The Cast Member will always win

[Big Wallaby]

you leave the row, go back to the CM and then say, oh can we have the front?

Grr... :twitch:

[Cheshire Figment]

We are also going to be doing side trips with our REALTOR!!! YAY!!!!! We are going to look at property and models around the WDW area, Reunion, Celebration, Windermere, since we want to build a new home to fit us. Who knows though, we may already be down there renting, if our plan gets set into motion! Cannot wait til Spring!!!!!!

Try also checking out http://www.solivita.com which is a very large active adult gated community (one owner must be 55 or older at time of closing; homes still being built to order, no permanent residents under 18 allowed). There are quite a few people here who work at WDW; it is less than 45 minutes from my house to work and they are widening one of the major roads and building another out of Poinciana.

[goofyjoe]

Oh, never mind. I can just go on Stitch's Great Mistake over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.... I just imagine it's a different attraction each time.

I had gone on it a long time ago when it was still Alien Encounter, and I thought it was pretty cool. Then, when I did SGE (I like your term for it) we were all rather disappointed. I mean, if you're trying to sell Stitch dolls, don't make it too blatant!

Speaking of which, Stitch is often all over the place at the gift shops. Surplus inventory?

[CMGUY89]

I had gone on it a long time ago when it was still Alien Encounter, and I thought it was pretty cool. Then, when I did SGE (I like your term for it) we were all rather disappointed. I mean, if you're trying to sell Stitch dolls, don't make it too blatant!

Speaking of which, Stitch is often all over the place at the gift shops. Surplus inventory?

The thing is once Disney finds something that is popular, they put it everywhere! Stitch was pretty successful is now EVERYWHERE. Same thing with Pixar. Personally I hate Stitch. SGE is a travesty of an attraction. AE was amazing, and I feel very blessed for having been in the very last show of it! I'll admit it was a little violent for Disney but it really worked well for teenagers and adults. Stitch is just terrible, ask any CM and they will tell you. Tomorrowland has become a terrible, terrible land. I mean the only thing I want to go on there is SM, TTA, and CoP. In fact there is a rumor circulating that they are going to close CoP to put in some sort of incredibles ride. NOOOOOOO!!! If they destroy one of the attractions Walt himself wanted kept open I will be livid. That's like tearing down the haunted mansion! GRR...
Only time will tell.

[Big Wallaby]

If they destroy one of the attractions Walt himself wanted kept open I will be livid. That's like tearing down the haunted mansion!

Keep in mind, they got rid of most of the bus drivers that talk or are even friendly or approachable.

Last night, I broke two buses from other drivers, both new within the last three (or fewer) months.

On my first bus, the MSiM system froze up on me and never came back, and I am sure you all know how much I cared. When I handed it off to another driver, she actually started getting panicky, because she was going to have to (GASP) talk to the guests, and she had no clue how to do it. She asked if I had tried recycling the bus, to which I said no, and she wanted to call a manager on me right there because I was such a horrible person. She said that that was what I was supposed to do, and I should have, and now I was stranding her with a bus in which the box didn't work.

I waited in the load zone on my last bus, and as it pulled up, the first thing I noticed was the lack of teeth when the driver grinned at me, and the ones he did have were rotting away before your very eyes. There was not a single white tooth in his mouth. Then, he opened the door, I stepped up into the bus and was quite overwhelmed at the smell of feces. I mean, the guy must have left a dookie in his pants to make it smell like that (later, going down the road, I got to thinking... I wonder if any of it got on the seat... :barf: :ewww :) So I turned on all the air conditioners I could, I opened all the windows, and did the walkaround to give the bus some time before I had to go back into it. The smell was worse than being at VM South when the wind was going the wrong way. If my opinion of this driver was at the bottom of the barrel, when he opened his mouth, my opinion started digging. All he wanted to do was complain, complain, complain about the company, the guests, and how much he had to walk because he works at Disney, and how much he hates exercise (the guy makes me look downright petite in comparison). All his complaining was loud enough to be heard very well by everyone around. I was actually embarrassed to be standing next to this guy.

