OMG ... It was seriously packed today!

[DLgal]

Totally pathetic. Didn’t an Executive recently announce that they were very close to being fully staffed at pre-pandemic levels? The downtime for rides shows this is definitely not true. Perhaps they are fully staffed in areas that actually make them money like retail, food, etc and aren’t prioritizing ride maintenance because, whether a ride is working or not, it’s not making them any additional money (not counting the paid LL rides). We are staying at DLH now and I’m pretty shocked at the price jumps for parking, food, and beverages here. This is the first time we’ve self-parked because my husband couldn’t bring himself to pay $50+ tips for valet service. Disney didn’t have to try to squeeze money out of us before, we willingly formed it over. Now that I feel like I am being nickeled and dimed, I am watching more closely what we spend here.

That is the crazy thing about RSR being down so long. They likely lost a TON of ILL money on it.

 

[DLgal]

And the swings are back open today, so clearly whatever was wrong yesterday was not some sort of catastrophic problem.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

That is the crazy thing about RSR being down so long. They likely lost a TON of ILL money on it.

Sounds like they don’t automatically refund you if you buy an LL and then the ride goes down. They’re probably still making some money on a down ride. Just not making as much as they could, because I assume they stop selling LL’s if the ride is down?

 

[DLgal]

Sounds like they don’t automatically refund you if you buy an LL and then the ride goes down. They’re probably still making some money on a down ride.

They were not even selling the ILL, at least while the ride was down in the morning.

 

[DLgal]

LOL. I just got ANOTHER survey. This one was 100% about the Food and Wine Festival. No opportunity to comment on rides being down.

I briefly considered writing in, as a response to the question of "What did you like least about your food and wine festival experience on March 19, 2022?" ---"I did not like how long Radiator Springs Racers was down."

I feel like that might have gotten my survey thrown away, though.

 

[CeCe0906]

While I realize that there were covid rules, and no one realized how long closures would last, etc. It seems like such a lost opportunity for maintenance and refurbishment during the covid shutdown.

 

[ClaudiaKincaid]

While I realize that there were covid rules, and no one realized how long closures would last, etc. It seems like such a lost opportunity for maintenance and refurbishment during the covid shutdown.

I keep saying this -- they could have had small, safely-distanced, PPE-wearing teams out there the whole time for deep cleaning, upgrades, repairs ... It could have been a golden opportunity, but instead, they seem to have spent the whole closure time on nothing but figuring out how to squeeze more money out of us at literally every point in the parks experience so the C-suite folks could get even bigger bonuses.

 

[StarSeven7]

Just a little tip for mobile orders:
If the return window is too far out, hit the back button and refresh. Usually you will get a "NOW-XX:XX" return window, or at least an earlier time. This is especially true at the little stands like Dole Whip, Cozy Cones, etc. It's never failed me.

Oh man, we should have tried this on Thursday! We were waiting outside Tiki Room for a show and my husband really wanted a Dole Whip but the pick up time was 2 hours away so we just skipped it.

 

[starlite_]

I wonder how many ride breakdowns are because of bad maintenance during covid. I don't remember rides breaking so much before.

 

[DLRExpert]

I wonder how many ride breakdowns are because of bad maintenance during covid. I don't remember rides breaking so much before.

Most of the time it is human error. For example, the other day on Rise there was a bigger gentleman that was sitting near the open sliding door of the ride vehicle and the door could not close all the way, delaying the ride and causing a quick reset on my ride.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Just a little tip for mobile orders:
If the return window is too far out, hit the back button and refresh. Usually you will get a "NOW-XX:XX" return window, or at least an earlier time. This is especially true at the little stands like Dole Whip, Cozy Cones, etc. It's never failed me.

Would you mind elaborating a little more on this? Maybe it’s because I’m trying from home or maybe it’s my version of the app on an iPhone, but I’m not seeing where to “refresh.” Thanks!!! This would be wonderful if I can just figure it out!

 

[DLgal]

Would you mind elaborating a little more on this? Maybe it’s because I’m trying from home or maybe it’s my version of the app on an iPhone, but I’m not seeing where to “refresh.” Thanks!!! This would be wonderful if I can just figure it out!

You have to hit the back button and go back to the list of restaurants and click on the same restaurant again and it will refresh the pick up windows.

 

[JohnR5101]

Sometimes you have to let the system "break" before management will increase the staff sufficiently to keep everything going at an optimum level. Maintenance is a particularly difficult thing for management because of the frequently "unplanned" nature of it. Yes, you can and should do scheduled maintenance to prevent unplanned failures. But to really have enough staff to deal with unplanned problems means that sometimes they will be doing "nothing" in the way of their primary responsibility. Just sitting and waiting for something to work on or fix. (of course you should have some non-critical projects that can be done in this type of "spare time")
I have seen this in my business. Trying to get planned projects done, plus dealing with unplanned stuff that comes along leads to delays. Most diligent employees will put in "heroic" efforts to get things fixed/going/solved. They do this because they care. The problem is that management doesn't see what's not getting done so they don't know they are understaffed. You try to ask for additional head counts and they don't see the data to support that.
So, sometimes you just have to let the chips fall so that the need for more staff is clear to management. I don't mean that anyone would not do their job. Just stop doing the "heroic efforts" to save the day. It's uncomfortable and extremely discouraging. But letting it break can get the attention it needs. Sometimes management will only pay attention when it affects their performance (not achieving strategic plans, customer dissatisfaction, etc.). The sad part is that its a long feedback cycle between when problems start to occur and when it begins to affect management.

