So many things at Walt Disney World create magic for millions of guests. And yet there are those less than magical moments. I listened to a vlogcaster go on for an hour about everything wrong at Universal and Disney. Indeed, that individual not to be named seems really negative in most of his videos. But I have to admit there are a handful of things that could be improved upon, and I’m using those things to not only highlight, but to also remind us what is working right, or what could be done easily to make it right. We talk about one particular problem that affects all four parks and then pay attention to issues at three of the four Walt Disney World Parks–Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Join us for 5 frustrations at Walt Disney World–and 5 things they’re doing or could be doing right.

This podcast is produced by myself and Performance Journeys, which offers training, development and consultant support to organizations big and small and entrepreneurs new and established. With a wide variety of resources and long-time in-the-trench experience, we offer workshops, online learning, coaching and more to organizations that want to build their teams, raise organizational excellence, improve leadership and create customer loyalty. Check us out at PerformanceJourneys.com.

As with our podcast, be sure to check out this web site, Disney Insights where we offer key points, photos, videos, links and more. In today’s discussion, we will refer to several charts found on Disney Insights. Note that YouTube carries now carries our podcasts. So please subscribe to our Disney Insights YouTube page as it will be more a part of our social media strategy moving forward. We appreciate any positive ratings, reviews or referrals you make to others.

The following are my notes for this podcast:

Live Streamers

• Social media and Disney (or our entire world at large) has evolved over the years, and I’ve seen that evolution.
• What I’ve observed from most streamers is that it is annoying throughout the park. It’s invasive in the queue. It’s experience destroying and sometimes unsafe on rides.
• Walt once said: “Disneyland is the show.” He generally didn’t want anything else competing with the park.
• Tokyo Disney has largely limited live streaming and vlogging within their parks.
• It’s a slippery slope when you depend on social media to make a living.

By the way, in the future I would like to do meet ups in the parks, and would like to do some form of live blog cast, probably from my office. Let me know if that’s something you would enjoy as well.

Food & Beverage at Magic Kingdom

• People complain about the food at Magic Kingdom. And they have lots of good reasons to do so. But there are some amazing choices if you know where to look–and if you get there before it closes.
• On an average night at Magic Kingdom, nothing much savory stays opens until the park closes, unless you have a reservation to dine. There are good choices in dining–maybe not enough–but I like Jungle Navigation Company for unique choices. I like Plaza Restaurant for good comfort food choices. We recently even tried Tony’s for the first time in the last couple of years. The food wasn’t the best Italian ever, but it wasn’t the same as Olive Garden, and we all had a fun time on the patio terrace.
• But when it comes to counter service options, things get really messy.
• Golden Oak Outpost Breakfast is amazing with Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich and Banana-Carmel Beignets. It has beignets the rest of the day plus hot honey chicken strips and sweet potato fries. But it doesn’t open until 9:30 am and it closes at 8:30 pm.
• Gaston’s has a Ham and Gruyère Sandwich and an amazing Creme Brûlée Croissant. But it closes at 7:00 pm.
• Chesire Cafe Closes with its Pepper Jack Pretzel and Chesire Cat Tails closes at 7:00
• Friar’s Nook offers a Mac and Cheese Hand Pie but it closest 5:00 pm
• Astrofizz does stay open until 10, and has amazing Cherry Cola Churros. Aunti Gravity’s has some great choices as well, but there is nothing savory

• Energy Bytes (with a Y) at Tron Lightcycle/Run had amazing choices like digital dumplings and a sweet strawberry IceOform, but reduced its offering over time and has since gone off the grid. Not open at this time.
• Cosmic closes at 10. Pinocchio’s closes at 9. Pecos Bills closes at 8:30. It had an interesting Coca-Cola Cherry Braised Pork Tamale, now it’s only a sandwich. And they had a very cool Sweet Corn Mousse in the shape of an ear of corn, but they halved the portion and raised the price. Harbor closes at 8. None of them have much of anything interesting to offer.
• Only Casey’s and Main Street Bakery (Starbucks) is open after the park closes for savory foods .

