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A different look at Disney...

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It's the Tourists...








We spend a lot of time on certain topics here at MiceAge, but we are well aware that these topics don't constitute the whole guest experience. To achieve a truer sense of what's going at the parks, it's necessary every so often to step back and put all of these pieces into their proper context. After all, first time visitors from Nebraska don't go seeking broken neon lights (though they might think to themselves that a particular park is rundown if they happen to notice such lights, even subconsciously).

It's the Tourists...

That begs the question: just what do tourists care about when they visit WDW? And in what order should those items be placed? The following is my (subjective) list of what visitors want, placed in order of importance. Its contents and ordering suggest ways Disney needs to focus (or re-focus) its priorities.

  • That elusive "Disney Magic"
  • Access to the magic around the clock
  • Seeing what's new
  • Make the kids happy
  • Crowds and wait times
  • Operating hours
  • Convenience programs
  • Physical comfort
  • Relaxation
  • So let's look at each of them with a bit more detail...

  • That elusive "Disney Magic"
  • Most visitors have trouble expressing in words exactly what the 'Disney Difference' is, but the parks and the rides somehow feel more vibrant, more alive, more real and yet more escapist, than the local theme park or other national chains such as Universal, Six Flags, or Cedar Fair. Disney parks are different.

    Where exactly does this Disney Magic come from? If you ask me, there are six facets to the magic, and it's no accident that I spend a good amount of my time in this column talking about these things:

    a. Immersion Toward Interesting Illusion
    b. Innumerable details that add up unconsciously
    c. Ride systems hidden, not exposed
    d. Unexpected discoveries
    e. Cleanliness
    f. Friendliness

    Let's take them one at a time:

    'Immersion Toward Interesting Illusion' I've talked about before: what makes Disney special is the ability to 'transport' visitors somewhere else; the illusion is complete enough that we are able to 'suspend disbelief' and get into the spirit of pretending that we are really there. How is the illusion created? Through total immersion. There are no distracters, and cost-cutting measures like painted bricks (rather than real bricks) are avoided in favor of something more authentic-looking. Lastly, the middle part, 'interesting', points out something about the target audience. Disney parks are in general built for white, middle-class American males. In other words, for Walt himself. What did Walt find 'interesting'? The stuff that's exotic: the late 1800s wild west, the future, the exotic locales of Africa and Asia, and a European village. As noted continuously online, Paradise Pier at DCA doesn't count as 'interesting' for most visitors (who are local), because it's not exotic to their experiences.

    Point (b) about innumerable details is really a subset of Immersion Toward Interesting Illusion. One of the ways you lend authenticity to a set piece is to have more stuff visible than can possibly be absorbed on first glance, second glance, or even thirtieth glance. It make look to an accountant like you're wasting money on details that no one would notice, but the entire point is that people DO notice... subconsciously. A half-hearted effort might still be better than the competitors, but it's a far cry from Disney's best.

    It's the Tourists...

    Looking at point (c), hidden ride systems, we realize we still haven't gone very far from the Immersion Toward Interesting Illusion. What this item means is that Disney does not leave the ride system exposed. If there's a roller coaster, its tracks are hidden in darkness or laid into the mountaintop. In other words, they build a mountain rather than have 'bare steel' poles and tracks for the coaster. This is true for just about every ride system at Disney parks: boats, Omnimovers, bus bar dark rides, and so on. It's not a roller-coaster, it's a mountain. It's not a bus, it's a double-decker European touring device. Everything serves the purpose of the illusion and the theme, including the ride mechanism.

    Unexpected discoveries, point (d), means that visitors stumble across some of those details mentioned above that can be found despite not screaming out 'look at me!' A perfect example is the phenomenon of Hidden Mickeys – once found, they tell the visitors that designers spent a long time on creating these attractions and environments, and they 'up the ante' for their level of excitement. This is also the theory behind the trails on DAK's Discovery Island, which wind around the Tree of Life. There are tremendous carvings to be stumbled across, giant animal representations on these exposed 'roots' of the Tree of Life. And there are animal exhibits you'll only see if you take the time to wander around, such as the kangaroos. But here is one aspect that has really declined over time. It's quite depressing to wander around the Tree of Life these days and witness how many animal exhibits are simply boarded up or left blank, as if accusing the public of not caring enough about these discoveries.

