Non-english speaking guests [Archive]

GrumpyFan

10-14-2010, 09:41 AM

This wasn't really a Stupid Guest, more of a Silly Guest encounter.

I was at WDW last week and when we entered the line for TSM, the CM gave me one of those red tags for measuring wait time. A few minutes later the guest behind me who I believe was from Brazil or Spain tapped me on the shoulder an pointed at the badge and gestured in a questioning manner. I tried to explain to him (in English) what it was, but he responded "No engais", so I flipped the card over and noticed it had an explanation in spanish. He read it for a minute, then I guess decided he should have one too. So, he walked over to the CM and tried to get one. The CM told him no, and that he couldn't give him one, but it was kind of a funny if not strange guest encounter.

darph nader

10-14-2010, 10:20 AM

there must have been some subliminal message that only 'he' could read. Maybe a FastPass or something. ;)

PhilimusPrime

10-14-2010, 03:36 PM

What's funnier is when there is only one CM in charge of handing out the FLIKs and also collecting them at the turnstyles. I can't tell you the number of times guests have treated it like their own personal FastPass through the standby queue right back to the CM who gave it to them.

Nobleman

10-14-2010, 04:14 PM

Mayonnaise

10-14-2010, 07:38 PM

I once got stuck with a FLICK card in a queue for an attraction that went 101, and wandered around outside it for a while trying to find a CM that wasn't too busy with the EVAC to take it back...

8^S

Freak

10-14-2010, 11:16 PM

There are days I see people walking around with those even when they're not in line for an attraction. I'll mention/ask what they have around their neck, and they'll usually respond with "Oh, wait I was supposed to give this to someone!" They then wander around trying to remember what attraction they were at when they got it.

kcberlin

10-15-2010, 06:19 AM

I had no idea what they were when I was handed one in February. I am such a cheese ball I actually had my picture taken with it. :p:
257

Whazzup

10-15-2010, 07:23 AM

I had no idea what they were when I was handed one in February. I am such a cheese ball I actually had my picture taken with it. :p:
257

Cute picture! Hey - it's a unique photo op. Not everyone has a picture of himself with a FLICK. By the way, CMs, what does FLICK stand for? I know its purpose, just not the acronym. Thanks.

Shorty82

10-15-2010, 08:33 AM

Cute picture! Hey - it's a unique photo op. Not everyone has a picture of himself with a FLICK. By the way, CMs, what does FLICK stand for? I know its purpose, just not the acronym. Thanks.

Fantastic Line Information Keeper

Mayonnaise

10-15-2010, 10:43 AM

What did you call them before "A Bugs Life"?

8^)

PatchOBlack

10-15-2010, 10:53 AM

What did you call them before "A Bugs Life"?

8^)

I'm betting something along the lines of "A pain in the rear". :cat1:

Whazzup

10-15-2010, 07:05 PM

Fantastic Line Information Keeper

So it's really a FLIK and not a FLICK. Okaaaayyy. ;)

Rob562

10-16-2010, 10:51 PM

What did you call them before "A Bugs Life"?

8^)

Bug's Life came out in 1998. I know that the FLIK system wasn't instituted until well after that. (Heck even *FastPass* didn't exist in 1998...)

I know before that they'd sometimes use hand-written wait time cards, though they were usually pretty good at estimating wait-times based on how much of the queue was being used vs current attraction capacity. (Then FP came and fowled that all up)

-Rob

5th Dimension

10-16-2010, 11:28 PM

I think they are bad show. They look ugly hanging from the sign, they are an inconvenience to the guest, the beeping of the scanners drives everyone crazy, and in the end, guests never see the results. Alright, so sometimes if you hand out a crapload it changes the wait time on the sign, but that can be changed by other means (which is more difficult than it should be).

But occasionally, guests like to carry it (and I'm guessing keep it too). Some kids or adults will ask "what is that" and I'll say "it's a secret mission, do you want to do it?" they excitedly say yes. I never explain why it's a secret, but whatever. Many times I don't feel like trying in vain to explain to someone who doesn't speak English about how it works, so I'll just say "nevermind."

I've seen a people go on what I call a FLIK rampage of just handing them out like candy without scanning them, especially at the end of the night when the greeter doesn't want to carry them back in.

