Mixed feelings on Disney
I see that my library association is having a program on Disney’s customer service at our annual conference in Anaheim, though of course I can’t prove it now that I mention it. We did in 2004 when we were in Orlando. It seems inevitable.
Having just used up the last of my two-day pass, and with the evening fireworks rattling my hotel room windows, I have a couple of thoughts.
The genius of Disney is not in the rides. I grew up near Cedar Point in Ohio, and went to Kings Island as well while I was growing up. Other places have more interesting roller coasters, and all of the major rides and activities are similar to the standard set at almost any theme park. Chicken and egg, I know. I’m just saying, there are a couple of big coasters, a couple of things that mime the experience of an out of control elevator, a log flume ride, a fake rafting trip, cars that run around on a concrete rail.
The genius is in repackaging the dreams you had or have as a kid and selling them to you one $9 hot dog and one $25 souvenir at a time. I know: I bought the $10 lightsaber. After walking around for a couple of hours puzzled by all the hoo-ha over movies that came out while I was a grownup. I happened to wander through Tomorrowland during the Jedi Academy show. Totally cheesy, totally campy, but the cheerful cast and the little kids standing up against Darth Vader totally worked for me on a visceral level. And the genius placement of kiosks and stores surrounding the theater closed the deal. Almost walked away, but my Inner Child would never have forgiven me.
I’m not sure that kind of emotional manipulation is a good model for library public service, at least for a non-profit.
On the other hand, having the people checking bags separated from the people taking your tickets by about fifty yards–so you get two modest lines instead of one monster–is pretty clever. Likewise the Illusion of Progress during the long, long line for Space Mountain, with strategically placed kinks in the line to make you feel like you’re closer to the end when, in fact, it’s still half an hour.
Just need to figure out how to create kinks during the wait for our proxy server to finish loading our database pages.
Tags: ala, customer service, design, disney, star wars
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