The "magic" of Disney

I am fresh of my first and perhaps only visit to Disney World. Overall a great experience and one that was enjoyed and will be remembered by our family. I have a few takeaways about Disney, and perhaps about our family as well. Here we go!!!

1. The Happiest Place on Earth?
It is cool, and a ton of fun, but I'm not sure about the happiest place on earth billing. Many people have shared their experiences (more on that later) which invariably include a zombie march through the throngs of people in the middle of the night to see the fireworks illuminate the Magic Kingdom. Shortly followed by screaming, overtired kids who have endured so much fun they can't see straight.

For us, that's not our happy place. And I thought that melt down only happened later into the day. What I learned is that every 10-15 minutes, within earshot there will be some kids losing her/his mind over something. A toy not purchased, a treat denied, a ride or experience delayed, or succumbing to the heat and humidity. It starts about 15 minutes after the park opens. It probably ends about 90 minutes after the park closes, although we did not stay late enough to see the closing ceremonies any night.

2. Everyone has advice on Disney.
I remember very clearly when we were pregnant with Sasha, everyone had some advice. If they had kids they shared their experience and wisdom, and if not they shared the wisdom from their childhood experience or that of their parents. But make no mistake, there is nothing that brings out the unsolicited advice from others like having a child. EXCEPT Disney!

In the 4-6 month build up to our trip, we would casually share our family vacation plans. And invariably we received immediate feedback on what to do/not do. I was surprised although in retrospect I should not have been. Disney is such a big experience that it is a lot like having a child (and nearly as expensive!), everyone has done it or known someone who has. They've got ideas to share and are more than eager to do so.

Now lest we think that this is an unwelcome sharing of advice, we actually benefited tremendously from all the feedback we received. Our trip would not have been as enjoyable as it was if we had not listened to all the ideas of others and used them to craft our Disney plan. Which brings me to...

3. Have a plan or suffer the consequences.
Integrating all of that advice with the independent research we (by we I mean Sheila) did was a hefty task. Then to use all that information to craft our plan of attack for making the trip what we wanted was a part time job. So many items need to be planned in advance, and we are talking months not weeks or days. Sheila was all over every detail as we all know she would be. More than anything from the trip, I am thankful that due to all of her effort we had the trip we wanted. To have not gone through all of that effort would have left us scrambling for each experience, each meal, each transportation, each [fill in blank here]. For some maybe that works, but as the B3aW readership know that's not really how we run our railroad.

4. They think of everything.
For the last couple years I have read the Disney Institute blog which focuses on how Disney tries to create the best customer experience possible. I consistently find tidbits that I can apply to our business at MediRevv. I look at that information in a whole new way now having a personal experience at Disney. They really do think of everything. From ride queues, transportation, transaction efficiency, it all is super dialed in. I was incredibly impressed by it all and it made the inevitable lines, crowds, and weather which can be daunting a bit more enjoyable to see how the Disney engine manages these issues to drive the right customer experience.

5. It's a trip, not a vacation.
This was perhaps the best advice I received about our visit to Orlando. A week at Disney isn't a vacation. It is simply to intense, by any reasonable standard, to be a vacation as defined by most. I didn't come back refreshed, not energized. Not quite exhausted, but close. But having that perspective going in made it much easier to enjoy.

6. The Disney pay before you go model.
Most businesses are go/get then pay. It makes sense. Why would I pay the plumber before he fixes my leaky sink? Why would I pay for my jeans before I get to wear them? Experiences are typically the exception where you pay for the football or concert tickets in advance of going. But that's a minor expense.

At Disney? Hotel - in advance. Park tickets - in advance. Experience meals like breakfast with the Princesses - prepaid. We've been paying for this trip for six months! When you turn that around and think about it from Disney's perspective, they in many ways get to cash flow their business by using the proceeds from future sales. Running that expensive of an operation (70k employees are expensive!) is a cash hungry machine to say the least, but I imagine that a greater percentage of operating costs are covered by prepaid revenue than most businesses. That's a pretty awesome financial model for them.