A Spirited Perfect Ten

[OlympiaBinewski]

HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW!!!!

Actually this is the first time i have heard of that as well I Don't think I went on that many attractions across all 4 parks on my last visit. It was only a one day park hopper so one would think we should get in as many as we could but that doesn't even seem close.

I don't feel quite so dopey now!

 

[71jason]

Disney believes guests feel they have gotten their money's worth when they can take in 9 attractions in a day. That's their goal for guests - to get 9 attractions in.

Kind of hilarious.

I don't know, I kind of see it. A day where a guests does 9+ attractions was a day with moderate-at-best crowds. Walkways weren't jammed, you could find a seat a lunch without too much effort, CMs weren't stressed out of their minds, maybe even took a few minutes to chat. An altogether much more pleasant experience than a day so busy the average guests gets 4 or 5 rides down before throwing in the towel.

The logical fallacy, of course, is assuming that riding 9 rides--rather than the conditions that allowed the guest to ride 9 rides comfortably--is what made the guest happy. But unlike the LSAT, there's no logic test on the GMAT. So a common MBA mistake.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I don't know, I kind of see it. A day where a guests does 9+ attractions was a day with moderate-at-best crowds. Walkways weren't jammed, you could find a seat a lunch without too much effort, CMs weren't stressed out of their minds, maybe even took a few minutes to chat. An altogether much more pleasant experience than a day so busy the average guests gets 4 or 5 rides down before throwing in the towel.

The logical fallacy, of course, is assuming that riding 9 rides--rather than the conditions that allowed the guest to ride 9 rides comfortably--is what made the guest happy. But unlike the LSAT, there's no logic test on the GMAT. So a common MBA mistake.

Exactly. And even more hilarious is that management doesn't think it matters WHICH 9 attractions are seen - hence the inclusion of line-less duds (*waves to Figment*) in FP+.

 

[asianway]

I don't know, I kind of see it. A day where a guests does 9+ attractions was a day with moderate-at-best crowds. Walkways weren't jammed, you could find a seat a lunch without too much effort, CMs weren't stressed out of their minds, maybe even took a few minutes to chat. An altogether much more pleasant experience than a day so busy the average guests gets 4 or 5 rides down before throwing in the towel.

The logical fallacy, of course, is assuming that riding 9 rides--rather than the conditions that allowed the guest to ride 9 rides comfortably--is what made the guest happy. But unlike the LSAT, there's no logic test on the GMAT. So a common MBA mistake.

If you ever get hired at dis I'll be your #2.

 

[ChrisFL]

"Mr. Iger, et al, would you be willing to take a 1 week vacation to Walt Disney World with the regular guests, stay at the POP Century, ride the bus to the parks every day, go through the steps of getting magic bands, try to get restaurant reservations, and FP+, fight the crowds, eat the same food, look at the same "Disney Parks" generic merchandise you can find at every shop, decide whether or not you need a chiropractor after you ride Space Mountain, wave at the broken yeti, visit City Hall and Guest Relations at each park and listen to the compaints for at least an hour, observe the abandoned buildings in Epcot, take a ride on the quarter century old monorails and hope they don't break down, and tell us whether you've had the most magical time possible?"

 

[Captain Chaos]

"Mr. Iger, et al, would you be willing to take a 1 week vacation to Walt Disney World with the regular guests, stay at the POP Century, ride the bus to the parks every day, go through the steps of getting magic bands, try to get restaurant reservations, and FP+, fight the crowds, eat the same food, look at the same "Disney Parks" generic merchandise you can find at every shop, decide whether or not you need a chiropractor after you ride Space Mountain, wave at the broken yeti, visit City Hall and Guest Relations at each park and listen to the compaints for at least an hour, observe the abandoned buildings in Epcot, take a ride on the quarter century old monorails and hope they don't break down, and tell us whether you've had the most magical time possible?"

"And be part of the dirty unwashed masses? Hang out with the common folk? HELL TO THE NO. Unless they are willing to hand over their life savings to me right on the spot. Then I would think about it. But, even then, I'd have my handler take the cash from their dirty paws, those mongrels."

 

[Goofyernmost]

New here (Hello All!), but was wondering what the MAGICal nine attractions a day threshhold is, although I can assume the meaning.

HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW!!!!

Actually this is the first time i have heard of that as well I Don't think I went on that many attractions across all 4 parks on my last visit. It was only a one day park hopper so one would think we should get in as many as we could but that doesn't even seem close.

Disney believes guests feel they have gotten their money's worth when they can take in 9 attractions in a day. That's their goal for guests - to get 9 attractions in.

Kind of hilarious.

