A Wide-Ranging Update

Once again, someone had something to say on every issue addressed in last week’s column, from emergencies at Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones to changes with characters, security and merchandise.

First off, though, anyone up for dinner at Club 33 with Imagineer Extraordinaire Tony Baxter?

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You can join Baxter, WDI’s senior vice president of concept development, as well as Emmy-winning production designer Bob Keene as they salute their mentor, Dr. Maxine Merlino, former Dean of Fine Arts, California State University, Long Beach, Thursday May 16 at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33.

Dr. Maxine Merlino

Baxter and Keene will reflect upon their careers, and the great impact and influence Dr. Merlino has brought to their respective work. Dr. Merlino will share with the guests highlights of her illustrious career, from her days working with famous Hollywood producer Preston Sturges to her career as Dean of CSULB’s School of Fine Arts.

The invite

The evening fund-raiser includes an elegant dinner in the charming New Orleans ambiance of the members-only club, admission to Disneyland and DCA. A silent auction will include: Disney artwork, special art pieces by Tony, Bob and Dr. Merlino, a Club 33 dinner package, and a round-trip ticket to New York.

There are two tiers of attendance:

$200 -All-day admission to both parks for one day (a one-day park-hopper), wine and hors d’oeuvres reception at the club, the presentation by Baxter and Keene, and dinner with choice of either prime rib or rosemary chicken (vegetarian option by request).

$250 -everything above, plus a specially designed Club 33 logo piece created by Arribas Brothers.

The school will be opening the Merlino Gallery, and the proceeds will help with the creation of the new gallery. A portion of the donation will be tax deductible. For tickets, please contact CSULB at (562) 985-4280

Okay, commercial over. On to the letters. A Facilities crewman wrote:

The problems at Space Mountain are a little more involved than most cast members might realize. That support column at Space Mountain, for example, was the direct result of the shortsighted management practice of cutting wherever they can and the consequences be damned!

This particular support column has been a problem for a long time, since it first was found to be bad back in the ’80s. The cause is one the engineers didn’t consider at the time, which is a specific property of all stainless steel—it shrinks every time it’s heated! Over time, the track will develop cracks, which have to be welded shut (heat). As this repaired section shrinks, it places greater stress on the rest of the structure (sounds like what’s happened to the entire cast, but that’s another story). Eventually, all these combined stresses will focus on the weakest point, to the point of rupture. This particular support column is one of the longest, and thus weakest, in the entire ride. There are no plans to improve support for this column and reduce the frequency of necessary repairs.

From May 5th -the Cosmic Wave fountain gets paved over

Another factor is that it was decided not to add to the welding crew for rehab work. In the past, a full temporary crew was brought on to work under the supervision of veteran Disney welders, enhancing the ability to get the work done. This year, the work was passed off to the day shift crew, who put in seven day, double shift weeks for two months working on Space and Matterhorn because the third shift crew was given the normal day shift work of making repairs to Guest Control queue chains. Because the day crew was not augmented by temps, their schedules fell behind and shortcuts were taken under pressure from management to minimize the lateness of the downtime. The cast member’s comment about chewing gum and baling wire isn’t too far off!

The crew at Splash Mountain tell me that an eight-seat log was tested the other day in mock-up. A regular log was loaded down to 2,000 pounds to simulate eight 250-lb. adults and sent around the ride. All the weigh (pun intended), the rollers on the bottom bounced along the joints of the flume, which is not going to be a good thing if this is made standard!

Work continued on Splash May 5th

Part of the reason testing took so long is that the ride system monitors log speed, which it is programmed to keep within certain limits by adjusting water level. This heavy log was cycled with several empty ones, which kept triggering the adjustment of level because the empty logs were going too slow (indicating too much water in the flume). Before the loaded log could be sent around again, the water level had reduced, and there wasn’t enough to keep the loaded log from bouncing its way around the ride (can you say damaged flume?).

With reduced water level, the loaded log would overspeed in the Drop 5 runout (the last drop), going around the turn at the bottom at 20 ft./second (at least three times the desired speed!), enough to shut the ride down, requiring a full reset. They were averaging one test per hour for a while.

Rockwork rehab still underway on Splash May 5th

Splash is supposed to go into full testing mode May 2, and “will
open !” in time for summer season—if the rockwork
contractors get finished!

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A former ride operator wrote:

I read your update today about the injury on Indy. I worked as a CT (Casual Temporary) on Indy for three summers and various breaks. (I’m a high school teacher).