 

[DLgal]

Sometimes you have to let the system "break" before management will increase the staff sufficiently to keep everything going at an optimum level. Maintenance is a particularly difficult thing for management because of the frequently "unplanned" nature of it. Yes, you can and should do scheduled maintenance to prevent unplanned failures. But to really have enough staff to deal with unplanned problems means that sometimes they will be doing "nothing" in the way of their primary responsibility. Just sitting and waiting for something to work on or fix. (of course you should have some non-critical projects that can be done in this type of "spare time")
I have seen this in my business. Trying to get planned projects done, plus dealing with unplanned stuff that comes along leads to delays. Most diligent employees will put in "heroic" efforts to get things fixed/going/solved. They do this because they care. The problem is that management doesn't see what's not getting done so they don't know they are understaffed. You try to ask for additional head counts and they don't see the data to support that.
So, sometimes you just have to let the chips fall so that the need for more staff is clear to management. I don't mean that anyone would not do their job. Just stop doing the "heroic efforts" to save the day. It's uncomfortable and extremely discouraging. But letting it break can get the attention it needs. Sometimes management will only pay attention when it affects their performance (not achieving strategic plans, customer dissatisfaction, etc.). The sad part is that its a long feedback cycle between when problems start to occur and when it begins to affect management.

Yeah, I've thought about this and it makes sense in a behemoth like Disneyland where the people on the ground are so far removed from the decision makers.

On the other hand, Disney makes enough darn money to have maintenance guys sitting backstage twiddling their thumbs for 8 hours if it comes to that. So what if a day goes smoothly and they have "nothing" to do. In a way, these guys are like insurance. There when you need them, just another expense when you don't.

 

[jordan13402]

I keep saying this -- they could have had small, safely-distanced, PPE-wearing teams out there the whole time for deep cleaning, upgrades, repairs ... It could have been a golden opportunity, but instead, they seem to have spent the whole closure time on nothing but figuring out how to squeeze more money out of us at literally every point in the parks experience so the C-suite folks could get even bigger bonuses.

the state would not let them at the time

 

[xipotec]

Disney has enough money to fix the rides and have them running smoothly daily.

They just don't wanna.

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

Sounds like they don’t automatically refund you if you buy an LL and then the ride goes down. They’re probably still making some money on a down ride. Just not making as much as they could, because I assume they stop selling LL’s if the ride is down?

Correct. This happened to us. Bought ILL for 7-8pm-ish and it went down as we walked up. The CM tried to “sell me” on the fact that I could now use it for any other LL ride or wait for it to go back up. Firstly, no thank you. We paid $72 and I already paid for Genie+ to go on the other LL attractions. Secondly, my 5yo needed to go back to the hotel to go to sleep, so we couldn’t stay.

I was told if I want to request a refund I then had to go wait to speak to a CM at guest services. After about 10 minutes in line, the CM told me “there’s no way it will be back up by 10pm so you’ll be refunded automatically. Still haven’t seen the refund…. I have my doubts.

 

[Geoff_M]

Sometimes you have to let the system "break" before management will increase the staff sufficiently to keep everything going at an optimum level. Maintenance is a particularly difficult thing for management because of the frequently "unplanned" nature of it.

This was our son's experience when he worked as a theater tech at Animal Kingdom about five years ago. He and his colleagues would point out things that were about to fail to management that would cost $X to fix, and the response as "Mehhhh!" It was only when enough stuff actually broke to the point where they started losing performances that management finally cared... and by then it would them $X + $Y to fix! He was not impressed.

 

[WonkaKid]

In general, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the least busy days…

I haven’t been on a Tuesday for quite some time but friends have done so a few times recently. They’ve told me that Tuesdays are the worst now, largely because they’re the least expensive ticket. Sundays are good, generally. I especially love that we get about 2.5 hours after the park opens when we can move around quickly and jump on several rides. That’s not always true, though. During the busiest times the park still gets busy quickly on Sundays.

 

[DLgal]

I haven’t been on a Tuesday for quite some time but friends have done so a few times recently. They’ve told me that Tuesdays are the worst now, largely because they’re the least expensive ticket. Sundays are good, generally. I especially love that we get about 2.5 hours after the park opens when we can move around quickly and jump on several rides. That’s not always true, though. During the busiest times the park still gets busy quickly on Sundays.

I went last Tuesday for a few hours. It was less busy than the previous Saturday had been.

I usually go on one of these three mid week days. In my recent experience, Thursdays are still the slowest of all.