It's kind of awful this week.

[DLgal]

Just a comment on CM understaffing and issues with CMs.

In May I stayed on the hotel side of GCH and was out on the balcony in the evening when i started chatting with the couple on the balcony next to mine. They were a couple of younger CMs doing a one night staycation. Despite their age they had both been CMs for many years. The 3 major points about CM staffing I took away from the conversation:

1. Disney is not intentionally understaffing the parks/hotels, they simply can't find people to do the jobs. No one wants to work there anymore, mainly because staffing has worsened, management is worse, and guests are more entitled and rude than pre-COVID. If they could dramatically increase the number of employees, they would.

2. As a result, they have lowered their standards on who they hire (even hitting CMs who were previously fired) and tolerance of behavior (ie CMs breaking character, using phones etc).

3. The new attendance system is worse for the longer-termed, senior employees who actually care about their jobs, and is only going to make the above situations worse.

This is based on my interaction with these 2 CMs and should not be taken as fact, but opinion as I can't validate them. To the OP, I'm very sorry you're having such a rough time and hope it gets better.

Disney needs to pay more, plain and simple. I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to work as a CM for less than $20 an hour. At this point, Disney is fleecing customers left and right and they can certainly afford to pay their cast members more in order to maintain a respectable workforce.

 

[Sun_soakin]

Just a comment on CM understaffing and issues with CMs.

In May I stayed on the hotel side of GCH and was out on the balcony in the evening when i started chatting with the couple on the balcony next to mine. They were a couple of younger CMs doing a one night staycation. Despite their age they had both been CMs for many years. The 3 major points about CM staffing I took away from the conversation:

1. Disney is not intentionally understaffing the parks/hotels, they simply can't find people to do the jobs. No one wants to work there anymore, mainly because staffing has worsened, management is worse, and guests are more entitled and rude than pre-COVID. If they could dramatically increase the number of employees, they would.

2. As a result, they have lowered their standards on who they hire (even hitting CMs who were previously fired) and tolerance of behavior (ie CMs breaking character, using phones etc).

3. The new attendance system is worse for the longer-termed, senior employees who actually care about their jobs, and is only going to make the above situations worse.

This is based on my interaction with these 2 CMs and should not be taken as fact, but opinion as I can't validate them. To the OP, I'm very sorry you're having such a rough time and hope it gets better.

Sounds like they need to pay them more and see if there is anything else they can do to improve their employment

 

[Jgc014]

Disney needs to pay more, plain and simple. I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to work as a CM for less than $20 an hour. At this point, Disney is fleecing customers left and right and they can certainly afford to pay their cast members more in order to maintain a respectable workforce.

Couldn’t agree more. Their cast members play a huge role in the overall success of their parks, and although, not paying them sufficiently may help Disney’s bottom line in the short term, it is incredibly short sighted long term.

 

[elenex]

Disney needs to pay more, plain and simple. I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to work as a CM for less than $20 an hour. At this point, Disney is fleecing customers left and right and they can certainly afford to pay their cast members more in order to maintain a respectable workforce.

Well said. They are the magic and should be compensated for it. $15/hour may sound reasonable to non-locals, but in SoCal that is very, very far away from a liveable income. I've seen hiring signs in fast food windows offering over $20/hour starting wage.

 

[DLgal]

Well said. They are the magic and should be compensated for it. $15/hour may sound reasonable to non-locals, but in SoCal that is very, very far away from a liveable income. I've seen hiring signs in fast food windows offering over $20/hour starting wage.

Exactly. With the high housing and gas costs here, $15/hr is an insulting wage for really anyone other than a high school kid just looking for spending money. And you are right, our local In N Out (like 10 miles away from DL) STARTS employees at $22/hr.

 

[jskiffington]

Sounds like they need to pay them more and see if there is anything else they can do to improve their employment

"Nobody wants to work anymore" basically means "no one wants to put up with the conditions of this job for the rate we're paying." Like DLgal said, if you can start at In N Out for $22 hour. Even if you're a Disney fanatic, In N Out has a reputation for taking care of the employees; you'd be foolish to not work there instead.

 

[Aurora0427]

Well said. They are the magic and should be compensated for it. $15/hour may sound reasonable to non-locals, but in SoCal that is very, very far away from a liveable income. I've seen hiring signs in fast food windows offering over $20/hour starting wage.

The McDonald’s here in San Clemente is hiring entry level employees at $17 an hour. To flip burgers.

Shame on Disney! Pay better!

 

[AustinTink]

We did the dining for the parade through Plaza Inn and overall had a great meal there. I asked if I could pay the adult price but get the childrens portion for my Mom since she really does not eat much and I did not want to waste a ton of food. They said of course and it would only be the child price, so some awesome pixie dust (but seriously was willing to pay the higher price).

