Praise where it is due: Walt Disney World Resort

[elfs]

I had sent a letter, regular postal mail, complaining about how one of the rides at Epcot has strobe lights, but there were no warnings about those strobe lights on the sign.

Much to my pleasant and somewhat stunned surprise, I got a telephone call back from the Vice President of Resort Operations, saying that he'd had one of his people look at the sign and yes, there were no warnings about strobe lights, but that there were indeed strobe lights in the ride, and that he was going to talk to "operations safety" about revising it.

Wow. Someone actually cared, at least enough to call and give the issue a second glance. Cool.

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

When I worked at a Marriott Resort as a manager, we were required to do that if written comment cards said something was wrong in our area of operations.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Thank you for protecting those of us sensitive to 3 Hz strobing.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Disney rocks on the follow-up.

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Disney is surprisingly on top of responding to guests. They sorta actually want to make you come back, make you feel like you're important to them. Then again, that's really their business, the rides and attractions are secondary to the customer.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I was truly amazed by the extraordinary service we experienced at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando a few summers ago. My younger daughter had severe stomach pains after getting off a gas-powered go-kart ride. She didn't even want to sit up, so we put our jackets on the ground by one of the benches and let her just lie down on the ground while a staff person called for the medic. A medic arrived, the area manager, and someone from security - the medic was incredibly friendly, didn't scare my little kid at all, took her vitals, did his job - said everything looked okay. They offered to take her to the hospital if we wanted; we declined. They decided to shut down the ride briefly to inspect all the go-karts, in case any needed maintenance, perhaps not burning fuel cleanly or other emissions causing the problem (wow!).

Sure, on one hand, they are 100% on top of anything that could be a liability - good cover-your-ass action - but, it's done in a way that really, really seems sincere and it honestly seems like they actually care if you're having a good time or not.

They gave us a wheelchair to use for the rest of our time at the park that day, so that Suzie wouldn't have to walk around since she was feeling so uncomfortable. We decided that since she wasn't feeling so great, we were going to cut our stay short that day, but Suzie really wanted to see the Princesses and there was like an hour wait. They took us to the front of the line and Suzie got to quickly say hi and have her picture taken, and then we headed for the park exit. It was wonderful.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

This is very cool, but I'm not really surprised to see this kind of response from Disney.

I like Disney. Quite a bit. WDW is one of my favorite places to go, which is why I go pretty much every year and why I'm getting married there in four months. I've also been to Disneyland and Disneyland Paris and would like to visit some of the others someday.

I've run into the 'too cool for Disney' or 'Disney is too saccharine' attitude from a number of people over the years. But I don't care. I've never had a bad experience there and when I go I *know* I'm going to enjoy it and have fun. So while I like taking trips to new places too, going to Disney is a 'safe' choice, a trip I can count on.

Disney's business is hospitality - everything else is secondary and serves that goal. They're in the business of making sure people have a good time so they come back again, and tell their friends about it. And they're very good at what they do. I don't think it is all cynical corporate motivation either, I've had great experiences with individual cast members and I can't remember ever having an unpleasant interaction with anyone at Disney.

They literally have it down to a science. Disney has innovated a number of systems and procedures used at other venues today, for managing the crowds, keeping guests occupied, etc.