Disneyland "Name Tag" controversy

There is a controversy right now at Disneyland over Disneyland's updated name tags. The new tags for the 50th anniversary include Cast Member's (everyone that works at Disneyland is called a Cast Member) hometown and the year they started with Disneyland. Well, there are alot of people ticked off that this information has been added to the name tag and that it ruins the experience of Disneyland. The thought is that the year and the hometown are out of place. If someone is working at the Haunted Mansion but has a name tag that reads "Class of 2005" they are out of the 1800 time period and therefore Disneyland has just ruined your experience..........come on.....these die hard, Disneyland freaks are unbelievable. (And I love Disneyland, even had an annual pass for many years and I do respect and want to keep the integrity of Disneyland) Some comments written by these nut jobs are as follows:

• Disneyland is dying, and the management is responsible with these asinine decisions that demonstrate this mind-boggling lack of understanding about said management's own business (huh????)
• Disneyland is going to die due in part to the new name tags
• My friend and I talked to a CM in City Hall a few days back and asked about the new name tags. The CM told us that a lot of people have been noticing the hometowns and inquiring about them. So while the CM talks about his hometown in Iowa, the theming of Main Street, U.S.A. is thrown out the window because the CM then goes into personal stories, noting specific places and times, that have no relevance to the history and theme of the land that City Hall is placed in.
• After noting a caucasian CM that had China Hometown one responder said "If you see these joke name tags, make a note of the location, time, etc. and go report them to City Hall. " (this is what these people do while at Disneyland, instead of ENJOYING the experience)
• It is the duty of us hard core fans to speak up when we see things begin to slip. Even if that slippage is just a simple name tag or poorly themed trash can. (Poorly themed trash can. LOL)
• Disney's "quality of show" is being thrown under the truck of managerial ignorance and incompetence
• They could build a Starbucks in every land!
• The name tags are indicative of a larger lack of understanding on the part of Disney management. They don't even grasp their own business, and they dismiss Walt Disney Imagineering.
• The functionality of the badges does not necessarily have to conflict with the believability of the fiction.

These two deserve a special paragraph:

Question: There is a picture of a CM walking around with a flashlight on his pirate belt. I noticed this when I was stuck on the Pirates ride. I just can't ride pirates anymore knowing the theme was not correct. I don't think pirates ever had flashlights before. What would Walt think of this?

Answer:Now the proper way to do it would be to have the flashlight suitably disguised in a covered leather holster so it is not readily apparent what it is when not in use - you could even use a replica pistol holster and have a fake pistol butt handle sticking out the flap.Same thing with two-way radios.

I also have to highlight Barbara from Chicago. She offers this very interesting commentary:

Last Year during the 50th Anniversary, I went to both Walt Disney World, and Disneyland. When I was at Disney World, I purchased a name tag. It was gold, and I had my name put on it. I wore it during my entire vacation, and many times, I was stopped by other guests who thought that I was a cast member. The same thing happened on my recent trip to Disneyland. Many people thought that the gold name tag meant that I was a Cast Member, it was very annoying being bothered all day long. I think that if they are going to sell these name tags to Guests, they should say Guest somewhere on them. I also think that Cast Member name tags should say Cast Member on them. That's all they need. Their name, and Cast Member. (Yeah thanks for your two cents Barbara. I have an idea, take the name tag off)

My take on this: Name tags serve 2 purposes:

1. To identify employees
2. To help you remember an employee's name when he/she's given you excellent or poor service

Get over it, people.