Oh, this is so good to know! I'm going to ask for that when we go. There is no way I can eat all that food. Our family of three usually splits 2 chicken plates and one dessert and still we have food leftover.

 

[Kittyblue]

Just a comment on CM understaffing and issues with CMs.

In May I stayed on the hotel side of GCH and was out on the balcony in the evening when i started chatting with the couple on the balcony next to mine. They were a couple of younger CMs doing a one night staycation. Despite their age they had both been CMs for many years. The 3 major points about CM staffing I took away from the conversation:

1. Disney is not intentionally understaffing the parks/hotels, they simply can't find people to do the jobs. No one wants to work there anymore, mainly because staffing has worsened, management is worse, and guests are more entitled and rude than pre-COVID. If they could dramatically increase the number of employees, they would.

2. As a result, they have lowered their standards on who they hire (even hitting CMs who were previously fired) and tolerance of behavior (ie CMs breaking character, using phones etc).

3. The new attendance system is worse for the longer-termed, senior employees who actually care about their jobs, and is only going to make the above situations worse.

This is based on my interaction with these 2 CMs and should not be taken as fact, but opinion as I can't validate them. To the OP, I'm very sorry you're having such a rough time and hope it gets better.

That makes sense and is pretty much what we speculated based on what we experienced. We encountered a few really fantastic CMs. One cashier was bantering with a pin trader, but otherwise the friendliest CMs we encountered were at the hotel properties we visited for meals. Even the bag checker at GCH was super friendly and put a smile on our faces. On the other hand there were the group of girls working in a store in DL park who were clustered together chatting while one CM focused on helping customers, a CM repeatedly barking out orders in a ride queue, interrupting the theming video, and a snippy CM at a quick service. I'm sure in the case of the last two CMs they are sick to death of rude guests not following directions. And those behaviors weren't terrible, but not something we expected from CMs, more like what we'd encounter at any other amusement park. I guess based on past experience we've come to expect above and beyond from Disney.

They really need to pay their CMs more and create a better working environment. I think the amazing CMs and those "magical" encounters with them play a big role in what sets Disney apart and keeps guests coming back.

 

[tink89]

We are planning a trip sometime in the next two weeks. I'm worried about how bad everyone keeps saying it is plus the hot weather will not help. We probably will not go again until maybe Dec or next year due to our schedules. Should we put it off or will we be ok with Genie? We went back in Feb and had a great time. Not sure if the same issues were there already. We are good at going with the flow and will most likely stay on site and will just go back to the hotel when it gets to hot or busy. Should we wait?

 

[Lisa24jks]

We are planning a trip sometime in the next two weeks. I'm worried about how bad everyone keeps saying it is plus the hot weather will not help. We probably will not go again until maybe Dec or next year due to our schedules. Should we put it off or will we be ok with Genie? We went back in Feb and had a great time. Not sure if the same issues were there already. We are good at going with the flow and will most likely stay on site and will just go back to the hotel when it gets to hot or busy. Should we wait?

You should be fine if you have Genie+, IMO. Nothing will be perfect, because it never is and never was even before 2020 happened. But I have been to the park several times (most recently at the beginning of June) and will be there this weekend too, and if you have Genie+ and are flexible, you will probably have a great time. I've had nothing but great trips since the park reopened, personally. And that's not to say that some people don't have valid complaints, certainly they do. But, the complaint posts tend to get a lot more amplified around here than the people with positive experiences.

 

[maleficent55]

We are planning a trip sometime in the next two weeks. I'm worried about how bad everyone keeps saying it is plus the hot weather will not help. We probably will not go again until maybe Dec or next year due to our schedules. Should we put it off or will we be ok with Genie? We went back in Feb and had a great time. Not sure if the same issues were there already. We are good at going with the flow and will most likely stay on site and will just go back to the hotel when it gets to hot or busy. Should we wait?

I think you should go. Only because even if it was super busy and rides were down, just sitting somewhere with a churro and people watching sounds delightfully magical right now

 

[DontSpamMe]

We are planning a trip sometime in the next two weeks. I'm worried about how bad everyone keeps saying it is plus the hot weather will not help. We probably will not go again until maybe Dec or next year due to our schedules. Should we put it off or will we be ok with Genie? We went back in Feb and had a great time. Not sure if the same issues were there already. We are good at going with the flow and will most likely stay on site and will just go back to the hotel when it gets to hot or busy. Should we wait?

Despite the pitfalls we have been able to make each trip fun and enjoyable. My issue is the before times and how the experience now is different. If you temper expectations and keep them reasonable you'll be fine.

