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Cais posted:For two days, it's cheaper to get two one day memory makers at $59 each than the $169 Memory Maker. ooohhhhhh the bigger issue is that we only did ride pictures because I wasn't going to get memory maker or photo pass... and if I had known id have made us do some of the shots with the castle or whatever. Will probably still get the pictures though. Cause why not. Some are really fantastic.
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Dec 13, 2016 15:00
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Is it smarter to fastpass soaring or test track
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Dec 13, 2016 15:02
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Very broadly speaking Test Track. (Edit: but it's not 100% cut and dry.) You can hit either one for a rope drop, if that's your thing, but TT goes down occasionally (Which will almost never happen to Soarin since it operates 3 redundant theaters.) If you try to rope drop TT and it's down, you're in some trouble. On the other hand, TT has a single rider line, which is usually pretty speedy since the ride vehicles seat 6. FP Soarin then using single rider for TT probably results in the lowest overall wait time absent hitting one at rope drop. However, single rider means you bypass the pre-show where you design your own test car. How much that's worth to you, only you know (it doesn't affect the ride itself.) For what it's worth, we used it on TT, counting on a rope drop at Soarin. Boxman fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Dec 13, 2016 |
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Dec 13, 2016 15:15
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Empress Brosephine posted:Is it smarter to fastpass soaring or test track soaring. test track has single rider line.
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Dec 13, 2016 15:15
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Girlfriend refuses to use single rider so 
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Dec 13, 2016 16:25
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Boxman posted:Very broadly speaking Test Track. (Edit: but it's not 100% cut and dry.) I was abel to design a car in the single rider line, but it was more like, choosing from a bunch of pre-set options I still won though, soooooo edit: Also I managed to score Soarin' FPs as my fourth at like 3pm for a 5pm entry. And with the new theater for Soarin. the lines were consistently shorter.
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Dec 13, 2016 16:37
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Empress Brosephine posted:Girlfriend refuses to use single rider so
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Dec 13, 2016 17:11
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I know she's a baby though and requires us to sit together. Seems decently busy here at Epcot also. Oh well it's a beer park now a days!!
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Dec 13, 2016 18:04
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Soarin standby waits were pretty negligible when we were there during food and wine fest. 3rd theater helped a lot. And epcot has always been a beer (and scotch) park as far as I'm concerned, which is why I appreciate it. E: Southwest sale has inspired me to purchase our next trip. Seeing the mouse again end of March. couldcareless fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Dec 13, 2016 |
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Dec 13, 2016 18:23
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Silly Burrito posted:Can you elaborate on the reasons? Just curious if you can. I actually have a decent number of friends who ended up working for the parks, and my family's been going every year or two since I was 6 (read: 1999-2 days from this post!). What I've heard and witnessed for the most part is the same obnoxious push for metrics and volume management that you see out of a lot of call centers. When I was a kid, every picture I have with a character came at a point where we ran into them in the park at a random point and got to take an actual candid picture. My mom's most treasured picture of me as a child was from running into Tigger on the bridge between World Showcase and Futureworld in Epcot with Spaceship Earth in the background when it had the "Year 2000" decoration on it. From like 2003-on, they scaled back that time and opportunity to interact naturally with the characters in favor of things like the meet & greet spaces which can be used to artificially lower wait times since character encounters are no longer based on chance but on willingness to wait in line for characters over rides and see a 20-something suffering through heat stroke in costume. If 100 people are waiting on Tigger, that's 100 people not in line for Test Track and is an easy cheat for when your park attendance is soaring but you don't want to outright expand. Similarly, you can see it in the way dining is handled now. Reservations were somewhat of a thing when I was young, but now you literally need to be on the phone with Disney 3 months in advance to the day if you want in to your favorite haunts, since they can't really expand the capacity of the table service restaurants. As a result, you have things like the meal plans that heavily push you towards quick service and snack restaurants with how they're doled out, which isn't ideal if your family is like mine and would prefer to just have one big meal a day out of the sun and keep things very light otherwise. It's fairly simple to build things like cheap hotels that can go in separately from the existing park infrastructure and just need a bus line to them, but other than that they just haven't scaled the parks up in terms of dining options, rides, or activities because it would involve such an intense capital commitment and heavy infrastructure changes that may not pay off easily for them if tourism were to suddenly fall off. 9/11 may have turbo-hosed US politics, but it also destroyed companies like Disney Parks that had just invested huge amounts in their parks and suddenly didn't have the gate receipts to hit the payoff they expected which has made them overly conservative and skeptical of any large-scale infrastructure spending. As a result, expanded hiring, infrastructure improvements, staff perks, and things that used to make it the absolute best service and environment in the world but don't always put butts in line at the parks went by the wayside because they're constantly worrying about the next time that things go lean. If I'm putting on my MBA brain, it makes sense, but that doesn't make it necessarily good or bad, just logical. That said, it's still the absolute most magical place in the world, and I'll be going consistently until I'm plant fertilizer. The difference in service between old Disney and new is there, but you're still usually talking about world-class service that you won't see beaten at any other park. The resorts are closer to what it used to be, largely because they're dealing with a smaller amount of people and have better control over their respective tasks. There's nothing better than the reactions a 6-7 year old can have to being at Disney, and I can't wait to take my own kids someday.
