Major Drop in Quality of Disney CM's

[kalc12345]

THIS. We had a similar experience. Our last trip to the other coast (Disneyland) was awful on so, soooo many levels. I did write a letter because I really just wanted to vent. I've been going to Disney my whole life and the immense sadness I felt that my "happy place" was no longer...well happy, was so tremendous....I just had to tell someone. I was fully expecting a generic letter from a "grunt" as well...but what they did to remedy the situation was FAR beyond anything I could have ever hoped for! It took us from questioning if we ever wanted to go back to Disney at all, to marveling at their insanely awesome customer service and highly anticipating our next trip! You just never know what writing of your experience will do...and if nothing else, you can be happy knowing that if they keep getting so many complaint letters (strength in number, people!), they will see that there are big issues that need fixing, and things will start to change...nothing like disgruntled dollars on the line!

We just had something similar happen. Our recent trip was not good. After we got home I emailed Disney. Writing letters to complain is something I never do. Although, I felt I needed to because Disney is not what it used to be (we go to Disney A LOT). We left there sad, missing the old Disney. I just expected a generic "we are sorry" email back from them but last night they called me. I told the girl all the problems we encountered during our trip. She listened, took notes and thanked me for taking the time to talk to her. She said they needed to hear from their guests. Then she sprinkled some major pixie dust on us. I was blown away! Before talking to her last night I had totally given up on Disney. I had lost all faith in them. Now I am looking at them differently....like I used to. I am starting to think the old Disney is still there.

So, if you have problems contact them. That is the only way they will know. They will take your comments seriously. If everyone starts writing to complain they will do something. They don't want to lose guests (she told me that last night).

 

[Suvadoo]

You think I'm stuck on "my opinion is more accurate than yours?" Ha that's funny. If you go through all the replies on this thread, the majority have also noticed a decline in the quality of CM's.

I didn't post any snarky replies to people who simply disagreed. I posted snarky replies to people who tell me that my complaints are bogus or that Disney policy dictates that the server is just in trying to rush me out of a signature dining restaurant. And I post snarky replies to people who ask me why I'm posting negative thoughts on the Disboards.

Sorry if that offends your sensibilities but I have no interest in just holding hands around a camp fire, roasting marshmellows, and singing "the sun will come out tomorrow."

My favorite comments are the ones that ask what the OP did to cause the rude behavior. After all, to have this many problems, you must be responsible!
I do have one question: Why didn't you use the straw from your empty glass of coke to eat your soup? If you had done this, instead of wasting time waiting for your server to return, it would have expedited your whole dining experience!

 

[drquest]

We're in the world right now and I have seen more, I won't call them rude, but rather not over the top CM's this trip. We've been to WDW 1-2 times a year since 2001 and there's been more side looks from my wife and I than all of the other years combined.

This is a service industry and Disney is the undisputed leader. When I run across 1 not so helpful CM a day during our week long stay, which is about what I'm on track for right now, I know there's many more out there.

Does it bother me, yes but mostly because it shows the chinks in the armor of Disney. I bring my family here to escape the rudeness and real life events and I don't think it's it's too much to expect more out of Disney based on what we've seen before.

People have bad days, I know. It's busy, they probably work two or more jobs and being a CM is probably only one of them, I get it.... But expecting more out of Disney isn't an entitlement, it's the status quo and the've nailed it so many times before.

Examples this trip have been humorous for the most part, and I laughed at the time and even later. We rode a launch from Contemporary to Wilderness on Thanksgiving for breakfast. The launch was running late, we missed our ADR time, but it was a beautiful morning and I was enjoying the sunshine. The launch arrived and it was just my family that got on. I had a small umbrella stroller and rolled it on. The CM deadpanned to me that it had to be folded while on it, so no issue I folded it up. Funny she watched us get on and didn't say anything until I was sitting down. We get there and again, we're the only ones on the launch and my family leaves first with me at the end. I get three steps from stepping off and I unfold the stroller to set it on the dock on the wheels and the CM goes nuts on me about that. I laugh and try to joke with her about it, but nothing will remove this stain of what I did from this event. It continues and I tell her to have a nice day etc.. She's not going to ruin my day over a stroller. Technically I was still on the launch with my unfurled stroller, so call me a lawbreaker I guess, but it's easier to sit the stroller on it's wheels on the dock than to carry it up the steps, oh well and with no one else on the launch at the time I thought it would be ok, obviously not. Point is, why be so mean? Does she get paid more money to be evil?

