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It’s Hard to Forget the Fireworks at the End of the Day

May 17, 2013 //
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An adventure as rich and spellbinding as a day in a Disney Park demands an epic conclusion and Disney delivers as only Disney can. For the Magic Kingdom, that means Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams.

It is a culmination of the spectacle, optimism, faith, and nostalgia that make Walt Disney World so distinctly appealing. The imagery, music, and fundamental themes in this hyper-sensory experience resonate with millions of Magic Kingdom Guests every year in a way that is both profound and lasting. While all good things must come to an end, at Walt Disney World, the end is one of the best things of all.

The chance to stand in front of Cinderella Castle and see it with your own eyes often represents years of working, saving, and planning for a family’s once-in-a-lifetime vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth. Disney sends them off with a glorious celebration that recognizes and rewards everything it tool to make that dream come true. The fireworks are a celebration of a day that will often rank among the most memorable in its Guests’ lives. That’s an occasion worth making a little noise for.

MK2013CinderellaCastleFireworks3

Which brings me to the final, bonus takeaway from my 2-day Disney Immersion:

It’s hard to forget the fireworks at the end of the day.

MK2013CinderellaCastleFireworks1

There was just something special about the fireworks in the setting of Disney World. It was a special way to end a great day-the setting, the music, and the fireworks all combined to provide a fitting finale…

MK2013CinderellaCastleFireworks2

…and left me wanting more, wondering what magic would be in store the next time I came.

How do you wrap up your events or experiences? Do your Guests leave with smiles, looking forward to the next time?

 

#11 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

(Yes, #11 – this has been all about Disney, where they exceed your expectations!)

A special note of thanks to Aaron Wallace, author of A Thinking Fan’s Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, for his amazing stories that made my Disney immersion all the more special.

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Categories Disney, Guest Experience

Team Members Who Dream Together Create Fantastic Results

May 15, 2013 //
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There are a dozen personal stories from my recent 2-day Disney immersion that would illustrate this takeaway:

  • The very helpful Cast Members who helped with my Backstage Magic tour arrangements
  • Cast Members at the parking lot ticket booth and in the parking lots who understood I was just being dropped off for the day
  • Bob, the Security Team member who told me I was in for a good day
  • Wayne and Ernesto, our Disney Institute tour guides, who were knowledgeable and passionate about all things Disney
  • The funny and loud Cast Members of the Whispering Canyons restaurant, who fed and entertained us at the same time
  • Cast Members who smiled and greeted us backstage and onstage

Team members who dream together create fantastic results

I could go on and on, but maybe the best story is one from the past:

courtesy Disney Imagineering

courtesy Disney Imagineering

In 1978, Disney announced it was opening another part of Walt Disney World in 1982. Not just a new section – this was EPCOT, one of Walt Disney’s original dreams for Disney World. And the opening was specific: October 1, 1982.

At the time, EPCOT was the largest construction project in the world. Most of the people working on the project did not work for Disney; they worked for all the contractors and subcontractors all over the country.

What Disney decided to do was to make these workers feel as though they were part of the Disney family – to get them to identify with EPCOT event though they weren’t actually part of the Disney organization. Here’s how they did it:

They closed down the job site one Sunday a month for over a year. Keep in mind that this was the world’s biggest construction project, moving toward a rock-solid deadline that had been announced almost four years in advance. To shut the place down one day a month was a big deal.

Disney brought in several big circus tents and set the up in what was eventually to be the EPCOT parking lot. Food service went in one of the tents – hot dogs, hamburgers, and the whole works – a picnic.

In another tent, the Disney Imagineers created a miniature EPCOT: the ground was sculpted to show where the land and water would be; photographs of the work were posted; artists’ renderings showed what the completed project would look like. Everything was kept up-to-date for over a year.

On that one Sunday a month, the project was shut down, and all the construction workers and their families were invited to enjoy the picnic and look around. They would enjoy the food and see what their Dad (or Mom) was doing.