I say all this to say that is what I see going on in buses, that is the quality of people I see them going for. I can't imagine that that's not going to start bleeding into other areas of the company, down to taking out the attractions Walt wanted there. I hope I am wrong, but I'm not holding my breath when it comes to waiting for the board of directors of Disney World to honor Walt's desires for the Florida Project.

The way one driver put it to me the other night, they really should put electrodes on Walt's body in his grave, and put him to use. Oh, the power he could generate from the way he must be spinning...and I just say that regarding buses.


Just once, I would like to watch as some of the top key people in the company say , just to see if they could do it with a straight face. If not, let their heads roll.

If it gets to that point, then let's put it up for a vote.
I nominate Zazu for President of Disney!

[CMGUY89]

Ew that's gross...
Yeah, and they also got rid of the spieling on Land boats...
I am surprised at the sheer number of CM's that are afraid to Spiel or talk to guests. They put all the CM's who want to spiel into crap attractions. Then the CM's who don't want to spiel get GMR and quit because they can't do it. Hmmm I wonder why we have a cast shortage?
They won't let CM's move into jobs that they want so then CM's become miserable. Miserable CM's make for miserable guests and vice-versa. It's hard to not become disillusioned and be a bitter cast member. I can barely get in touch with my managers. It takes like two weeks to get an e-mail back, if I get one at all...
Sigh...I'm going to go eat my feelings...

[goofyjoe]

Wallaby: Ugh! I guess my family and I are lucky because we haven't come across anyone like that... yet. There's always our week this upcoming March. We haven't really had any issues with buses, but if what you're describing becomes more common, then maybe...

Also, it seems like there are some pretty nice people running the Friendships between Epcot and the Studios (almost said MGM). I'm not sure what your perspective is on that, but some of them seem to at least slightly enjoy spieling.

CMGUY89: We did get more legroom on the front of the Land boats. But it makes me wonder if SGs will be emboldened to stand up, get out, or otherwise disrupt the attraction. I know there are warnings and video cameras everywhere, but I always figured a CM would be a good deterrent.

I'm old enough to remember when CoP had "Now is the Best Time Of Your Life" instead of "It's a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow". It'd be a shame if they took that down. We've gone as recently as last December and the show was sparsely attended, but it was nice to see a "vintage" attraction.

I always do find time to hit Space Mountain at least once when I get down there. My parents do love Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I often find myself on TTA just for a place to sit down for ten minutes.

I do agree that they could do more with Tomorrowland. It's also probably the hottest part of the park, with almost no shade, it seems. Perhaps they could bring back DreamFlight (which I vaguely remember from when I was 8 or 10...)

[Big Wallaby]

I would say hang in there for now, when you are about to come down, put in for that transfer. While I am unable to make any guarantees, I know how long it took mine to go through. Just make sure you get as much networking in as you can.

[CMGUY89]

Trust me guests DO stand up and get out of boats. Some of my best memories are of sitting back at VM and watching guests get out of boats, steal pumpkins, and get back in. Then I feel like a moron when I say "Please refrain from stealing pumpkins" over the PA in the Greenhouse. The legroom is nice though. I enjoy those early morning SQ checks where I stretch out and do my little checklist. Although once my checklist got blown out of the boat in the aquacell, that was embarrassing to explain to a manager. I loved Dreamflight! It was one of my favorites.
Thanks for the encouragement Wallaby, I appreciate it. I have already started talking to some Managers over at the studios to see about getting a better placement there than I did at FWW. I unfortunately can't apply till I come down for the summer, you have to have like 6 weeks of availability for a transfer. LOL, I will find my fit soon, I just need someone to pat me on the back every once in a while and tell me everything will be ok...

[Princess Susi]

It's only being an SG if the CM tells you to go to say, row 3, you go to your row, he fills in 10 people behind you (Okay not sure if that many fit in one row, but I'm trying to make a point here) then as the doors open, you leave the row, go back to the CM and then say, oh can we have the front?

Never do that. When we get up to the front of the long line and they ask how many, we always will tell them then. Once in the Intro area, STAY in that area.
sooze
Oh, and CMGUY89, everything WILL be okay! It will!