Hilarious isn't really the word, in my mind. To me it is misdirected. Before Fastpass made a visit to WDW an Olympic Track event, you just went to the attractions. There was no need to count them. I have been 43 times in 32 years and I honestly cannot tell you, even average, how many attractions I have ever gone on in a day. I have never counted. I also have never left feeling that I didn't make my goal. My goal was to go to a place that let me slip back into my childhood, but, not because the things I saw were childlike. It was/is because the things that I saw sparked the childhood wonder that I once had when things happened that were bigger then and deeper then anything I had ever seen. Now I'm old and have seen it all, but, I still can look at the creativity and innocence of the things that Disney has set out for me to see and I still find myself slack-jawed all of the time.

 

[bhg469]

Hilarious isn't really the word, in my mind. To me it is misdirected. Before Fastpass made a visit to WDW an Olympic Track event, you just went to the attractions. There was no need to count them. I have been 43 times in 32 years and I honestly cannot tell you, even average, how many attractions I have ever gone on in a day. I have never counted. I also have never left feeling that I didn't make my goal. My goal was to go to a place that let me slip back into my childhood, not because the things I saw were childlike, It was/is because the things that I saw sparked the childhood wonder that I once had when things happened that were bigger then and deeper then anything I had ever seen. Now I'm old and have seen it all, but, I still can look at the creativity and innocence of the things that Disney has set out for me to see and I still find myself slack-jawed all of the time.

I had the same feelings but I have just the opposite feeling now. For me universal had me speechless last year unexpectedly when I walked into springfield. Nothing has made me close to that happy in wdw since the first time I walked in DAK.

 

[Mike S]

I had the same feelings but I have just the opposite feeling now. For me universal had me speechless last year unexpectedly when I walked into springfield. Nothing has made me close to that happy in wdw since the first time I walked in DAK.

I was speechless walking into Diagon Alley for the first time. If you saw my face it was like I was a kid in a candy store. It'll probably happen again next month when I walk into Cars Land for the first time. So excited!!!!!!!!

 

[Kman101]

I don't know. Springfield is nice but I think a bit overrated. Even as a longtime fan of the Simpsons. Diagon or Hogsmeade leaves me speechless. Springfield isn't bad by any means but I wasn't overly impressed, except with Moe's.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I had the same feelings but I have just the opposite feeling now. For me universal had me speechless last year unexpectedly when I walked into springfield. Nothing has made me close to that happy in wdw since the first time I walked in DAK.

I cannot say that I disagree with you about Uni., but it isn't necessarily the attractions, it is the attitude and feeling of life that radiates through the park. I did a rather long rant a couple of years ago on what had changed in the comparisons between Disney and Uni. and almost all of it was atmosphere. They were building attractions that made you go "Wow", that is true. Even something like Poseidon, which is not considered a great thing by most people had me thinking... you know I remember when Disney was like this. I noticed the TM's at Uni. were proactive and that even included the custodial crew. If any of them saw you looking puzzled, they came to you and asked if they could help. They spoke body language. And again I thought, I remember when Disney was like that. The TM's didn't seem to have given up on being an important part of the show like the CM's (or a lot of them) seem to display at WDW. It was a feeling in the air, a transmission of pride and happiness that they were achieving new things and doing what Disney once did as a regular course of events. You could feel it in the air, it was electric. It totally shocked me.

That doesn't mean that I think WDW is dead in the water, but, it sure as a lot of damage control to do before it can ever be the power that it once was. They have left themselves open for competition, if not Uni. then someone else. They are no longer setting the standards, they aren't even close to staying level with others.

 

[Kman101]

To be fair, honestly, cast members/team members at each park vary. They do. I've recently seen twitter postings of cast at Uni not being very friendly at all, yet others rave about them. I've had less than stellar CMs at Disney and have also had some really great ones.

 

[Yensid1974]

Did it three times, all at night, and totally forgot to see if you were around. The skippers were terrific (I had all gals, btw).

No worries...

I am usually there M-F early in the day. Unless I am coordinating then it could be anytime during the day. I know I'm not one of your stalker style fanboi's but if our paths ever cross it would be fun for me to chat with you. Or, grab a drink..either way..lol.

Oh, and have you heard (no specifics necessary) about what is going to be going in to the currently empty Adventureland Veranda? I've heard rumblings but just wondering if you had as well.

 

[fillerup]

I noticed the TM's at Uni. were proactive and that even included the custodial crew. If any of them saw you looking puzzled, they came to you and asked if they could help. They spoke body language. And again I thought, I remember when Disney was like that. The TM's didn't seem to have given up on being an important part of the show like the CM's (or a lot of them) seem to display at WDW. It was a feeling in the air, a transmission of pride and happiness that they were acheiving new things and doing what Disney once did as a regular course of events. You could feel it in the air, it was electric. It totally shocked me.