We were at O'Hana's, and my DS6 isn't much of a eater of anything there, so we asked for a hotdog and fries which came out right away. He had about 1/4 of it and near the end of our meal and another lady worker came by collecting some plates and things, and my son who knows no strangers asked her if he could take his hotdog to go. Before I knew what happened she rudely told him that's impossible and no you can't have a to go box and walked off. I quickly changed the subject with my son and my wife and I were looking at each other thinking, why did she just bite our son's head off about his hot dog?? Again, not necessary to say it that way. I didn't see her again the rest of the meal and my DS6 took in in stride no no harm done, but again, why did she do that? i'm sure tons of people ask for the unlimited food to be bagged up from there, we've never done it. When we are done, we can't even think about food anymore, haha... But his was a hot dog, and even if they can't give it to go, don't talk down to my DS6, or any person for that matter!

We did have a nice event last night at Soaring. My DS6 hasn't ridden it before, and was interested, but hit the breaks at the last minute. Everyone else was already through the fastpass but myself and him. a Disney security guy was at the gate, an older gentleman and he could tell it wasn't going well. I'm using all of my dad kung'fu on my son, and it's not working to talk him into going. The security guy starts talking to him and mentioned catching the golf ball during the ride and that's all it took. He marched right through and had a wonderful first ride on it and we walked back to the security guy and he thanked him and gave him high five!

 

[Oathkeeper13]

Don't blame the CM's, blame Disney. Greed makes companies do a lot of less than magical stuff. To the OP, the resort policy is to put people in rooms. If someone else was checking in and wanted your room category, they would get it even if you called 100 times to confirm. At Le Celier the CM probably got in trouble because you took too long to eat. They are expected to turn tables over in a specified time. In the parks, CM are suppose to move people along, ordering the heard moves it faster. Disney is now all about filling the parks, moving the guests, and increasing the profit. Their 1.5 billion investment in MDE and MB's is to increase profit, not to improve the guest experience. Bill

I agree 100%. One of the main problems is that Disney is almost constantly overcrowded, and Disney hasn't upped the amount of cast members meaning that you get less personal attention. Frankly CM's are overworked , underpaid, and generally treated like crap from the management. They are human beings and like all of us occasionally they will have their off moments, but I would say that usually they are more pleasant then other workers. Personally I've never had an issue with a cast member being rude.

 

[anniemae]

It seems to me from reading different posts and hearing experiences that there are 2 types of cm's. The "old school" ones with seniority who were trained the old way and have a sense of customer service and pleasing the guests. Then there are the newer ones who seem to have a different objective. They are not really "Disney" quality, more like workers at your local mall. I wonder what has changed.

Again, to me it isn't anything major, just a shift in attitude. Like the snarky comments and gossiping etc.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I don't think it's the cost of Disney trips that raise the bar for people's expectations (aside from maybe first time visitors) but rather the precedent that Disney itself set in the way CM were trained to interact with guests.

Although I do wonder if with the Disney family and those trained by them no longer around, the magic is getting a little watered down, I believe it is some of the guests, which gets all of us less magic.

It's the guests. CM's are expected to deal with demanding guests(NOT saying you OP, your expectations sound reasonable) for little pay. People read what other people get and expect it all to happen to them and when it doesn't they're disappointed.

Guests are rude, mean and downright disrespectful and CM's are expected to smile back and take the abuse for so little money most full timers still qualify for medicaid.

Maybe if guests overall stop being such demanding morons some CM's won't seem so miserable.

CMs are hired from the same pool of people the guests come from. Society in general is more rude and disrespectful these days. As a result you're going to find it in CMs as well as guests.

