Hard to Beat the Mouse

Well, the mouse did it again! I showed up to the Magic Kingdom today with the family. The day began with sticker shock. The admission fee for a one day pass for four adults and 1 child (defined as 10+ or older at Disney!) came to $366, which the cashier told me with very little difficulty at all. Once my brain stopped yelling, $366?!, I handed over the visa and tried to forget that was a mere $144 away from what I used to make a month as a grad student not so long ago.

It was a perfect day with some clouds, no rain, and not too overrun with rival park goers who we would compete with throughout the day to ride the best rides. For those who have been to the magic kingdom, you will appreciate that our day began by literally walked right into the Haunted Mansion, then over to the Tiki Room, and on to the Jungle Boat cruise in the first hour! The same was true up to about lunch, where we stopped to have a two taco special (which you get to fill on your own at a buffet lade with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and sour cream), which was a real bargain at $29? After our tasty lunch we then went on to more rides, the character parade, and then more rides, the longest of which ended our day after an hour wait to ride the Thunder Mountain Train. Oh, and somewhere along the way we enjoyed a snack of 3 sundaes, a vanilla-chocolate twist, and cup of coffee for a mere $19.00.

In other words, Disney got $400 deep into my wallet. But guess what? It is amazing that when all was said and done the money spent was -- dare I say it -- worth it. The cleanliness of the park, the great rides, the truly accurate wait times quoted for rides, the decent food, the great parades, the highly trained "cast," the characters, the Florida weather, and the countless other tangible and intangible aspects of service, that are far too numerous to mention in this blog all worked together to provide my family and I with an unforgettable experience. One that so impressed me -- again -- that I wanted to share it on today's blog. I guess the message of this post is that customers will pay a higher price for those services that provide them with a memorable (good) experience, like we had today at Disney, even in an economic downturn like the one we are in where Disney is not lowering its prices to stimulate demand for its attractions (except the standard ones that kick in when you spend more days at Walt Disney World).

So, today, let us rededicate ourselves to making sure that our students have a real keen sense on what it means to deliver high quality customer service to their future guests. Paying attention to customer care details will enable our students to grow the top line and the bottom line from those who, like me, felt they got every penny for the money they paid for a day that my family and I are not soon to forget -- at a mere $400!