Discuss what Disney does right

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I would say the immersive quality of the aesthetics.

The minute we drive through the purple archway, we're completely in another world.

It's like somebody slid the "saturation" button all the way to the right-all the colors, all the flowers, all the architecture, it's magnificent.

The world showcase is one of my favorite spots in wdw because nowhere else in the world can you find moroccan architecture next to italian next to japanese, and it's all beautiful and it's all fascinating.

Also, the sheer excitement on our kids' faces (ok, according to DH, on mine too) once we walk into whatever hotel we're at, whether it's Pop or VWL...

I also like how there always seems to be music everywhere, too.

 

[vcgirl925]

EASY!

1. BEST SERVICE
2. CLEAN PARKS
3. True Family Environment
4. Fun Shows
5. All my favorite characters to love and hug
6. Everything is convenient you can have food, parks, transportaion, hotel in one package if you so choose.

 

[cnjmom]

Honestly, where else can you go where there is something for everyone?

 

[summerlady]

"Star light, star bright,
first star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
have the wish I wish tonight.
We'll make a wish, and do as dreamers do,
and all our wishes (all our wishes),
will come true."

How "Wishes" always makes me cry, but in a good way.

The joy and awe in my daughters' eyes the first time they saw the castle. Priceless.

The excitement and amazement of my granddaughter the first time she rode on the Dumbo ride.

The happiness of being with all my grandchildren at WDW someday soon. The two littlest ones live in San Diego and have been to Disneyland, but my daughter says it's just not the same.

Thank you, Disney World! And thank you for making it one of the most affordable and fabulous places on earth.

*sniffle* I wannnnnna go there right now.

 

[SueM in MN]

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.

That's why we love going there too.
It's one place where we don't have to worry about whether DD will be able to do things. We just know she will.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Brief story. My first trip my BF took me. He had been a CM one summer so he wanted to share it with me. I was 20 - 21 y.o. It was the 80's and I could be a little cynical. O.k., so I still can be sometimes...

I told him "I'm either going to love it because it's so amazing, or hate it because it's so fake". Since I'm posting here, it's kind of needless to say I fell in love (both with WDW and him).

One thing they get so right (and why it isn't "fake") is the detailed theming. You wouldn't notice if it wasn't there, but because it is, if you notice it, it's amazing. A few examples:

• The music in the background in the different lands. The music in the background everywhere actually.
• The animal tracks on the sidewalks around the WL
• Speaking of the WL - the carrying of the theming to such detail that the font is the same everywhere in the resort - including the fire extenguisher covers and fire alarm pulls.
• There used to be an audio experience behind the Dawa bar at AK - I didn't hear it last time I was there. You could hear a baby crying, then it's mother nursing and singing to it. I was amazed when I stumbled across that one.

All the "extras" that again, if they weren't there, you wouldn't miss them. But because they are, it makes WDW extra magical. Just a few:

• The "singing in the rain" umbrella at DHS
• "Push"
• Wes Palm
• The talking water fountains at Epcot
• The geyser at the WL. Who needs it? But I love it.
• The Electrical Water Pagent
• During the holidays - the handbell performances in the WL lobby, and the Gingerbread house at the GF.

And then there are the CMs. People sometimes ask me why I go back to WDW for vacation so often. One thing I tell them is that I've vacationed many places, and WDW is the one place where not only are most of the CMs nice, they are usually some of the nicest, friendliest and most outgoing people I've ever met in customer service positions.

These are just a few of mine.

To paraphrase Mary Poppins - WDW is practically perfect in every way."

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

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.

You made me get all teary eyed! I love when people have so much passion for the Disney magic like you. That is just awesome.

 

[tefrench]

Disney brings back memories of when life was simple and things were magical. I can now share things about Disney from when I was a little girl to my children. Our vacation at Disney was about us bonding as a family. All the CM's who noticed our anniversary button and were genuinely interested in talking to us made us feel special.

 

[Dissy]

You made me get all teary eyed! I love when people have so much passion for the Disney magic like you. That is just awesome.

Me too.

Stinky Pete - really enjoyed your story and info about all the details.
I didn't even know about Hidden Mickeys, for example, until a few years ago and now when I find one I feel like a kid who just found a special treasure. Kind of silly, but it's fun.

 

[lustergirl]

Great posts everyone! This thread is getting buried so I am going to bump it up and it is just so amazing that there is so much focus on what disney is doing wrong and that thread seems to be on the first page forever.

