DEBATE: Has WDW been built haphazardly, too quick and without proper infrastructure?

[DisneyKidds]

I wonder how many of those still drive themselves around.

I'll "play around" with a few more polls . The number of options is limited so it is hard to get people to say everything you want them to......................uh...............I mean cover every eventuality in one poll.

Options on my poll did include no value/no magic. I assume that those who don't actual use they system don't find much value in it. Even the one respondent in this category felt the system was efficient and effective. You may have people who use the system for the parks but not for resort to resort travel - but again, even if any of the respondents do that they still think the system is efficient and effective.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I'll bet you get a different answer from many people.

Hey, Matt - suppose I gave you $100. Then I ask you if you would like $110 instead. What do you think you are going to say .

The guest's perception of the value they are getting IS their reality.

Let me reiteraate, in yet another unrepresentative sample, the vast, vast majority of people who responded (so far) feel that they are getting value from the system.

 

[raidermatt]

but we can't seem to identify that x value.

Very true, which is one reason why I defer to the overall objective of WDW, as opposed to how to measure guest surveys we don't have access to and would probably agree don't ask the right questions anyway.

However the busing experience one gets when using the transportation system IS unique.

Again, everything is relative. Monorails in WDW are a more unique experience than busses in WDW.

it is quite possible they have darn good solution (heck, maybe optimal if they addressed the resort to resort issue) efficiency wise.

It is possible, from an efficiency standpoint, but that does not mean efficiency cannot be at least maintained while adding more entertainment value.

Why settle for "efficient", when you could do better?

The point you missed, however, is that when I talk to my unrepresentative sample of friends who go to WDW they aren't concerned with convincing me of what is best for Disney. They simply relate their enjoyment of what WDW offers them, including the transportation system.

Great, and if you are asking them the same questions as you do in your poll, I can see why you think this to be true.

You don't create unique entertainment through guest surveys.

Geez, ask most WDW visitors if the overall resort provided a Magical experience, and if they found the resort efficiently run, and they'll probably say yes. That is not a justification for standing still.

Speaking of asking WDW guests, I do have a poll out there. Is it representative? Who knows, but in early returns the survey says................

100% of respondents find the system efficient and effective.
92% of respondents think the system add value to their WDW experience.
38% of respondents think the system adds Magic to their WDW experience.

Surveys, surveys, surveys.... If you have a philosophy and stick to it, you don't need surveys to make your decisions... but if you insist.

92% feel it adds value. Sure it does vs. nothing.

Adds Magic for 38%. Well, for 62% it adds no Magic. For the 32%, again, it adds Magic compared to the alternative, which is nothing.

Hey, Matt - suppose I gave you $100. Then I ask you if you would like $110 instead. What do you think you are going to say

So you agree that an innovative mass transit experience has more entertainment value to the resort than the bus experience?

Then I guess it would be prudent to fully explore all possible options...

 

[DisneyKidds]

Great, and if you are asking them the same questions as you do in your poll, I can see why you think this to be true.

Ahh, the thing is, I don't ask them anything about it. I don't poll them. In the course of discussion they relate to me how they enjoy using the system, and much prefer it to driving their car (which they do have on property). No focus group driven, agenda fulfilling questions involved . BTW - I noticed you registered your vote .

Geez, ask most WDW visitors if the overall resort provided a Magical experience, and if they found the resort efficiently run, and they'll probably say yes.

Geez, wouldn't this give you some insight into their perceptions. What was all that talk about perceptions and reality .

So you agree that an innovative mass transit experience has more entertainment value to the resort than the bus experience?

Perhaps.

That is not a justification for standing still.

That is why I never said they should stand still. Make a good thing better? Sure.

 

[raidermatt]

Ahh, the thing is, I don't ask them anything about it. I don't poll them. In the course of discussion they relate to me how they enjoy using the system, and much prefer it to driving their car (which they do have on property). No focus group driven, agenda fulfilling questions involved

Again, satisfaction with a current system does not justify not investigating alternatives.

BTW - I noticed you registered your vote .

Yes, though admittedly I am probably using a different definition of effective than most respondents.

I am surprised you posted %'s over here when you had no more than 14 responses...