Disney continued this for over a year so the families could watch it grow and the workers could see what they were creating – not just the big picture, but where their piece happened to fit into the big picture.

This went on all the way through the construction cycle until EPCOT opened. The $1.2 billion project came in on time and on budget, with very few snags. This was in part thanks to thousands of people who were not Cast Members, and had little motivation to do so. Disney wasn’t writing their checks; they weren’t giving them benefits. They couldn’t do the traditional things that you normally do to keep employees happy.

Instead, they treated them like Cast Members. And it worked. At the grand celebration of the opening of EPCOT, there was a huge celebration with thousands of people attending - most of them the construction workers and their families.

When a rough-necked iron worker is seen wearing mouse ears, you know he understands the dream.

Can you say the same thing about your team?

#9 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Everybody Picks Up the Trash

May 14, 2013 //
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When people are asked what impresses them the most about a trip to Disney World, one of the first answers is how clean they find the park.  People are always amazed at how a place so big could stay so clean. It shouldn’t be so amazing when you realize that every one of the Cast Members is expected to help keep it clean.

Trash played an important part in the development of Disneyland, and that same ethos has carried forward to this day to all the other parks. Here’s the backstory:

One of the driving factors of Walt Disney’s creation of Disneyland stemmed from incidents with his children in dirty, run-down amusement parks around the country and in Europe. With the visions of Disneyland beginning to form in his mind, Disney told his wife that he was going to build an amusement park so clean that people would be embarrassed to throw anything on the ground.

Phase 1: As the plans progressed on Disneyland, Walt Disney wasn’t satisfied with ordinary trash cans that were basically open barrels. He wanted something that would hide the trash inside while looking attractive on the outside. When he couldn’t find an existing model to fit his standards, he worked with a local manufacturer and the Disney trashcan was born. In addition to being functional, the trash cans evolved into matching the setting of the park they were in – becoming another part of the design itself.

Phase 2: While he had planned to have a large number of custodial staff circulating through the park at all times, Disney worked with Van France, the founder of Disney University, on initial training for all Cast Members. The first rule taught may have been “We create happiness,” but the second right behind it was “Everyone picks up the trash.”

Phase 3: At opening day of Disneyland, wrapped candy was handed out along with the attraction tickets. A group of Imagineers had been designated to observe the crowds, specifically when they tossed the candy wrapper away. Very quickly they determined that it was somewhere between 20 and 30 steps, so that’s were the trash cans were located.

Since then, Disneyland and all the other parks are renowned for being clean, friendly, and fun. On a recent 2-day Disney immersion, I experienced it first hand.

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Sitting down curbside in anticipation of the Main Street Electrical Parade, Celebrate the Magic!, and the Wishes nighttime fireworks at the end of the evening, I glanced up when I saw a Cast Member dressed in business casual clothing walk by, detour about 10 steps to pick up some trash, walk to the nearest trash can to drop it in, and continue on his way.

Smiling, I recalled the question asked by our Disney Institute guide Ernesto earlier in the day:

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How many people are on the custodial staff at Disney World?

Answers from our group ranged from several hundred to several thousand.

The actual answer? About 67,000.

Our group seemed very surprised, and this reinforced the next Takeaway:

Everybody Picks Up the Trash

In the Disney organization, there is an inner value of ownership that goes beyond every Cast Member picking up trash when they see it. It gets back to never saying, “It’s not my job.” This Takeaway is not about trash, although that is important.

It’s about everyone being involved in your organization, from bottom to top. It’s about creating priorities, about being a part of a team that demonstrates care, no matter what your role is.

What does “Everybody picks up the trash” look like in your organization?

#8 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Making Dreams Come True Requires Investment in Resources

May 13, 2013 //
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Walt Disney was always about making people happy – and making their dreams come true. He began in movies, but really hit his stride with the creation of Disneyland in 1955. When Disneyland opened its gates, it changed our perceptions of fantasy and reality, the possible and the impossible, and even our definition of family fun itself. Walt Disney’s vision of a playground for families and children of all ages was evidently shared by many, and the Disney Theme Parks have been going strong ever since.

