Paying more but getting less…

Disney Parks is still following Chapek’s income shift to higher income guests💰. It’s making them money so of course this is the plan, but at what cost to the average family?

I feel like Disney’s executives think that what they are currently offering is still a good value for the money. I don’t see it that way. I’ve watched them decimate their talent pool in entertainment, Imagineering, and across the board in the parks with terrible results.

Cost cutting affects what ingredients they buy to make the food in their restaurants too. I know this because some things that used to be dairy free for me were changed to a supplier that provided a less expensive product made completely differently with dairy. 🤨

But the quote that got me today was this from @scottgustin’s post about the ticket increases: “Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Sept. 9 that “the reality of it is, we price when we deliver more value,” adding, “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.” He said Disney’s investments give guests “hours and hours and hours of rides and entertainment and other shows.” “

🧐Ahem, Mr. Johnston & Mr. D’Amaro, I totally disagree ...we are still lacking those "hours and hours" in entertainment and experiences… Your cuts have deprived The Hyperion of its life and left us with silence so that instead of a significant people eater, with top notch talented entertainers, and happy guests … you have an empty husk of a building (corporate and private events aside). Your benefits cuts to CMs has created overworked, some undertrained, and a lot of disaffected park CMs that give you a high turnover rate and us a less magical experience.

Then you have CMs who are just barely surviving😳 needing food assistance from their Labor orgs or even a GoFundMe or two...😞💔🤬

👉🏼AND TO ADD, Disney’s idea of what a “real disability/disabled look” is has destroyed most of the disabled guests population’s generational brand loyal (and quashed new ones). It has changed the experience of Disney’s once caring and safe environment in going to a Disney park to one of fear/frustration that a CM who is NOT a medical expert in ANY disability type has been given the power to destroy years of good faith with eye-rolls, ‘you should not even go to a theme park’, and ‘You don’t look disabled/autistic responses…STILL.🤨🤬

The leadership in Disability Services likes to say that things said on social media are not real. That they are exaggerations and they don’t pay attention to them. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I just don’t understand that, especially since they still get countless emails saying exactly the same things. Their reply? Josh said “We are listening.” Apparently it’s not the kind of listening that takes what is said to heart. But I digress from the financial issue…

🤔So NO, we are not getting ‘you get what you paid for’ until you release the entertainment from its bindings, treat the disabled better, and stop union busting!

I suggest Disney takes a lesson from a successful company that respects their workforce and clients like @costco and treat your employees well by paying them well and NOT cutting their benefits to suit your version of ‘value for what is paid for’..‼️🤨✊🏼🖤🥀

And to answer your questions, will I still go with all my complaining? Yes. I will still go. I only just renewed my pass this August but I took my last ‘annual vacation visit’ in September😞💔. Something I usually save up for each year that I look forward to… my finances have taken such a drastic hit and I have to cut back my spending at the parks (and elsewhere) significantly. Packing protein and snack bars and my own coffee now!… but I love Disneyland and all the people I have met there and I look forward to meeting new people every time I go. It makes me happy, and in this world where I cannot do a lot of things because of my disability, I can at least go there and pretend for a few hours that I am that little girl who grew up running from the gates to Space Mountain at every visit.