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Dec 13, 2016 22:30
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Is there any penalty if you bail on a DVC preview? Got pressured into signing up for one.
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Dec 13, 2016 22:34
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With all the stress of MK, I wonder which is the best park to work at right now?
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Dec 13, 2016 22:59
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Empress Brosephine posted:Is there any penalty if you bail on a DVC preview? Got pressured into signing up for one. I wouldn't think so but I don't know for sure.
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Dec 13, 2016 23:12
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Empress Brosephine posted:Is there any penalty if you bail on a DVC preview? Got pressured into signing up for one. No. 5 years ago we signed up for one, and bailed. Decided the time was better spent with our son than at a sales pitch. I called DVC a month after we got home, talked to a nice guy on the phone and put my deposit down that night. Order the free DVD if it's still a thing, skip the onsite preview.
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Dec 13, 2016 23:59
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Anya posted:With all the stress of MK, I wonder which is the best park to work at right now? I bet working at AK can be pretty nice. It's different enough to allow you to forget you're in a park, from time to time. Lots of foliage and great scenery. And people still treat it as a half day park so it can be pretty light on crowds.
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Dec 14, 2016 00:31
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Thanks guys. Having a blast at Epcot today :3
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Dec 14, 2016 01:15
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couldcareless posted:I bet working at AK can be pretty nice. It's different enough to allow you to forget you're in a park, from time to time. Lots of foliage and great scenery. And people still treat it as a half day park so it can be pretty light on crowds. Animal Kingdom > Epcot > Hollywood Studios > 1920's Siberian labor camp > Magic Kingdom
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Dec 14, 2016 01:54
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I hope more seating capacity is in the plans for renovated Epcot. There's like no seating in Mexico
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Dec 14, 2016 02:12
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I would think AK then Epcot. CMs always seemed low stressed at both of those (I'm sure they covered it up well). Those two after 4-5pm have to be a lot more relaxed.
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Dec 14, 2016 02:19
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Anya posted:I would think AK then Epcot. CMs always seemed low stressed at both of those (I'm sure they covered it up well). Those two after 4-5pm have to be a lot more relaxed. DAK is more or less on par with Epcot now I would imagine with the night hours. When it closed at 5pm that's when it was great. Plus maintenance etc could start earlier as well. My girl friend has worked guest relations at all parks. MK is for sure the worst.
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Dec 14, 2016 13:09
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Wait wait wait a second you mean to tell me millennials stuck working at a theme park while going to college are not going to be as magical as previous crops of CM's? HAHAHAHAHA. No really if I had a CM treat me less than what I expect I am asking for the manager on the spot, then making a trek to guest services and making a pretty interesting scene that cannot be ignored. This isn't for my benefit, it's to ensure they do something about it so the people who spend thousands of dollars to come to the parks do not get lovely service. I never ask for anything but I expect the someone to do something about it and believe it or not I do take names, dates and locations because I do visit often enough that the shitter who was rude to me at X will get a visit again. Also sorry to miss the post about the drones, the show is at 7.00 and 8.30. I have a video but it is hard to see because the phone camera does not pick up the drones at a distance as well as I would like. Tried it on three different handsets and same results.