I manage a medical office and we are constantly shaking our heads at the amount of downright nastiness that comes out should you dare to tell someone no for any reason, or if they should have to wait for something because someone else was first or has an emergency. As a pp stated, the amount of entitlement out there is incredible. The least paid front end employees are the ones who get all of the blow ups and arguments. I'm sure it works the same way for the CMs - eventually they probably get jaded and expect to be treated badly. I am not saying you should expect poor service or snarky CMs, it just seems to be a product of the times.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It seems to me from reading different posts and hearing experiences that there are 2 types of cm's. The "old school" ones with seniority who were trained the old way and have a sense of customer service and pleasing the guests. Then there are the newer ones who seem to have a different objective. They are not really "Disney" quality, more like workers at your local mall. I wonder what has changed.

Again, to me it isn't anything major, just a shift in attitude. Like the snarky comments and gossiping etc.

Other than a truly rude CM, which I think is still really rare, this is exactly it...it's like being at your local mall or fast food place. Nothing bad, Just not great.

One theory is that the problem is the College Program and the reliance on temp workers. Along with the cutbacks in the training program. (from the Dis podcast this week which is an interesting listen on this topic)

 

[mom2rtk]

My theory is that they cut back when the economy crashed in 08/09 then got a taste for the lower overhead and never added staff back to an adequate level as the crowds started returning. It's easy to be magical when you have enough staff to get the work done. It's a completely different matter when staff is spread too thin.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't read all the replies, but I have to agree with the Dis Unplugged podcast from a few weeks ago. We were there last week but I listed to the podcast this week, and they talked about how Disney customer service is just "standard" now rather than exceptional. There was a time when Disney's service shined and outdid any other, and it was really noticeable and a true experience. Now it's more on par with the rest of the service industry - acceptable but not exceptional.

In our experience last week, this really rang true. We didn't have any bad service, per se, but no one went above and beyond or stood out in any way like the "old" Disney would. In contrast, we also spent a few days at Universal staying at Royal Pacific, and went in with no expectations on service. They were great! Again, nothing mind blowing but we were very pleasantly surprised that Universal is right up there in terms of service alongside Disney.

 

[Networth]

Networth...how booked up does the GF seem to be?

I have no way of knowing exact capacity. Yet they are certainly busy enough (waiting for the valet, stores are busy, Mizners, and pool bar has no seats, walk by mousekeeping in the mornings and at night and it appears they are cleaning 80% of the rooms on that floor. Not to mention when people not staying their come to see the resort.

 

[Schmeck]

I'm guessing Le Cellier was understaffed for it to take 10 minutes for a drink refill - someone could have called out sick, or gotten sick at work, etc. I do agree that Disney higher-ups have gone the opposite direction from Walt's dream, but I don't pin it on the CMs at all. The lowly working class always takes the hit, and the elite just try to increase their paychecks and bonuses.

I can't remember one bad CM experience in all our trips to WDW. I think some people just go looking for it, and others go with the flow.

 

[Suvadoo]

Based in the OP's responses here being snarky I don't believe that at the check in and resturant you were happy polite and the like. As someone said the aura you give off was probably returned. Snappyness eye rolling sighs commenting under your breath could have happened.

I find the fact that you waited 10 minutes for a refill either a total lie or that you never once attempted to stop your waiter/waitress. They put them in 1 area and they serve tables in one area. At any resturant while the sever might not be stopping by my table they are in th vicinity to where I can signal them. I can't imagine that they weren't around any of their tables for that long a period.

As for the boxing up if food, get over yourself. They didn't grab your plate, thy didn't say "OMG are you done yet???" Yes it was two dining meals, it wasn't Victoria and Alberts. All you had to say was no sorry I'm still working on it, you shouldn't be this upset over it, it really makes me feel like the CMS were probably telling about this ungodly rude diner at your table.

This is why I don't bash workers. It sucks to work where others vacation, it sucks that your bad day or bad morning "ruins" someone's vacation while when you are great and happy people don't even remember. I work in customer service, we have to be at 95% accuracy and deliver fast service, we do it all the time but still get people who think we are treble slow stupid lazy workers.

That's right, blame the OP as opposed to holding Disney responsible. It must be very reassuring to know that Disney is never responsible for crappy service. The OP and PP are all responsible because of their "auras".

 

[kaytieeldr]

It has been commented: "Just reading through the responses, it seems that the OP is stuck on, "my opinion is more accurate than yours" whenever a different opinion or experience is expressed." This was well said EXCEPT it's those who are mitigating the OP's complaints who are playing the "my opinion is more accurate than yours" game.