However, Disney wasn’t the type to rest on his laurels. He was always looking for the next thing to do – bigger and better than anything he had done before. That next big thing was Walt Disney World, a project on Disney’s mind for years but begun in earnest in 1965 when the Company began buying up thousands of acres of swamp and pasture land in Central Florida near Orlando. The land purchase totalled over 27,258 acres at a cost of over $5 million dollars.

And he was just getting started. Even after his untimely death in 1966, Walt’s brother Roy oversaw the development of Disney World. Over the next 6 years, the Disney organization invested over $400 million dollars in getting Walt Disney World ready for its opening in 1971.

DisneyonParade1776I first experienced Disney World as a senior, there to march in Disney on Parade in 1976 as a part of my high school band.

Amy WDW2011It would be 35 years before I would return – this time as an adult with my wife and 23 year-old daughter.

RVAWDW2013Recently, I had the occasion to be at Walt Disney World for a two-day immersion in the magic of Disney’s Guest Experiences.

Connecting those three dates gives me this takeaway:

Making dreams come true requires investment in resources.

The dollar amounts invested by Disney over the years in their movies, parks, hotels, cruise ships, and other entertainment vehicles would stagger the mind. But it’s not the dollar amount that I think is important – it’s the resources those dollars represent.

It is helpful to look again to the Imagineers to understand the depth of those resources. The Imagineers form a diverse organization, representing over 140 different job titles working toward a common goal of telling great stories and creating great places. Here are some of the disciplines of the Imagineers that bring the magic of Disney alive:

  • Show/Concept Design and Illustration
  • Show Writing
  • Architecture
  • Interior Designers
  • Engineering
  • Lighting Design
  • Graphic Designers
  • Prop Design
  • Sound Designers
  • Media Design
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Show Set Design
  • Character Paint
  • Character Plaster
  • Dimensional Design
  • Fabrication Design
  • Special Effects
  • Production Design
  • Master Planning
  • Research & Development
  • Project Management
  • Construction Management

What resources are you investing in your organization to create experiences that make dreams – or visions – come true?

#7 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Engaging All 5 Senses Creates Memory Links

May 10, 2013 //
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As you approach the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, the anticipated view of Cinderella’s Castle is not there; instead you enter the park through two tunnels under the train station. Even then, your first view is of Main Street, with a visual explosion of color awaiting you. You also begin to notice the smells matching your view: popcorn, cookies baking, etc. You hear music – sometimes coming from out of nowhere, sometimes from a band or parade passing through. Cast members welcome you with a smile. All of these sensory perceptions create memory links that will be recalled for years to come.

The Town Square at Magic Kingdom

The Town Square at Magic Kingdom

Disney takes full advantage of setting in order to enhance and engage the experience by designing for all five senses. People understand their environment and gather impressions through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Each sense offers an opportunity to support and enhance the show created for the Guests.

Engaging all 5 senses creates memory links.

To illustrate this Takeaway, consider the following:

Sight

About 70 percent of the body’s sense receptors are located in our eyes, making sight the greatest transmitter of setting. Disney World is designed to display delightful and entertaining views wherever Guests look. Sight lines are a major consideration. What you see and, just as important, what you don’t see, from your resort window or from anywhere on the property is carefully planned.

Color is considered throughout the parks. Many Guests notice the unusual purple-and-red color scheme on the directional signs on the public roads in and around Disney World. As an experiment, flags of different colors were once set out on the property and Guests were asked which ones they remembered seeing. Purple and red were the colors they recalled most often.

The Imagineers are experts in the use of color and have created their own “color vocabulary” which defines how certain colors and patterns act on Guests. According to Imagineer illustrator Nina Rae Vaughn, “if a project wants to communicate “fun,” I will experiment with bright colors, applying the brightest of brights against the darkest of darks. If the idea says “adventure,” I will use colors that shout action and excitement. These are hot reds and oranges, with shades of complementary colors like blues, that make the hot colors even more vibrant.”