This part of your quote really caught my attention.

Long ago and far away my wife was a CM and for a couple of years she occupied a position called Super Greeter. Her job and the job of others in that position were just to wander the park for 8 hours and find guest problems to solve - sometimes solving problems the guest didn't even know they had yet. They had very broad discretion to comp some merchandise or some ice cream or even a meal depending on the problem they ran into.

They were told to diligently read body language and look for unhappy kids.

When they weren't dealing with guests they were making notes on maintenance and repair issues and those were dealt with pretty rapidly.

I kind of doubt these sorts of jobs even exist anymore.

 

[Snowflake82]

which is sad.

Can you imagine if someone of the calibre of John Lesetter; was growing up in the Disney company . Just to be sacked by an overzealous and incompetent middle level manager.

This may have been said already, but that's pretty much what did happen with Lasseter, before he got involved with Pixar.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

The nine number is tied to Guest's surveys. If a Guest has experience nine attractions/experiences/spectaculars in a day at the Magic Kingdom, then their intent to return is much higher than those who don't get to that threshold. The other parks have different metrics.

Thus the increased pressure to have Guest's preplan their visit, look to see what's available at one park, and then maybe consider a different one for that day an attraction is unavailable for FP+. Same with dining and EMH. It's to break the mold that you should avoid MK on Mondays, etc. instead of actually adding capacity with new and different attractions or scheduling enough Cast Members to meet demands regardless of the day.

They are focused on efficiency no matter where you are or what their training dictates - be it the person who makes your resort/ticket/dining reservations who's performance is meticulously measured, the person who completes your check in robotically, the infrequency of an ever complex and ever outdated transportation system and the many bus drivers (of whom Disney struggles everyday to keep and is always hiring for, due to low wages and complexity of the role) causing full busses, the Attractions and their Cast Members who are judged on how many people they cram in each hour, and the reason your Coke in a paper cup is watered down at a Quick Service counter.

These front line Cast Members are the same people who are constantly apologizing for the outright mistakes made by an out of touch leadership team and their haphazard corner cutting to appease the executives they answer to. Neither of which have the ability to step into the shoes of the Cast Member operating a multi-million dollar attraction safely for close to minimum wage. Nor have the expertise to upgrade your ticket and add FastPass+ plans to it because the systems they are using are built by different teams on top of older programs that don't communicate with one another.

 

[DisneyGentleman]

Also, the talks about a Jungle Cruise movie with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

Ahoy Story?

 

[Phil12]

If I only visited nine attractions at the MK in a day I would consider that my time management skills had fallen victim to dementia or heart disease. Several years ago I had booked a vacation to WDW and was only about two weeks away from making the trip. For several weeks I had had a bad cold that I couldn't shake. I felt tired, weak and it was a struggle for me to exercise.

I knew I had to get rid of this cold otherwise I wouldn't be able to muster the strength to visit WDW. One day my left arm started to hurt so I went to the hospital ER to let a doctor evaluate me. Sure enough, I was suffering from congestive heart failure and they rushed me into surgery. Got five stents put in my heart and had to cancel my trip to WDW for a few weeks. Disney CRO was very nice about the cancellation and didn't charge me a dime. That was good because the cardiac catheterization wasn't cheap.

Doing nine attractions at the MK is easy. You can knock out two with the WDRR and the monorail.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Instead of 'giving people what they want' -Disney used to give people something they never even thought of. Thats what separated them from the rest.

It was a little bit of both. Yes, Walt Disney wanted to do things that had never been done before. That's what made him an innovator.

However, he also wanted to give people what they wanted:

“The park means a lot to me. It's something that will never be finished, something I can keep developing, keep 'plussing' and adding to. It's alive. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need changes. When you wrap up a picture and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. I just finished up a live-action picture, wrapped it up a few weeks ago. It's gone. I can't touch it. There are things in it I don't like, but I can't do anything about it. I want something live, something that would grow. The park is that. Not only can I add things, but even the trees will keep growing. The thing will get more beautiful year after year. And it will get better as I find out what the public likes. I can't do that with a picture; it's finished and unchangeable before I find out whether the public likes it or not.”​

Walt had some questionable business practices but he also genuinely wanted to make his customers happy.

 

[StageFrenzy]

I've always wondered this myself. It's the impossible to answer hypothetical. I'm sure my attention span would have been shorter and the longer rides and shows might have driven me crazy. Maybe the current Country Bears would be more appealing to me than it is now. Although, not sure ten year old me would have been allowed to just wander the park and ride what he wanted while the parents did other things with my sister in 2004 as I did in 1976. I think I liked the freedom I had more.

There was a good movie somewhere in the Country Bears, just like there was an awesome movie in the Haunted Mansion in between bad Eddie Murphy.