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View Full Version : Can you 'pay' your way to the front of line?



Claudia@BA
08-18-2007, 09:56 AM
During our four day trip on 19th July my kids and I came across something we had never seen before at DL and to be honest did not expect to see…..
After being on Splash Mountain when it went tech we got a fastpass/front of line pass, later in the evening we decided to use them on Matterhorn. We went to the front of the line where the CM was and there was a party of 4 in front of us. We hear one of the party say to the CM that they would like to get front of line and the CM asked if they had passes, they kind of said …“no but we have this” …. and thrust towards the CM a bit of paper with some $ bills kind of underneath but so that the CM could see them. The CM (we are about 99% sure) took everything from the guy’s hand and then got front of line passes out of a small metal box beside him and said that they would be good for the party of 4.

Now I know I am English and not up on the whole tipping thing but did that guy ‘bribe’ his way to the front of the queue at a really busy time?

Subsequently we got front of the line and had a great ride but what we saw left us wondering…………….?

Tisha
08-18-2007, 10:05 AM
Wow. Sounds like it was a bribe, but I've never seen this happen before.

Bytebear
08-18-2007, 10:27 AM
I have never seen money pass hands, but I have seen special assistant passes, and front of the line passes, so I am wondering what the little slip of paper was. I suppose anyone could be bribed, and often CMs do have booklets of convenience passes for front of the line when you have to leave a broken down ride, and I suppose you could find a CM willing to sell a few for a quick buck. In fact,I have a friend who is a former CM who has 3 or 4 of the booklets still, but they are the old style, darnit!

I know they have had crack downs on new CMs trying to sell their friend and family day guest passes in the esplinade to strangers.

Leofoenget
08-18-2007, 10:59 AM
Would NOT surprise me in the least. If I were a CM, and on a hot crowded day working on my feet all day for little more than minimum wage, if someone handed me a $20 would I accept it? Probably. Not saying I SHOULD, but hey why not?



let the flames begin.........

PanFan
08-18-2007, 11:11 AM
Sounds like a bribe to me. That is absolutely against company policy and if I had seen it, I probably would have reported it.

As far as purchasing a front of the line pass, DL does not offer anything like that (like Universal Studios or Magic Mountain). They do offer FastPass for free. The pass you saw that was taken from the box was an attraction readmittance pass and is generally given when you are stuck in a ride (or sometimes in line if the line is really long) for an extended period of time due to a breakdown. They do not guarantee immediate boarding, but you will get priority entrance. Even Guest Assistance Cards do not guarantee immediate boarding, though some can get you on faster than others, depending on what stamp you require.

The only thing that can pretty much assure you will get on an attraction immediately is if you are with a Guest Relations CM who is carrying a PEP (Priority Entrance Pass). And these are generally given only if they are touring with a high profile guest who would be constantly badgered for photos/autographs, etc. while waiting in line. I don't work in Guest Relations, but as an attractions CM, that's how I was trained.

So in short, at DL, no you can't buy your way to the front.

tod
08-18-2007, 11:16 AM
Cast Members have those "backdoor passes" and can hand them out at their discretion. I had a Cast Member friend who used to give me handfuls of them. (Doesn't work there any more, darn it anyway.)

Some jerks with money -- you know the type, parking their BMWs in handicapped spaces, pushing ahead of you in line, talking loudly on their cell phones -- have no problem throwing it around to get what they want.

Any Cast Member who would accept a bribe for a "backdoor pass" should be fired at once.

Doesn't mean it can't happen.

--t

Susan L
08-18-2007, 11:27 AM
Sounds like a bribe to me. That is absolutely against company policy and if I had seen it, I probably would have reported it.


Bribe! I also would have reported it.

Malcon10t
08-18-2007, 07:09 PM
I would have reported it too, but in a different way. I know Disney has "auditors" and one of the things they do look for is CMs taking tips (not allowed except for wait staff.) I would not want to be that CM if the "guest" in question was the auditor.

minniemom
08-18-2007, 08:23 PM
I would have reported it too, but in a different way. I know Disney has "auditors" and one of the things they do look for is CMs taking tips (not allowed except for wait staff.) I would not want to be that CM if the "guest" in question was the auditor.

I assuming the Cm would lose thier job, right?

