Are Cast Members less friendly?

[honeebee86]

Am I the only one that is being less than impress with the Disney Cast Member's well known guest service? I live only an hour and a half away from WDW and I go all the time. But in the past year there has maybe been one or two Cast Members I felt lived up to the reputation you hear about. The other day I had two Cast Members not say one world to me while paying for food or merchandise. Also, a security guard that search my purse threw it down to the side after he was done and sarcastically said, "have a good time." What gives? I will still go to WDW just because I have annual passes and because of the entertainment but the Cast Members used to be what made Disney go above and beyond. It makes me sad and disappointed.

[Stu29573]

It always surprises me to see such posts. I have never, ever had anything other than stellar service at WDW. If anything, the CM's were more wonderful this past trip than they had ever been. So, in short, I see no evidence of this. Sorry!

[gollybass]

It makes me wonder what would happen if someone was to complain on the spot to a senior employee.

[BluewaterBrad]

It always surprises me to see such posts. I have never, ever had anything other than stellar service at WDW. If anything, the CM's were more wonderful this past trip than they had ever been. So, in short, I see no evidence of this. Sorry!

Ditto.

[Daisy'sMom]

I also have noticed a difference in some. But for each one that has been less than "Disney", there is two that make my visit a pleasure.
Guess it just is another commentary on today and the people that live in this world

[forever a child]

I noticed a couple of CM that were more interested in talking to the person visiting them at work. But other than that, I have to say "No," everyone we came in contact with was excellent. We had a lady from one store walk with us to another so my DD could try on a dress. There wasn't a dressing room so we had to go elsewhere for the fitting. At POP the CM who checked us in was extremely helpful and changed our room location for us and reminded me that my package I had shipped earlier was waiting for us. The guys checking our bags were always very talkative and some laughed at things they saw in there We DID had one experience at Tony's where the greater seating us and our server were less than friendly. But that was probably our worst encounter for the week.

[disneymom2000]

Can't say I have ever noticed someone being less than polite or helpful. Maybe you just caught a couple on a bad day or maybe they were going through something that had their minds occupied. They are human and have days just as you and I do. Hopefully the rest of the CM's you ran into that day made up for your lack of service from those noted few.

[faline]

Goodness! I can't say I've never run into a rude cast member as I have from time to time. I can say that, more often than not, I've had wonderful and friendly interactions with many cast members. We always tend to remember the rude ones and I have some distinct memories of such encounters - even those that occurred a number of years ago. When I think back on our last trip, I was very impressed with the courtesy and caring displayed by everyone - from security to food service to ride operators. It's amazing to me that they do such a wonderful job when they are faced with masses of folks who are sometimes very rude to them!

[buzznwoodysmom]

On our trip in June I hadn't really noticed it till DH pointed it out. And he is not one to complain about much. It just seemed that a lot of CMs would have much rathered be somewhere else, and many of them seemed to hate their job.

One thing I can think of off the top of my head is a CM serving dippin dots at Typhoon Lagoon. We are a family of 4 and we got 3 small cups of dippin dots. My son wasn't sure if he wanted cookies n cream or mint chip so he asked for a "taste" of each. She seemed so put off by him asking this, puffing under her breath, rolling her eyes. Then after paying I had to ask for spoons, not a big deal, but when she gave me 3 I politely asked for one more (I wanted to just taste their dippin dots, didn't want a whole cup of my own) she rolled her eyes and literally slammed the spoon down on the counter. I could understand this if the spoons were in my reach and I was asking her to do something I could do myself, but the spoons were not within my reach. I just figured she'd maybe had a very rude customer right before us and she was still upset about it. I didn't think we were asking for anything over the top, and we were definitely very pleasant. And there were no other people behind us in line so its not like she felt we were holding the line up. It wasn't that big of a deal, and I'd pretty much forgotten about it until I read this post, but she was in some mood that's for sure. Thats just one of the many issues we encountered during the week, but it was the same type of stuff, rolling of the eyes, puffing, giving the feeling that the customers were bothering them.

However, like other's have said for every one rude CM, we encountered a bunch that were happy to help and really seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. But we definitely noticed more of the grumpy types on this trip that we have in the past. I think the heat has a lot to do with it. I know I can get cranky when its really hot.

[ransam]

i go every year, including this past may for 2 weeks, and i have only had one cast member that was impolite....other than that, to me it's like stepping in a completely differnt world.

[BellesRose]

Am I the only one that is being less than impress with the Disney Cast Member's well known guest service? I live only an hour and a half away from WDW and I go all the time. But in the past year there has maybe been one or two Cast Members I felt lived up to the reputation you hear about. The other day I had two Cast Members not say one world to me while paying for food or merchandise. Also, a security guard that search my purse threw it down to the side after he was done and sarcastically said, "have a good time." What gives? I will still go to WDW just because I have annual passes and because of the entertainment but the Cast Members used to be what made Disney go above and beyond. It makes me sad and disappointed.

