Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: So, leobloom, duckling, I have a question for you. What years did you work at the Land Pavillion as a tour guide for the boat ride? ORGOCH: She just wants ta be able ta figger out if'n yer the same dude she embarrassed ta tears whilst tryin' ta sit on his lap at one point durin' his spiel. The poor jerk almost went an' fell in the water 'cause a the tramp's bad manners! Sure hope it wasn't yerself she did that to!!!
Originally Posted By leobloom >> ORDDU: So, leobloom, duckling, I have a question for you. What years did you work at the Land Pavillion as a tour guide for the boat ride? << I was there full time for six months in 2004. >> ORGOCH: She just wants ta be able ta figger out if'n yer the same dude she embarrassed ta tears whilst tryin' ta sit on his lap at one point durin' his spiel. The poor jerk almost went an' fell in the water 'cause a the tramp's bad manners! Sure hope it wasn't yerself she did that to!!! << So that's who it was! I'd always wondered. Lucky thing I was wearing my guest-n-witch repellent.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Had a wonderful time. The city is a gem... culture, theater, history, it's got it all. Museums were great... They had enlarged the one at Ellis Island since I was last there, and the Queens Museum of Art (By the Unisphere and the World's Fair) was fantastic. Got to see Poppins on BWay, and see the sites, too. Great trip. << Awesome! Isn't traveling to new places fun -- I mean, I know you regret not getting to ride MK's Pirates for the 134th time, but sounds like NYC made up for it.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer ^^^ It's funny... Last year, in Boston, I came back and I immediately started looking forward to going to Disney again. I don't think that says anything about Boston, I adored that city and what I saw there. I've never been in a place that honors and preserves and builds around it's history, before. ....This time? I really don't have a pull to get back to Disney. I want more trips like this trip. I want to see new things. Real things. More places. Don't know why it's different this time around, but it is. If anything, the only thing in Disney that's "pulling" me back is exactly this, The Tiki Room, which I am quite excited to see.
Originally Posted By leobloom I felt that way after going to the parks in June and going on a real vacation after that. I think some of my apathy comes from the lack of any big plans on the horizon for WDW. (And FLE isn't a big deal to me.) TDO seems to be content to coast on previous success, so I guess I'll just investigate spending money elsewhere.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I hear you, leobloom. We haven't been back to Disneyland since Nov 2008 -- and we don't plan to until after Carsland opens -- probably after. And that's after we all had APs for many years. Just haven't had the "pull" to plan a trip.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: So, you haven't been to Disneyland since 2008, Jim, duckling? Surely that means you must be saving your money for a planned trip to Morva??? ORWEN: Would that be fun? ORGOCH: Not fer him. No sap in his right mind wants ta shack up with 3 old hags in a one room cottage with a cramped attic fer a bedroom! ORDDU: (ahem!) Thank you for answering my question, leobloom, duckling. I don't believe it was your lap I sat on, after all. The cast member who entertained me that day seemed to really enjoy the experience. It must have been some other witch you had to repel... ORGOCH: Yeah, right! I'd say leobloom knows just how ta handle ya--tramp!!
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>I felt that way after going to the parks in June and going on a real vacation after that. I think some of my apathy comes from the lack of any big plans on the horizon for WDW. (And FLE isn't a big deal to me.) TDO seems to be content to coast on previous success, so I guess I'll just investigate spending money elsewhere<<< I went in June, too, and had a great time. I might not be as interested as I once was, but I still go and love to be in Disney. And yeah, that's the reason for me. There's no new real draw that interests me.... that's a huge problem. Of course, there's always the history, but that pales in comparison to the real thing.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>I'm glad they took the skippers off the Land boats, if only so that CMs could be spared the pain we experienced!<< I get it. As a guest it was nice to every now and then get a good guide in the greenhouses, the potential for a little enthusiasm/pride (past EPCOT vibes) seems to have been lost with the recorded spiel. I always agreed with the switch to a recorded spiel leading up to the greenhouses. It was a good move back then. >>But apparently in the old days the rotations at the ride were different, so CMs might only do a couple of boat rides in a row instead of the 7 or 8 we would sometimes do. So I guess you could say the poorly designed computer rotations led to poorer spieling which led to an automated spiel. Looks like another job well done for technology in a Disney park!<< That's awful, no wonder some came across so bored. CDS was truly one of the first onstage changes ten plus years ago that lead to a significant loss in CM guest service and CM morale. I remember when it was first implemented and CMs were trying to figure out what to do when they had to go out and create a "magical moment". The naive approach that every area of operations was one size fits all for CDS, and its inflexibility to deal with the ever changing dynamic of operating with guests in a theme park
