Day 6 - Wednesday, May 26 - Part 2: Touring Animal Kingdom Lodge
It's kind of fun tag teaming with Stephanie on this TR. Since the last couple of comments were related to her last post, I'll leave them for her to respond to. In the meantime, I'll inject my next update while she prepares for hers
So yeah, while Stephanie and the kids were having their adventures in the Animal Kingdom, I started my last day of training at the Disney Institute. I was sad to see the course coming to an end, but on the other hand, I was super was excited to see what they had in store for us today. And to start things off right…. I was stoked to see an "old school" breakfast buffet waiting for me. Yahoo!!!!
Mickey Waffles and Disney Bacon. Two of my favorites!!! I may have went back for another round (or two) of bacon
As we finished up our meals, we were debriefed on the plan for our final day. A quick recap…. on the first day, we learned about the importance of leadership in an organization. During the second day, we learned about establishing values and vision. On the third day, we learned about operationalizing values and vision. And on this final day, we'd be learning about how to sustain values and vision over time.
To see an example of how Disney sustains (and reinforces) their values in action, we would be travelling over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for some behind the scenes tours and cast member interactions. How cool is that!!!!
When we arrived, they split us into two groups: One group would enter the through the "cast members" entrance in the back, and the other group would enter from the lobby. The first group would explore the underground utilidors to see various operations in action, and the second group would tour the lobby and then listen to the head service guy chat about how they take care of customers. After the first tours were completed, we'd swap places and do the other one.
I was assigned to the first "backstage" group… we walked right past the "cast members only" sign and entered via the primary cast member entrance. Again, we were told to refrain from taking photos backstage. I wish this wasn't the case, because walking through all the AKL underground utilidors was super amazing!!!!!! (Yes, it requires at least six exclamation points to emphasize just how cool it was.)
I think the biggest take away, is that Disney uses nearly every inch of wall space in their hallways to reinforce their desired culture. Before we even got inside the building, we passed several banners that contained inspiring statements from Disney leaders and some "pats on the back" related to awards/recognition that they had received as a group.
And coming through the building door, the AKL vision/mission statement was the first thing you see. I don’t recall exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of "Creating the most authentic African safari experience outside of Africa." (Again too bad I couldn't take photos because I wish my memory was a bit more clear on that.)
Walking through the halls, the fit and finish sort of reminded me of an old school (with cinder block walls and stuff.) Everything was clean and nice, but it certainly had a more functional aesthetic than what you see upstairs in the guest areas.
Anyway, every few feet, something was on the walls… but most everything had a purpose. And keeping with the culture, everything had appropriate fonts and color schemes.
If I recall correctly, soon after you enter, there is a wall with a leadership hierarchy. Showing photos of some of the main leaders. Helping people to be more familiar and better connected with the leadership team, I suppose.
In several areas, they had the "Leadership Basics" posted in large fonts. These are things that their leaders should be held accountable for, and they are promoted so that everyone knows what the expectations are. And then they had the "Four Keys" (safety, courtesy, show, efficiency) that all cast members are expected follow.
In one of the main areas, they had a big "Cast Member Look" mural of cast members in their costumes, showing how they should appear when "outside". Very detailed, so if there are any accessories in the costume, that people could easily see how they should be worn… and so on. For some reason, I found this to be really cool.
Also, lots of large cut-outs/paintings of the animals that you might see outside in the safari area upstairs. With various bits of information about each animal. Helping cast members to be more knowledgeable about AKL assets.
One poster said, "When the rhythm of the drum changes, so do the dancers". I thought that was pretty cool.
A few other things like housekeeper of the week, showing what they did to earn the accolade. And some other achievement recognition boards too.
One of my favorite areas was a section of hand prints/footprints. LOTS of them in different colored paint. Apparently this was done by cast members when the AKL first opened. They had their print on the wall, with their signature, and then a statement that was important to them. Can you imagine how cool it would be to walk through that hall every morning a few years later, and feeling special because your print is still on the wall for all newer cast members to see?!?!?! (Or to be retired, but to know that you print is still there?)
We saw all sorts of other stuff that I could go on and on about… Seeing the cast member cafeteria, break rooms, computer training centers, how staff are scheduled, how they get/store their keys, how they move materials, how some people use adult tricycles to move around (because the halls are so long), and so on. Really cool! The utilidors are so sprawling beneath the guest areas, that our DI facilitator actually got us lost. Twice!!! None of us cared, because it meant that we got to see extra stuff.
But yeah, the point is… seeing how Disney uses tactics like these to remind their cast members of what's important to their organizational culture with things that reiterate their values and mission. Not to mention all the cool things that they do to celebrate the African culture and the accomplishments of their employees.