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Dec 14, 2016 15:00
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It was pretty baffling TBH I should've. When we first asked she acted like we were a big burden even asking.
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Dec 14, 2016 15:46
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The only time I've complained about WDW service was at Maya Grill at Coronado Springs (only ate there because we were staying a single night before moving to Boardwalk Inn). The service was glacially slow despite the place being empty, and our server seemed to be more focused on making jokes with the kitchen/bus staff than telling us why our $30 fajitas were taking over an hour to come out (cold). Every time we asked for anything - drink refill, extra napkins, where the hell is my food - he gave us this exasperated look like we were cutting into his precious social time. The manager couldn't have given less of a gently caress. His response revolved around pointing out that the restaurant is independently owned from Disney (which seemed like a subtle way of saying "go ahead and complain to the Mouse, because it won't do any good"). Just lovely all around.
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Dec 14, 2016 15:59
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My wife and I were there last Wednesday at MK and we had both commented at different times that the CM's look glazed over, like zombies. Only one Photo Pass person that was good enough to pass what we believe as Disney Magic being former CM's ourselves so our standards from days of yore.
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Dec 14, 2016 16:12
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We were shooting the poo poo with one of the CMs the Canada beer cart this past trip. She was incredibly nice. We got to talking about how my wife's luggage was still missing and it was day 2 and the CM told me something I never considered before: "some people save up their entire lives to go on one trip to disney so there is no reason they should ever have a bad time under any circumstances" This was one of those moments where my privilege was showing and as a result it was eye opening. As a result, I now support my wife in her endeavors to express dissatisfaction with service at the parks much in the line of what demonR6 said. To us, it might just be a bummer that we had a lovely time at dinner on this one trip, but we have a dozen times where it was great so whatever. There might be someone that this was their dream trip and some CM that might be having a rough time inadvertently shits on their trip right out the gate. I can definitely see that being disheartening. I hope the workplace culture changes for the better for the sake of the CMs and the guests.
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Dec 14, 2016 16:15
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On my last trip my sister and I were straight up accused of faking her disability to get a DAP (or whatever the new thing is called now) by a CM in guest relations at Epcot. I understand that coming in with a non-visible disability so shortly after they changed the system due to misuse might cause a look or two (and throughout the years to various Disney parks there have always been the CMs at the rides that give you that 'look' like they "know" you're just gaming the system), but that was the first time I'd been outright accused of anything. It was humiliating, and an experience that I never expected to have at a Disney Park of all places. It wasn't even that interaction that bothered me the most though, it was that I got zero resolution about this during the trip. I complained to so many people in person, on the phone, and not a single one reacted in a way that made me feel heard. And after I left, good luck. They didn't care. My souvenirs were already bought, my money spent. It left a really bad taste in my mouth. It was a lovely way to start the trip, and the stress of trying to get *someone* to apologize brought the trip down a few notches from where it should be if that fucktard from Northern Ireland whose name I've forgotten hadn't taken it upon himself to challenge our claims. And it seems to be about the level of customer service the parks are lowering themselves to. As someone who grew up going to Disneyland a few times a year back when they still had a large number of people still working who opened the park with Walt, it makes me sad that it's become the same soulless corporate machine as everything else.
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Dec 14, 2016 16:44
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How do you guys reckon a $15/hr minimum wage would affect Disney cast culture and the parks/company as a whole? Cast would obviously be happy, but what kind of labor cuts or shortcuts/price hikes would guests see as a result?
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Dec 14, 2016 18:32
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I don't know, Universal and Busch have way better staff and I doubt they pay that much. Maybe take a look at them
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Dec 14, 2016 18:44
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Bottom Liner posted:How do you guys reckon a $15/hr minimum wage would affect Disney cast culture and the parks/company as a whole? Cast would obviously be happy, but what kind of labor cuts or shortcuts/price hikes would guests see as a result? In virtually every business where this has been brought up, it's been pointed out that labor costs are typically a small part of the total cost of everything and raising everyone by a few dollars per hour wouldn't cause any business to fail or need to hike up its prices by more than a few cents unless it was already on the verge of failure.
