Doug DavidoffYou may have noticed fewer blog postings from me of late. This has been for a couple of reasons. Imagine has gone through some exponential growth and required more attention than normal, and I’ve spent some extra time with the family on vacation. I’m back, the kids are back in school, and the Fast Growth Blog is back on track.
On vacation, we made the family pilgrimage to Disney World. While there, I did my best not to think about work. However, everything about my experience there kept reminding me of concepts I’ve blogged about. I realized that Disney is the epitome of the ‘experience economy.’ I mean that in both the positive and the negative. Disney should be a case study for every business looking to excel in the Widsom Age. With Disney, you get what to do and what not to do, all for one price.
Disney does a great job of creating a compelling experience for an extraordinarily wide group of people. No one is better at making standing in line seem and feel like it’s part of the ride. They make kids comfortable, and they remind adults that we’re still kids.
They tell stories better than anyone.
For those that have not seen the fireworks/light show at Epcot Center, you don’t know what you’re missing. At the end of a hot, hot day; with the kids exhausted; the entire family was swept away with a story told by fire and lights. Watching, I forgot I was tired and was transported to another world. This, I realized, is what keeps people coming back. Clearly, Disney does a lot right.
However, much of my Disney experience this time was perplexing at best, and, too often, disappointing. We spent our first day in the original Disney World – The Magic Kingdom. My kids were excited about all of the Disney characters they would see. After arriving in the park and spotting a few of the characters who had just finished the welcome show, we didn’t see another character. My kids left upset.
We stayed at the Yacht & Beach Club to give the kid’s the full Disney experience. While the accommodations were fine, and the maid service were entertaining , very few of the people in the hotel were ever ‘present.’ I got the distinct feeling that most of the people didn’t particularly enjoy being there, and as a result, a significant amount of the magic was lost.
The Yacht & Beach is famous for its pool. There’s a great water slide, sand to simulate a beach, and a host of other cool features. Our last day, we had to leave for the airport at 1:30pm, so we decided to spend the morning at the pool. We found out that morning that the pool didn’t open until 10am. I, and many others, was quite surprised by this – and the only reason I can figure for opening at 10 instead of 9 is to save money.
Money is probably the most controversial component with Disney. My issue was that I felt totally nickeled and dimed. For example, I was charged $9.95 per day for Internet access. In 2006, Internet access at hotels that charge the nightly rate that I paid, should be free.
The biggest issue, however, is that the experience lacked humanity. As I went through the week, I was constantly reminded of the Four Seasons philosophy – systematize the predictable, so you can humanize the unpredictable. At Disney, everything was manufactured. For things like rides and fireworks (by design, a manufactured process), it works fine; for everything else – it was lacking. Disney’s approach to providing an experience is Industrial Age-based. It relies on control, repetition and pure consistency. It worked for many years. I’m not convinced it works today, and I’m certain that it will not work in the future.
Disney works too hard to control the experience; and as a result, they work hard to control their people. That’s for a consistent experience, but it fails to deliver what Disney used to be best known for – and what any business today needs to succeed in the experience economy – imagination.