We traveled last weekend to Disney World with two
objectives: 1) family bonding 2) running a 10-mile race through Hollywood
Studios.
Both were accomplished in spades; we enjoyed time with Chris' parents, and managed to at least survive the run. Though we made a
few hard-learned notes for next time:
1. Night races sound like fun. Having to wait until 10:45pm to
get across the start line, finishing after midnight, and not getting back to
the hotel room until 2:30am because you’re stuck in hordes of sweaty people
waiting for transportation is not fun.
2. When running a 10-mile race at night, do not spend four full
days before that walking around amusement parks. Your tired feet will not thank
you.
3. Do not put your camera (even if it is in a hard case) in the
runner’s checked bag area. Apparently moving these bags from the start to
finish line involves letting a chimpanzee fling them against a hard surface,
because your camera will somehow mysteriously stop working while in bag check.
4. There are some very, very dedicated fans out there.
Dedicated enough to make it 10 miles, in the dark, in the sticky heat in
full-body Disney costumes. Props, my friends, props.
Our running exhaustion aside (and I over-complain a bit for effect; we really were glad we did the race), one of my favorite events from the trip was a “Keys to the Kingdom” tour, a five-hour behind-the-scenes tour of Magic Kingdom. While I will respect the Las Vegas-like code (read: what happens off-stage, stays off-stage) so as not to ruin the magic, our tour guide explained a few interesting elements of Disney’s strategy:
“Some call this
fantasy. But this is not fantasy,
because fantasy is not real. This is our version of reality.” This was one
of our tour guide’s opening lines, and it perhaps best sums up the Disney
experience. The whole idea is for magic that is completely submerging – you see
it, touch it, even smell it (apparently the Main Street confectionary bakes
pans of water/spices that smell like cinnamon rolls when they aren’t cooking
the real thing to still give you the right effect).
There are also over 500
Disney employees that do nothing but maintain the park landscaping. Are people
there to look at flowers? No. But will they lose part of the experience/magic
by walking around a concrete desert all day? Yes. Moral: Consider your purpose from 360 degrees. If any one of the
elements fails – the bakery looks great but doesn’t smell like anything – the
entire experience falters.
“Safety, Courtesy,
Show, Efficiency.” These are the four pillars of Disney, in order of decreasing importance.
Interestingly (and importantly), show comes before efficiency. Disney convinces
thousands of people to pay hundreds of dollars for time in their parks by
immersing them in an experience. Wisely, they know that cutting corners on that
experience, to perhaps reap more profit today, will eventually destroy their
brand. Moral: Know thyself. If thy
selling point is thy customers’ experiences, thou shalt not cheapen their
experience.
“Find the right role
for everyone.” One of the “human capital” (to use a business school
buzzword that I hate) elements Disney strives for is fitting the right people
to the right role. Fake happy is not pretty, and both kids and adults can sense
it from a mile away. Disney spends considerable time and money making sure that
they have everyone in a roll that best suits them. Moral: Grumpy Mickey = emotionally traumatized children, but grumpy
Mickey might flourish as creepy elevator-intake employee at the Tower of
Terror.
“Lost but not
forgotten.” When classic rides or characters are replaced, Disney’s
Imagineers leave (often hidden) nods to them throughout the parks. For example, when the 20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea ride was replaced by Winnie-the-Pooh, the tree house entrance to the new
ride included a discreetly hidden compass sign from 20,000 Leagues. Also, like the opening credits to a movie, windows above Main Street stores as you first walk into the park cite important people and friends that helped Disney begin. This includes, of course, a window to Roy Disney (in the adjacent picture if you can make it out in the third story windows) as well as many others. Moral: Just because times have changed
doesn’t mean that you can’t remember from the past. Carry your memories and
lessons into the future.
“A good guest
experience, no matter what it takes.” This one sounds obvious, but takes
patience, and a long-term view. As our tour guide explained, the goal for park
guests is not that they spend a lot of money in the parks; it is that guests
make positive associations with the Disney brand name. The end goal is not even
that people continually come back to the parks; instead the goal is for people
to continually come back to the Disney franchise. While this broader view takes long-term
thinking and team-playing, it’s quite brilliant, as the brand locks in kids and
their parents with a magical park experience (even if the park experience isn’t
hugely profitable), that brings them back to stores to buy movies, merchandise…
and one day, a trip to take their own children back to the park, beginning the
cycle again. Moral: Being willing to
go the extra mile – or extra 10 miles – to ensure a good guest experience doesn’t
just make you a good business owner. It can make you a very profitable one when
viewed correctly.
“Because we’re Disney.” A final thought, and a refrain we
heard frequently throughout the tour. For Walt (and his brother Roy), details
made the experience. Moral: Quality,
quality, quality, quality, quality. Did we mention quality?
“Tourguide, why did the park go to the trouble of actually
measuring out a real horses’ paces to mark off horse-shoe imprints in the
concrete sidewalk to precise, correct specifications?” “Because we’re Disney.”
“Tourguide, why did the park hang leather-bound shutters for
a year to see exactly how much they would have sagged in Colonial times
before replicating that exact angle with still bindings?” “Because we’re
Disney.”
“Tourguide…”
You get the picture.