Sound

Sounds are caused by vibrations of infinitely varying pitch, quality, and loudness. In designing setting, the only vibrations Guests should hear should be good ones. If you have ever found yourself unable to banish from your mind the tune from a Disney attraction you know the power of sound in setting. My personal experience: try riding “It’s a Small World” at 1:00 in the morning during Extra Magic Hours! As Imagineer John Hench says, “People don’t walk out of attractions whistling the architecture.”

To get an idea of how sophisticated the sound system at Disney is, listen to the parades on Main Street. A single cast member working a mixing board in  room under the Peter Pan ride controls the audio portion of the parades. Speakers on the float are synchronized with 175 speakers along the parade route, so that no matter where you choose to view the parade, you are surrounded by an appropriate audio track. How does the soundtrack move in tandem with the parade? There are 33 sound zones along the parade route and RFID chips embedded in Main Street. As each float triggers a chip, the soundtrack for that float “moves” along with it.

Smell

There are about 5 million receptor cells in the human nose and is only a short trip from there to the brain. Smells are stored in our long-term memory. In fact, scientists have found that if you associate a list of words with smells, you will better remember the word. At Disney, smells are used to help deliver magical memories.

The popcorn carts strategically places at the entrance tunnels to the Magic Kingdom? Vendors don’t sell much popcorn at 8:30 in the morning, but the corn is already popping. The smell of popcorn communicates the living movie message of the park. The bakery on Main Street purposely pumps the scent of fresh-baked goods into the street to support the story of American’s small towns.

Touch

The skin is the largest organ in the human body and touch is the sense that resides there. Whether is comes through the hands or feet or face, people get lots of data from the tactile properties of the environment and the objects within it. At Disney World, the sense of touch is considered in the walkways, attractions, hotels and restaurants, and throughout the rest of the property.

The touch of water is an integral part of many attractions. Water splashes on Guests to heighten the experiences at Catastrophe Canyon during the Hollywood Studios Back Lot Tour. In many of the 3D experiences, guests are spritzed in the face with a spray of water. Young Guests love the surprise fountains all around the property. Touch, or the lack of it, is also the sense that Imagineers play to when the elevator in the Tower of Terror drops out from under and plunges thirteen stories. To intensify the experience, the Imagineers created a ride that drops even faster than the speed of free fall.

Taste

There are about 10,000 taste buds in the human mouth and each taste bud contains roughly 50 taste cells that communicate data to our brains. Disney World’s eateries cater to as many of those cells as possible with a wide range of dining experiences. To test that out, during one trip my family ate in a different “country” each night at Epcot, and a different type of lunch each day. We also had snacks from yet another country on several nights.

The World Showcase at Epcot is a 1.3 mile tour of global cuisine, where it is just a few short steps from the sushi in Japan to freshly made cannolis in Italy. It was the perfect setup to watching the IllumiNations show – highlighting visual and auditory sensations.

Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch – designing and delivering a memorable experience means appealing to all of your Guests’ senses.

How do you engage the senses in your organization?

 

#6 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Pay Attention to Details Others Ignore

May 9, 2013 //
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This is the real secret to the Disney Magic, you know.

Main Street USA is the perfect example illustrating this takeaway. It is at Main Street that the Guest is first introduced to the concept of forced perspective. This theatrical design technique is used by designers who play with scale in the real world in order to affect the perception of scale in an illusory wold. Most of us have a sixth-sense understanding of relative scale, and it is that familiarity that allows Imagineers to trick us by changing the “rules.” Buildings, props, or set pieces are built with size relationships that might be incorrect in order to increase the apparent size or distance of an object or space.