Nobleman

10-16-2010, 11:40 PM

I think they are bad show. They look ugly hanging from the sign, they are an inconvenience to the guest, the beeping of the scanners drives everyone crazy, and in the end, guests never see the results.

I agree. I'm not nitpicky and I'm sure guests don't really care one way or another, but I just feel it could have been implemented better with a silent system that didn't trouble guests to knowingly carry a tag around. Something like shooting a guest in the back of the head with an RFID dart and tracking its travel through the line would be better... and more fun.

Goofyernmost

10-17-2010, 07:15 AM

Hey, I got one of those on Soarin back a couple of weeks ago. I was using a Fastpass and the starting CM handed one to me and asked me to give it to the CM at the other end.

It just occurred to me that I never even looked at it. I carried it in my hand with my Fastpass and never even looked down at it. As it turned out I was pulled from the line early because I was a solo and they needed just one extra. I gave them the pass but I doubt it gave them a really good feel about how long the fastpass line was. I was at least one cycle ahead of where I should have been.

Rob562

10-17-2010, 10:22 PM

I think they are bad show. They look ugly hanging from the sign, they are an inconvenience to the guest, the beeping of the scanners drives everyone crazy, and in the end, guests never see the results. Alright, so sometimes if you hand out a crapload it changes the wait time on the sign, but that can be changed by other means (which is more difficult than it should be).

I'd always assumed that the SOP was for the CM to hand out a FLIK card on a regular basis without being told by the beeping to do it. If they're supposed to give out one every 5 minutes, you can approximate 5 mins and just give one out.
I thought the beeping was *supposed* to just be a reminder in case they missed the 5-minute mark, but it seems like more and more CMs aren't bothering to scan cards before the beeping starts, and are just relying on the beeping to tell them when it's time to scan another card.

Makes you wonder if they could come up with a themed audio sound for each attraction to replace the beep... Tinkerbell's sound for Pan, a rocketship for Space Mountain, train whistle for Big Thunder, a "bing bong" page sound for Soarin, thunder for Tower of Terror, animal sound for safari, etc etc. Something that would blend into the background sounds for most Guests, but able to be picked up by a CM who knows the sound.

-Rob

lady ulrike

10-18-2010, 06:18 AM

Makes you wonder if they could come up with a themed audio sound for each attraction to replace the beep... Tinkerbell's sound for Pan, a rocketship for Space Mountain, train whistle for Big Thunder, a "bing bong" page sound for Soarin, thunder for Tower of Terror, animal sound for safari, etc etc. Something that would blend into the background sounds for most Guests, but able to be picked up by a CM who knows the sound.

-Rob

Honestly, it wouldn't work, it would blend into the background for CMs as well. There have been times while working at small world, that I've checked the time and I realized that the clock had just gone off and I didn't even notice. If a CM can not notice the small world clock going off, then they'll not notice everything you just listed above.

PhilimusPrime

10-18-2010, 11:18 AM

(Then FP came and fowled that all up)

-Rob
Amen to that.

Does anybody know when they debuted GACs? What was the previous system, if there was one, for expedited access for special needs?

kurtisnelson

10-18-2010, 07:55 PM

I love FLIKs. They make my job way easier.

5 FLIKs per attraction queue is supposed to be the minimum. (5 in standby, 5 FP, 5 singles) The box will beep on the mark for whatever it is set to, which is at least every 12 minutes. On some attractions, when the FLIK is handed back in, it updates the wait time. On all attractions it updates a big board in the utilidors which compares FLIK time vs posted wait time. This allows us to score how well we estimate lines. On the recently refurbed E-tickets, the queue time is actually updated by using a matrix and video cameras placed throughout from the utilidors. (All 4 parks flow into one room)
Basically, FLIKs allow us to see how we are doing and notice throughput issues on attractions. They also help make sure we stay under our tolerances for fastpass return queues.

DragonFox98

10-19-2010, 07:08 AM

^you know, MAPO, I was thinking this as I was reading his post. As much as I enjoyed it, maybe he should edit it?

