Love the podcast but you're not David Letterman

[Stacy's a freak]

As long as we aren't contributing to any disciplinary action against CMs, I say keep it up

 

[Carnator]

I think it's great as long as Oliver is a good sport about it.

 

[mcd2745]

To me, when they are just spit-balling the ideas it is a lot funnier than actually having him go through with any of them. Prime example being the line about "tea that belongs to him". It was hilarious when first mentioned. Then, having Ollie actually ask a CM about his tea is nowhere near as funny.


ETA: I wanted add that, on the whole, I like the idea of a segment with a team member (or two...or three) live in the parks. And having Oliver or anyone else do silly antics is okay. It's just a fine line when involving CMs in those antics. It will work fine sometimes, and other times will illicit some of the reactions shared here.

 

[Princess Jes]

As far as a CM being recorded live and it being on YouTube etc.
When I was at the parks a few weeks ago, I couldn't tell you how many people I saw walking around just videoing every darn thing they were looking at.
People with GoPros strapped to their heads and chests, people just holding their iPhone out in front of them.
Many of these amateurs put their crappy videos up on YouTube for the world to see, most likely, unedited, so how is that any different? (Other than the horrendous quality of some average Jo walking around with an iPhone or GoPro stuck out in front of them)
I understand the reach is different, but the DIS remove the live streamed video and edit it anyway, so only those who were watching live would have seen it, so I would think, purely by the power of odds, that if a CM said something off script, unless their manager, or someone high up at Disney, spends their days watching the Dis Live (and I'm sure there are people at Disney who do listen and watch the DIS, Pete has mentioned it multiple times, but whether it's live or not, who knows?) then I'm fairly certain the CM involved is pretty safe.

 

[Tom P.]

I have to agree with the contingent who is not a fan of these segments. I'm sorry, but I just don't like the CM's being put on the spot like that on a live podcast without knowing what's going on, and I just don't find it to be that funny. That's my opinion, of course, and these segments are not going to make me stop watching the show. But if they asked my opinion (which they haven't), I'd say to dump those segments.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I never thought people would dislike this part of the show until reading these posts. It's surprising.

As far as cast members go, they are trained to be "on stage" at any time and prepped in how to respond to questions/request in a "Disney way."

For me, there is no issue here. It's something fun and interactive that just happened one day on the show, and they decided to do it a few times more. -shrug-

 

[KingLlama]

Two thoughts....

1. As long as the CM(or park guest, or both) is PART of the joke, and not the SUBJECT of the joke, I don't know that it crosses the line. The only one who should ever be made to look/sound foolish is the DIS team member who's actually on camera(so far, just Oliver). And to this point, I think that's been the case. As long as it stays that way, I don't see an issue.

2. If it's done well, it's worth doing. I think Pete feels that way about pretty much every aspect of the show(s). He thought the "Caption This" segment dragged, so he cut it. Other things have come and gone once they wore out their welcome. I'm guessing that the first time the "Make Oliver Do Stuff" premise feels tired, they won't do it anymore. Not to say they won't have him in the parks, they'll just keep it pretty straight-laced.

 

[SarahDisney]

As far as cast members go, they are trained to be "on stage" at any time and prepped in how to respond to questions/request in a "Disney way."

This is exactly what I was thinking. CMs are trained to be "on stage" at all times. Whether there's a guest there or not, whether there's a camera there or not ... they're always expected to act in a certain way. A guest with a camera who is livestreaming to a thousand people should not be treated any differently than a guest who wanders in wanting to know when the 3 PM parade starts.
If a CM says something they shouldn't on camera, that is an issue, but it's not the DIS's fault. That means that the CM wasn't doing what they were trained to do. It would be exactly the same problem if the CM said the same thing to a random guest without a camera.
Also ... I'm guessing that CMs are trained to expect weird things and awkward questions. Just because you haven't asked the questions that Oliver is asking, doesn't mean nobody else has.

If Pete and the team enjoy these segments, then I think they should stay. If you don't like them, you have every right to fast forward, or mute the audio until the segment is over (which is what I do - whether I'm watching live or later). Not everyone has to like everything that is said and done on the podcast.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I am still somewhat open-minded about it because I seriously would love to see Oliver have his own show. I like him that much.
One thing I thought of was Craig mentioned Kylie works in the tourism industry there. If another podcast recognizes her in her employment can they film her in a spoof as a good natured rub to the Dis? Even if they meant it all in fun, if the Dis can't say yep, it's okay to film her without her knowledge or consent for THEIR spoofs and air it on THEIR show, they should re-evaluate.
Maybe Kylie would find it hilarious, maybe they should ask her opinion to gauge potential future ideas. She may be a good person to run them by to make sure it stays on the humor side of things.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

...I'm guessing that the first time the "Make Oliver Do Stuff" premise feels tired, they won't do it anymore. Not to say they won't have him in the parks, they'll just keep it pretty straight-laced.

Let's embrace the curvy laces. There can be no shaming of laces here.

 

[Jafar30]

These are fun segments. Oliver is a good sport. It's not really hurting anything. Folks there's a lot of bad stuff happening out there let's try to let loosen upa bit and enjoy a harmless little segment on a podcast every now and again.

 

[samsteele]

I love this segment and Oliver is experienced enough, has great intuition and decency to know where to draw the line. Great instincts in this young fellow . . . he is cautious but endearing. Nothing even close to the line with CMs. The DIS has their trust well placed with Oliver. He's a young star in the making with a huge amount of common sense. No harm and no foul. This is one of those embrace the moment things. If Oliver didn't protest a bit, then there could be a problem with over the top wildness. He knows what's what.

