Originally Posted By TDLFAN I had the pleasure of spending time at TDL this morning before arriving tonight in Hong Kong. For a park entering the last week before the end of Christmas Fantasy 2006, I have to admit the park was rather slow. However... the lack of major crowds gave me the chance of taking a closer look at things that are dear and near in importance when it comes to the "Disney Experience"..better known as the "OLC difference". Truth be told... TDL has begun it's decent into dispair. Today, more than ever, I noticed many cracked floors, some trash accumulation, and some buildings that could use a little bit of freshening up. VERY UPSETTING! This reminds me of the way of the MK back in the early to mid 90's when things started to go down hill in cleanliness and upkeep. Sadly, I begun noticing this decline at TDL today. I was for once disappointed. Let the circus begin.. I shall keep my eyes on this issue.. makes me wonder why (or who is advising) OLC to cut cut cut while sacrificing a bit of the quality of that park and resort in general. To OLC: TDLFAN is watching... so get busy! I won't pay $700 a year for my TDR AP if the parks are going the way WDW and DLP have for the past few years.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Wow. For you TDLFAN to say anything negative toward OLC and TDL is amazing. Hope they get their act together.
Originally Posted By TDR_Fan Maybe it's because all the money went into DisneySea's 5th Anniversary Anyways, I'd hate to see TDL go downhill. It has always been regarded as the cleanest and most maintained Magic Kingdom, and it should hold that title.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN The park still look pretty nice when compared to the other parks, with the possible exception of HKDL which has always looked great (maybe because it's empty everytime I visit and I am on my way there in a an hour from now. Lovely day in HK by the way!) But I would like to see OLC rectify this trend before it gets out of control as is the case with DLP and the MK. DLP for example.. looked better last week due to the extensive refurbishing done to the DLPHotel and some areas of the park, like Frontierland, where just taking out the horrid Halloween decor it's an improvement. I shall keep monitoring this issue on my future visits... In the meantime, I can safely say TDS is the best looking park right now, thematically and in maintenance.
Originally Posted By Mr X Honestly, TDLFAN, I believe the real decent began a couple of years ago when OLC lowered it's starting wage by around a dollar an hour... Sadly, I began to notice that many new hires lacked that sense of pride and self-esteem that being a TDL cast member always came with. A real shame indeed, and by the way the conditions for entertainers has become worse as well so you can expect a slow decline in show quality as well. A few years ago foreign entertainers were well paid, given long hotel stays, business class airfare, and other "perks"...now there's no hotel, economy airfare, and the pay has been significantly lowered as well! And it's even worse for the Japanese performers, who are constantly being told "you'll probably be fired soon".
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 I'm with Jim. To read you post that, TDLFAN... well, I feel like someone just hit me in the chest. I've always trusted your fairness in reporting on Park quality and The Disney Experience. (And this thread is just more evidence of why you deserve that trust.) I so hope this is just a temporary blip on the monitor and not an indication that OLC is going to pack it in and go the way of Disney's "marketing, marketing, marketing!" over actual quality.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Jim in Merced CA Wed 12/20/2006 8:48a Wow. For you TDLFAN to say anything negative toward OLC and TDL is amazing. Hope they get their act together.<< <a href="http://www.jim.forgot.his.usual.olc.is.going.down.the.toilet_link.com/" target="_blank">http://www.jim.forgot.his.usua l.olc.is.going.down.the.toilet_link.com/</a>
Originally Posted By Roger55 All is not rosy when it comes to OLC and how they operate TDR. If you speak to the Japanese Guests and Cast Members that follow OLC/Disney, they have been speaking about the negatives of OLC for quite some time. It is just here on the US based fan boards where OLC has been put up on a pedistal. Many of my friends that have been long time TDR Cast Members have quit working for OLC in the past year.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<If you speak to the Japanese Guests and Cast Members that follow OLC/Disney, they have been speaking about the negatives of OLC for quite some time.>> What, specifically, have they been saying? <<It is just here on the US based fan boards where OLC has been put up on a pedistal.>> I don't think that OLC has been put on a pedestal on LP. I think what you might have seen are favorible reviews for DLR from fans who have extensive recent experience with all the Parks: Disney and Disney/OLC alike.
Originally Posted By Mr X Nothing specific, Inspector, just that things have generally gone downhill in terms of quality and the working environment as well. I can only really speak for entertainment, but as a former CM for 8 years I can say that last year was the FIRST year that I decided I didn't want to work there anymore. It went downhill fast. I believe a lot of the new managers are incompetent (not to mention mean), which puts pressure on the regular cast members and effects the guest experience. Again, this is only from the perspective of an entertainment CM. If you want more details, feel free to email me.