Forced perspective  can be found all around Disney parks, in large exterior spaces and in small interior sets and models. It’s just another way in which the world you encounter at Disney might not be exactly as it appears. Some of the best examples of forced perspective are found on Main Street. For example, each building, with few exceptions, is built with floors that diminish in height in an effort to make them appear taller than they really are without making the whole of Main Street too large and impersonal.

Cinderella Castle, seen at the end of Main Street, is the most extreme example of this practice.

Cinderella Castle

Cinderella Castle

The scale of the architectural elements and building blocks is significantly different in the upper reaches than in the lower foundation in order to make the Castle seem to soar beyond its 189-foot actual height. The stacked stones of the lower castle walls get smaller and smaller in size as you scan upward. In fact, the handrail at the top spire, where Tinker Bell begins her flight before the fireworks, is only two feet tall rather than the three-and-a-half-foot tall railings we’re used to seeing in standard construction.

Another design technique borrowed from Disney’s film background is encountered when the Guests approach and enter the Park. From the Ticket and Transportation Center, where most Guests have left their cars, Cinderella Castle is visible. This heightens the feeling of anticipation one is already experiencing. Once you board the monorail or ferry, you know you’re on your way and you get caught up in the excitement of the journey. You get periodic glimpses of the Castle, but it’s not generally in plain sight. Upon arrival at the park entrance (equivalent to a theater lobby), the height of the train station (full size) serves as a visual barrier to the Park. The music here is chosen to represent all the lands of the Park, orchestrated so as not to clash with the visible elements of Main Street. You pass through tunnels where your view is constricted, and it gets darker before the first reveal of Town Square. The pass-throughs are placed on opposite sides of the Square, so that you can’t initially see all the way down the street. Once you’ve had a chance to get your bearings and soak in the atmosphere of Main Street, you’re funneled toward the center of the street where the Castle is finally given away in the ultimate reveal. It’s all intentional, and highly cinematic – by design, of course.

Main Street Town Square

Main Street Town Square

Main Street

Main Street

Brilliant.

These two techniques illustrate the depth of detail that Disney’s Imagineers go into to evoke the memory and effect desired. Take a good look at all the finishes, materials, design detailing, and surface treatments throughout Magic Kingdom. You will find wood, metal, stone, faux materials, props, patterns, and dozens of other materials  – and none of them are accidental. Each was carefully conceived and thoughtfully executed so as to add layer to the scenic design of the Park. No matter which “land” you’re walking through, you feel as if you are actually “there.” That’s because Disney supports the “story” with every little thing they put into the land.

This attention to detail is no accident. Marty Sklar, one of the  most influential Imagineers at Disney, has spent over five decades with the company. Along with longtime mentor and collaborator John Hench, the pair are perhaps most responsible for capturing and translating the essence of Disney-park storytelling design philosophy and practice for his fellow Imagineers. Sklar’s close work with Walt Disney let him to set forth the following doctrine to explain the essential elements of the Imagineering design and development process. Mickey’s Ten Commandments distill the core of fifty-plus years of design and developement into ten key points of direction.

  1. Know Your Audience – identify the prime audience for your attraction or show before you begin design.
  2. Wear your Guest’s Shoes – insist that your team members experience your creation just the way Guests do.
  3. Organize the Flow of People and Ideas – make sure there is a logic and sequence in your stories, and in the way Guests experience them.
  4. Create a Wienie (Visual Magnet) – create visual targets that lead visitors clearly and logically through your facility.
  5. Communicate with Visual Literacy – make good use of all the non-verbal forms of communication: color, shape, form, and texture.
  6. Avoid Overload – Create Turn Ons – Resist the temptation to overload your audience with too much information and too many objects.
  7. Tell One Story at a Time – stick to the story line; good stories are clear, logical, and consistent.
  8. Avoid contradictions – Maintain Identity – Details in design or content that contradict one another confuse an audience about your story or the time period it takes place.
  9. For Every Ounce of Treatment, Provide a Ton of Treat – Walt Disney was fond of saying “You can educate people – but don’t tell them you’re doing it! Make it fun!”
  10. Keep It Up! (Maintain It) – Everything must work! Poor maintenance is poor show.