I’m confused and concerned about this injury. When a cast member adds a vehicle from the maintenance area, there are flashing lights and horns that sound in the maintenance area. I doubt anyone could consciously avoid knowing that there was a car about to be set in motion. Also, there are signs all over the area that state that cars can move without warning (even though there always is a warning backstage). I hope that they didn’t remove these safeguards.

Also, the hand-off area was always off-limits for cast members when the ride was operating. We would have to at least put in “station stops” or “ride entry stops” before moving into the area. Anyone who stepped off the platform had to tag out on the board on the left of the hand off area. This is the standard operating procedure. The penalty for not tagging out, for any reason was termination. They instituted this from the ride opening because during the ride testing (before opening) they would often have people on the track get stuck because vehicles were moving around. The tag out board was a way to ensure that people wouldn’t be on the track.

Also, there are several alarmed doors that alert the tower if they
are opened. We were to immediately issue a “ride stop” if
the door alarms were triggered. There are also about 15 video monitors
that cover every part of the ride. We were constantly looking to see
that there was no facilities or guest on the track. If we saw someone
on the track, we could issue a “emergency” or “E-stop”
(One of the few times we could hit that big red button. everyone
wanted to be the one to hit that button!)

That facilities person was VERY lucky. Those vehicles could have caught his pants and dragged him along for the ride or broken the leg, not just a laceration. The ride base (the part where guests sit) can move up to 15 feet high and several feet left and right. Most of us had been surprised by the motion of the cars at one point or another. I’ve had cars rock to the left or right in the station, even though they aren’t programmed to do that. Certain vehicles had reputations for glitches. I avoid vehicle number 6 at all costs. There is even a section of the wall in the Rat Cave that had to replaced because a vehicle had hopped the track at that point and knocked a hole through it. (This happened before ride opened.)

Are the vehicles safe for guests? Yes, I would say they are. They instituted more seat belt procedures that help to ensure safety. If cast members pay attention, there is little that could happen to a guest. Are they safe for cast members? Not as much. Even when powered down, those cars scare me.

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Michael revealed:

The clickers that the character wranglers carry are not as ominous as everyone makes them out to be. It’s simply that each character has a quota of guests they must interact with. The clicker count ensures that a character doesn’t spend too much time with one guest.

I have a very good friend who is Mickey. It drives her crazy that she is under the gun to railroad people through because there are families that she feels deserve some extra time because of certain situations. She gets written up if she doesn’t reach her goal, even though she wants to take the time to make some magic.

Actually, your explanation sounds more ominous than my own conjecture! I don’t like the idea of Mickey placing kids on a quota. Sounds like the 10 items or less line at the grocery store.

A cast member added:

About keeping track of the number of guests seeing a character, it is supposed to end in one month (much to the relief of cast members). Word going around, it is part of a study, with money, guests and labor involved. But after hearing from your friend in characters getting written up for spending extra time with a guest, I wonder…..

Reader Russ confirmed that the DCA did, in fact, install a stamp machine, but when he saw it last week, it was out of order. Maybe it’s just being rehabbed, I suggested. (Actually, the stamp machines are not owned or operated by Disney, but by another organization heralded for its promptness and lightning-quick reaction time—the U.S. Postal Service.)

As for guests being unable to find out easily from Guest Relations were their commemorative brick is, it turns out that, as yet, Guest Relations doesn’t exactly sell the bricks. That’s the job of the merchandise department, DelivEars, which operates the 800 phone number. Guest Relations does staff a cart between the two parks as an aggressive way of distributing applications for bricks, but the applications are forwarded to DelivEars. Cast members there are armed with a radio, but no phone and no computer—so far.

Expectation is that in the near future the cart should be equipped with a computer to enter the data on the spot, assign the brick location and print out the Certificate of Authenticity. Recently, a tipster noticed WDI working on some R/F transmitters out of one of the ticket booths.

Some merchandise cast members expressed concern that new operating procedures seem to discourage teamwork. Not true, say managers. Named “Simba’s Pride,” the new program requires the floor or “greeter” cast members to assist guests in finding their selection and, of course, suggest additional merchandise.

“It’s nothing we weren’t already doing. We just want the greeter cast members to be more interactive, thus taking some of the pressure off of the cashier,” says a manager, while admitting, “It sounds great on paper. I don’t know how efficient it is overall, considering our labor allowance is nowhere near what it should be.”

