Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Here's a scary thought: Using an RFID that could be implanted into passports they could track your movements all day through the park. Spend a few hours in the Emporium but not buy anything, get back to your room and find a coupon for the Emporium waiting for you there.< so close to this now -- even in grocery stores -- if you use their cards for the 2 for 1's and special prices....like Jewel ( Albertsons) here.. track your buying patterns and when you check out you get coupons for competitors products vs brand you bought. And for a while we have the shopping carts with the video displays that talked to you as you passed stations in the store - ( Kinda like pal Mckey huh ? )
Originally Posted By Ash Is Crazy 4 WDW I love the fact that my favoritest vacation spot *obviously WDW* stays open during all kinds of weather, even when a hurricane is going its open, well unless it gets into Orlando and is really bad. But nothing brings down Disney World.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I noticed... :/ Too bad because it's Tokyo Disney Resort that truly rules. But you'll never know till you go there Ashes.
Originally Posted By barboy Someday Brazil, New Jersey and Europe will send "delegates" to taste real greatness in the form of TDR. And when they report back to their respective homes with what they experienced TDR will have to build 2 more parks and 6 more hotels to accommodate the increase in guests. After my first trip over the Pacific it was very hard to return to US Disney parks as I found myself asking why we have to settle for an inferior product.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>After my first trip over the Pacific it was very hard to return to US Disney parks as I found myself asking why we have to settle for an inferior product. << Why? Because the market will accept it as is. Whereas if TDR was allowed to deteriorate to WDW's level of quality the Japanese market would not tolerate it and business at TDR would suffer. In other words: Americans are more willing to tolerate a run down Disney park than the Japanese.
Originally Posted By BlazesOfFire <<Spend a few hours in the Emporium but not buy anything, get back to your room and find a coupon for the Emporium waiting for you there.>> I think that would be cool! Coupons in WDW, amazing! <<post 62 & 63>> Too bad nothing brings down WDW? I still dont get why anyone would evenspend their time and money in a place where they have to post a comment like that about. So you think TDR rules and EVERYBODY here knows that, so whats so bad about us who actually ENJOY WDW and go there for reasons other than picking out the bad? I definitely do not consider WDW "run down." Sure it could use some rennovating, as any 30+ yr old park would need. We may not agree on rides/attractions being taken away or added (Pooh's Playground, Mr. Toad, etc.) but obviously if attendance is up, then they can't be doing anything so wrong. And here we are complaining about it and we STILL go. And there are things that may not be to your liking, but the little ones love it. There are things you love, but others do not.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I think that would be cool! Coupons in WDW, amazing!<< But they would only give it too you if they thought it was needed to "close the deal". So if you spent time in the store but didn't buy anything, this would sweeten the deal. >>I definitely do not consider WDW "run down."<< I think that TDLFAN's original point was that compared to TDR is could be considered as such. When compared to a Six Flags park it looks great. Since WDW (and DLR) are as good as it gets in the US, they have become our standard. And as I mentioned earlier, we Americans are slobs when compared to the Japanese and will accept a level of upkeep that they would not.
Originally Posted By barboy The "inferior product" comment I made means a lot more than just a park's deteriorated condtion. TDR is far supreme to US parks because of very professional/courteous/helpful cast members, impeccably clean parks and outstanding attractions and attention to architectual detail. This is how a TDR guest is treated: One afternoon at Disneyland it started to rain heavy and small puddles were forming on a less prominent walkway. Within 3 minutes I saw cast members out pushing squeegees so guests would not have to walk through the slightest of puddles... even while it was raining.
Originally Posted By Roger55 <<...if TDR was allowed to deteriorate to WDW's level of quality the Japanese market would not tolerate it and business at TDR would suffer. In other words: Americans are more willing to tolerate a run down Disney park than the Japanese.>> I'd like to make a comment on this statement with a slightly different perspective... IMO, I don't think that the Japanese running TDR (OLC) can tolerate operating a run down park. The way it was stated in the quote above, I got the impression that it was referring to how OLC needs to keep their park in operating at a high level in order to keep the business good. While this may be true to some extent, if maximizing profit was the sole goal of OLC, there would be a LOT of places where they could cut operating costs at TDR and STILL be way ahead of the US Disney parks. Park maintenance, Guest control staffing, merchandise location staffing, entertainment offerings... ALL could be scaled back to some extent at TDR and they would still have a fine product in comparison to the US parks. Japan has a service oriented society. The Japanese people, for the most part, are proud people. What many Americans hear about how bad it is for a Japanese person to "lose face", well it is true. Besides taking pride in their work, Japanese tend to also take more personal responsibility for their work, actions, etc. Some of you might have noticed, whenever there is an accident or incident at TDR, it is almost ALWAYS followed shortly by an apology from the company (usually a real person like the head of OLC, Kagami-san, not just a corporate press release). In regards to the incident last year in Japan where there was a train accident that killed over 100 people, the CEO of the rail company not only apologized, but also resigned from the company. So the point of this long rant is, IMO I believe that TDR is what it is today not only for the financial reasons and the expectations of the Japanese Guests, but also because as a whole, the Japanese society does take more pride and responsibility in operating their parks. I believe it was Jim Cora who told me once that the Disney ideals and the Japanese society are a perfect combination.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Besides taking pride in their work, Japanese tend to also take more personal responsibility for their work, actions, etc. < all parts of basic management and how to run a businses taught to the Japanese after WWII by Charles Deming -- a business genius who was scoffed at in the States until he was much older -- and they realized we missed the boat on many things..... If you are unfamiliar with this man - read a little - you'll be amazed as to where the Japanese business culture came from -- coupled with their own country's behaviors.