What can you learn from Disney’s Imagineers about the importance of details in your environment?

#5 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Vision for the Future

May 8, 2013 //
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You won’t find it in the dictionary. But any Imagineer can tell you the word is both a verb and a noun. To imagineer. To be an Imagineer. Like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Imagineering had become a purely Disney word.

The name combines imagination with engineering to describe both what they do and who they are. Creating a name for a group whose only job is to come up with ideas to build on – and then build those ideas – really took some Imagineering.

But that is what Walt Disney was all about.

Walt and his first team of Imagineers invented the theme park business by inventing the process of “Imagineering.” In the course of designing and building Disneyland, the process of “learning and succeeding by dreaming and doing” was employed for the very first time. Those new Imagineers used their talents in ways they had never used them before to accomplish things they – or anyone else – had ever accomplished before.

Touring the  Central Support facility during a Behind the Magic tour at Disney World a few weeks ago, I saw first hand how the Imagineers are still “dreaming and doing” 50 years later.

Inside the massive building, we stopped to look at an early version of the famous birds from the Tiki Room. Walt first saw a very simple version on a trip to New Orleans in the early 60s, where he bought two – one for his wife Lillian and one to take to the Imagineers to improve on. After months of work, the proud group showed Walt how the bird moved, talked, and looked just like a real bird with feathers. Walt thanked them for their work and then said:

People can feel perfection. Make the bird breathe.

Walt Disney and Tiki Room bird

Perplexed but challenged, the Imagineers rebuilt the bird so that it’s chest cavity moved in and out just like a real bird. The Enchanted Tiki Room opened in Disneyland in 1963, notable in theme park history for ushering in sophisticated Audio-Animatronics technology.

Prior to 1963, Walt Disney’s Imagineers had produced movable figures, but none had the sophistication of the bird-brained cast of the Tiki Room. José, Fritz, Michael and Pierre produced movements when solenoid coils hidden inside received signals recorded onto magnetic tape and are regarded as the first “true” Audio-Animatronics figures.

The current show running at Disney World is steeped in tradition and maintains the original intent created by Walt Disney and his original team of Imagineers, but features the latest in technology – a state of the art show-control system, remastered audio, and a new versatile and energy-efficient lighting system.

And that brings me to the next Takeaway:

Vision must be passed on to succeeding generations.

As the design and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, Imagineers are responsible for designing and building Disney parks, resorts, cruise ships, and other entertainment venues. WDI is a highly creative organization, with a broad range of skills and talents represented. Disciplines range from writers to architects, artists to engineers, and cover all the bases in-between. Imagineers are playful, dedicated, and abundantly curious.

Walt Disney was the first imagineer, but as soon as he began developing the early ideas for Disneyland, he started recruiting others to help him realize his dream. Today’s Imagineering is a vast and varied group, involved in projects all over the world in every stage of development, from initial conception right through to installation and even beyond that into support and constant improvement efforts. In addition to their headquarters in Glendale, CA, near the company’s Burbank studios, Imagineers are based at all field locations around the world. Additionally, WDI serves as a creative resource for the entire Walt Disney Company, bringing new ideas and new technologies to all of the Disney storytellers.

The Imagineers are curious, playful, and exceptionally dedicated to their work. They write, draw, paint, tinker, sculpt, build, rebuild, study, test, and then tinker some more. They take their fun quite seriously!

Just like Walt Disney did.

Although Disney died in 1966, he “saw” how Disney World would be built in the future. And through the Imagineers, his visions live on over 60 years later.

Imagineers believe, as Walt did, that as long as there is imagination in the world, the Disney parks will never be finished. They will always be in a state of becoming, and the Imagineers will be there to imagine the possibilities.

How is your vision being passed on to others?

