I just got back from a week at Disney World with the family. The week before that I was out with the worst case of the flu I have ever had, awful stuff. So it feels like I’ve out of action for a while. Here are some quick observations from Disney World that I wanted to share with everyone. I will spare you my flu observations!
- Retirees- Disney employs many retirees across the board, mostly in public facing roles. They are generally cheerful and seem happy to be there. I have to wonder if the recent stock market downturn has driven these folks back to work unwillingly. If so you can’t tell.
- America still needs to go on a diet and Disney ain’t helping- I was shocked at how many overweight people were walking around Disney, or driving around in motorized scooters as the case might be. This country is still very much over weight. It was really sad to see young families with parents that were too heavy to walk. I’m sure there are many reasons for this, genetic or behavioral, but the bottom line is that as a country we are still a long ways from the picture of health. Disney employees, however, were generally trim and in good shape. Also, the Disney meal plan comes with dessert at every meal. I have to say it felt weird turning down chocolate cake but I was afraid I would put on some serious weight if I actually followed their “plan”. There is an easy fix to help their visitors to be a little healthier. Offer fruit or yogurt as well as normal desserts.
- Love the Fast Passes!- the days of standing in line for hours are pretty much over at Disney. Now you simply go to the ride, get a Fast Pass and then come back during the times on the Fast Pass ticket and practically walk right onto the ride. This works since they only give out so many Fast Passes for each time slot and you can only get Fast Passes every 2 hours but if you time it right you can hit all the good rides at each park and the rest don’t generally have long lines. Made me wonder what kind of business applications this kind of approach could have, maybe for new Apple products…
- Quick review of the parks- Animal Kingdom is the best, best rides and shows, most interesting areas (Asia and Africa seem really authentic but what would I know), lots of plants, animals and shade everywhere you go. We spent 3 of our 7 days there. The Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were our least favorite. The Magic Kingdom just looks dated in many areas and is way too crowded. Hollywood Studios is just not up to par with the other parks. Epcot was fun, we liked the countries. I suggest you find the Tin Toy museum in Japan. It’s a little out of the way but well worth the visit.
- It’s not a small world!- Disney World is HUGE! Not just the parks but all the resorts, Downtown Disney (which is almost a park in itself) and all the water parks and various side attractions. I was continually shocked by the depth of the place. You would go to a resort and it had its own attractions, amazing restaurants, water park etc. We stayed in Old Key West which had a full golf course, a water park with a decent slide, tennis courts, arcade, a couple restaurants, boat rentals, etc. And I think it’s not one of the better resorts after visiting a couple others for dinner. The place is massive, I had no idea. One critique on all this- their signage could be a lot better. We got lost many times driving around the campus. They would often only give you one sign for your resort and then you had to kind of guess the next few turns to get there.
- Disney as a case study- my wife, who is in HR, and I were always amazed at how well run everything was. It was like their 60k employees were all working from the same playbook. They had drunk the Disney koolaid and were happier for it. We never saw bickering or complaining among the staff. They all used the same lingo -”Have a magical day” from the bus drivers to the waiters. The veneer was bulletproof. It felt a little creepy at times but I understood the purpose. I’m sure there are some sour apples behind the scenes but for the most part it really seemed that Disney’s culture was in sync with its brand- they really wanted you, especially the kids, to have a “magical” time.