Originally Posted By Roger55 ^^ Good point. Business strategies in modern Japan have been partially attributed to the above mentioned reference. The attitude and pride of the Japanese people, (i.e. the CMs and other service oriented positions in Japan) can be more attributed to their society, culture and history.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>The attitude and pride of the Japanese people, (i.e. the CMs and other service oriented positions in Japan) can be more attributed to their society, culture and history.<< Indeed. In the martial arts Asian masters and grandmasters tend to look down on western martial artists. (never mind that Steve Lopez kicked everyone's keister in Tae Kwon Do the last two Olympics). The complaint often is that we aren't disciplined enough to be good martial artists. Some say that the attitude (in martial arts) is actually racist. The Tae Kwon Do Times barely acknowledges Steve Lopez, even though he is a 2 time World and 2 time Olympic champion.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 It was a perfect fit of culture and business theory -- and the result was the service economy you speak of today - a model to be followed
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Reason why I feel we are doomed in the western hemisphere. There is no self-pride in what people do anymore. Very un-Disney.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Reason why I feel we are doomed in the western hemisphere. There is no self-pride in what people do anymore. Very un-Disney.< as someone who's been in management for over 25 years--I see a lot of what you are talking about -- it scares me for my kids futures because that pride factor is mostly gone.. as is onwnership for what one does....I'm not sure how is slipped away so much...my hope is that somehow we get it back......I know it can be done, but will it. The rest of the world has caught up and passed us in many things that would have been unthinkable 25 - 30 years ago. Imagine telling someone if 1970 that a japanese car company would be larger than General Motors... they would have locked you away.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Reason why I feel we are doomed in the western hemisphere. There is no self-pride in what people do anymore. Very un-Disney>> To have self-pride in the job you do you need to work for a company that inspires you to strive for that pride. Darned few companies do that anymore. Employers toady have as much concern and loyalty for their employees as they do for yesterday’s newspaper. We are lucky that service in the U.S. stays as marginally good as it does.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Chicken or the egg theory here also RT -- did the workers become secure and lazy because unions protected them no matter what - and they got the same raises if a good employee or bad --let us GM as an example here --- or did the company start worrying about the bottom line only and forget the company family feeling first. Me thinks a little of borh involved
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Unions are partly guilty of the erotion of the quality of work in America that's for sure, but in some companies.. (such as in my airline profession)...Unions are needed, since we have to deal with a lot of greed and over the top demands from managers who failed to foresee and avoid the problems some corporations are dealing with today, and they are passing the buck of their failure to us the little people. However, many "on stage" CMs at Disney are non-union and there is you great many CMs at that level who do not take pride being a Disney CM, and are there for the benefits the role brings with. >>To have self-pride in the job you do you need to work for a company that inspires you to strive for that pride.<< I somewhat disagree... As bad as my employer has treated me since 9-11.. I still take a lot of pride in the job I do because I strongly believe that performing my job poorly, reflects badly on ME more than the employer I work for. Some companies out there..certainly know how to degrade their work force alright, but I don't find that to be the case at WDW. They suffer from being too big and having to hire any garbage that walks into Casting because they need to fill positions in almost a permanent basis. There is no more time or effort to pick the best because they are constantly short-staffed all over the resort... This is yet another way how the quality of WDW has been badly impacted due to it's sheer size!
Originally Posted By fkurucz It can be hard to maintan pride in your work when the bosses don't share that commitment. The mantra on Wall St. these days is to cut costs, even if its at the expense of quality. As TDLFAN correctly points out, corporate management often fails to foresee long term issues and try to dump the pain on the rank and file. I love that Kerkorian (a mega buck investor) is demanding that General Motors management take huge pay cuts to share the pain that the rank and file will be enduring these next years to keep GM out of bankruptcy,
