Discuss what Disney does right

[WTP]

I love all of the variety in the resorts, but that it's still all Disney. Not all of the resorts' theming appeals to me but there is something there for everyone! And at all budget levels. You can spend as much as you want and have a magical time.

I love all of the small details, the loose ends that other parks would not bother to clean up. Such as the music, walkways, and views from one "land" in the MK to another. Seamless but seperate.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

making my 10 year old act like a kid and not a tween

making my kids believe in magic

great customer service

fun for the whole family, not just those over 48 inches tall

carrying the theme all the way through - signage, styles, architecture, etc

making my DD6 have the "bestest day of her life" after breakfast with the princesses

letting our family all spend time together doing the same thing, not splitting up because my kids can't/won't do the same things (due to height, interest, whatever)

 

[rotlex]

For me, the biggest thing, is something very hard to explain. It's just the feeling I get when I am there. There is no where else we travel that is quite like WDW. When I step onto the property, I feel as though I am truly on vacation. Away from reality. NOTHING gets me down, and I never want to leave.

How they achieve that is probably the most magical, best thing they do. In my humble opinion of course.

 

[maroo]

The MUSIC....

hands down...the music...




But I will post some more later! Love this thread!

 

[Dissy]

Great responses.

The music -- whenever I hear "when you wish upon a star".... the tears start.

The costuming is amazing.

The colors, the sounds, the fireworks!
Disney has a way of pulling out all the emotions.

EDIT: Plus, I just adore Walt. He was a man that I would have been proud to be associated with.

 

[carlabing]

For me, the biggest thing, is something very hard to explain. It's just the feeling I get when I am there. There is no where else we travel that is quite like WDW. When I step onto the property, I feel as though I am truly on vacation. Away from reality. NOTHING gets me down, and I never want to leave.

How they achieve that is probably the most magical, best thing they do. In my humble opinion of course.

I whole-heartedly agree with you, Steve. Thank you, KellyNY, for starting this thread.

It's hard for me to put into words what exactly I think Disney does right. For me it's the little things. It's the heart behind it all. It's the fact that I am so happy when I'm there, when I look at my pictures & scrapbooks, when I talk about it with friends . . . I truly thank God for a place like that. I am so blessed to be able to experience it with my family and friends.

 

[BillSears]

I'm always amazed at how wheelchair accessible WDW is. Almost every line is mainstreamed. Every restaurant is accessible. All of the hotels have great roll-in shower rooms. All of the buses have lifts.

At WDW I can get around just like everyone else. I don't have to worry about dealing with stairs or doors that are too small. From my arrival at DME to my departure at the end I can count on not having to worry about wheelchair access.

 

[Nikisha421]

The one thing they do for me is making me feel like I have given my daughter the best gift ever over and over again!

 

[Diznotyzed]

For me they do escapism and nostalgia right. I love leaving reality behind and re-entering childhood!

 

[seadd67]

It brings our Family and love together, It lets me and my DS share something we love so much and that we can carry onto the rest of our lives.It lets us see the happiness In every one faces there,the smiles the joy Its something I look forward to as much as the happniess In my DS face.

 

[lustergirl]

Great thread!!!!!!!

 

[SafetyPinndSally]

Giving people a way to have a reasonably priced vacation and still enjoy everything as if they had spent thousands of dollars.

Also the themeing in most areas is absolutely wonderful.

 

[eliza61]

By popular demand and to mirror the other thread, I believe I will start this thread, although I think this whole site is about it anyway.

I'll start, with "Birthday promotion", I think it is a great idea to be able to go on your Bday for free or even better to get a gift card to spend in parks.

Attention to Detail!!

I love the way Disney pays attention to detail on rides and in the resort. When you ride Experidition Everest or kali river rapids, the que itself is great, I mean you actually feel like you are in the himalayas (sp?). Same thing with space mountain or Haunted mansion.
Toy story mania que is a hoot.

The resorts are equally as detailed

 

[nic100308]

To me Disney is Magic, even just thinking about it brings happy tears to my eyes. I can't bring myself to do Keys to the Kingdom because I can't bring myself to give up on the kid inside of me. You know, the little kid that lives inside all of us. It’s the same little kid that still believes in Santa, the kid that knows that they’ll grow up to be exactly what they want to be. Magic is a rare thing to come across these days, and everyone knows being a grown up is not so much fun sometimes. At Disney you get to suspend reality and just be in a happy place.

For me it marks magical memories in the past, and experiences that have not happened yet. I remember my first trip when I was 8. My family did not vacation when I was growing up and Disney in 1990 was the ONLY family trip we ever took. It was also one of my most prized memories of growing up. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Tinker Bell fly. Even though I was old enough to know she really wasn’t flying, in my mind, even now, I KNOW she was flying.

I think about the next trip I took, 16 years later, with my future husband. He proposed right before we left so we could celebrate the next chapter of our lives in Disney. Our first day there we walked into the MK and I just cried when I saw that castle. It was like going for the first time all over again. We traveled the “world” like we were children! We would get off a ride and run back onto the line to ride it over and over again. We wore our Mickey ears non-stop. We ate ice cream for dinner!!