The OP had bad experiences on his recent visit and detailed the complaints well. Many commenters then either wrote about their own bad experiences or expressed their apparent luck in getting very positive CMs who made their visits thoroughly enjoyable. These comments seemed like what the OP was looking for in these forums - a general survey of the kind of CM experiences others have had recently allowing him to get an idea of whether his bad experience was becoming the norm at Disney or maybe just an unfortunate but aberrant "bad" visit. But then it seems the "Disney apologists" came out of the wood works and essentially told the OP that it's his fault for feeling disappointment in the lackluster service he received throughout the trip. Apparently because THEY had great interactions with the CMs during their trip they alluded that the OP must be doing something wrong. More than once was the excuse that it's the "rude guests" that must be bringing down the CMs' spirits so somehow these CMs should be forgiven for taking that negativity on the next guests they encounter.

And regarding the dinner at Le Cellier, there are comments of "I don't think taking 10 minutes for a refill is a huge sin" and being asked to have his steak boxed to go when he was only half through eating it "is really a non issue" because "the CM probably got in trouble because you took too long to eat. They are expected to turn tables over in a specified time." If that's the case, then maybe the CM at Le Cellier should have brought the soup out promptly instead of forgetting it and refilled the coke quickly when it was empty instead of taking 10 minutes. Had these been done in a timely manner by the CM, I'm sure the amount of time wasted while waiting for the soup and the soda refill would have turned into a same amount of time for the OP to have finished his meal faster so the table would have "turned over" to the next dining party closer to "schedule". But it seems some commenters here are so "Disney love-struckAs a resort guest you may park for free at other resorts while visiting those resorts. that this failure of this CM server at Le Cellier to adequately perform the most basic tasks of her job is not her or Disney's problem but that of the OP for not being able to appreciate the nuances of the Disney dining experience.

OP, I'm very sorry you had the bad experiences during your recent Disney World visit and hope that should you and your family decide to take another trip there it will be a much more magical and enjoyable time.

Interesting phrasing on the bolded. Why do you consider the magical/good experiences "luck"? Especially considering the millions of visitors every year. Why don't you consider the negative experiences as misfortune or bad luck?

 

[kaytieeldr]

I haven't noticed any outright rude CM's over the last 9 days, but I have noticed quite a few professional indiscretions. Such as one CM to another at a snack cart "Thank God, just one more hour" or a CM making a face to another CM after a guest compliments her on her smile and then turns away.

I suppose you could call this an open disdain for certain aspects of their job combined with immaturity. For the most part, every CM we've encountered has been polite - when they knew they were being watched.

More likely the human discomfort accepting a compliment, rather than immature or professionally indiscreet.

 

[MrInfinity]

Folks are probably getting tired of these types of posts because they haven't witnessed this supposed "drop in quality" for themselves.

Typically when someone complains about Disney CM's and announce that they won't be going back anytime soon, it's not because of ONE bad experience, it's because of MANY. So one has to wonder, if someone keeps having these bad experiences with CM's, can it really be the CM's fault every time?

I agree!

I've found CMs to be in general wonderful. You find the occasional grumpy person but it is very rare.

The boxing up the dinner thing is... wow. To you, you're offended. To the next guest, it might have been "yes thank you we're done". So she just asked, that is not wrong. And 10 min on a soda or forgetting a soup is not a big deal. I'm sure if you mentioned the forgotten soup they'd bring you a free dessert or something.

Getting the wrong room. Yes, this is a legitimate gripe, but they fixed it as soon as you asked. Getting billed for a cot is moot, cuz you got it credited back. So the CM put in the cot order, the computer system probly automatically adds the charge, then a CM has to go in and comp it back, which is exactly what they did.

All these seem like everyday challenges that one must deal with in travels or going out to eat anywhere. What I find odd, is that you spent thousands of dollars on a trip, a week of more of your time, trekked your kids across the country, and probly had an amazing wonderful time, but what you want to discuss when you get back are these rather mundane everyday travel hiccups. Not getting soup and waiting 10 min for a soda at one restaurant are what you want to talk about, and these set the stage for asserting that CM quality in general had a "major drop". (?)