 

[sherabby]

Mine was posted in the thread called Disney is Awesome! They upgraded our tickets for us since we never used our hopper option during our last trip due to my son's fever and ear infection.
We cannot wait to get back again!

 

[lustergirl]

Mine was posted in the thread called Disney is Awesome! They upgraded our tickets for us since we never used our hopper option during our last trip due to my son's fever and ear infection.
We cannot wait to get back again!

Great news!!!

 

[soulmates]

Well, if your staying on site, they have EVERY detail covered. We just returned from WLV's and they treated us like royalty. Every detail blew us away, down to the flickering lamps and cricket sounds!! Every park is MAGICAL, and their customer service sets them apart from ALL the competition. We were "Lost" in HS and got our map out. Before we could even read it, a janitor walked up and asked if he could help us. Really? We couldn't belive it. He was sooo sweet to take time out from his job and help us. Again, Disney does everything right!!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

So glad this thread got started. I was thinking of doing it myself. I had been drawn to the other thread kind of like a car wreck. You don't want to see it, it makes you sad but you can't help watching. It was bringing me a little down about my next trip. Now I am excited again.

Anyway, I would like to add that the fp system at WDW is one thing they are doing very very right. Anyone can use them. You don't have to pay extra like you do at other theme parks. If I knew that I was going to have to wait an hour every time I road SM I don't think I would care to go to WDW.


Also I would like to point out that my family went to Six Flags recently. Would you believe the food and water was way more expensive. Although it cost about $50 less to walk in the door so I guess it works out. Also even though it is very hot in Florida I didn't find the parks to be unbearable. We went in Aug too. With the exception of Thunder Mountain most of the queues were fairly comfortable. When I was at six flags it was an unusually cool day for our part of the coungry, 80 degrees. There were many lines that were still suffocating. Also one of those lines were an hour long. On this particular ride you could sit 4 people to a car but many of the cars held only 1 or 2 people. Why they didn't encourage sharing is beyond me. It would have cut the wait time in half. Sorry I didn't mean to turn this from a "what is disney doing right" to a "what is six flags doing wrong" thread.

Keep the magic coming.

 

[VeroBeachGirl]

The best thing about Disney is that they care about people who have special needs. It is the one place my sister feels that her son with autism acts and is treated like a "typical kid."

 

[KellyNY]

So glad this thread got started. I was thinking of doing it myself. I had been drawn to the other thread kind of like a car wreck. You don't want to see it, it makes you sad but you can't help watching. It was bringing me a little down about my next trip. Now I am excited again.

That is why I started this thread. I kept reading "what Disney does wrong" thread and at some point realized we opened Pandora Box. Even so most of complains were very valid, it felt to me that all the little "wrongs" completely covered all the big "rights". Therefore I felt the need to scream "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do....", and I am glad there are so many people feel the same way.

 

[kmk1180]

I love that even in the lean times, with cutbacks in businesses all around the country and world, they still find a way to do special things that they don't have to.
like a free nightly parade or fireworks, boat parade. campfire at Ft. Wilderness ect.
those are things that could easily be cut out to save money but don't, With almost any other company they would be.

 

[lily23]

One thing that they are doing right this year is the passes for the military and their families. I know they appreciate it. My baby brother is Afghanistan right now, if he was here he would take his family.

 

[poolguy]

What Disney does best is being Disney. We took our DD for her 5th BD. I booked BBB at MK for 9:00AM. So she spent her BD dressed as a princess, hair, nails, sash and all. Must of been 150 to 200 people wished her a happy bday.

As night came and the castle lit up she would look at it and tell us “I can’t go too far from the castle, my Fairy Godmother might call me to join her and the other princesses for dessert and/or bed time.” She thought that she was going to sleep there with all the other princess girls. For that night we could only do things that kept the castle insight. I don’t think I could get THAT anywhere else

 

[KellyNY]

What Disney does best is being Disney. We took our DD for her 5th BD. I booked BBB at MK for 9:00AM. So she spent her BD dressed as a princess, hair, nails, sash and all. Must of been 150 to 200 people wished her a happy bday.

As night came and the castle lit up she would look at it and tell us “I can’t go too far from the castle, my Fairy Godmother might call me to join her and the other princesses for dessert and/or bed time.” She thought that she was going to sleep there with all the other princess girls. For that night we could only do things that kept the castle insight. I don’t think I could get THAT anywhere else

That was so cute