After about 30 or 40 minutes, we exited backstage into the primary pool area and had some quick tours of the outside facilities…
Since Boma is one of Stephanie's all-time favorite restaurants (at Disney or elsewhere), we've visited the AKL many times. But we've never actually stayed there. So I had fun exploring the grounds a little more thoroughly than ever before. Especially the pool area!
The Weather Channel says it's 96° here in St. Louis right now… and super humid. It says, "feels like 112°" So…. Those pool photos are looking pretty inviting right now!!!
After exploring outside for a while, we went entered into the lobby via the Boma entrance… and we saw people enjoying their breakfasts. Yum!
The plan was for us to meet with Robert Lambert inside of the Jiko restaurant's wine tasting room. (Too early for wine though!!!) Robert is the Sr. Duty Manager at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is essentially puts him at the head of customer service at the resort. Anyway, the first group was still chatting with Robert, so we went up to the main lobby area to explore for 10 or 15 minutes.
For some reason, I didn't take many pictures to share... and these are terrible... But here's the main lobby.
If you've ever been to AKL, there's nothing that I can add here. If you haven't… do yourself a favor and come here for dinner or snacks sometime to explore. The lobby is amazing and is my second favorite Disney lobby, just behind the one at Wilderness Lodge (designed by the same guy, actually.) But also, you can walk outside and see all the various animals.
I don't really have any animal photos here, I guess it was at the time of the day when they were being fed, taking naps, or who knows what, because they weren't really out and about. (At least when compared to the quantity of animals that we've seen when visiting in the afternoon/evenings before.) No worries, for me though…. I'm not a huge animal person anyway. (And/or I just always took them for granted, as we have one of the world's best zoo's here in St. Louis.)
Anyway, a few minutes later, we met with Robert in the wine tasting room.
We chatted casually for a few minutes. And then he explained about his background. He's worked at Disney for like 30 years at various parks, resorts, and capacities. Interesting stories. And then one of our DI facilitators asked him a bunch of leadership, values, and vision related questions. We learned all about his role in customer service, how he relates to his staff, how he relates to customers. What they do to meet customer expectations. Resolve issues. And so on. It was great. Robert was a natural speaker and was really interesting. Good job!
So…. Getting back to the comments about the corn dog fiasco with the kids last night, I thought to myself… "That sounds great coming from the top brass at AKL, but easier said than done. I wonder how he'd respond to the corn dog incident, or the fact that we discovered the previous guest's half consumed food in our refrigerator?" I felt inspired to put it to the test and speak to someone at the front desk of the Boardwalk Inn when I got back… just to see what would happen.
Anyway, after we said our thanks and goodbyes to Robert, we all regrouped out in the main lobby and headed back to the BI on our bus. We spent an hour or so sharing our experiences and insights (and I had to speak up for a couple more "rewards for introverts" tchotchke toys.) And a little while later, it was time for lunch!
And boy… the older I get, the worse my memory is. Even with the photo, I don’t really remember what was served. Other than the breakfast this morning, the food was generally fine throughout the week, but mostly forgettable. So that probably explains it more than anything. I have to admit, that I felt a little let down by the food in general. It was very good for typical conference/convention food, but for some reason (because it's Disney, maybe?), I thought it would be really fantastic.
Oh well, every other aspect of the course was indeed amazing… also probably because it's Disney… LOL.
After lunch, we had about a 45 minute break. And that's when I took the opportunity to go speak to someone at the front desk….
A few up fronts.
#1. None of the issues that I had up to this point were huge on their own. (Half-consumed food left in refrigerator in our room, strange odor coming from refrigerator area all week, gross pizza at the boardwalk, and the poor service from the corn dog guy.) I'm normally not a complainer about this kind of stuff, but when you are paying big bucks to stay at a Deluxe Disney resort, you expect things to be pretty awesome. And when these things were combined, and then compared to all the values that Disney was preaching about in class, it really started to bug me.
#2 I have to say this, otherwise Stephanie might chuckle at me when I say that I don't normally go looking for trouble. When it comes to "Fight or Flight", I tend to fight. My tolerance when confronted with shenanigans has decreased significantly over the years, and I don't like being messed with. (For example, there might have been some heated words exchanged with the corn dog guy if I was the one interacting with him and he treated me like that.)
That being said, I'm not very outgoing and I generally avoid drama unless it's shoved in my face. So…
I really didn't want to go up to the front desk, and I was actually really nervous about it. (Even a bit jittery.) But curiosity won out and I did.
#3 I went with no expectations. My conscious is clear when I say that I wasn't expecting to weasel them out of any free perks or anything.
#4 I kept the fact that I just met Robert at AKL and that I was attending a course that emphasized Disney values a secret as long as I could, as I didn't want it to influence a response.