We were shopping this weekend and talked to random people about Disney -- the first thing they mention is how everyone there is always happy (referring to the employees). These were just regular people we met. The world over, the general consensus is that Disney World CMs are wonderful, they most certainly are, and these particular cases do not seem to be anything other than normal business at a restaurant and overbooking a room type.

You did mention your meal at BOG was delicious, but you said nothing about the CMs there. Aside from these 4 that weren't great, think about how many thousands went into making your vacation wonderful.

 

[Queuing4Disney]

Interesting phrasing on the bolded. Why do you consider the magical/good experiences "luck"? Especially considering the millions of visitors every year. Why don't you consider the negative experiences as misfortune or bad luck?

Don't understand your comment actually. The definition of luck is "success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions." Based on the number of comments of those who have had great and not-so-great experiences with CMs on their trips, it would appear that luck HAS been in play in whether a guest happened to end up with a "magical" CM or a CM that is "just-doing-the-bare-minimum". One would think that someone reading my comment WOULD have concluded by inference that the ones who had the bad experiences DID obviously have the BAD luck. I suppose I could have written: "Many commenters then either wrote about having bad luck because they had bad experiences on their trips or expressed their apparent good luck in getting very positive CMs who made their visits thoroughly enjoyable." Don't really see the difference as a result of the wording since the sentiment is still the same. I also remember an English/grammar teacher of mine who was disappointed in redundancy in wording in a sentence when the sentiment could be expressed more simply with fewer words. Maybe my choice of words to voice my thought the way I did confused you or caused you to read something into the sentence that was not there.

Sure there are millions of visitors every year, but with the apparently increasing chance (or luck) for those visitors to encounter a "not-so-magical" CM, as reported by other commenters here, I think it takes an even greater chance (or luck) for the average visitor to find those truly magnificent CMs who turn the visitor's trip into that one visit that will be remembered fondly for many, many years.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I have no way of knowing exact capacity. Yet they are certainly busy enough (waiting for the valet, stores are busy, Mizners, and pool bar has no seats, walk by mousekeeping in the mornings and at night and it appears they are cleaning 80% of the rooms on that floor. Not to mention when people not staying their come to see the resort. So I don't see your point.

Networth...you answered my question beautifully...just wanted to know if the resort seemed busy.

Thanks!

 

[larryz]

But it seems some commenters here are so "Disney love-struck" that this failure of this CM server at Le Cellier to adequately perform the most basic tasks of her job is not her or Disney's problem but that of the OP for not being able to appreciate the nuances of the Disney dining experience.

Some call it "huffing pixie dust."

My favorite comments are the ones that ask what the OP did to cause the rude behavior. After all, to have this many problems, you must be responsible!
I do have one question: Why didn't you use the straw from your empty glass of coke to eat your soup? If you had done this, instead of wasting time waiting for your server to return, it would have expedited your whole dining experience!

They might have charged them another TS credit for the "express signature dining experience."

 

[larryz]

I manage a medical office and we are constantly shaking our heads at the amount of downright nastiness that comes out should you dare to tell someone no for any reason, or if they should have to wait for something because someone else was first or has an emergency. As a pp stated, the amount of entitlement out there is incredible. The least paid front end employees are the ones who get all of the blow ups and arguments. I'm sure it works the same way for the CMs - eventually they probably get jaded and expect to be treated badly. I am not saying you should expect poor service or snarky CMs, it just seems to be a product of the times.

And don't forget -- Disney has a reputation for greasing squeeky wheels. There's no incentive for the average day guest to be nice.

 

[maxiesmom]

And don't forget -- Disney has a reputation for greasing squeeky wheels. There's no incentive for the average day guest to be nice.

And isn't it a shame some people need some sort of incentive to be nice to others?

I think that any of us, if someone followed us around at work all day nit picking how we do our jobs, could be found lacking. And if 2 people followed us around they wouldn't even agree on what we did wrong! What one person would think of flaw another may think of as a asset. You can't please everyone. And if only 4 CMs stood out in a bad way over the hundreds a guest interacted with, that is pretty darned good! Not a reason to cry to the sky that Disney is going downhill and so are their CMs.