 

[KingLlama]

Let's embrace the curvy laces. There can be no shaming of laces here.

Oh believe me, I am ALL about the curvy laces.*


*i don't even know what I mean by this.

 

[jimmiej]

I agree with the OP. Strikes me as juvenile. JMO.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I love this segment and Oliver is experienced enough, has great intuition and decency to know where to draw the line. Great instincts in this young fellow . . . he is cautious but endearing. Nothing even close to the line with CMs. The DIS has their trust well placed with Oliver. He's a young star in the making with a huge amount of common sense. No harm and no foul. This is one of those embrace the moment things. If Oliver didn't protest a bit, then there could be a problem with over the top wildness. He knows what's what.

Wasn't even going to enter the discussion, but I must say I agree 1110%! Plus - don't forget - Oliver IS a former CM, as are most of the Team! So they all know "what's up" from the inside out, which most of us here don't.

 

[Gorechick]

I'm sure CM's deal with a lot of worse behavior from guests than some harmless fun from a goofy Dis podcaster. I think they'd prefer Oliver goofing around rather than the other stuff.

 

[nolanboys]

I love this segment and Oliver is experienced enough, has great intuition and decency to know where to draw the line. Great instincts in this young fellow . . . he is cautious but endearing. Nothing even close to the line with CMs. The DIS has their trust well placed with Oliver. He's a young star in the making with a huge amount of common sense. No harm and no foul. This is one of those embrace the moment things. If Oliver didn't protest a bit, then there could be a problem with over the top wildness. He knows what's what.

My sentiments exactly. IMO, it started off as a joke - they did the same thing to Tom last week. Now Tom didn't go ahead with any of their suggestions, which is perfectly fine. I still got a chuckle out of many of their ideas - like the rainbow churro and push the garbage can. I think they were even suprised that Oliver went along. They obvious have great senses of humor and are great friends. Oliver went along, but was respectful to the CM. I personally love this kind of thing and hope it continues. If you want to see this sort of thing taken way over the top, watch Impractical Jokers - and yes, I like that sort of thing, and generally end up snorting and crying because I'm laughing so hard.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I never thought people would dislike this part of the show until reading these posts. It's surprising.

As far as cast members go, they are trained to be "on stage" at any time and prepped in how to respond to questions/request in a "Disney way."

For me, there is no issue here. It's something fun and interactive that just happened one day on the show, and they decided to do it a few times more. -shrug-

I have to agree to disagree with this. For me, just because a person is trained to be on stage and stay in character doesn't mean they deserve to unknowingly be part of someone's prank. They may seem like a good sport, but again...they were trained to act like it. It doesn't mean that they actually appreciate these games. They may- they may not...but with good training, you'll never know. I know if I get an angry client cursing at me, there's a part of me that would love to put him in his place. Still, I've been trained to deal with difficult people with a certain sense of decorum. I know I'm not the exception either. In many professions, you're trained to deal with the common and not so common challenging client situations. I realize these are goofy questions and not a tirade of profanity, but it's wasting the employee's time and it seems distasteful to me to put someone in a situation like that for entertainment purposes.

I know it may seem fun and interactive, and maybe to most involved it is, but that mindset reminds me of some child psych-educational counseling based classes that covered common misperceptions of a bully. i.e. they find out years later that what was all in fun to them hurt the other person involved. I know I have no known facts to prove that anyone involved in these specific segments felt this way, but it's one of the scenarios that crossed my mind when I read this. From that angle, I can't help but find some of this a bit disconcerting.

It also seems like a conflict of interest from the business side. I realize this is Disney and it's not your average corporate entity, but they do take their public perception and image very seriously. People representing a firm that receives commissions selling Disney travel products to be wasting the time of park employees with practical jokes just seems questionable. I have no idea what the business ramifications would be, so this is more conjecture than anything else, but I can't imagine they'd be too keen on this. On top of that, while the DIS is widely known among most hardcore Disney fans, the average guest has no idea about Disboards or the DisUnplugged. If a person is going to fork over thousands of dollars and entrust an agent with their travel plans, they might think twice if they were put off by the firm affiliated with a podcast pranking CMs. i.e. if they don't take this person's work time and job functions seriously, will they take my hard earned $ seriously?

My respect issues aren't with Oliver. He's an adult and he can decide if this makes him uncomfortable or might be an issue down the road.

And if this seems too serious for some...again...it may be. It's just my opinion . We all have different life, school, career, family, etc. backgrounds and we're all likely to assess this a bit differently based on those factors.

 

[Jafar30]

If the DIS made a living on this I could see the issue but Pete and John are smart business owners and can separate fun little larks with the more serious business side.

 

[nolanboys]

I have to agree to disagree with this. For me, just because a person is trained to be on stage and stay in character doesn't mean they deserve to unknowingly be part of someone's prank. They may seem like a good sport, but again...they were trained to act like it. It doesn't mean that they actually appreciate these games. They may- they may not...but with good training, you'll never know. I know if I get an angry client cursing at me, there's a part of me that would love to put him in his place. Still, I've been trained to deal with difficult people with a certain sense of decorum. I know I'm not the exception either. In many professions, you're trained to deal with the common and not so common challenging client situations. I realize these are goofy questions and not a tirade of profanity, but it's wasting the employee's time and it seems distasteful to me to put someone in a situation like that for entertainment purposes.

Or a different perspective - if I was a CM, I would love this interaction and have a great and amusing story to go home and share instead of a complaint about an upset, rude customer. It was obvious that he was kidding around. I used to teach middle school kids. I especially loved that age because of their great senses of humor. Many a night, I had DH in stitches over conversations and situations that happened throughout the day and I know I made them laugh as well. Laughter is the best medicine