I hesitate to use the word "epiphany" for this note below, but it was close to that and something that really left me thinking about Disneyland's change in CM tone and overall park operation the past few years...
I was going to splurge on a stay at a local luxury hotel in Utah to celebrate moving to my final house, or my
"Forever Home" if I was an adopted shelter dog instead of an old man. But then I remembered that you can't take it with you, so I splurged even more and got our little family all together for Easter at said luxury hotel. We stayed four nights at Amangiri, an all-inclusive resort a 3 hour drive from my home.
The meals, the spa, the facility and hard product was of course top-notch, but the service was phenomenal! Almost other-worldly how good it was. Every single staff member was polished, perfect, beautifully groomed and uniformed, and had a grace and style that set them apart even without their uniforms. The smallest of details were always perfect. Every employee knew their jobs expertly.
I had arranged for several adventure excursions for my nephews and their wives, as both young couples are
naturally competitive and athletic. They clearly take after my brother-in-law's side of the family, as my sister and I are nothing but
naturally passive-aggressive klutzes! 
So on the third afternoon I was quite content to have lunch by the pool on my own as the kids were off hiking and my sister and brother-in-law were horseback riding. I got to chatting with one of the very sleek managers I'd seen several times, and I'm telling him how impressed I was with his staff and his entire operation, even though it's in a very remote area nowhere near a city. And he says something to me during that conversation, that I still remember almost word for word... "
We also look at the operation as one would a movie production, we want a sense of dramatic showmanship that takes in everything from the biggest natural monuments on the horizon to the smallest detail placed on a breakfast table. Like a cinematographer would."
And it hit me, this is EXACTLY what Disneyland used to strive for! An operation based heavily in showmanship from the employees and a sense of staging from a giant mountain down to the smallest detail.
"Like a cinematographer would." Wow!
