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The "spreadsheeting of Walt Disney World" discussed
in my recent article on the price hike for
rental strollers is not, strictly speaking, a new phenomenon. In fact, it goes
way back. In the mid-1990s, a cohort of senior theme park managers at Disneyland
began experimenting with ultra-modern modes of doing business, then in fashion.
The Empowerment Evolution was born, and the idea was to generate efficiencies
by putting the people who do the work in charge. Sounds good, in theory, but in
practice it killed off experienced front-line managers, added layers of useless
middle management, and worst of all, dictated that Disneyland (and later Walt
Disney World) be run like any other company out there. Which is to say, each of
the departments had to be revenue-generating. They'd have to deliver results
that were better each and every quarter. Not reliable. Not steady profits.
increasing profits, all the time.
And the biggest sin of all was that departments and areas were to turned
against each other. What had been cooperation was to be transformed into
competition. I can see the academic side of this argument - competition means
every business unit will be sleeker, meaner, and maximize profits. There should
be little waste! But the practical, boots on the ground side of the equation
meant that the worker experience quickly became undermined, morale plummeted,
and the family feeling just went away.
From the Guest perspective, the notion of
an overall experience went the way of the dodo. If restaurants become mandated
to increase profits every quarter, they start experimenting with operating more
from carts and vendors, and less from the main restaurants. It helps the bottom
line. Who cares that it's hurting the Guest experience!
Still a sea of strollers in
Fantasyland.
They've had this mentality now for over a decade at the parks. People
sometimes ask why Paul Pressler continues to be vilified in articles and
discussion boards, and this attitude of competition rather than cooperation is
one of the main reasons. Paul's legacy lives on, every time a department makes a
decision designed to improve *its own* bottom line without particularly
considering how it impacts the overall day experience for visitors.
As one perceptive reader pointed out to me, the stroller price hikes are
probably more motivated by direct greed than I was claiming. Indeed, at the
Magic Kingdom, where the strollers for sale were nowhere in sight when you rent
a stroller, there is less change in customer behavior than you'll find at Epcot,
where strollers for sale are more visible. People were still renting, just
paying the higher prices.
The Disney Vacation Club is yet
another iteration on the "keep
them here until the vacation is done" philosophy.
So if folks were simply paying more, were they grumbling about it? Assuredly.
The only question is how much is under their breath. How many customers will
gripe privately and just not return next year?
Or, and this is surely what Disney is hoping, how many of them simply shrug
and say to themselves: "well, what choice do we have?" And here is where a
different reader emailed me with a fabulous answer: all of this is by design.
It's all part of the Destination Disney program, which boils down to this: get
them to Disney World and don't let them leave or spend money on anyone else
until the vacation is done. We can get even more specific than that. It boils
down to the Disney's Magical Express (DME) shuttle bus. |
