Originally Posted By MPierce Never mind you answered my question about Texas t-shirts, we werer typing at the same time. I still don't get the correlation between wearing a t-shirt, and trashy people. I couldn't find anything about it in my minion handbook.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Don't you know, only trashy people wear t-shirts to theme parks. Common knowledge, really.
Originally Posted By MPierce ^^^Evidently I didn't. I can't seem to pin Spirit down on this one either!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip This is a Spirit Redneck T-Shirt: <a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/dre0454l.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.cartoonstock.com/lo...454l.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Boy, some people, and minions too, really miss the point. The point was that you can't (for the most part) judge people by what they are wearing. So obviously most people took it to mean the exact opposite. I need a friggin slab of prime rib.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Are you guys holding hands, and skipping through the parks or something?>> Doesn't everyone?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<<<Are you guys holding hands, and skipping through the parks or something?>> Doesn't everyone?>> Only if I figure it will get me in at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Do you think they could dress me up like this? <a href="http://pixyland.org/peterpan/Imagezz/PeterVelvetStand1_600h.jpg" target="_blank">http://pixyland.org/peterpan/I...600h.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry ^^^ It's a dead link, but based on the error message, I know exactly who you're talking about! I still haven't quite recovered from the trauma from the first time I ran across that website.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I think that Disney charges a premium for their rooms. Hence why lately I have been staying in a Downtown Disney Hotel when visiting WDW.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Boy, some people, and minions too, really miss the point. << Thus the reason I asked for an explanation. >> The point was that you can't (for the most part) judge people by what they are wearing. So obviously most people took it to mean the exact opposite. << See, wasn't that easy, just explaining what you said? You make life to difficult my friend! >> I need a friggin slab of prime rib. << Don't go to Boma's they won't have it there.
Originally Posted By dshyates OK, I just got back from a themed resort hotel in Williamsburg for their "Illumination Ceremony". We stayed at The Williamsburg Lodge. It is a good solid 4 star resort. It is what I expect from a 4 star resort hotel. The service was far supperior to what I got at the poly last time I was there. The going rate for this weekend was $325/night. I felt like I got my monies worth by far. I paid $360 at the Poly and I was VERY disappointed. Combine that with the rate I got at the Ritz Otown, and the Disney hotels are out of sync. Either drop the price or kick up the service to match the rate.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy I think people here somehow equate a hotel's rate with service. There's probably 2 major components that determine a hotel's rate: 1) Location, location, location (as with all things in real estate) 2) Service Of the 2, location (and the demand for the prime location) probably determines 90% of the price that is charged. Service probably accounts for about 10%. That's why you can have a lousy Best Western in the middle of a major metropolitan area charging $200 or more a night. It's all about the location, forget the amenities. When it comes to proximity to WDW, Disney has the best real estate. They can charge the premium rates based on this alone. That's the way hotels work around the globe. There are certainly hotel chains that plus up the service aspect to sustain higher rates, but that's mostly because they don't have the monopoly on location that justifies the higher rates in the first place. Purchasing a night in a hotel room is a real estate transaction. WDW gets to charge higher rates for room in the same manner that rent is higher in NYC, S. Cal, or any other high demand housing location. You can pay $1M for a home in S. California and essentially be living in a shack. You can pay $300 a night for a hotel room in downtown Chicago and be getting the equivalent of a Days Inn Motel along the interstate in the countryside. I know folks want to think they are getting their money's worth when they shell out for things like this, but real estate generally doesn't work that way. It's all about location and not so much about amenities.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***how is anyone ( even armed with pixie dust ) going to find 55,000 - 60,000 truly excellent services workers ?I doubt you could do this in NewYork - Chicago or LA - let alone central Florida.....*** Pixie dust comes cheap. Armed with BETTER MONEY, that'd be the way to go (IF, and it's a big "IF", they care to...otherwise, they'll get McDonalds quality workers because they offer McDonalds quality wages).
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Armed with BETTER MONEY, that'd be the way to go (IF, and it's a big "IF", they care to...otherwise, they'll get McDonalds quality workers because they offer McDonalds quality wages). >> With unemployment accelerating, I wouldn't expect any pay raises soon. If they weren't raising pay much when the labor pool was tight, it's not likely to happen now.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***I guarantee you that if tomorrow Disney raised its minimum wage to $10-11-12 an hour, well, the quality of staffing would go up in a big way.*** Hadn't even gotten to this comment before I wrote the previous post. Spirit has the right idea...that's really what it comes down to, no? I seem to remember a time when Disney paid much better than local competitors. Perhaps I'm imagining things. But anyway, that is obviously not the case today. And if McDonalds pays the same, how can you expect any better quality from YOUR work force? (my impression is, they DON'T expect anything better, and they don't care...BUT, I will also note that they seem to train folks pretty well and many workers at DisneyWorld on my last trip were superb...it's possible I was just lucky, but anyway that was my impression)
Originally Posted By Mr X ***With unemployment accelerating, I wouldn't expect any pay raises soon. If they weren't raising pay much when the labor pool was tight, it's not likely to happen now.*** Yup. If they can't think outside the box, you are exactly right. And, in this environment, it very well might kill them. Hope not!
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Either drop the price or kick up the service to match the rate. >>> They can't do either. They've already whittled down the service to Increase Shareholder Value, and are kind of stuck. Unless and until occupancy at places like the GF suffers to the point where they can't get the high-end price point that they'd like, and someone decides that they could actually fill the rooms at high rates if they actually offered high end service, then things will stay as they are. I just did a bit of poking around, and am even more convinced of my theory about the GF: When it first opened some 20 years ago, it was intended to be the flagship property of WDW. I guess it still is, but what Disney had in mind was a hotel property that would truly stand on its own merits as a high-end resort even if it were not located at WDW. It occurred to me that they were probably aiming for something like a Mobil 4-star rating. So, I started looking it up. Currently, the GF is a Mobil 3-star hotel, as are the other Deluxes. However, I found a press release that says that as recently as the 2003 Mobil Guide, the GF had a 4-star rating (the only WDW resort to have such a rating that year). So, at some point between 2003 and 2008, Mobil noticed the drop in service and the GF lost a star. This is exactly in line with what I've observed, and many others have been commenting on, as far as an ongoing degregation of service at WDW. The GF didn't earn its Mobil 4-star rating by accident. Disney very deliberately went about creating such a high-end property at WDW. But over time, things like consolidating laundry facilities in order to save money, and thus having even the Deluxe properties use the Motel 6 quality towels that the All Stars use, crept into the picture. They must have known that they could not maintain a 4-star rating by doing such things, but figured that it was no longer important to do so. And we continue to see the results of this mentality. Funny thing about it, I can't seem to find the press release where Disney announced that Mobil took away one of the stars from the GF - I must not be using The Google properly
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 <<<At the risk of sounding aweful, I wish they never opened the value resorts or started the Disney Dining Plan - I think these are two key factors in the degradation>>> I'm with you there Dave. Sorry, I've just had 60 hours and 22 minutes of no power, no heat, and no freakin' computer, I'm just catching up.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh dear Bobbe, I am so glad everything is back on for you. Hope you warm up soon (and welcome back). Hugs.
