How can Disney improve the Disney Experience?

[Frederic Civish]

i realize that there is no real definition for, “The Disney Experience,” but what I mean is that gestalt of all things special to Disney that make our experience at Disney World so magical What keeps us coming back, and makes things, “Worth it.” The nice things from characters and decor to music and light shows and fireworks and hotel grounds and friendly cast members and . . .

 

[Frederic Civish]

I will start with one. I feel most of the hotels and resorts do not have enough ‘Disney.’ They are nice, and often there are a few subtle and sometimes more than a few ‘not so subtle’ touches. But often there just isn’t enough. It’s nice, but what makes Wilderness Lodge, “Disney.” Or BLT. Or Grand Floridian. I was just at the Polynesian, and I thought, after ‘Moana,’ that Moana and Polynesian stuff would be all over. Not just ‘vaguely Polynesian’ style and Decor, but lots of things pointing towards Disney and its movies. It just wasn’t there.

Talking with my family, we agreed that it would have been nice to have someone dressed in Polynesian costumes, wandering around the resort for an hour or two per day. Or real Polynesian culture, tying into their ocean voyages and into the ocean itself.

Maybe I expect too much, but when I go to Disney, and spend that kind of money, I want Disney. Everywhere.

 

[CraigInPA]

I miss the cast members greeting you at the bus with "Welcome Home!". I realize they only did it for a few years, but it was so "Disney-esque" that my wife and I still talk about it.

Now, I hop off the bus, deal with the bus driver, and get my luggage into the hands of Bell Services myself. It's less of a deluxe experience now.

 

[crisi]

I will start with one. I feel most of the hotels and resorts do not have enough ‘Disney.’ They are nice, and often there are a few subtle and sometimes more than a few ‘not so subtle’ touches. But often there just isn’t enough. It’s nice, but what makes Wilderness Lodge, “Disney.” Or BLT. Or Grand Floridian. I was just at the Polynesian, and I thought, after ‘Moana,’ that Moana and Polynesian stuff would be all over. Not just ‘vaguely Polynesian’ style and Decor, but lots of things pointing towards Disney and its movies. It just wasn’t there.

Talking with my family, we agreed that it would have been nice to have someone dressed in Polynesian costumes, wandering around the resort for an hour or two per day. Or real Polynesian culture, tying into their ocean voyages and into the ocean itself.

Maybe I expect too much, but when I go to Disney, and spend that kind of money, I want Disney. Everywhere.

That would be too much for me, although I do want to be transported to another place, and as Disney has standardized their decor, it doesn't feel like that any longer. But I don't want to be immersed in Disney characters at a hotel, I want to be immersed in fantasy. The Poly should feel like a fantasy version of Tahiti, not like a merchandising opportunity for Moana merchandise.

 

[Frederic Civish]

That would be too much for me, although I do want to be transported to another place, and as Disney has standardized their decor, it doesn't feel like that any longer. But I don't want to be immersed in Disney characters at a hotel, I want to be immersed in fantasy. The Poly should feel like a fantasy version of Tahiti, not like a merchandising opportunity for Moana merchandise.

I could agree with that. It sounds good. But I want SOMETHING! As things stand, many Disney hotels are just too generic.

 

[Dean Marino]

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[bobbiwoz]

I do not like the changes that were made to Studios to allow them to have 5. The GF studios at least have a table that does not fold down. So, Disney did the opposite of making studios more satisfying for me. However, they made it better for lots of folks.

Obviously the Disney Experience has many interpretations. I like the little things. The cold water they have with cups in the BCV lobby tell me they are interested in my comfort in the heat. The hidden Mickey in the bed furnishings make me smile. Others may not be satisfied with these things, but they do it for me.

 

[crisi]

NUMBER 1: Establish a real, WORKING, Business Website. With actual Change Control, and cleaned up/Modernized Back End Servers. Complete with an actual CIO.

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

My husband was recruited to apply for the VP job you are describing, they went with promote from within - we looked at each other and said "oh, they aren't interested in fixing it." You don't fix major problems by promoting the people who created the problems.

 

[RAD]

I’d like to see things changed so you don’t need to have a doctorate in planning to do a trip. It used to be show up and get in line. Now you have to preplan just about everything, for us it’s taking the fun out of going.

