Complaints About Disney

[redrhino54]

It seems latley that alot of topics on here are complaints. Not that they arnt warrented, even the nick picking ones, but i was wondering if anyone knows of Disney exects that come on here and read what has gone wrong in the Happiest Place on Earth ? Maybe , if you didnt think anyone in the offices were reading here, someone needs to send them a link?

I loved Disney World in the 70s, in the 80s, in the 90s, and in the 00s, and am going to move back to Florida in the next couple years, and i know ill love it in the 10s. Shamefully, nothing ever stays the same, but learn to love what we have for now.

[lazyboy97O]

I see no reason to learn to love it when I can get my entertainment elsewhere.

[ttintagel]

I love it, too. Heck, if I didn't love it, I wouldn't CARE when I saw something wrong. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't be here talking about it. Being able to see problems doesn't mean you don't love the place.

[Wild Ol' Dan]

"...learn to love what we have for now."

Howdy Pard,

Why would anyone take the time to complain if they did not care? I think it is much more likely that folks are complainin' because they DO love things like Disneyland and Walt Disney World and the Walt Disney Company in general.

The problem, as I see it, is a management that just doesn't see it. They are no longer focussed on people...they are focussed on money. Increasing the bottom line is their one and only goal.



Walt was focussed on MAKING PEOPLE HAPPY by giving them the finest quality experiences possible.
Money was simply a tool for him to make even more dreams come true.

It is that fundamental difference in philosophy that causes litter in the queues, burnt out light bulbs not being replaced, audio-animatronics that do not work, a worn out rather than fresh and new look, and many of the other things being discussed here.

Walt set standards for people service higher than any other business in America. The company had a reputation as the absolute best when it came to serving it's "guests"...keeping things fresh and new..."gift wrapped" you might say.

I submit it is precisely because of Walt's philosophy that most of us DO indeed love things Disney. But we find it hard to love a management that has dismissed all of Walt's concepts in favor of making a fast buck. We are saddened and shocked by the lack of attention to detail...the very thing Walt insisted on in all aspects of his business.

We are not complaining to hear ourselves talk...we are complaining...pointing details out...because that is what Walt would have wanted us to do. You see, he did the very same thing at Disneyland, almost constantly wandering the park looking for ways to plus things up...to make things better for all who visited there.

Yes it cost money to do that...but, Walt didn't pile money up like today's management does...he put it right back into the product...which made things Disney a beloved American institution. We are pointing out the details...because we, just like Walt did...care...

And we believe...we know...that Walt Disney's way was the right way.

Adios for now. Talk to ya on down the trail.

Wild Ol' Dan

[Kidgenie]

I can't imagine that they don't. Some of them, just like us, are us..... Disney fans. It may not be official, like a person assigned to the task of looking up complaints on forums such as these, I would even guess its more leisure in nature for those that do. But I am sure the complaints on here and other internet sources find their way to some higher ranks. What they do with the information is anyone's guess, and I here I would imagine it would largely be at the discretion of the executive receiving the information.

All that said, it think it best to send your complaint to Disney via letter as they do have a department for handling such letters. Even for those that say Disney doesn't care, they only care about the money.... well even corporations that only care about the money have a vested interested in knowing when consumers are upset and why. And so if for nothing else, this is a good reason to write them.

On forums such as these, the complaint can be views as : very individual circumstance, posted by someone with an agenda, sensationalism, over reaction by rabid fan base (props to Al for that term), etc....

All of the above applies to letters written to them. When its a letter they are force to respond, even if it's just a simple form letter. However they may have several other letters with similar issues, which would then prompt them to do more then send the form letter because now they will see something is threating their profits.

US airways started charging for luggage, changing tickets etc. Of course their consumers complained, wrote letters, but these policies remained. They must of decided the alienation vs. the extra revenue was worth it. However they also started charging for sodas and yes, even water in flight Free tap water wasn't an option. Buy it or go thirsty. This recreated an uproar! In this case after while, US Airways backed off and reversed this policy. Clearly they decided that they amount of complaints, which equal lost of business in some form or another, they received did not warrant the extra om flight revenue generated. So letters do work. It allows big corporations to collect data and can inspire them to act.

