I’m 33 and I’ve been to WDW about 28 times, including this past summer. We had a truly amazing time and found CMs were at the top of their game.
That being said, it was also the first time we noticed CMs that weren’t up to Disney standards and that were representative of what happens when you look for cheaper employees whom you overwork and underpay. This was apparent especially at the resort we stayed at - SSR - as full hotel guests, not DVC. Gone were the room attendants that say hello to you with a smile (excluding two), and the service we got in our room was terrible...I’m talking returning late from HEA to find sheets with blood on them on our bed, or grabbing a towel at the end of taking a shower to find it covered in black gross circles...or the kitchen floor not being cleaned at all during a three week stay, even after leaving a note to please clean the kitchen floor.
In the parks we did encounter some bathrooms that were pretty disgusting. In those bathrooms there was always an attendant that was clearly not doing a good job. Either they’re not right for the job or it’s just impossible to keep up with that volume of work and those bathrooms need two attendants. Either way it’s not up to Disney standards. But if you don’t go into those specific bathrooms you’ll be sure the problem doesn’t exist.
In a different thread I wrote about our irritating morning at TL, where they artificially created a huge line for crush n grusher at RD by not allowing guests to take inner tubes from the pile, instead having you wait until guests came off the ride and handed you their inner tube. We were the first guests of the day on the slide and got off the slide to an enourmous line. Think of guests who payed for a day ticket to TL and came to RD to get in as many rides with no wait as possible who then find themselves in massive lines dispose the park being empty. That’s not good business.
Either is canceling the buses to the two water parks from Disney resorts. Another bizarre decision by Disney that takes away from the benefits of staying on property. What was weirder was that (at least back in August) those busses had not been removed from the bus screens. So every time we were at the bus station at our resort there was a family either sitting around and waiting or just walking up and waiting for a bus to the WPs. Every time I was the person who informed them such busses do not exist anymore and explained what they had to do. Why should it be necessary to have a well informed Disney fan at a bus stop for people to get basic information? Shouldn’t that be clearly stated at the bus station?
So while we did have an amazing vacation, we also became worried from the quality of some of some of the service and new practices of artificially creating long lines. Again, it wasn’t enough to majorly affect our stay, however it did make us concerned about how Disney treat their employees and the growing affect that will have on the guest experience.