I know exactly what you mean and I agree completely. I also live about an hour and a half away and go often with my passes. They seem to get more rude each time I go. I just think back to 3 years ago when I had an amazing CM and dwell on that to get me through

[DizneyRox]

There has been a steady decline in the quality of CMs since about 2001 or so from what I've noticed. I'm sure there's a reason for it (or several reasons) but Disney has certainly lowered their standards of late.

There have always been a few standouts, but overall there has most definitely been a decline. I would go as far as to refer to them as employees than Cast Members.

[MaxPower]

Two words: Part Timers

For the past 15 years, I have believed strongly that the quality of Cast Members has gone down once Disney consciously started hiring more part-timers to cut costs.

Many people used to think of working at Disney World as a career. Now for MANY cast members, working at Disney World is no different than working at McDonalds.

Take a look around at the majority of cast members now---many are teenagers or retirement-age seniors working part-time only. As a result, many cast members could not care less about the overall guest experience.

Are there still good cast members? Of course.

But generally speaking, today's cast members are not seeking advancement within the company and behave as such. Clock in, Clock out.

Here's a report from 2004:

Walt Disney World is cutting costs by expanding its part-time work force, a segment of Disney workers that does not receive health coverage or retirement benefits, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The resort's part-time work pool has grown 10 times faster than full-time positions in the past decade and, according to the newspaper, the Walt Disney Co. has signaled that it would hire even more part-timers to operate rides, entertain park guests and clean hotel rooms.

While Disney has always hired part-time workers during busy tourism seasons, the number of part-timers at Walt Disney World has increased 140% since 1994, so that the sector represents 30% of the resort's 53,800 employees, the newspaper reported.

[crltkcagle]

I haven't had any bad experiences with Cm's. In fact one CM who was by the monorail at the Poly saw our anniversary badges and sang us a beautiful song. He could really carry a tune! He than saw a little girl wearing a birthday pin and sang happy birthday to her! I was really impressed with him and will always remember our little entertainment skit while waiting for the monorail.

[TikiLounger]

To be honest, until our last trip in June, I had never, ever been treated rudely by a castmember. That being said, I do have to say that, during our June trip, my daughter and I found the cast members who work in the food court of the Pop Century to be very rude and unfriendly. I didn't see one smile our entire visit. To be fair, it was VERY crowded, but really...crowds are a part of any Disney employee's life. No excuse, imo.

[DVC2004]

I can only think of 2 over all the years that were downright rude. Most are fine and nice, but I feel like there aren't a whole lot who are exceptional lately, at least in our experience. Overall I still feel like Disney is better than many other places. Maybe it's just the changing culture in general- everything seems to be a hassle these days. I often feel like people who provide service often treat you as though you are bothering them to do thier job. Fortunately I haven't really felt that at WDW.

[azcavalier]

I can only think of one CM that I had an issue with, and I was partly to blame. It was a safety concern. Even though I was complying and being apologetic, he was still a complete jerk about it.

Besides that, nothing but great interactions.

My wife is an avid pin trader, and she was trying to collect a certain pin set. We stopped at the information booth by the docks just outside the main gate to the MK, and one of the CMs in the booth (security, maybe?) had a pin lanyard on. So, she asked him if she could see, and he had one of the pins. They traded, and she mentioned that she was looking for certain pins. He said, "I might have some of those", and then reached under the desk to pull out a couple of BOOKS of pins. He went through them, and traded my wife for every single one that was in her set. It made her day.

Of course, now every time we go past the booth, she stops to check and see what else they've got.

[sherriepaul]

While I have not been to WDW, in 20 years, am planning a trip for next year. I do work retail in customer service, and have to say everyone has a bad day, everyone has a bad customer that puts a sour outlook to the rest of your shift. While that shouldn't change anything for us the customers- it does. Also we don't know what disney expects of their employees and what rate of pay they are getting. I'm sure just like everyone else the CM are feeling the pinch of having more responsibilities with less help and not enough pay.

[Renfairwedding]

To be honest, until our last trip in June, I had never, ever been treated rudely by a castmember. That being said, I do have to say that, during our June trip, my daughter and I found the cast members who work in the food court of the Pop Century to be very rude and unfriendly. I didn't see one smile our entire visit. To be fair, it was VERY crowded, but really...crowds are a part of any Disney employee's life. No excuse, imo.

We were there last december and had the same experience. Bad service and the place was a mess. Food service mamagment was no help untill I hunted down upper hotel managment only then did the food people seem to see the light.

[magicalmom]

Unfortunately, I'm afraid people are becoming less civil in general, which has to make CMs' jobs much more difficult. We've all seen folks who figure that vacationing is a license to litter, spit gum on the ground, and leave messes behind them in restaurants and restrooms, all of which are pretty thoughtless of CMs.

Also, for most of us, times are tight; we are tense, and we are wary. More of us fear that things are going to go wrong, or the people we deal with won't be competent - assumptions which often become self-fulfilling prophecies. So, we're already prickly when we encounter the CM who is weary of badly behaved guests.

(Just an acknowledgement that it's possible to be a part of the problem without realizing it or meaning to be.)

Fotunately, we all know a cure, or we wouldn't be on Intercot . . .