Originally Posted By danyoung >...the potential for a little enthusiasm/pride (past EPCOT vibes) seems to have been lost with the recorded spiel.< Sadly, it was lost quite a bit before that. And that was the problem - the live spiel was almost uncomfortable as the CM woodenly recited facts and figures and just droned away with no personality whatsoever. Sure, there were exceptions. But for the most part the delivery was so dry that it might just as well have been recorded. And now with the recorded spiel, at least you don't have the discomfort of a CM in the boat who clearly doesn't want to be there.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance " Tue 8/16/2011 5:28a >Guys, we're going to hurt Disney's feelings.< You mean someone at Disney is going to come to the Laughing Place, read massively negative comments, and be the least bit surprised? Don't think so . . ." I hope you don't think I was serious.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> CDS was truly one of the first onstage changes ten plus years ago that lead to a significant loss in CM guest service and CM morale. I remember when it was first implemented and CMs were trying to figure out what to do when they had to go out and create a "magical moment". The naive approach that every area of operations was one size fits all for CDS, and its inflexibility to deal with the ever changing dynamic of operating with guests in a theme park << Boy, you said it. No matter how often we told management that the CDS rotations didn't work well for the boats, they'd just smile their Disney smiles and nod their heads and ignore what we were saying. The morale at the Land was so bad that many CMs would curse and pout when they logged into the system and got a new rotation (which meant you would be on a boat until your next break two hours later). Maybe they didn't care about the delivery of the spiel. Maybe they just didn't want to adjust the system to our feedback. Maybe they wanted automated spieling all along. But, yes, CDS was one of the colossal jokes of my time at WDW. Log in to the system more than five minutes after your shift started and you were given a demerit. If you were walking across the park to your work station and got stopped by guests who wanted to interact with you, too bad. The "Magic Moment" assignment that you mentioned was another laugh. CMs 99% of the time would go sit backstage when given this "task." It was much nicer to be available to help guests when they needed help, as opposed to being told to go hunt somebody down to help.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>at least you don't have the discomfort of a CM in the boat who clearly doesn't want to be there.<< Come on Dan, if that is the litmus test, we would have AAs running all of the attractions. While a lot of people are romantic about working at attractions, it truly is akin to being on an assembly line. That's not an excuse in my book, its part of the job. I would agree more with Leo that it was botched scheduling and improper casting for the role that led to the decrease in quality guides.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>But, yes, CDS was one of the colossal jokes of my time at WDW. Log in to the system more than five minutes after your shift started and you were given a demerit. If you were walking across the park to your work station and got stopped by guests who wanted to interact with you, too bad.<< Sure, that was and is a huge issues. At first, CMs were being rude to guests because of it. A complete reversal to the Keys. How is a guest supposed to know all this off-stage nonsense. If they see a CM in costume, then they feel entitled to ask whatever question they feel they need to ask. >> The "Magic Moment" assignment that you mentioned was another laugh. CMs 99% of the time would go sit backstage when given this "task." It was much nicer to be available to help guests when they needed help, as opposed to being told to go hunt somebody down to help.<< No kidding.
Originally Posted By danyoung >I hope you don't think I was serious.< Not at all. Neither was I - just trying to make a point. >Come on Dan, if that is the litmus test, we would have AAs running all of the attractions. While a lot of people are romantic about working at attractions, it truly is akin to being on an assembly line.< But there are only a few attractions that have a CM right there with you in your vehicle, like Jungle Cruise, Storybookland Canal Boats, and The Land. It's one thing to have a wooden CM dispatching your vehicle - easy to ignore. But if a wooden CM is sitting there during your entire ride, it becomes much more of a problem.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Honestly the reason CM's were pulled off the boat was to cut back on staffing at a time when Disney was having a problem filling positions.
Originally Posted By ChiMike I agree. But why isn't it a problem on Storyland? I tend to think Leo is right with where the problem lies. The problem is how WDW casts these roles (Jungle and previously the Land), and then how they foster the environment for these CMs to stay fresh. I have stinkers on the Land, no doubt, but I also have had good ones which always paid off and more than made up for the bad ones. In fact, with EPCOT Center and Future World, the Land was probably my least favorite pavilion until Wonders of Life showed up.
Originally Posted By ChiMike #97 for #95 >>Honestly the reason CM's were pulled off the boat was to cut back on staffing at a time when Disney was having a problem filling positions. << Sure, a much larger motivation for Disney than wooden performances. If they could only figure out how to automate Jungle Cruise or KS
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<If they could only figure out how to automate Jungle Cruise or KS>> There were plans for automation on the Jungle, from what I've been told. I don't necessarily believe it, but hey...
Originally Posted By HMButler79 CDS was amazing at Pirates. Would go for over an hour sometimes just getting tasks after a 45min lunch. Ditto Mansion. Truly getting paid to do nothing, especially if you were overstaffed.