 

[evilmommie]

We are planning a trip sometime in the next two weeks. I'm worried about how bad everyone keeps saying it is plus the hot weather will not help. We probably will not go again until maybe Dec or next year due to our schedules. Should we put it off or will we be ok with Genie? We went back in Feb and had a great time. Not sure if the same issues were there already. We are good at going with the flow and will most likely stay on site and will just go back to the hotel when it gets to hot or busy. Should we wait?

I think you’ll have a magical time. The nighttime spectaculars are going..the Parks look great, especially Dland and hellooooo churros, popcorn and Dole whips! Hahaha.

There are positive reports on here with and without Genie+. Disney fan boards are always going to point out more of the negative, has been that way for years. These are all of the Super Fans… filled with amazing knowledge and for the most part productive criticism.

 

[Dolewhipt]

OP here again. At my child’s request, we ended up leaving 3 days in to a 5-day pass and booking new flights home. We had fun in some ways, but it would have been a much better trip had we waited.

If you are traveling from out of state, I would strongly recommend waiting until the ride breakage issues improve. I had Genie+, I bought the ILL, we stayed on property, and I am very familiar with the parks in general. Despite all of that, it just really wasn’t the best trip. The cast members are doing their best from what I can tell, but there’s only so much even the best employee can do. I know many people here have had fabulous experiences this summer, but in my opinion it just isn’t worth risking your valuable vacation time, money, and energy.

 

[evilmommie]

OP here again. At my child’s request, we ended up leaving 3 days in to a 5-day pass and booking new flights home. We had fun in some ways, but it would have been a much better trip had we waited.

If you are traveling from out of state, I would strongly recommend waiting until the ride breakage issues improve. I had Genie+, I bought the ILL, we stayed on property, and I am very familiar with the parks in general. Despite all of that, it just really wasn’t the best trip. The cast members are doing their best from what I can tell, but there’s only so much even the best employee can do. I know many people here have had fabulous experiences this summer, but in my opinion it just isn’t worth risking your valuable vacation time, money, and energy.

Ugh...I'm so bummed for you guys. What did GS and DLH have to say about your concerns?

 

[Smugpugmug]

OP here again. At my child’s request, we ended up leaving 3 days in to a 5-day pass and booking new flights home. We had fun in some ways, but it would have been a much better trip had we waited.

If you are traveling from out of state, I would strongly recommend waiting until the ride breakage issues improve. I had Genie+, I bought the ILL, we stayed on property, and I am very familiar with the parks in general. Despite all of that, it just really wasn’t the best trip. The cast members are doing their best from what I can tell, but there’s only so much even the best employee can do. I know many people here have had fabulous experiences this summer, but in my opinion it just isn’t worth risking your valuable vacation time, money, and energy.

I've been reading through this thread and I'm really sorry that you decided to cut your trip short due to all of the issues listed. I live on the east coast and was supposed to go to DL September 2020, but was cancelled for obvious reasons. My sister and I were beginning to discussing booking a make up trip for September 2023, but reading this thread and many others in regards to the current state of DL is making me feel unsure. I've been to WDW multiple times and there are similar stories but I don't live as far from Florida as I do from California.

 

[RogueX]

Yikes! Your trip sounds like mine in 2018 where in 2 days I only managed to get on 2 rides in 2 days because everything else kept breaking. The only thing I got from most of the cast members was an abundance of attitude, which didn't sit well.

I hope things get better for you though....Disney doesn't tend to refund anything.

 

[confetti]

We did 4 park days mid June and bought Genie. It was VERY crowded but we had a great time. I don't think we just got lucky 4 different days, I think we just navigated Genie well and kept our expectations realisitc. I've heard some people talk about not getting the # of rides they wanted with Genie vs Maxpass. Granted I never used Maxpass, but I felt like we got a lot done and we were super happy with it. We rode everything we wanted to, many rides multiple times, saw all the shows, did all the things we wanted. Never waited more than 15 min for anything, either standby or LL. The hardest part was navigating around the parks with the massive number of people there. But other than that, we managed it all well and had a fabulous time!

 

[Pluto468]

I've been reading through this thread and I'm really sorry that you decided to cut your trip short due to all of the issues listed. I live on the east coast and was supposed to go to DL September 2020, but was cancelled for obvious reasons. My sister and I were beginning to discussing booking a make up trip for September 2023, but reading this thread and many others in regards to the current state of DL is making me feel unsure. I've been to WDW multiple times and there are similar stories but I don't live as far from Florida as I do from California.

I bet things will be different in 2023. I went in May & June this year and had good trips both times even with closures, huge crowds and crazy heat etc. It seems like the trips people have can really vary, even people who are there on the same day. All of our CM interactions were great, and the Disney magic was still there for us.