9/18: The Party's Over

[flynnibus]

There IS a reason for Al's indignation towards TDO in certain situations. Kalagredas only has limited control of Disneyland. Tom staggs make decisions that GK has to abide by. And many of those put DLR at the whim of certain TDO departments.

Nobody's perfect, but don't try and make it sound like Al isn't able to discern where many of the issues emanate from.

If it were a Tom Staggs approved or mandated thing - why not name Staggs?
Instead Al prefers to blame the faceless, borg... bOrgLando where you can just throw it over the fence and 'blame them'. Al doesn't talk about any resistance to the change either. Yet, it's perfectly fine to lump all the blame on bOrgLando when it's a bad thing, but when it's a GOOD thing, TDA was sharp...

It's a picture that just doesn't add up - no consistency.. one day it's Orlando responsible for estimates.. the next it's TDA.. one day George K is in charge and making decisions.. the next he's a blind lemming to a faceless borg.

This isn't a new pattern at all from Al.. even prior to Jay's 'One Disney' initiatives. Personally I think it's spite still from the 90s.. when DL was sitting still, and WDW was getting all the new construction.. entire new parks, etc. Which was perfect fuel for the post-50th era and the start of the One Disney phase.. and how dare someone remote and from FL be put in charge of my park, etc. There is no objectivity and consistency here..

Do we forget how quickly Al was lapping at George K's shoes in his first 6months? George is great... they can push for great operational impacts.. all glowing.. and all failures were from FL.. and now.. George is just some drone following some evil FL empire? When the head of P&R is actually just up the road from DLR? Don't buy it..

[Gone2Disneyland]

Love the new Main Street, USA alleyway news!

Don't envy the Guest Relations team having to resolve the GAC issue.

Sad news to read about the CM Christmas parties being cancelled.

But is anyone else upset about the one phrase that Al slipped in while discussing that alleyway news:

While more AP price increases are coming this winter,...

WTH!?

[DisneyAvenue]

Generally, the problem with TDO is that they have control over some aspects of the Disneyland resort. They have had control over merchandise for years, which explains why the merchandise selections at DL has been so poor over the years.

There IS a reason for Al's indignation towards TDO in certain situations. Kalagredas only has limited control of Disneyland. Tom staggs make decisions that GK has to abide by. And many of those put DLR at the whim of certain TDO departments.

Nobody's perfect, but don't try and make it sound like Al isn't able to discern where many of the issues emanate from.

I agree with you and I'm sure TDO is responsible for certain things that effect the history and efficiency of the DLR but give credit where credit is due, one cannot simply but the blame on TDO for every single negative thing that occurs at the DLR which is what I am reading in these articles. I guess the bottom line is each park needs to be managed by its own people and we all know how ridiculous OneDisney is. I guess I feel its unfair for TDO to be the scapegoat for every negative occurrence taking place in Anaheim. Take a quick glance at the last article, literally every bad thing that is happening at DL is the workings of TDO. What's the point of TDA if TDO runs the park from 2,490 miles away... oh yeah the point of TDA is to come up with the amazing, lovable ideas I guess! Just stating what I see, I do still enjoy Al's articles just get annoyed at the biasness at times.

[pinkertonfloyd]

I really don't think TDA can get away with not paying the choir members if they're expecting them to perform (hopefully) twenty times.Tickets would not be enough.

An employment lawyer, would have fun if someone complained.

---------- Post added 09-19-2012 at 04:07 PM ----------

I do hope something will be done to GAC, and I feel for the cast members who will have to enforce it. Sadly, it IS known as the "ultimate fasspass" by some, and even many with disabilities love to complain. I once was next to an (annoying) person at World of Color (who I sadly gave some help and information to... so they magically thought I was the guy to download their rants to). Basically they were telling me how one of their party was at Guest Services complaining over the fact that with their GAC pass on screamin' they were (shocking!) told they could go though the line and use the elevator when they reached it as the ride queue was wheelchair compatible. (They could walk, but were using a wheelchair since waiting in lines was difficult) They were SHOCKED they were FORCED to wait in the REGULAR line like us able-bodied suckers.