#5 And finally, I stayed calm and friendly the whole time. As the saying goes, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."
So… I walked up to one of the front desk attendants, and they asked how they could help me, and I said that I'd like to speak with a manager about a couple issues that I've had during my stay. (Or something like that.) I received a nervous reaction, and then he looked over to his supervisor down the desk. He asked her to come over, and said that we'd start with her and then escalate if appropriate. He introduced me to her by name (I'll keep her name private) as the Front Desk Services Assistant (or something similar.) He stood by her side, until she moved me down the desk to her personal station.
Anyway, I explained the two primary issues that I encountered while staying at the BI. #1. The food left in our refrigerator. #2. The corn dog incident. (I didn't mention the smell in the room or the poor pizza quality.) I calmly explained both incidents, and how they didn't meet expectations. Again, I didn't share that I just learned about the "Leadership Basics" and the "Four Keys", but I alluded to how the service didn't meet them. (In my mind, the food in the refrigerator related to "always being show ready" and failing to meet expectations ("courtesy") And the corn dog person didn't reach courtesy, show, or efficiency standards.)
She immediately apologized profusely for both issues. Agreeing that they failed to meet expectations and empathized with me about them. She said that she'd bring the refrigerator issue up to Mousekeeping, and ensure that they would review the incident appropriately. (Because apparently the Mousekeeper who we gave the stuff too out in the hall didn't mention it to anyone.) And for the corn dog guy, which is obviously a more significant issue (because it was a real attitude issue, not a simple oversight.)
Interestingly, she said that the "To Go" kiosk isn't actually owned and ran by Disney. But she was quick to admit that those employees should be held to the same service standards as regular Disney cast members. And that the guy should have just said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Let me fix that for you." Even if he was 100% confident that it wasn't his mistake. (That's what I would have expected after all this training.) She also said that she'd bring it up with the management team and ensure that the actions of the individual would be reviewed appropriately.
That's all I really was expecting. A sincere apology and a reassurance that they would actually review the performance issues (vs. lip service and then ignoring them)
But then she started asking me about my family. Asking what they were doing today. Cutting to the chase, she was about to add three "Any ride, any time" Fast Passes to each of their bands for that day. Well, gosh… that's pretty awesome.
Knowing that their day was half over, and not sure if they would even realize what happened (Stephanie can be hard to reach on her phone), I asked if she could put the passes on their bands for tomorrow (we'd be at MK anyway.) At that point, she asked if I'd be joining them (which I was), and then she gave all 5 of us each those three extra fast passes. (Being the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, this was actually a huge blessing!)
She said that she wanted the kids to remember something extra fun about the trip, and hoped that it would offset their memory of the corn dog guy. (Or something like that.)
I was pretty stoked on that… but wait. Then she started asking me more about my kids. What they liked at Disney and stuff. I thought that she was just being friendly. I told her that Pickle still loves princesses, that Buddy likes roller coasters and Star Wars (in hindsight… He likes Monorails and trains!!!), and that Princess has grown out of princesses and characters, but loves anything Japan especially the treats at Epcot's Japan Pavilion.
At that point, I thanked her profusely for the FP's and we chatted a few more minutes. It actually a pretty great experience.
So my test confirmed what I hoped would happen. With like 70,000 employees, there are bound to be some mistakes like this... but it's the customer service response that really makes the difference. They really do own up to the mistakes when you bring it to the proper channels with a level head. Customer service is indeed really important to them.
Of course, we all already know this to be true about Disney's service. It's why we love Disney and give them so much of our hard earned money. LOL. But this was the first time that I seriously approached management about something. And I'm stoked that it ended well.
OK. To avoid leaving you hanging... I'll jump ahead to the evening real quick, and then my next post will cover the afternoon at my training course.
So…. I was out on my own for the evening when Stephanie and gang returned to the room from AK, and I received a text from the kids with the following photo.
The lady at the front desk, took it to the next level!!!
She meant business when she said that she was bummed out that the kids might take that corn dog incident as a negative memory of their stay at BI, and that she wanted to make it positive for them.
Each kid had a plush doll waiting for them with some goodies. All three got lollipops. Pickle got a Princess trading pin starter set. Which she cherished and refused to trade the pins the next day. Buddy got a cool stamped metal Star Wars Tie Fighter model. Awesome! And Princess got snacks and candy from the Japanese store in Epcot. (They had remnants from the Mitsukoshi price tags on them, so she clearly had to go over there to get them for Princess.)
So yeah, extra fast passes and free goodies, the kids couldn't believe it. Stephanie and I were pretty excited too. Especially for the FP+'s!!!!
OK. This post was pretty heavy with words and I've run out of time. So that's all for now
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