Problems/Cuts at Disney

[mypriceline.com]

Please post if anything you wanted to do was affected

Disney Asks Workers To Reduce Hours
The continued slump in visitors to Florida prompted Disney officials Monday to offer salaried employees a four-day workweek.


The shorter workweek would come with a 20-percent reduction in their paychecks. Disney has already reduced the operating hours and number of shows at their theme parks.

"I would do it if push came to shove. Yes," Disney employee Elizabeth Perez said.

But Disney spokesman Bill Warren said that the officials don't want to shove any workers. He insisted that the move is strictly voluntary, and layoffs continued to not be an option.

"We feel it is our responsibility to keep as many of our people working as possible. We're going to continue to do that. There is absolutely no pressure on any of our employees to take the program," Warren said.

However, Disney did let 40 highly paid technical contract workers go last week. Disney said that it will revisit the reduced work hour option every 90 days.

 

[jctwizzer]

So, what do you consider "problems"??

 

[mypriceline.com]

They are reducing performances and rides. Maybe people cant see it. or if a good # of people show up and hours are reduced it may cause more crowding.. The reason for people to go now besides price is less people on line. This might negate that

 

[cmatt]

We live near branson mo. and its booming just there today,, traffic and lines on the strip and at silver dollar city,, must be the areas of the country,,,, thanks cmatt

 

[DisGo2Girl]

Returned from a 5-day stay at All*Sports on 10/28. Only annoyance we noticed was that resort information regarding park schedules did not agree with schedules posted in the parks, which also varied from Park Guides furnished at the park entrances. Made for some difficulty in viewing parades, fireworks, etc.

Still had a Mickey Good Time!

 

[DISFANS3]

CMATT-We live just down the road from you in Nixa.. Have you ever drove to WDW from here?? We are going next August for 2 weeks thinking about driving???? CBR99,Allstar Movies Feb2001, Allstar Music Aug 2001.......

 

[Raggedy]

How about if instead of disney taking away from us. They close some of the resorts themselves. Maybe give some upgrades from value to mod. I would much rather see this then them taking everything away from us. I have never been to disney before and i am going in march with family. It scares me that i am spending so much money and i will not get the full affect of disney. I would much rather them close some of the resorts. I know if you close some of the resorts some of the dining goes along with it. But i would rather have that then what i am really going to disney for.


Tell me if i am wrong about this you guys know better than i do.

 

[disboo]

We just got back from a five day trip on 11/13 and had a great time. The parks seemed to be open their normal (for this time of year) hours, there were plenty of cheerful CMs and everything was going smoothly. We were able to do everything we wanted (except Carousel of Progress - sad to see it go). Can't wait to go back.

 

[Buschfan]

cmatt - I agree, it is only certain areas of the country that are hurting. Orlando relies on many international visitors and they are simply not coming. The regional parks and attractions that draw from more of a local area where people can drive to are not affected as much. That is why there is much advertising within Florida right now to get people to visit attractions within their state. So far, Disney is not offering any reduced prices to locals for their parks. They are going to stay empty as a result. They need to offer the deals that their California parks are offering to get people in the gates. Florida's low wages compared to the national average makes Disney prices cost prohibitive to many of the local population they are now desperately trying to attract.

 

[Glenn]

It seems Disneys reponse so far to a slow down is to cut the product and sell it for the same price. This will work when the cuts are small and they are not noticed. When you start cutting hours out of everday at the park this is noticed. How many people might look at the reduced product and just decide its not worth going at this time and with this economy. In the long run it could cost them more money than they save if people say its not worth it and go elsewhere.

 

[figgy4me]

We were at WDW fro 11/2 thru 11/10 and I found it more crowded than a usual Nov. day. Park hours have been cut at each park from 2-3 hours. And they had cut out Early Entry which is why I had paid to stay onsite...........

