isn't one of them in my book. The motto "we work while others play" isn't just for days other than Christmas. I worked every Christmas and Christmas Eve when I was at Disneyland. Many times I volunteered to do it because I did not have kids at the time. I am sure there are many ways things could be made better but this is nothing unexpected and I think it's fine to expect CM's to work on Christmas Eve/Day.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I've got no problem with WDW being open on Christmas. I worked a Christmas Day there. Actually, I was off in the morning and was scheduled for 2:00 or so. I actually drove to Ft Lauderdale to spend Christmas morning with the family and then drove up to Orlando to be at work on time. I didn't mind it and, actually, I found it enjoyable to be there on Christmas Day.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome I think by opening longer hours, it allows more CM's to be with their families on Christmas morning (which often is the more important time frame). CM's need to be at the hotels anyway, so not all are going to be off (no matter what). Denise
Originally Posted By mousermerf No one is scheduled to work open to close for those days, and they staff pretty much everyone so it's very fair and having extra people often makes working that day easier then a similar day, say in June, when you only have 2 CM's. Instead you have 4 and extra breaks and such. A few CM's do work the whole day or have a double-back shift, but they volunteer most times. If no one volunteers, it goes down the line of seniority and well, that's how the cookie crumbles in a seniority based setting. Airlines, hotels, and other destinations aren't closed either. Does the border patrol take Christmas off?
Originally Posted By mousermerf And before someone says seniority isn't fair - at Disney with the high turnover, you have to work less then 3 months to be at the bottom of the seniority chain.
Originally Posted By jonvn I see no problem with this. This is what the job is, and what these people signed up for. Some people don't care about it that much.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 First, I think a lot of folks missed the point. I'm not talking about Christmas, which has always had the very long operating day (I know cause that's when my first visit as a wittle young spirit took place!) This is Christmas Eve. And I also know people in hospitality work holidays, again not my point (BTW, I'd advise anyone who wants a trouble-free, pleasant flight with plenty of room to spread out to fly on Christmas Day as I have 3-4 times!) I'm just wondering if this is just an example of corporate greed. If it really is so necessary to keep the MK open until midnight on Christmas Eve. I remember as a child in Florida when Publix Supermarkets were closed on Sundays. It seems absolutely quaint now with 7-10 hours ... not to mentions 24-hour Walgreen's on every corner. I guess it's just our NOW, NOW, NOW society because it doesn't effect me one bit. And, hey, I did run to Walgreen's for Coke on Thanksgiving Day!
Originally Posted By fkurucz << If it really is so necessary to keep the MK open until midnight on Christmas Eve. >> Probably not. While I would enjoy spending some time there on the 24th, I would probably call it a day late in the afternoon to prepare for Christmas. I think that closing at 8:00 PM would be very reasonable.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper If you are vacationing at WDW over the holidays I'm not sure how happy YOU would be with everything closing early that evening. And, let's not forget the numbers of people (both cast members and the public) that may not particularly care if they work Christmas Eve. Because of the work I do I haven't had a 4th of July off since 1987. I'm not complaining about it. I went into this work knowing I would be working on holidays. And, if memory serves, I believe I was compensated at a higher rate when working on Christmas Eve/Day.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>And, if memory serves, I believe I was compensated at a higher rate when working on Christmas Eve/Day.<< If they do that, then I don't have a problem with it. (Not all service-industry employers pay extra for working holidays, which is pretty Scrooge-ish, IMHO.)
Originally Posted By MPierce Well I think all employees every where should be with their families on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas morning. Unfortunately in our work driven society that's just not practical anymore. We live a much faster paced life now, and it really is harder for pepole to slow down anymore. They have come to expect people in the service industry to be there seven days a week working as late as possible even on holidays. I don't think it's right, but that's how it has become.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Does everyone celebrate Christmas? Does everyone have someone to celebrate it with? A stupid (IMHO) school in my town recently had a fit and made the students take down a "giving" tree they had set up. The tree was to collect mittens, hats, scarves, etc for the needy in the area. Golly, they used something that looked like a Christmas tree and all hell broke loose. Some people claimed that the tree was anti non-Christians. After being splashed all over the newspaper, the tree went back up. Political correctness!!!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<If you are vacationing at WDW over the holidays I'm not sure how happy YOU would be with everything closing early that evening. >> I've been at WDW on 12/24 in 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991, and 1999 just off the top of my head. All of those years the MK closed before midnight. The first five times, it closed at either 6 or 7 and was a hard close. I didn't have any problem with it at all. I thought it was fair. And, FWIW, I don't celebrate Christmas in any religious sense although I do love the holiday season. I'm not necessarily saying Disney is wrong for what its doing. I'm not really sure. What I am addressing is that WDW used to operate differently and DL still does.
Originally Posted By MPierce There are a lot of people that don't celebrate Christmas bobbelee9. Especially most religions that aren't Christian based. I think the vast majority of people in this country do, although I have nothing to back that statemnt up with. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a Giving Tree. I think it's a great idea, and in the true spirit of Christmas. The only problem I have is when they Can't have a Christmas Tree, only a Holiday Tree. I just think that takes Political Correctness to far>
Originally Posted By jonnyrzone420 When you get hired for a company like Walt Disney, Universal, and other major serve the public institutions you go in knowing that you have theoretically kissed every major holiday good-bye. Some-times people luck out and get it off. And for most positions seniority doesn't hold much weight. Also, I know a lot of cast members that enjoy working the holidays because of the doule-pay. If you want to give up your shift at the parks, it is very easy in most positions. As long as you work your required amount of holidays. It's being a cast member and trying to visit the parks on a holiday that is pretty tricky.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Agreed MPierce. That's what happens when the loons at the ACLU go way too far. There are plenty of examples where religion is intruding on people's rights and crossing the line (like pharmacists not filling prescriptions for birth control if it goes against their 'beliefs'). A Christmas tree is a Christmas tree and it shouldn't offend any normal person, and is usually something nice to look at.