Originally Posted By Roger55 Guest's complaints about OLC... High prices for APs with no parking, discounts or other perks. Complants about the operating practices for popular shows and parades (e.g. lottery process to get castle show seating, strict rules about lining up and waiting for parades, etc.). Closing of the Mystery Tour attraction. Lack of attractions in TDS. Cutting back on expenses such as the commemorative give aways (which recently have been cheap looking and made of paper). Commemerative gifts used to be pins,coins or key chains. Scaling back of park events and offereings on dates such as TDL's anniversary (21st-23rd) and Mickey's Birthday. Lack of fireworks show similar to the scale of WDW or DLR. CM complaints about OLC... Low pay. Difficult working conditions (i.e. long hours, hard work, low pay). Difficult to advance in position and pay. Lack of flexibility in work scheduling. Difficulty to get time off to take vacations or do other personal activities. Poor backstage areas for CMs. These are some of the things I have heard. I personally share in some of the Guest's opinions, but not being a CM, I can only repeat what I have been told when it comes to CM complaints. Maybe my "pedestal" statement was a little bit of an exageration, but I do feel that for the most part, OLC is mostly cast in a good light here. My friends in Japan have always spoken critically of OLC as we do of Disney here in the discussion boards.
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>Poor backstage areas for CMs.<<< This, I don't get. The backstage areas meaning break areas or something? Having worked at Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea, Universal Florida, and Epcot (and I've been backstage in all 4 of the Florida parks), I'd say it's all pretty much the same. Nothing special, but then again it doesn't need to be. Honestly, Tokyo Disney probably has the best backstage food out of any (except maybe Universal...they had really good food).
Originally Posted By Mr X Depending on the management, regular CM's can be treated rather brutally these days to be honest. I've seen plenty of cast members in tears after being berated and bullied by supervisors. But only in the past year or so.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN FYI... I was just talking about the cosmetic look of some areas of the park. As a frequent guest, I do not have anything negative to say about the way the CMs are performing "on stage" since they consistently do a much better job when compared to their peers at ALL of the other parks around the World. Whether they are treated poorly by OLC, and I can relate to being treated badly by management, that is NOT evident to me as a guest in the park. In my 17 yrs visiting TDR, I have only received questionable treatment *three times*, and have never witnessed any CM behaving unprofessionally. If OLC likes to run their CMs like the military, then so be it. That's their prerrogative, just like it is any CM's prerrogative to quit if they don't like it. As for entertainment... I rarely have had a complaint and even bad shows like "Over the Waves" are much better quality than what I see at WDW at times. >>Lack of attractions in TDS/ Lack of fireworks show similar to the scale of WDW or DLR.<< Sounds to me that's the stuff many fans online in the USA complaint about. Whether the japanese complaint about that....well.. I'd have to hear this from OLC to believe it. Of course, there is that militant fan base in japan, but even them seem way too eager to enjoy the park regardless.
Originally Posted By Mr X **If OLC likes to run their CMs like the military, then so be it. That's their prerrogative, just like it is any CM's prerrogative to quit if they don't like it.** True, BUT...in the long term I think this will lead to bad guest service (because the "nice" and "enthusiastic" cast members WILL quit). I realize that you are speaking from a guest viewpoint, TDLFAN, but as a former insider I have to say that things have become MARKEDLY worse in the past year from a CM viewpoint. Your topic just gave me a good reason to mention it. As a guest as well, I hope things don't go downhill from here...but, I suspect they will. The management might have such a perogative, but in the long run I think if will hurt them.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Interesting Mr. X ... I wonder how much Ed Grier (Jay Rasulo's puppet in Anaheim) had to do with the lower morale/standards in Tokyo. It truly is embarrassing to see how ordinary to pathetic some of the high level park execs are. And that has to be traced right to Jay's door.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Mr X. Come visit the USA/Paris parks and tell me moral is bad at TDR.. Again, sometimes I wish the WDC ran their parks with equal tough hand, but then again... Americans have become lazy and won't work with the same ethics as the japanese do. I was at TDR this evening and it was great as usual. I just wish they fixed the floors in some areas of the park.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara First, I should explain that my day job requires me to be "detail obsessive." And it's something that you can't really get rid off. I'm the type of guy who spots every toupee, every open fly, every piece of gum on the ground, every pair of dentures, every person whose hair is dyed, every crack in the sidewalk, every spider web, and so on. (Note that in order not to drive my friends and family crazy, I keep most of this to myself!) So, as a guest who spent five days at the Tokyo Disney Resort at the end of September, I can't report seeing any degree of disintegration in quality in any respect more than usual. Not in upkeep, entertainment, merchandise, restaurants, etc. Of course there are going to handrails that need to be painted, and walkways that need to be repaired, and light bulbs that need to be replaced--in parks of this size, you can't paint everything every day, or change every blown bulb every day. But, there's no questions OLC has been cutting back a bit, but they've also had several years of declining attendance and so this makes sense. I think attendence has gone up slightly recently, and so TDLFAN may see an improvement in the things he's noticed. I can compare the Tokyo Disney Resort to Hong Kong Disneyland, where I saw lots of problems and the park has only been open for a year. Worn paint and cracks all over the place. One of the worst spots was my room at the Hong Kong Disneyland hotel. There were large cracks in the bathroom and mildew.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 Wow. This is the first negativity I've heard of TDR. I hope this is not true, because In the near future I plan on visiting this always hailed "supreme" Disney Resort and see how its done right. But If it goes the way of the Magic Kingdom, well...I may have to think twice and just enjoy the best MagicKingdom of all at the original, Disneyland.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara pitapan16, don't let TDLFAN's report in any way influence you. He is looking at this from the viewpoint of someone who's been to the park a zillion times and has the entire place memorized. YOU, on the other hand, will be blown away by both parks--simply the best you've ever seen.