Speculation that cast members will be reprimanded for assisting (“interfering with”) other cast members is “ridiculous,” he explains. “We don’t want to see the floor cast members folding and stocking because they tend to ignore the guests when they do. They are absolutely allowed to pick something up off the ground or put something back where it belongs. They just aren’t supposed to get engrossed in a project without being asked. If a lead feels that all of the guests in their shop or ‘zone’ are being serviced or we notice that a fixture or display is in dire need of attention, then we ask the cast member(s) to work on something and let any other floor cast know to cover their zone.”

An hourly confirmed: “From what I understand, Simba’s Pride is a very good thing. It really sounds like they’re putting the guests first. Basically, cast members just do their normal routine on the floor (ringing, guest service, etc.). But, they have to make sure that all the guests have been tended to before doing what’s called “task work” (i.e., taking out the trash, straightening product, dusting, etc.). You have to get a lead or manager’s permission to do the “task work.” Most of the time, they will let you do it when there are no guests in the store.

“I think this system may work out well. It allows cast members like me to focus more attention on the guests rather than other things. On the other hand, no one likes an untidy store. But, my leads are really nice about it and they know when something needs to be cleaned up.”

Management attributes cast members’ fears to their natural resistance to change. (“It’s really no big deal, but 90% of the cast members HATE change and are fighting us and questioning us every chance they get.”)

Tina Calles wrote:

I was reading the various positive things people had to say about the cast members. I wanted to share with you a story that showed a particular cast member’s attitude toward the park:

My husband and I were on Splash Mountain a couple of years ago and the ride stopped a couple of times and we heard a voice telling some guys in a log behind us to stop splashing—I guess they were having a water fight along the way. When the ride was over and we were getting off, we saw the cast member confronting these guys. He was handing them towels and instructing THEM to wipe down the inside of the log that they had soaked, not thinking of the riders to come after them. Not rudely, but very firmly, the cast member said with all seriousness, as he handed them the towels, “This is not a carnival. This is not Six Flags. THIS…is DISNEYLAND.”

We LOVED it!!! We met up with our friends later on and recounted the story to them. For the rest of the trip anyone of us would spontaneously repeat the words of the cast member and the rest would join in with such enthusiasm! I think it really shows the high esteem and respect he had. It gave me a great memory!

I’ll be in Disneyland this month from the 20th-24th. Your readers’ letters that you’ve posted have helped me to get in the proper frame of mind to deal with the closures and anything else that may come up: I can’t expect a flawless visit. Things do break. Don’t grumble. Don’t take frustrations out on cast members—not their fault. Smile at them first.

Thank you to everyone!

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Don Shields wrote:

I was just reading your feedback section and was reading the story about the girl who heisted a cap and after watching her all day then security nabbed her. This is what got me thinking about what happened to (or what didn’t happen) to my family one afternoon.

My wife and now 5-year-old daughter go to Disneyland about once a week. One afternoon a few months ago we were in the Downtown Disney Store. My daughter was looking at these little Disney hair clips with the Mickey Silhouette on them. They are I believe about $1 each or a pair. Well, my daughter was tired from a day at Disneyland and after picking up a pair asked me to hold her. While still shopping around ourselves she fell asleep in my arms and after looking around a bit, we didn’t buy anything. We completely forgot about the hair clips until we were near the car when they fell out of her hand. My wife and I were surprised and felt bad but were too tired to go back. So we decided to just deal with it the next time we went.

On our next visit we promptly went to the front desk and explained what had happened. The lady behind the desk first said don’t worry about it. I told her that I did not want this hanging over my head or Walt turning in his grave. It was not the amount it was the principle that was driving me to fix this accidental wrong. She then got the manager and she also said don’t worry about it. After a few minutes of them laughing about it. It was decided for me to go get one then ring the charge and pay for the hair clip. I suppose one nice thing that came out of this was that this lady took my name and number. I then received a phone call on this and a letter of thank you.

What I guess puzzles me is not that I wanted my daughter to go to jail or anything. However, why didn’t they catch my daughter or come up to us and say, “Excuse me, I believe your little girl has something and forgot to pay.”

Why did the cast members at first dismiss this issue? Granted it was only a dollar. Also, it was not like she stole something. We had every intention of paying it was just an accidental oversight since she fell asleep. But why were they so willing to forget about it rather then agree that, yes, I should pay for it. I wanted to teach my daughter wrong from right even if it was an accident and not done on purpose.

Nevertheless, it was nice that when we did bring this issue to Disneyland’s attention we were somewhat rewarded for making the wrong right. As the cast member said on the phone there are not many people that would of come forward on such a small incident.

