Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Pin Trip Wrap Up

I'll have a couple more posts on this pin trip, but I'm going to just pour out my thoughts in this last trip, because a few things stuck to my head. So here goes.

1. This has been one of the more memorable pin celebration event in a while, and all because of the mystery box pin set. I think Disney screwed up. They could have made TONS of money if they had more of the mystery box, but someone didn't think things through. In previous years, they mystery tins were plenty full, but not overly so as to diminish their value. This year, there were just not enough. By the beginning of the second day, people who had mystery box pins were just sitting on them and will only trade them for another box pins, and not the street sign pins one could get off the pin trading board. What started off as being fun got very frustrating very quickly. Still, I think the concept is brilliant as far as marketing is concerned. It got those of us who didn't intend on buying these pins to actually got into it. If they had made enough of the box set, it would have been a tremendous success.

2. Have the quality of cast members gone downhill very quickly. I will cite 2 "encounters" where I am wondering if they were just bad chance encounters, or if something more systematic is wrong here: (i) I entered the men's washroom on the second floor of Columbia Harbour House and saw a cast member, in full period uniform as those working in that restaurant, using the guest facility. Now I thought that was a no-no, especially if you're in uniform. (ii) I stuck my super fast pass that I got after attending a DVC member event into a fast pass machine at Buzz Lightyear attraction and got nothing. There were 3 cast members nearby who were chatting. I mentioned that I didn't get anything out of the machine, and that I was afraid that it got counted against my fast pass. As I moved to another fast pass machine, these people moved to the faulty machine, opened it up, did something to it, grabbed what looked like a fast pass, and closed it back up. At NO POINT during any of these did any of them talked to me, or even acknowledged my presence. I would have asked them a lot more, but we were in a hurry to do the attraction and then leave for the airport. So I simply dropped it.

3. Do cast members who work as cashiers say "thank you" anymore? I know they do, but someone needs to train some of those working at the check outs at Sunshine Seasons. I ate there twice. Both times, the cast members (different ones) barely even look up, and certainly didn't even say thank you after my purchase. And their attitude appears as if you were a bother to them. Since each of them didn't even turn my way, I didn't get a chance to glance at their names, and it wasn't a big enough deal for me to walk back and take a look. Still, cast members are the ones who create the magic, and they can certainly destroy the magic faster than anyone can.

I'm still recovering from the trip. I will have more to say later.

Zz.

2 comments:

ChicagoTeacher said...

I used to work at the Columbia Harbour House. Since the restaurant does not have a close bathroom in the back/tunnels, the staff is allowed to use the 2nd floor bathroom. It is good for guests as we are able to work much more quickly. We also had to wash our hands again (once in the bathroom, and once in the kitchen) before going back to work.
The only time that I didn't use the bathroom on the 2nd floor was on holidays because the line was so long. However, I would have to tell the manager that I was going to the tunnels to the bathroom as I would be gone at least 10 minutes.

ZapperZ said...

Ah, thank you. That certainly clears things up. Still, from a guest perspective, considering that we NEVER see cast members use the facilities on the job, it did look rather odd.

I'm just hoping that I don't walk into Goofy standing by the urinals one of these days! :)

Zz.