 

[limace]

I’d love to have planning at WDW go back to being more similar to planning DL-maybe dining reservations 60 days out, fast passes day of. This six month out planning of where and when I want to eat drives me nuts-and I love me some disney planning. My family haaates this level of rigidity.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I didn't believe my friends when they all told me how much planning a Disney trip entailed when we planned our first trip back after 8 years. Thanks goodness we used a Disney planner, but now that we're DVC and she's not allowed to help us anymore, I've been a little overwhelmed making sure we've crossed all the t's and dotted the i's. I wish the website was a more streamlined and it didn't take quite so much searching to get the answers I need. I've been able to get there in the end, but it could be more intuitive. I'm already sweating bullets about booking our trip for next fall, knowing it's during a popular time and things will get snapped up in a hurry!

 

[crisi]

On the planning thing, I don't think Disney is really looking at it as a whole - how much planning is going into trips. Each bit of planning they push onto us optimizes them - and is designed to either make or save them money. The good news is that I'm not sure it can get much worse without them turning new customers into "never agains" - those of us who get the system and go regularly can add on one more thing to worry about each trip and its like slowly boiling the frog - but anyone new to a Disney vacation is going to think "this water is WAY too hot."

Then again, its quite possible that they know the percentage of their customers that are repeat - and Disney is being passed generationally - so they don't think they need to turn too many new customers into regular customers.

(We took friends last Spring who had never been - they had a six year old and wanted to do the Disney thing for the kid. They realized they'd never have gotten through it without native guides).

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

NUMBER 1: Establish a real, WORKING, Business Website. With actual Change Control, and cleaned up/Modernized Back End Servers. Complete with an actual CIO.

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this

 

[Frederic Civish]

. . . We took friends last Spring who had never been - they had a six year old and wanted to do the Disney thing for the kid. They realized they'd never have gotten through it without native guides.

You are right. 'Doing Disney' is a skill, and the better you are at it, the more satisfying your trip is likely to be. And, really, Native Guides are always best!

 

[bakerworld]

We've stayed at the Dolphin a number times - which I love to do - and that is generic hotel room.

 

[crisi]

We've stayed at the Dolphin a number times - which I love to do - and that is generic hotel room.

But that wasn't why I bought DVC. And for a lot of us, that wasn't why we bought DVC.

 

[RAD]

Actually a stay at the Dolphin was why we bought DVC. Spending a couple hundred for a room that had a view of a roof made us stop in the DVC sales office and walk out with 210 points at BWV.

 

[CraigInPA]

NUMBER 1: Establish a real, WORKING, Business Website. With actual Change Control, and cleaned up/Modernized Back End Servers. Complete with an actual CIO.

I believe the problem to be one of testing methodology. Frankly, they don't know how to, or lack the will to, fully test their own site before they unleash it upon the world. Having been a CTO for nearly 30 years, this problem is one I've seen over and over. If you allow "the troops" (those under your control, whether they are full time employees or contractors) to not develop test plans as they code, and don't have a quality control (as opposed to quality assurance) manager who makes sure that the test plans accurately test, and don't actually fully run those test plans before release, you end up with broken code that is being used by customers with the attendant complaints. I could go on for hours about "passion for perfection" and the mindset of successful development projects, but I can sum it up by saying that Disney hasn't figured it out.

 

[RAD]

Maybe they should do what DIRECTV does. They have a program where customers can download new software for their receivers and provide feedback on that code before it rolls out as a national release (iamanedgecutter.com). Disney could have a domain/website where they would let customers kick the tires on their attempts at coding before unleashing it on an unwitting public.

 

[kboo]

I will start with one. I feel most of the hotels and resorts do not have enough ‘Disney.’ They are nice, and often there are a few subtle and sometimes more than a few ‘not so subtle’ touches. But often there just isn’t enough. It’s nice, but what makes Wilderness Lodge, “Disney.” Or BLT. Or Grand Floridian. I was just at the Polynesian, and I thought, after ‘Moana,’ that Moana and Polynesian stuff would be all over. Not just ‘vaguely Polynesian’ style and Decor, but lots of things pointing towards Disney and its movies. It just wasn’t there.

Talking with my family, we agreed that it would have been nice to have someone dressed in Polynesian costumes, wandering around the resort for an hour or two per day. Or real Polynesian culture, tying into their ocean voyages and into the ocean itself.

Maybe I expect too much, but when I go to Disney, and spend that kind of money, I want Disney. Everywhere.

I agree - not with Moana stuff everywhere, but maybe some tie-in that's educational, the way they do AKL/AKV. Whether it's a lei-making class, a talk about the music or the legends from Moana, or something about the folklore and culture across the Polynesian islands. It's the same reason I haven't gone to the luau at the Poly - we've been to many in Hawaii, and we've enjoyed the ones that talk about the different styles of dancing and costuming, and the different legends.

I think overall I miss the more educational tilt Disney used to have. I can't be the only one....