#4 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Excellence is Never Finished

May 7, 2013 //
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It was the mid-1960s. Kevin Bailey, corporate pilot for the Disney Company, was standing with Walt Disney in the Central Florida wilderness just southwest of Orlando, where the Walt Disney Company was in the process of buying up almost 30,000 acres – that’s 47 square miles.

That little project came to be known as Walt Disney World.

Even though he would not live to see the park developed, Walt had no trouble seeing it amid the Florida scrub. He pointed out Main Street, Fantasyland, and other nonexistent features to the thoroughly astonished pilot.

That story, part of the Disney legend, illustrates a key principle of Disney World:

Excellence is never finished.

Walt Disney was the first Imagineer, but as soon as he began developing the early ideas for Disneyland (and later Disney World), he started recruiting others to help him realize his dream. He snapped up several of his most trusted and versatile animators and art directors to apply the skills of filmmaking to the three-dimensional world. They approached this task much the same as they would a film project. They wrote stories, drew storyboards, created inspirational art, assigned the production tasks to the various film-based disciplines, and built the whole thing from scratch.

Disney Imagineers are still telling the story envisioned by Walt Disney…

It’s something that will never be finished. Something that I can keep developing…and adding to.

Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.

7 Dwarves Mine Train, under construction in the New Fantasyland

7 Dwarves Mine Train, under construction in the New Fantasyland

When I was at Disney World recently for a two-day immersion, this was very much in evidence: Mickey’s Toon Town was gone, and in its place a new Fantasyland had appeared. It contains the latest magic at Disney: a ride under the sea with Ariel; an interactive story with Belle; the Beast’s Castle and Be Our Guest restaurant;  and a three-ring Storybook Circus - unveiled in late 2012, with additional attractions opening later this year.

That’s just one example of how excellence is never finished at Disney World. You could also look at how Disney keeps pushing the excellence envelope on Guest Services…or its amazing technology in the attractions…or its expansion into the digital world…or extending the Magic Kingdom around the world to Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, or… I think you’re beginning to get the picture – just like Walt Disney did standing in the middle of a Florida marsh almost 50 years ago.

Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future. – Walt Disney

How do you envision excellence now – and in the future?

#3 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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The Experience Begins in the Parking Lot

May 6, 2013 //
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Guests coming to Disney World are excited about seeing Mickey Mouse, or a Princess. They can’t wait to be a part of the magic inside the parks. There’s only one problem…

Who is the first face Guests see at Disney World?

DW parking cast member

The magic at Walt Disney World begins before you get inside the parks, and is the first indication that you are truly in for an Experience (yes, with a capital E!).

The first face of Disney is a parking team member.

With the exception of the Magic Kingdom, all of the Disney World parking is outside the main entrance to the theme park. At the Magic Kingdom, the lot is located at the Ticket and Transportation Center. Once you park here, you will need to take either the Monorail or the Ferry to the Magic Kingdom.

The Disney World parking lots are HUGE. Fortunately, you aren’t expected to start your park visit with a marathon run to the entrance. There are trams that are constantly in use to get you from the lot to the entrance.

Cast members are very visible in the lots, directing traffic to fill up all the spaces in a row before moving into the next row. They are courteous and helpful, informing Guests of the tram schedule, and making sure Guests remember which section they are in (hint – write it down somewhere; after a long day in the park, you will be tired and might not remember where you parked). If you do forget which section you parked in, tell the tram driver approximately what time you parked, and they will be able to tell you approximately where your car is located. That’s service!

Even with thousands of cars and tens of thousands of people walking from the lots to the gates or taking a tram, it’s relatively quick process. With well-lighted and marked lots, most people can get out quickly at the end of the day.

The parking signage has been well thought out and has been designed to convey the appropriate message with impact. At the Magic Kingdom  you park in either a Hero or Villan section.

The parking lots are also one of the first places you will notice something, even though it might take you awhile. The place is CLEAN – really clean.  That’s just an indicator of what you will be experiencing inside the parks.