Now we’re going to celebrate our first year of marriage in WDW in December. It was a tough first year, as I lost my job right after the wedding. But every time I would get down I would think of the plans DH and I made during our first trip. Standing on the bridge between France and the United Kingdom we made a pact to come back for our first anniversary. And because Christmas was an extra magical time, we would go in the beginning of December.

When I daydream, I think about taking our children to Disney. I think about the looks that they will have on their little faces when they see Mickey. Deep down I know it’s silly because we don’t have children yet, but I know when we do we will take them to WDW because Disney is Magic. And then we’ll be able to live the magic through their eyes, and I can only imagine how great that really is.

Everything that Disney does makes it magic. Believing in magic makes me feel like there is hope and promise.

 

[kmk1180]

First thank you for being POSITIVE!
So easy to have a great vacation anywhere and come back and go online and complain about the 1 thing that went wrong.
It's much harder to take the time out to point out the positive and say thank you.


What are they doing right?

Free dining deals,
Discounts on rooms with codes.
Free room upgrades.
More deverse places and choices of things to eat than ever before.
(laugh every time I read dining has gone down hill.)
Variety of events for a variety of people to enjoy.
Still 1000 to 1 or better of Great Customer Service vs Bad.
Cool new places to stay.
More and more character interactions.
Continue to think of new ideas and try new things.
(even if some don't suceed, at least they are trying to be new)

the list goes on and on and on.

 

[Tomh]

What they do right is having full control of your entire experience. From the moment you drive onto Disney property until the moment you leave, the outside world ceases to exist, and Disney controls everything that you see, hear, touch, see, taste, etc. They put you to bed at night, and wake you up in the morning, you eat, sleep and breathe Disney. They're in your hotel, your ride to the parks, your dining, and everything is themed, it is 100% immersive, and everything is done about as close to perfectly as possible.

 

[Mr Ears]

I think the 100% commitment to a particular idea/theme/ride/experience is what they truly do best. Details that will never be seen, things the normal person would say "why would you ever..." if they were designing it themselves, over the top commitment to characters and customers, and to continually do that for decades. That's why they're the best. Money aside, you will lose yourself when you are there. Parents act like kids, kids act like kids, characters act like kids....


When pretty much anyone of any age from anywhere can go to Disneyworld and be blown away and enjoy themselves, you know it's being done right.

 

[PirateFrank]

Everything. They do Everything right. Yes, they do have their "moments" where it seems like everything is going wrong, but they always seem to make it up to us. Obviously, nothing can be perfect, but Disney is pretty darn close.

+1

I got really sick of the hate that was spewing in the two 'what they're doing wrong' threads....especially the first.


I suggest that anyone want to complain about Disney take a trip to the Marriott Surf Club in Aruba and savor the feeling of getting raked over the coals and shaken for every last dollar...an in exchange be given the worst customer service ever.


While down in Aruba this past summer at the Surf Club, I said on a daily basis to my wife "I miss Disney World. You wouldn't see this sorta thing there"

 

[Funky Chicken]

What they do right is having full control of your entire experience. From the moment you drive onto Disney property until the moment you leave, the outside world ceases to exist, and Disney controls everything that you see, hear, touch, see, taste, etc. They put you to bed at night, and wake you up in the morning, you eat, sleep and breathe Disney. They're in your hotel, your ride to the parks, your dining, and everything is themed, it is 100% immersive, and everything is done about as close to perfectly as possible.

You put it very well.

For me it's a million little things-it's easy to focus on small details because they do them so well.

I think sometimes it's harder to think about the sheer breadth of the whole operation-how much it takes in terms of people, planning, and imagination to give you that immersion in the experience.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Total immersion. Theming is everywhere, its all about the details. Who would think something as little as putting the old imagineers names on the winds on main street would make it seem more real? Or making the animal tracks in the pavement/dirt at AK? I love the feeling that I really AM in that land/world/country, etc.

Customer service. I know its gotten a bad rap on here lately, but that is what keeps us coming back. We (luckily) have never had a bad expereince (and I am always on the lookout for bad service, its my job so it naturally pours over into every aspect of my life) and that little extra smile, nod, waive, Have a Magical Day, goes a long long way for us.

Variety. There is something for everybody at WDW. Thrill rides? got em. Kiddie rides? got em. Shows? got em. Family rides? you bethca. You want charectors? which ones. You wanna shop? DTD, like to party/drink? WS and Boardwalk. and so on and so on.

Having queing down to an exact science. Disney knows how to make thier ques interesting and fast moving. Yeah there are lines and big ones at times, but compared to any other themepark I've been too Disney outshines everyone.Think of all the rides that never stop and have constantly moving lines: HM, Buzz, TTA, Journey into Imagination, etc. And those that do have stops they are minimal. You can get on and take off on RnR, EE, and BTMRR in seconds. At other parks usually u wait for a few minutes and that of course just trickles thru the line and make the waits longer.

Housekeeping. again hearing complaints of the parks being dirty but we just havn't seen it. No trash on the streers and most CS locations are cleaned and bussed almost as soon as you get up from the table. Sometimes you will see an occasional attraction/wall/area that needs a coat of pain but I can't think of many times in all my visits I have walked by something and said man disney has dropped the ball, get some paint out here!

Ok I could go on and on but I"ll stop for now.