    Speaking of declines, let's pause to show how the Declining by Degrees concept applies to the four sub-points mentioned above. If the 'unexpected discoveries' are being removed to rot, or fewer are being created on new attractions, then the Disney Magic is imperiled. Likewise, ride systems that are left exposed (Dino-Rama leaps to mind, as does Paradise Pier) don't feel 'Disney.' And it's the details, stupid, which create the darned Disney Magic in the first place. Neon needs to not be broken. Windmills need to not look run-down. And yes, paint needs to not be peeling. You can decline a little bit and people won't notice, but eventually they will notice, even if it's a subconscious awareness. The parks have been declining, but it's happening in such small degrees that an outcry has been slow in building.

    It's the Tourists...

    The final sub-points mentioned above, cleanliness and friendliness, are well-known cornerstones of Disney's own in-house training. Walt himself believed that to pick up trash the instant it's dropped is to encourage people to keep the place clean (or vice versa: to not clean it up right away is an invitation for others to just add to the rubbish strewn about). That's been slipping lately—witness the TTA before it finally got repainted (yes, even on that problematic segment over the train tracks, archive photo above!)

    As for friendliness, call me old-fashioned, but I happen to believe that you'll maximize how friendly your CMs are to the visitors if those CMs are happy. This is why it matters in the final analysis what the working conditions are like: the commute, the way uniforms are distributed, the perks, the worker cafeteria quality and prices, and yes, the wages paid. Happy CMs are friendly CMs. And the reverse: unhappy CMs are often unfriendly CMs. It's as simple as this: Disney workers have a reputation for being much more friendly that the local carnies, and that's still largely true. But for every little bit that CMs are asked to sacrifice, a tiny bit of the vaunted friendliness onstage disappears.

    A little at a time—not too different from the Decline by Degrees, is it?

    Lest you think all of this emphasis on Disney Magic is overblown, ask yourself why the local carnival isn't sufficient. It has water rides, dark rides, roller coasters, and spinners. Why isn't that the same experience? These topics listed above are what make Disney unique, and park designers and managers jeopardize that advantage at their own risk.

    • Access to the magic around the clock

    It never fails to impress me how much guests rave about the Disney hotel experience, even as overpriced as it is. They are perfectly willing to spend the extra dollars to feel like they are surrounded in the Disney universe during the entire vacation, which means little touches like the 24-hour Disney channels, including ones focused on the theme parks, not the 'usual' Disney channel seen on cable or satellite TV in your own home.

    On this count, Disney is well aware of guest preference, and the national marketing really plays up the experience of a Disney vacation as one of total immersion in the product, at all hours of the day.

    It's the Tourists...

    And yet they can do more operationally. Being surrounded by the magic means not having to rent a car (more on this below), and that means using the Disney-provided transportation. Trust me, there is nothing particularly magical about the overcrowded, overburdened, and overworked (ie, always late) bus fleet at WDW. Ever try to cram your carcass after Fantasmic onto a bus? You and dozens of your closest friends are about to experience viscerally what 'packed like sardines' really means. In the summer, this is doubly miserable because the weather outside is hot and sticky, and the crowded bus does not help. Nor do any odors your fellow passengers bring with them.

    Busses aside, the resorts are committing another major mistake in the effort toward 24/7 magic in that they have allowed cost-cutting to take over service. Case in point: food courts at many (most?) of the Disney resorts now close before the parks do. That means that patrons staying until the end of the day at the parks, where most eateries are closed early too, return to the hotel hungry and find the food court has closed here too. So much for magic around the clock! And yet it's this vaunted full-time magic which lures folks to stay at the Disney resorts in the first place. Disney needs to be careful. Once burned, patrons are unlikely to pay premium prices again for an experience that was less than premium.

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    © 2007 Kevin Yee

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