I think complaints on here are dangerous. One person complaints, and a big thread is started. Some agree, some disagree. And any one who reads it may read all of the tread, not just your complaint. So if your complaint gets read, but it also gets lumped in with the entire thread. All the posts that agree with you become ONE occurrence of the complaint while all the counter arguments serve to water down and justify that complaint. When you write a letter, it is YOUR complaint, and is not discredited by others. Now imagine if everyone else on the thread who agrees with you also wrote in their similar complaint, they would all be individual complaints, not just some on-line thread.

And all of them, most especially yours, would not be lost or watered down in a sea of on-line debate as to your complaint's validity.

[EC82]

At Disney, the general (not ubiquitous, but general) view of message boards is: "Those whack jobs who spend a bazillion dollars at the parks and have nothing better to do all day than complain about it -- just ignore them. They're nut cases."

In MOST of corporate America, the general consensus of boards like these is: "We can learn from them. We'd better pay attention to what people are saying, because they can save us a lot of money in focus groups, and we can be better if we listen."

At Disney, the guiding principal typically remains that if the way an executive wants things done isn't going over well with testing, keep testing different audiences until you get the answer you want. Have you never noticed that most parks surveys offer responses like, "Far Exceeded My Expectations," "Exceeded My Expectations," "Met My Expectations" or "Did Not Meet Expectations"? That way, unless someone answers in the definite negative, the results are: "94% of our guests say we met or exceeded expectations."

So, yes, Disney execs often read the boards. And then they chuckle, derisively dismiss what was written as the result of crackpots, and content themselves with glowing surveys and testing, proving that they and their bosses deserve raises, and giving their PR teams a great nugget that is typically reported breathlessly by media as something like, "Disney has enormously high guest satisfaction."

---------- Post added 05-16-2012 at 08:14 PM ----------

BTW, airlines are a major exception to the way online feedback is received. Airlines basically say: "We don't care what ANYONE says." And their post-flight surveys typically lead you to say, "Well, you got me where I wanted to go," which they see as satisfaction.

[Krack]

At Disney, the guiding principal typically remains that if the way an executive wants things done isn't going over well with testing, keep testing different audiences until you get the answer you want. Have you never noticed that most parks surveys offer responses like, "Far Exceeded My Expectations," "Exceeded My Expectations," "Met My Expectations" or "Did Not Meet Expectations"? That way, unless someone answers in the definite negative, the results are: "94% of our guests say we met or exceeded expectations."

The #1 example of this is when WDW says their research tells them the most frequent guest request is "more shopping and dining". LOL

[Kidgenie]

The #1 example of this is when WDW says their research tells them the most frequent guest request is "more shopping and dining". LOL

What they say or admit to the public and what they think behind close doors may be different. But yes, I have to admit, that one hurt when the said it. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself "really?!?!??" That was a sad day. Sad because its true. Guest do want more shopping aka variety in offerings instead of same stuff sold everywhere. And guest do want more dinning option aka the ability to find a sit down restaurant without booking 6 months in advance. But no, it wasn't the case that they wanted pleasure island closed in favor of a few more shopping and dinning options, which in the ended mostly didn't materialize anyway. And saying so was textbook corporate spin.

[Disneytwins]

Disney does indeed roam the boards, but they only use the information as "Guest feedback". The information collected is used the same way as guest surveys in the park. It has very little influence on what happens, but if they need to know guest opinions, they look at the data retrieved from all the methods used.

[Raven12]

That's good stuff

[EC82]

Really? I've yet to be in a Disney Parks or Disney corporate meeting in which someone said, "Have you read the boards?" and everyone didn't let out a groan, laugh and say, "Oh, G--, what are they saying NOW?" I always shrink back at those times and get more than a little angry. But I learned the hard way, you can't get them to take it seriously, you just look like the big idiot in the room.

[Disneytwins]

It's all about research and development.