We love Disneyland and now DCA. My thought is Disneyland is a magical place and in my mind it would be very hard to live with by doing a wrong against the Happiest Place on Earth—whether it be intentional or not.

This is probably why we have been blessed with being able to go to Walt’s apartment on two different occasion and one with Belle coming up for a personal meet and greet. Also being able to go to Club 33 now on three different occasions.

I just wanted to share may experience not to promote stealing but rather to understand the mentality of some of the cast members. Also to pass on that being honest does pay off in one way shape or form, no matter how big or small the issue maybe.

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Sal Gomez recalled:

When I read about the girl stealing a cap and followed all day until she tried to leave, it hit home so hard I had to write:

About nine or 10 years ago I was asked to chaperone my younger brother and a classmate of his to Disneyland for a class field trip. These were Catholic school kids who had won a contest for a fund-raiser. The kids all left together from their school but traveled in separate cars. I took two, my younger brother and his friend.

We spent all day at the park and I bought these two boys just about whatever they asked for since one was my brother and his mate was from a very poor family. I figured if I were kind to him he might grow up and do the same for someone less fortunate than he.

Anyway, on the way out we stopped at the Emporium just like everyone else has done before and I said to them they could buy one item each and then we’d be going. I notice a group of girls from their class were running around the store but thought nothing of it. After a few minutes they brought me their items and I paid for them. I had only two daughters at the time so I asked them to wait for me by the door. When I finally purchased my souvenirs I went to join my two charges at the exit to the store. I notice three older men talking with them and both boys seemed frightened. When I asked what was going on I was told my brother’s friend was spotted stealing Disneyland property.

We were escorted to the security office behind Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I asked if my brother was also observed stealing and was told he was not. They insisted on speaking with this boy alone and I refused to let them. I insisted they let me talk with him first. They agreed. He admitted he had stolen items in his clothes, but the girls I saw in the store were the ones who had put them there. Sure enough, there come the girls into the security office.

I’ll cut the story short here, but they decided not to press charges as long as they promised never to do it again. Next time they would be sent to jail. The security office me a wink.

The Carrousel lost its gold top – underneath the entire ride has been dismantled and removed, Photo taken May 5

Alan Sadwin alerted:

The problem with security buzzers going off is old news, but Disney is now investigating the phenomena where some cameras set them off. I set the buzzer off while entering a store in Toontown last week. Since I don’t like doing that, I went to the nearest cast member who asked if I had bought any pins recently (no, I hadn’t bought anything at all). She then indicated that they were having a problem with some cameras and then asked for info on what type I was carrying (Olympus digital) and recorded the info.

To make a long story short, it wasn’t the camera this time. I had bought a new digital chip at Office Depot the night before. The chip was still in its original package. Apparently, Office Depot didn’t clear the sensor on the package when I bought the chip and that was why I set the sensor off.

Anyhow, your readers might want to know that the problem may be with their cameras, if the monitor makes embarrassing noises when they enter or exit a shop.

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Mike Nash wrote:

I am a huge fan of your column and books. I am an annual passholder and visit the Disneyland resort about five times a year from out of state. I had a couple of comments on some recent visits.

First, on the cast members’ costumes. On my last visit in March, in front of the Haunted Mansion there was a cast member wearing the pants and suspenders from the Splash Mountain ride and some shirt that didn’t seem to go with any costume. He was working alongside a female cast member in her normal Haunted Mansion costume. When I asked him about the costume, he said that he was the lead for the Critter Country area and didn’t have to wear the costume. As I walked away, I realized that I should have asked him why he was working the Haunted Mansion, since it’s in New Orleans Square and not Critter Country.

Next, on my previous visit I was on Indiana Jones and the ride broke down while my vehicle was in the “snake room.” They eventually turned on the lights and some cast members brought out a small step stool to help us out of the vehicles and walked us out of the ride. I did think this was interesting—I have walked through the bottom of the Matterhorn before, but I was wondering what they would have done had there been a disabled guest on the ride. We had to cross the track twice to get out of the ride and walk quite a ways. The cast members also had to help us jump across the track because it was greasy and they were afraid that we would fall.

Maybe there would have been a way to get a motorized wheelchair in there for a disabled passenger or maybe the disabled passenger would have had to wait until the ride was fixed.

Finally, some thoughts on merchandise at the park. I am a huge collector of the mini-bean bags and noticed on my last visit that more and more of the shops are replacing mini-bean bags with other junk. One of the joys of visiting the parks for me was going from shop to shop looking for bean bags. Hopefully this trend won’t continue.