Geez, wouldn't this give you some insight into their perceptions. What was all that talk about perceptions and reality

There is a difference between judging where you are at, and where you should be going.

Yes, those guest responses would be a nice indication of what guests think of you today, and they can be useful when deciding where to go in the future. But one of the reasons those responses would be positive is because Disney did not wait until guest responses were negative to change something, or try something new. They did these things based on their philosophy of what would CONTINUE to elicit positive responses.

That is why I never said they should stand still. Make a good thing better? Sure.

Ah, an understanding of sorts. I think. As long as you view the "thing" in this case to be "transportation", and not the more narrow "bus service", then we are on the same page. (or at least in the same book )

For if Disney should always be looking to make good things better, no matter what your opinion of the current bus heavy system, alternative modes would always be on the table for consideration, REGARDLESS OF WHAT GUESTS SAY ABOUT TODAY'S SYSTEM.

Especially if you allow that that innovative forms of mass transit could have greater entertainment value than the current busses.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I'm with you . The future, exploration and all that. Now look up. See it there? Yup - the title of the thread - has (past tense to current day) WDW been built........blah, blah, blah? With regard to transportation I don't think it has. That doesn't mean there isn't a great big beautiful tomorrow waiting at the end of this day .


PS

I am surprised you posted %'s over here when you had no more than 14 responses...

I did say in EARLY polling, didn't I .

 

[Cricket2]

Originally posted by raidermatt
Again, everything is relative. Monorails in WDW are a more unique experience than busses in WDW.

Sorry, but that's an impossibility.

There are no varying degrees of "uniqueness". Either it's unique or it's not.

I do agree with the implied sentiment in this case though

JC

 

[raidermatt]

? Yup - the title of the thread - has (past tense to current day) WDW been built........blah, blah, blah? With regard to transportation I don't think it has.

I know.

I think they've built a reasonably efficient system...but they lost focus on the "show" aspect long ago, and are now choked by a reluctance to truly explore what could be done.

 

[crusader]

So you agree that an innovative mass transit experience has more entertainment value to the resort than the bus experience?
Then I guess it would be prudent to fully explore all possible options...

I understand your premise regarding the need to increase or at the very least enhance entertainment. Value in this sense translates into continued growth and stability for the company by offering unsurpassed quality and uniqueness in your product.

Value to the consumer is not the same. It implies getting more for what you paid. More entertainment for your money at WDW in every aspect of your trip is alot to ask for. Offer it at the parks because that is the biggest deterrant for most people. You have to sell to the family the worth of that park hopper more than the worth of the resort or the food or the transportation. Once they price out their tickets which encompass approx. 1/3 or their initial cost outlay, they start to rethink the decision to go.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Just a quick update regarding my transportation poll.

With a larger voting population the results still show that, of those who voted, 53% of people find the WDW transportation system efficient, effective, adding magic to their WDW experience. 83% find it efficient, effective, adding value to their WDW experience.

I'm sure it "isn't representative" and you can laugh at me all you want , but people do like the system. Of course that is no reason to rest on your laurels and Disney should always look to improve, but overall the system might not be the unmagical failure some see it as.

 

[raidermatt]

I'm sure it "isn't representative" and you can laugh at me all you want , but people do like the system. Of course that is no reason to rest on your laurels and Disney should always look to improve, but overall the system might not be the unmagical failure some see it as.

Its all relative...

Your poll is informative, and it does give us an indication that the transportation system is not thought of as a creation of Satan.

However, when it comes to the value/magic portion, it's essentially asking for a comparison of the current system of busses, boats and Monorails to nothing. Of course it adds value, for without it, we have no choice but to all bring cars or hoof it through the swamps. Waiting an hour for a SRO bus with graffiti on it beats becoming gator bait. So certainly the current system is an add.

On the efficient/effective side, again, there's a big difference between the generally accepted definitions of these words, and what they meant within the scope of the Disney philosophy that built the foundation of the Disney empire.

Anything that falls short of that standard, is "settling", and therefore not adequate for Disney. For a transportation system, that means it is not acceptable to sacrifice either entertainment or efficiency. You find a way to make it happen.