Malcon10t
08-18-2007, 08:34 PM
I assuming the Cm would lose thier job, right?
PanFan would be a better authority, but it is my understanding they would at least get a reprimand with a suspension. My understanding, the CM needs to refuse the tip 3 times, the 4th time they can accept, BUT they have to report/turn it over to their lead. And they cannot exchange anything for the tip. Disney is very strict about that.

In this story, I am attempting to figure out where the "front of the line" CM was at the Matterhorn. I'm thinking the HA queue? Could they have seen a GAC card instead?

PanFan
08-18-2007, 10:23 PM
PanFan would be a better authority, but it is my understanding they would at least get a reprimand with a suspension. My understanding, the CM needs to refuse the tip 3 times, the 4th time they can accept, BUT they have to report/turn it over to their lead. And they cannot exchange anything for the tip. Disney is very strict about that.

In this story, I am attempting to figure out where the "front of the line" CM was at the Matterhorn. I'm thinking the HA queue? Could they have seen a GAC card instead?

I don't know if they'd be fired immediately or suspended or what (having never accepted a bribe myself), but yes, we are supposed to refuse 3 times and then we can accept, but we have to report it. If it's over a certain dollar amount (I want to say $75, but I don't have to company policy handbook handy right now), we have to turn it in and then choose if we want to purchase it (with the money donated to charity) or donate the item. Traditions was a little while ago and that's where they went over all of this. I haven't been refreshed on it lately, but it's something like that. But no, you're absolutely not supposed to give anything in return for the tip/bribe. Especially as was described in the OP.

I think what happened in the initial story was the OP was given a re-ad when Splash broke down, then used it at the Matterhorn. In that case, they would have shown the pass to the Greeter (who is positioned outside the turnstiles in front of the attraction) who would have let them up the wheelchair ramp to the grouper who would have taken the pass. My initial reaction was that it was probably a GAC card that they saw, but they wouldn't have needed $$ to use that for ramp access.

cynthia312
08-18-2007, 10:35 PM
I'm surprised you've seen something like that. I've never seen anything like that before at Disneyland...or even at any other theme parks here in Cali. hmmmmmmm.......:rolleyes: No matter what job you work at whether if it's retail at the mall to even working at a theme park, you should NEVER accept money. I'm sure that that is against ANY company's policy.
At my job [i work in retail at the mall] you should never accept money or "gifts" from your customers/strangers.

And yes, we DO have something called "Secret Shoppers." They act as regular customers and it is up to us employees to give them good customer service or else we get a bad "mark" on us.
I'm sure the Disney Co. does something like that too.


And besides.......out of all fantastic rides at Disneyland...why Matterhorn!?!? Like come on....seriously, that person must of been stupid because if you were gonna "pay" your way to get in front of the line, wouldn't it be better if you did that on Finding Nemo?? Space Mountain??? Splash Mountain??? I don't know....just a thought. If I was that person, thats what I would've done.

PanFan
08-18-2007, 10:44 PM
And yes, we DO have something called "Secret Shoppers." They act as regular customers and it is up to us employees to give them good customer service or else we get a bad "mark" on us. I'm sure the Disney Co. does something like that too.

Yeah, at DL they're called Mystery Guests and they rate us on a lot of things like park knowledge, theme phrasing, safety checks, cleanliness in the queue, if we're following the Disney Look standards, friendliness, pretty much everything you can think of. If we get 100% on a mystery guest score, we'll get little rewards. Actually, the Matterhorn recently had this little coloring contest of a picture of Harold. Mine was Mystery Guest Harold. It was pretty funny.



And besides.......out of all fantastic rides at Disneyland...why Matterhorn!?!? Like come on....seriously, that person must of been stupid because if you were gonna "pay" your way to get in front of the line, wouldn't it be better if you did that on Finding Nemo?? Space Mountain??? Splash Mountain??? I don't know....just a thought. If I was that person, thats what I would've done.

Most people think the Matterhorn's line is longer than it is. They see it wrapping around the mountain by the lagoon and think 45 minutes, but even if it's all the way to the back by Ariel's Grotto, it's only 35. It moves really fast. Plus, who knows they didn't try that at other rides? The Matterhorn is the only one the OP witnessed.