Guest:CM What should the ratio be?

[swampymarsh]

A couple ways to increase service and quality are to not make things worse for customers.

This would include helping them check out merchandise. If you disagree compare a grocery store with baggers to one with self bagging. Another comparison is at nice hotels do you take the bag to your room, or does a bell hop?

Another is not to annoy guests with noise and inconvinience. If you disagree think of when you bought a CD or somthing and the security tag wasn't inactivated or removed, and even though you paid you had to go back in and everyone else had to hear the alarm.

[Giant Panda]

Sadly for the customers, cutting back on CM staffing and the resultant lowering of Disney's once gold-standard customer service is just another profit strategy for the Disney Corporation.

For Disney, there is a magic ratio of cast members to customers, but it hasn't been reached yet. It's a staffing number that is so low, resulting in customer service so poor, that customers stop coming. When Disney reaches that number, they'll stop cutting back on staffing.

Meanwhile, as long as customers continue to crowd the Park, Disney will continue to lower staffing and raise prices. And why shouldn't they? Every time another AP is renewed or another day ticket is purchased, it's another "Yes" vote telling Disney, in the only language they understand, that their strategy of charging more for less is working.

Spot-on, Mr. W!

[Bob Weaver]

Mr. Wiggins is correct. As long as people pour into the park in huge numbers, the park has no incentive to improve anything. They improved DCA only because they were forced to, because people weren't going there. They're not going to improve anything about Disneyland until people stop going there. Why should they? As long as guests are willing to tolerate long lines, why should they change anything? The blame ultimately rests on the guests, for tolerating it.

[JMazz]

Mr. Wiggins is correct. As long as people pour into the park in huge numbers, the park has no incentive to improve anything. They improved DCA only because they were forced to, because people weren't going there. They're not going to improve anything about Disneyland until people stop going there. Why should they? As long as guests are willing to tolerate long lines, why should they change anything? The blame ultimately rests on the guests, for tolerating it.

This is true. So very true.
My last trip was the best, simply b/c it was my longest I think. I got more out of it. But had I experienced any sigle day as my only day, it would have been one of the worst. I noticed that I started to actually avoid most CMs, as many as I possibly could. It was getting to the point that I didn't want any given CM to be that 1 in 5 that had a crappy attitude b/c I didn't want them to affect my day. In the end, that translated to lost dollars for DLR.
Isn't this insane?

*le sigh* I am locked into my next trip in Dec, but I think that may be the end of DLR for a while until I hear that the numbers of guests are dropping, and a slight up-turn in CS and especialllllly better staffed parks. I fear I may be waiting awhile.