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Dec 14, 2016 20:35
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Yeah I'm all for it, just wonder what the current heads of Disney would do if it got pushed here in FL.
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Dec 14, 2016 20:49
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Probably see a drop in overseas developments if they really feel the need to offset costs. Shanghai probably wouldn't have ended up being a huge meticulous and expensive park. I think they know most of the appeal for Disney comes from the "Disney experience" which is why grinding your staff into the ground just doesn't really make sense. They have already been steadily bumping prices up and adding special ticketed events any other crazy add-ons (lol MK tents) which is an easy thing to swallow because I don't feel obligated to take part in these things.
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Dec 14, 2016 21:11
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Bottom Liner posted:Yeah I'm all for it, just wonder what the current heads of Disney would do if it got pushed here in FL. Probably just lobby against it at the state level or push for a loop hole for unincorporated areas. Remember, Disney literally controls the government that all their land/parks are on under the Reedy Creek unincorporated area. It would take the state putting a level of pressure on them that isn't going to happen with Rick Scott in office for them to bend. But if it actually did happen, they absolutely would just pay up. Labor isn't as much as they'd lead you to believe in terms of expense, and they can't cut staffing anymore without risking an outright mutiny since they've decided they're just going to operate at minimum feasible staffing whenever possible.
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Dec 14, 2016 22:52
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TheGreyGhost posted:Probably just lobby against it at the state level or push for a loop hole for unincorporated areas. Remember, Disney literally controls the government that all their land/parks are on under the Reedy Creek unincorporated area. It would take the state putting a level of pressure on them that isn't going to happen with Rick Scott in office for them to bend. If the federal or state minimum wage got raised, Disney would have no choice but to pay. They're an employer, so they play by those rules even if they're practically local government; they couldn't get away with paying lower wages than minimum wage any more than the city of Orlando could.
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Dec 14, 2016 23:10
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Why is it so impossible to meet one of the BRER characters 
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Dec 14, 2016 23:49
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 Booked our spring break trip! For the first time we are taking someone else with us, breaking our own rule for vacations. But it is my sister-in-law, who just went through a divorce, and my niece who has never been to Disney. They were so excited as we were booking the trip, they have had such a lovely couple years dealing with the ex-husband, seeing them light up with excitement was well worth it.
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Dec 15, 2016 04:32
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I'm sorry but $15/hr won't solve the situation.. Not saying this would happen 100% of the time but miserable people will continue being miserable and soon after start complaining about something else. Then next thing you know it's pitchforks and torches marching for $20/hr.. I know plenty of people working in cushy entry level positions at the office making that much and they are always complaining about work. It's going to happen no matter how much you pay someone.
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Dec 15, 2016 14:31
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demonR6 posted:I'm sorry but $15/hr won't solve the situation.. Not saying this would happen 100% of the time but miserable people will continue being miserable and soon after start complaining about something else. Then next thing you know it's pitchforks and torches marching for $20/hr.. Yikes
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Dec 15, 2016 14:43
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Did frozen for first time I liked it a lot. Did kali river rapids for the first time and that ride is lovely and a waste.
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Dec 15, 2016 14:55
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demonR6 posted:I'm sorry but $15/hr won't solve the situation.. Not saying this would happen 100% of the time but miserable people will continue being miserable and soon after start complaining about something else. Then next thing you know it's pitchforks and torches marching for $20/hr.. I mean, I love my job and it would take a lot to pull me away from it, but I still complain about it. There's a difference between crushing demoralization and having a beer with your buds at the bar and saying "work sucks"
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Dec 15, 2016 15:05
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demonR6 posted:I'm sorry but $15/hr won't solve the situation.. Not saying this would happen 100% of the time but miserable people will continue being miserable and soon after start complaining about something else. Then next thing you know it's pitchforks and torches marching for $20/hr.. If inflation increases to the point where a $20/hr minimum wage is necessary for a livable wage, then I'd hope people march for it.
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Dec 15, 2016 16:01
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