I'm there with 3 other people, all with major replacement joints and bones in their body, didn't even ASK for a GAC pass, they just get (legitimate) fasspasses, and/or do single rider to reduce the time in lines.

I had a coworker, who bragged about keeping a leg brace from an old leg sprang for his "Disney Trips". He slap it on, get a GAC pass, then take it off. (He didn't realize that he really didn't need the brace).

It's a touchy subject, but something needs to be done, when it's really harming the truly disabled from getting the pass.

[chesirecat]

Instead Al prefers to blame the faceless, borg... bOrgLando where you can just throw it over the fence and 'blame them'.

Huh?

I had trouble reading the rest of your post, flynnibus, it is very rambling and you really seem to be foaming at the mouth.

Al's been covering the 'One Disney' story for a while, and he predicted that a lot of this stuff would happen. I'm not big on on stores, but even I was surprised to see how generic and bland Carslands' merchandise was. They missed out selling tons of Oswald ears and other special things, and now they are in catch-up mode.

I loved Carsland but didn't buy anything. If they had stocked the stores with more Carsland specific merchandise, it would have been a license to print money in the excitement following the opening of Carsland.

The end of Disneyland's employee Christmas party is a big deal. Al's column might be quoted in big national publications as this is an interesting story, and I'm glad that Al is reporting what is going on behind the scenes.

---------- Post added 09-19-2012 at 04:36 PM ----------

It seems like someone really dislikes WDW and thinks that DLR is vastly superior to it, as if WDW is nothing compared to DL.

I find the alleyway idea to be very clever and would love to see it happen but haven't these rumors been going around forever? Is Al Lutz turning into the next Jim Hill?

Weeks ago on a thread discussing Great Moments w/ Mr. Lincoln, I hinted that the Main Street expansion project was getting some serious attention, and folks here basically told me that the focus was on Frontierland and Tomorrowland.

Part of what happened is the stellar numbers that the whole resort is getting, literally millions more guests per year than they anticipated. Eventually, a land expansion with attractions in Disneyland will be needed to soak up the guests, and ensure continued interest, but the next best step is to expand Main Street.

One of things guests don't like is how crowded it gets after the fireworks, and the Main Street expansion will provide more store space, hard to see how this project could fail, plus it will provide a nice little new area for guests to explore.

[aashee]

I hate the problem with the the overuse of GAC passes but......

Eventually the lines for those entrances will be as long as waiting in the regular line for many of the rides, I know that's true of Pirates already. If there is no incentive to get a GAC pass because the lines are just as long people will stop using it. Only downfall is in the meantime, it's the people who truly need those passes that are getting boned.

[Susan Hughes]

The main problem with those GAC cards is, they're really easy to get. No medical evidence or testing is needed. You just put on your best bit of acting and...voila...you have it. One person I know of simply said being in crowds makes her "wiggy". So that's how she got hers. There are also several others who say they can't stand in lines very long for physical reasons. Yet they will stand for hours waiting for Fantasmic, fireworks, parades, etc.
I know there are those who are legitimate and could honestly use them. But that seems to be outweighed by the number of bogus cards (and people) out there.
What they've started doing at Radiator Springs Racers is having them go see a Cast Member at a terminal who gives them a time to return. No more just showing up and prancing on to the ride. I think that's a start in the right direction. But what they really need to do is weed out the phonies. And because almost all the fake GACs are annual passholders, cut them out. They can come back another day.

[nursemelis374]

I honestly don't feel sorry for them for losing the Christmas parties. A lot of larger organizations have eliminated or significantly decreased holiday celebrations over the last few years.

[aashee]

I honestly don't feel sorry for them for losing the Christmas parties. A lot of larger organizations have eliminated or significantly decreased holiday celebrations over the last few years.

Honestly, that was a very brave thing to say here. I understand, closing the park down for an entire night costs the company a ton of money. Sure an extra ticket seems like a slap in the face but it's something. I like seeing companies respect and value their employees and for many this is just another jab at people who already feel under appreciated. Company parties have been so scaled back since I started in the workforce over two decades ago.