Hope the parks have slowed down for you now that fall is here. :)

Mayonnaise

10-19-2010, 07:23 AM

*Pssssssssst.* If he needs to edit to remove overshare, then the quote should be removed from MAPO's post too to excise it completely.

8^S

Amphigorey

10-19-2010, 09:25 AM

Mapo, why do you care?

PatchOBlack

10-19-2010, 11:14 AM

Mapo, why do you care?

I think Mapo cares because, if it is false information, then it reflects badly on this board, and if it were somehow true, then it puts both the poster and this board at risk from Disney taking action. That's just a guess, of course.

Nobleman

10-19-2010, 12:48 PM

I think Mapo cares because, if it is false information, then it reflects badly on this board, and if it were somehow true, then it puts both the poster and this board at risk from Disney taking action. That's just a guess, of course.

Yeah, as much as I love THAT company, the moment you step on property you relinquish all rights to everything you ever did or will do. Surely those SGs that stop on the highway to photograph the gates have read the disclaimers and binding agreements on the grass in front of the gates.

Similarly if you type the name three times while looking at your monitor, a lawyer logs on, files a lawsuit, motions for a gag order, and subpoenas all server logs.

5th Dimension

10-19-2010, 06:21 PM

At my attraction, the scanners beep about every 5 minutes, that is when we are supposed to send them. By the time the FLIK cards reach load, and the sign is updated, it's too late, and the line is shorter or longer. It's just better to call and make a coordinator or manager change the time, when or if they feel like it. In the mean time, we get asked a million times if it's accurate, and sometimes it's not. If only we could change it at greeter.

If they actually do something useful in the utilidors (besides annoying everyone involved), then that's good for something I guess.

Surely those SGs that stop on the highway to photograph the gates have read the disclaimers and binding agreements on the grass in front of the gates.

A SG trick is found! They stop, open the hood of their car so it looks like they are working on their car, then they walk over to the sign to take a picture. So far, I've seen one family do it, and a taxi van do it.

CujoSR

10-19-2010, 09:49 PM

Settle down everyone...

5th Dimension

10-19-2010, 10:41 PM

Settle down everyone...

I didn't know everyone was upset :confused:

We're cool :cool:

CujoSR

10-19-2010, 11:01 PM

I didn't know everyone was upset :confused:

We're cool :cool:Lets call it preemptive nudging.

Nobleman

10-19-2010, 11:09 PM

But did they have a banana in their tailpipe?

GaTechGal

10-20-2010, 05:05 AM

I'm not falling for the banana in the tailpipe again.

Thanks Cujo. I pre-emptivly nudge my kids all the time. Saves a lot of yelling later on when things escalate.

kurtisnelson

10-20-2010, 05:41 PM

Sorry I'm in overshare, but we are actually pretty proud of FLIK and how much it improves guest service.

Freak

10-22-2010, 01:01 AM

Just to re-rail the thread....I try my hardest to help non-english speaking guests, I really do. Most of the time (8/10?) I'm successful and the guests are SO grateful that I understood them. The other 2 times out of 10 the guests usually shy away from talking to me because I don't fluently understand them (I'll admit, its a little like charades when I'm helping non-english speaking guests sometimes).

One thing that grinds my gears is the group of people who will say they don't understand english when you ask them to stop doing something unsafe (standing on trashcans, climbing up a tree, jumping over handrails, etc...), but suddenly understand and speak perfect english when they need to find an attraction they know by name or the nearest restroom or where they can get a corndog. Talk about learning the language fast!:rolleyes:

Zazu

10-22-2010, 04:39 PM

One thing that grinds my gears is the group of people who will say they don't understand english when you ask them to stop doing something unsafe (standing on trashcans, climbing up a tree, jumping over handrails, etc...), but suddenly understand and speak perfect english when they need to find an attraction they know by name or the nearest restroom or where they can get a corndog. Talk about learning the language fast!:rolleyes:
When this happens, I compliment them profusely and loudly upon their fast learning. I praise their fluency, and marvel that a few scant minutes previously they couldn't even understand, "Please sit down!" I slather it on as thickly as time permits. More often than not, I get a grudging apology out of them, at which point I quietly reveal the location of the hidden restroom they so desperately need.

Great sport, and hard to fault if overheard!