It’s just a parking lot, and already Guests have had a great experience. What does that say about what is coming inside the parks themselves?

You must know up front that I have a parking lot bias. It comes naturally: I serve as a Guest Services Coordinator for Elevation Church in Charlotte’s Uptown Campus. In that capacity, I lead two teams that provide an audacious welcome to the Uptown Campus, greeting them and starting their experience off on the right foot. Oh yeah – and helping them get in and out of the 7th Street Station parking deck a block from the theater. I’ve also helped on parking teams at special events at our Blakeney Campus and other venues. So, I know a little about parking…

…or so I thought.

Disney takes the mundane, often troublesome act of parking a car and elevates it to a new level. It sets the bar high for the rest of the day. It subtly informs the Guest that this is going to be a very special day. And this happens tens of thousands of times every day in every park.

At this point, you should be getting the picture for your place: what ever is happening inside starts outside. As Andy Stanley says, “The sermon begins in the parking lot.”

What are you doing to make sure that your Guests are welcomed even as they pull into the parking lot?

#2 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Categories Disney, Guest Experience

Disney Expects Guests – What About You?

May 3, 2013 //
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“Be Our Guest” has been the invitation to Disney visitors long before the song from Beauty and the Beast became a box office hit.

It underscores an important element in the Disney vocabulary, that customers are not referred to as such, but rather as Guests. In the Disney nomenclature, the word “Guest” is capitalized and treated as a formal noun.

What’s the difference between treating someone like a customer, and treating someone like a Guest?

The obvious analogy is that we do things differently when we bring Guests into our home. We clean up the house. We dress up. We prepare something special to eat. We host them. We take care of their real needs.

Disney expects Guests

This principle has to be the starting point, the foundation on which all else is built. Everything – and I mean everything - is done with the Guest in mind. At Walt Disney World, exceeding Guest expectations is the standard call to duty for all cast members, both those “onstage” and “backstage”.

Disney Cast Member 2013

At Disney, everyone is a part of the Guest Services team.

For years, Disney cast members talked of sprinkling “pixie dust”  to create magical experiences for their Guests. There really wasn’t any pixie dust – but the pixie dust was real in that it is the show that has been created from the moment a Guest arrives on the property until they leave for home.

It’s a practical magic that occurs both onstage (whenever cast members are in public areas of the parks and in front of Guests) and backstage (when they are behind the scenes where the everyday work of operating a city devoted to entertainment is conducted.

The onstage component of practical magic is the response that it produces in Guests when everything comes together in a seamless, seemingly effortless performance. The backstage component is comprised of the nuts and bolts of creating practical magic. Practical magic is whatever it takes to exceed Guest expectations.

Superlative face-to-face service is just one element in the work of exceeding Guest expectations. It means:

  • Paying attention to every aspect of the Guest experience
  • Analyzing that experience from the Guest’s perspective
  • Understanding the needs and wants of the Guest
  • Committing every element of the business – from the design of each element of the infrastructure to the interactions between Guest and cast – to the creation of an exceptional experience for each of them

-Be Our Guest, The Disney Institute

At WDW, this process is called “Guestology” – the art and science of knowing and understanding Guests. The Disney Institute has categorized the Needs, Wants, Stereotypes, and Emotions of Guests as the four main points of a compass – the Guestology Compass.

Developing the four points of the Guestology Compass means generating qualitative responses from your Guests. By asking open-ended questions, inviting opinions, and encouraging Guests to speak their minds, you can develop a portrait of Guest expectations, which in turn becomes the baseline for the work of exceeding those expectations.

Exceeding Guests’ expectations is Disney’s service strategy, and paying attention to every detail is the tactic by which it is accomplished.

At Walt Disney World, they expect Guests – and plan to exceed their Guests’ expectations every time. What about you?

Are you expecting Guests?

#1 in a series of Ten Takeaways from a Disney Immersion

GsD Spring 2013    DisneyLab

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Categories Disney, Guest Experience
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