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Margaret wrote:

One of the letters in your April 29 column observed that “tantrums” and “meltdowns” occur more frequently at Disneyland now than in the 1960s. Although I wasn’t born yet in the Sixties and I’ve only been to Disney World, not Disneyland, I’m sure this is true.

But it seems to me that Disney creates exhaustion and stress (the emotions that lead to meltdowns) by building parks that are too large to cover in a day and then charging so much money for admission that many families can only visit perhaps once or twice in their lives. Even those of us who can afford to go more frequently often push ourselves and our families to our limits to get our money’s worth.

I know that prices have gone up everywhere, but Disney World admission has doubled from $25 to almost $50 since my childhood in the early 1980s. Spending half the average person’s weekly wages to take a family of four to an amusement park for one day is bound to create tension for many people.

Anna also chimed in on the same subject:

A reader stated how she sees parents having meltdowns or kids having tantrums in disturbing numbers. Well, our family has annual passes and we go at least a couple of times a month and I don’t see such things happen that often, if ever. I know I have had my oldest (who is almost 4) throw “tantrums.” I will NOT apologize for it since he is at the age these things happen and I will NOT apologize for having a “meltdown” because of it when obviously you have to deal with it. I’d bet it was even happening way back in the ’60s too and that there is probably no difference in the amount of times it happens.

No kid is perfect at any age and things like this happen. Most of us would prefer it not to happen when we are out, BUT most people understand these things and don’t complain since they have been there at some point or will be. I’d like to see you explain to a child they aren’t allowed to be upset or anything in Disneyland because it might ruin someone else’s time. If you want to be concerned about what is going on with kids and parents then look at how many parents do NOT watch their kids. I see plenty of that which is worse and an accident waiting to happen.

As for the issue on rude cast members, I have had a lot more good ones than bad. There was only one that should have done things different then they had and there wasn’t much I could do about it unless I wanted to complain to people so I let it go. I understand what its like to have to do customer service since I did for an airport shuttle. You can’t make everyone happy no matter what so you try to do the best you can in each situation. And, yes, sometimes you realize later you could have done something different or a little more for them but you learn from it and hopefully next time it will be done that way then. I don’t expect cast members to treat me like a queen, but I do expect to get the same respect and kindness that I give them also. You just can’t expect to be given something without giving yourself.

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Finally, reader Vincent S. Randall thinks he may have a solution to all that ails the parks. He wrote:

A friend asked me what I would do if I had the chance to run Disney. Although the list would be very, very long, there was one thing I thought of that I hope Ms. Harriss could hear about, and implement.

I think that the senior folks at TDA (Team Disney Anaheim) should have their salaries based on weekly attendance figures at Disney. Yes, I really believe that attendance is reflective of how people perceive the company and word of mouth. If they were really concerned about guests, they would seriously do things to increase attendance. But, they really don’t care. They have salaries, and they play politics all day long. So, tell them they will get paid a sliding scale each week, based on numbers. I’ll bet we’d start seeing that old Disney Magic come back overnight.

Also, each and every time a cast member uses profanity or is out of line, and each time a guest complaints are duplicated, they should have deductions from their pay. That ought to fix things at Disney real fast.

That would be a novel approach!

For me, I don’t know what would work best. Because every time someone comes up with a formula for explaining success (attendance numbers, gate receipts, numbers of complaints, number of compliments, amount of attraction downtime, etc.) management will turn attainment of those goals into a soul-less formula and sacrifice the million other things that go into Making Magic on a daily basis.

Any one factor can be easily manipulated.

Want huge gate counts? Make admission free.

Want huge daily gate receipts? Raise single day admission prices and eliminate annual passes.

Want fewer complaints? Have City Hall operate on Tiki Room hours.

Want more written compliments? Distribute compliment cards throughout the park and encourage guests to fill them out.

In each case, the numbers would be manipulated to achieve the goal, but the park as a business suffers and guests’ experiences don’t necessarily improve.

A mariachi entertained visitors
in Frontierland on Cinco de Mayo (May 5 for you gringos)

Here’s my three-part formula:

First, encourage cast members to view Disneyland through the guests’ eyes. What would make my day? Basic safety, cleanliness, courtesy, smiles and laughter, a wonderful show—what goes into making those and what can I do to contribute?

Second, encourage management to view Disneyland through both the guests’ eyes (see previous paragraph) AND through the hourly cast members’ eyes. How can we help cast members to deliver safety, cleanliness, courtesy, smiles and laughter and a wonderful show?

And third, make as much money as possible while working within those first two guidelines.

You can write to David atthis link..