I can see both sides, some never went to the company party and are happier with something they are able to use. Some are offended at another perk out the window for the corporate cash grab.

I'm neutral as I normally am, the Christmas party is a huge expense and the closing of the park for a huge chunk of a day is exorbitant. But you've got to make you're people WANT to work there to attract the quality of cast member they've expected the past 57 years. I'm hoping they can find a happy medium buy I think the cast member party is dead for good.

[chesirecat]

I honestly don't feel sorry for them for losing the Christmas parties. A lot of larger organizations have eliminated or significantly decreased holiday celebrations over the last few years.

I feel really sorry for the castmembers because a lot of them really go out of their way to make vacations memorable for guests. We're not talking about a mega-call center canceling their Christmas party, but the loss of a Disneyland tradition for castmembers.

Carsland is a big hit, if guests had to go to DCA for the evening, this trade-off isn't so bad with the new offerings.

They could have sold some limited number of tickets for APers who might want to hang-out with castmembers, could have been a big event for park if they got inventive. As most guests get park hoppers, I don't think the company loses a whole lot of money with the closure.

Disneyland used to have its own special culture, and it is being eroded by this One Disney nonsense.

[JiminyCricketFan]

I have to say I am mostly disappointed with the new changes. With the huge price increase in AP's I am surprised that they are planning for LESS access during the holidays. The canceling of the Christmas party for Disneyland and the expecting of cast members to perform FREE for paid guests at Candlelight is just repugnant. I heard little talk about increasing the value to guests, such as a new parade, fireworks show, or attraction. It was all about how can we charge more for what we are already providing. Could George K be channeling Pressler?

[jenmurray]

This whole article has me so disgusted with Disney. I love my Disneyland but I cannot believe the crap they feed to these poor hard-working employees time and time again. DISNEYLAND IS NOT THE SAME AT WDW!!!!! Walt would be rolling in his grave at this. Disneyland is about tradition and family. As someone who just went to the Walt Disney Family Museum I find it VERY hard to think this is ANYTHING Walt would of wanted. :*(

[BriMan83]

I'm sure there might be.... if they had been given months notice so they could select music, have it approved by Disney, do the rehearsals.... etc etc etc... Mac Daddy, who teaches music at Mt. Sac detailed some of the issues with such a short notice for local choir groups in another thread recently.

Sadly, the people in charge of Candlelight are getting hit with problems all around because of the changes. The adult choir volunteers is one major problem, but the huge issue that they are running in to is due to California labor laws. On average, 75% of the choir for the main part of the show is high school students or younger. California law allows them to only "work" them 4 hours on a school day. This is leaving no time for rehearsals the night of, and really no time for warms up either. Also, as was previously stated, they are having trouble finding narrators for that many night.

[disney_leonard]

1. GAC's - Definitely abused and needs reworking. The problem is that the law forbids you from asking specific medical questions so the CM pretty much has to give the GAC. I've been with people who had questionable medical need. I once even did a meetup with a group who had a core group with GAC's (and legitimate at that). But then we broke up into groups of six- one GAC per group. Then we would decend on an attraction- like 36 people at once.

2. Christmas Party- I am sad that CM's are losing this time honored tradition. I get the "equal' thing but then they should make things like child care available. At one time the number of CM's at DLR may not have supported it but today there should be more than enough to make it work.

3. Candlelight- I can't imagine how chaotic Main St. will be with 20 nights of Candlelight. It was a mess for two nights on slower nights, but now they will be pushing the envelope carrying on over some of the busiest nights of the season. Maybe they are hoping DCA will take some of the crowds?

As for the alley- YES! Please. They use the alley on the west side to exit after fireworks on very busy nights. They should build a permanent solution.

While I don't always agree with Al's presentation or perspective, I always appreciate the information. Thanks.

[Asterix]

While more AP price increases are coming this winter,...

WTH!?

Hear hear. Stunning, man.