 

[Buschfan]

Very well put Glenn. I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[nluvwithdisney]

We just returned from our trip, November 2 - 11. Attendance at the parks to us was very light. We rarely had to use fastpass. We arrived at the parks everyday between 11:30 and 12:00. A lot of attractions were walkons or we would wait 20 minutes or less. Even getting to the parks late allowed us to see just about everything. The only day we used fastpass was on Sat. the 10th. We did the best of Disney that day. We went to Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios, and EPCOT.

CMs and Security at the gates were all very pleasant. We never used early entry, so I really can't say if it is a major loss for us. Some others that I had conversations with said that the parks seemed more crowded but having customarily gone in November, they seemed way less than normal even with Soaps Weekend and the Food & Wine Festival.

 

[figgy4me]

We must have been at different parks each day. My DH and I had waits of 35 and 45 minutes.... Plus we skipped some that were 60, 70, and 100 minutes. And yes, we used fast pass every chance we got and arrived at the parks by 9:00 or 9:30. We always go in November and we found the parks packed for this time of year. And Downtown Disney was even worst with wall-to-wall people.

 

[nluvwithdisney]

Wow! Figgy. What was your itinerary?

 

[cmatt]

hi DISFANS3 yes we have drove every year since 1997 ,,, we enjoy the drive,, have went both through ga. as well as the other way through al. this may we are flying because of our time frame,, with all thats going on with the airline e-mail me if i can help or if you just want to say hi neighbor,, thanks cmatt

 

[cmatt]

I agree with 100 % everyone does want to get there moneys worth,, and we dont want are WDW to

to throw us a curve,,, in our Ittn. thanks cmatt it has to get better again,,,

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I'm just back - we were there from 11/8 to 11/16. The longest line I saw was Test Track which consistently ran at 40 minutes long. Unfortunately, Fastpass wasn't available for that ride. It did decrease some during dinner time and that is when we usually went on it. Everything else in EPCOT was a 5 to 10 minute wait. Animal Kingdom and MGM were very light crowds...no problems getting on any ride.

The Magic Kingdom seemed to be busier, but it was very manageable with Fastpass. Space Mountain was usually a 30 minute wait on Stand By....Splash Mountain was about the same. Everything went very well with Fastpass and we hardly ever had to really wait for anything.

I only went to Downtown Disney one night and it was mobbed - but I don't enjoy shopping much anyway....I was just going to Guest Services to pick up some passes.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

We were at ASsp from November 2nd thru the 14th and I found the crowds mostly moderate or less except at MK. We rode everything we wanted and sometimes more than once. We noticed the cutbacks as we are frequent visitors.

At one attraction (no names to protect the overburdened) an older gentleman working there told us that he is expected to go from one job to another as they have cut so many employees and it is very difficult for the older CM's as they get no time to sit or even visit with the guests. As soon as he told us this he had to go off to another job leaving us to run the elevator and find our way by ourselves.

The biggest disappointment was the Trail's End Buffet that we used to tell everyone about. The food was just plain awful and in very short supply. I do not remember paying extra for drinks before and now they are almost $2 each. I may be wrong that one but the pitiful pizza and bologna sandwiches did not cut it. My apologies to the people on the bus I reccommended this place to. IMHO it is poor strategy to do this as people who have never been there before will remember it poorly and if they ever go back to better food they will not return. I was so looking forward to their wraps and fresh fruit. It was not fancy before but it was edible.

I missed the EWP because it ran early. I had checked at the front desk before we left. I felt for the workers. They were trying as best as they could but you could see the frustration on their faces.

As an older couple we did not mind the early nights too much but my heart went out to the poor people on their limited time and possible budget who were forced to endure crowded pools or spending even more to fill their evenings with some sort of entertainment.

On the upside, with the parks opening late and closing early we ate off site quite a bit. Disney is losing out. I fear that a lot of people will be so disappointed in their recent trips that they will not be in a big hurry to return. We went 4 times in this past year but are planning on taking at least a year off before we return again and maybe more.

Slightly Goofy