If you follow the Disney brand then you’ll know there’s no shortage of reviews on the parks, products, movies, and Disney leadership. As of late, the primary trend I’ve noticed is whether or not the theme parks have lost their “magic”.
Before I dive in further, let’s pause and define “magic”. I see a lot of folks claiming the magic is gone but what does that actually mean? As I thought about our recent experience, I turned to the Ron Kaufman’s framework, Uplifting Service. Kaufman outlines that there are 6 levels of customer service – Criminal, Basic, Expected, Desired, Surprising, and Unbelievable. It’s in the Unbelievable stage that delight happens. For the sake of this review, I’m going to frame Disney “magic” in the Unbelievable category; where delight continues to show up when you visit one of the Disney theme parks or resorts.
If you know our family then you know we’re a little Disney obsessed. Before kids, we would visit Walt Disney World (the Florida one) up to 3 times a year. We did it all – parks from sun up to sun down, RunDisney marathon weekends, Christmas parties…all of it. Our first trip with kids was last year as Disney World (WDW) still had pandemic protocols in place which included visitor capacity caps and spaced lines for the rides. There was no comparison to previous years as it was an abbreviated configuration for WDW and we knew that. Understandably, we gave that trip, and Disney as a whole, a lot of grace. It still ended up being a great trip that our daughter has fond memories of.
For 2022, we set out to catch the Not So Scary Halloween Party, a candy grab sprinkled throughout the Magic Kingdom (MK). Our plans stretched from Saturday to Friday, giving us 5 solid days in the WDW parks with one “slow” day at the resort. Knowing that WDW had returned to “normal” operating procedures, we landed with high expectations based on our previous pre-pandemic visits.
To say we were disappointed is an understatement.
Our stay was split between the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. As DVC members (a story for a different time), we typically stay at our home resort, the Grand Floridian, but this time we decided to split the visit so our daughter could experience the re-themed Moana rooms at the Polynesian. During check-in, we did the usual Magic Band (MB) setup with the resort Cast Member (CM) where they load your credit card, park tix and other access items on to the band you wear during your visit. Phones and cards can now be used to avoid the MB experience but we always get a kick out of using the bands. Expecting our bands to be good to go just as they always are, we were negatively hit with some unwanted flaws – my wife’s MB wouldn’t open the door to our Polynesian room and at every park, my band failed to get me into the parks. Come to find out, the CM that checked us in got our park tickets mixed up so none of our MBs were tied to the correct tickets. This problem plagued us the whole trip. This MB mix-up typically meant we had to find a supervisor at the park entrance to sort out the details and we were given a card, or media as they say, to carry with us for re-entry. So the MBs were rendered useless and we had to keep up with more unwanted items. Looking at Kaufam’s scale above, I’d rank this as being far from delightful. Let’s go with Basic as Criminal seems too harsh.
During our trips, we typically visit each park at least twice, leveraging every bit of the park hopper price we can. While our 6 month old kept us from going as hard as we normally do, we did visit all of the parks. The “magic” was definitely missing from the Magic Kingdom (MK). Our 3-year-old, who had been counting every inch of growth for this trip, was excited she could finally ride Big Thunder Mountain. After getting a rider switch pass for mom, a CM measured my daughter at the line entry which she passed with flying colors. Big Thunder requires you to be at least 40” tall and my daughter, being a tall toddler, comes in around 42” with shoes on. So off into the line we went and about mid way through the line, another CM measured her again. And she passed, again. The excitement started to build for me and my daughter. After roughly a 1 hour wait in line, we bellied up to the final gate, awaiting our turn to board Big Thunder Mountain. Before we could jump on, a CM asked if they could measure her…for a third time. Sure, why not? As my daughter stood tall, the Cast Member pushed her finger between my daughters head and the measuring stick – too short! WTF? After a brief conversation with another CM, my daughter was told she could not ride Big Thunder. Devastation and tears set in. I asked why their measuring stick was so different than the two we had previously encountered. Nothing. The CM told us to step through the next car and proceed to the exit. After a 1-hour wait with a 3-year-old, I was livid, as you imagine! I dropped my daughter off with mom and proceeded to find a supervisor or Lead. I pleaded my case that after waiting for as long as we did, their system failed us. I asked several questions and each time, I was met with “we’ll give you 2 free Lightning Lane (LL) passes to any ride in the Magic Kingdom for the remainder of the day.” Is that right? It’s nearly 9p by this point, my kids are exhausted, and the CM is essentially offering us 2 hours to ride “any ride we want.” After asking to see his phone to confirm he did indeed check everything, we proceeded to Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, another ride my daughter was definitely tall enough for – it’s 38” for those wondering. When trying to enter the LL, a CM said our Magic Bands weren’t available for the ride. Again, WTF? Yep, it appears the Big Thunder Lead Cast Member didn’t have the magic he thought he did. Another devastating moment for my daughter and another quick “sorry” from the Cast Member. Where the hell is the magic? At this point, we decided to call it a day and retreated back to the Polynesian. This experience was Criminal. Yeah, I’ll say it and it may sound harsh but come on. Nobody attempted to go even above and beyond the normal course of business. They stayed quiet, overpromised a bunch of bullshit, and hid behind their oval name badge.
I could go on and on about other encounters we had that were lacking any sort of “magic” but I’ll save you the pain. It is worth noting that we spoke with 3 Cast Members, at length, about their employment with Disney. We were curious to see how the Happiest Place on Earth was treating their CMs. We heard one terrifying theme: Disney used COVID to make more money and are continuing to double down on their profit-generating ways. The Cast Members we spoke to ranged from 6 months of tenure to >4 years so we were shocked to hear the old CMs share the same sentiments as the newer CMs. Scary.
We did, however, experience some “Surprising” and “Desired” moments at Disney but I’m sad to report, we did not have any magical, or Unbelievable moments. My overall synopsis is that Disney is just like any other large-scale business – if they can make money, they will, and if you want magic, you will have to pay heavy prices to get it. In their current state, I would place Disney alongside the airline industry where things like Genie+ are akin to baggage fees and VIP tours align to First Class. What was once an incredible experience, and albeit an expensive one, is now just another thing you can buy. Disney is a commodity. Sad face.