Speaking of Studios, let me mention that the removal of steak fries at ABC Commissary is not good. Guests are complaining that they’re stuck with McDonald’s like fries as they are in the rest of the parks.

Prime Time Behavior

• Three things that make you absolutely love Prime Time Cafe.
  • First, the setting is so cool with its 50’s style kitchens with its Formica tables and vinyl aluminum chairs. Tchachkis decorate the hand-crafted wood cabinetry. It’s one of the funnest settings.
  • Second, the food is a TV dinner at its best. Aunt Liz’s golden fried chicken competes with Mom’s old-fashioned Sunday pot roast and Cousin Megan’s traditional meatloaf. There’s cornbread, onion rings, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. Dessert offers warm apple pie a la mode and strawberry shortcake. And then there is the peanut butter and jelly shakes! This is heaven.
  • Third, you get to watch TV! And it’s a crazy assemble of black and white sitcoms from the 1950s. So what could go wrong?
• I got a text from a friend asking if she could talk to me sometime soon. She mentioned having lunch at Prime Time Cafe, and I immediately knew what the problem was before we even got on the phone. When I heard her story, which included her bringing her daughter and friend to the restaurant, it ended up being a bullying session where she was picked on for being on her mobile device (she was trying to make sure her travel arrangements were in place as she was heading to the airport afterwards). She tried to be a good sport about the “playful” behavior of the Cast Member as she was asked to stand to the wall and place a napkin between her nose and the wall. To say my friend was totally shocked by how she was treated is not enough. She left having a wonderful time at Walt Disney World completely upset that she could have such an upsetting experience–one intentionally delivered.

• My own experience with this goes back to 1996 when I was the first to do breakfast at 50’s Prime Time Cafe with business guests on a regular basis. Our own test of the experience made us hire an actress to play a motherly host role, because the cast did not have the emotional intelligence to see how they came across in their role.
• I spoke at length about this in a 2021 podcast, Prime Time Cafe Catastrophe. Why do Cast Members think the only performance theme they can play is one of a dysfunctional family members? Not all Cast Members are like this at the restaurant, but some need some serious therapy–and need to be moved out of their roles in this restaurant.
• The opposite of this is The Tower of Terror, where Cast Members play an incredibly creepy role as bellhops, but they do it in a way that is truly unique and fascinating, not like they’re supposed to be doing jump scares for Halloween Horror Nights.
• Management needs to wake up to the fact that this is kind of dysfunctional behavior seldom works. Perhaps with a frat group of guys, but otherwise no. They need to re-examine their training, how they monitor performance, and even possibly re-look at hiring practices for this role.

Closing at Magic Kingdom

• The first great thing about Magic Kingdom at night is that they’ve added the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. I love this parade and most recently the addition of Peter Pan and Wendy flying. So cool.
• This is followed by “Happily Ever After” and is also amazingly cool.
• I would have happily closed out the park and waited until 30 minutes afterwards to get in line for a monorail. But my colleagues needed to get home sooner.
• it took us well over an hour after reviewing Buzz Lightyear (which was after the fireworks) to get out of the park and to TTC. My two colleagues then got stuck in traffic for several hours on I-4 because of accidents. That part wasn’t Disney’s fault. But still, there needs to be more options to get to TTC.
• The answer is simple–Add buses between MK and TTC. It’s been done before. 3-4 busses suffice. Designate one of the pick up spots and then offer the option.

Closing at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom is simply beautiful at night. Pandora is very cool. Tree of Life Nighttime Awakenings is powerful. Christmas lights during winter is beautiful. Disney tried this before Covid when they added Rivers of Light. It unfortunately was a miss. It had beautiful elements–ships, Tiffany-sculpted animals, fountains in the shape of Lilly pads, but the cinematic viewing on the water screen was live action and darker than it would have been if it had utilized only animated sequences. It needs to compete with three other amazing shows in other parks.

• But Disney’s biggest challenge wasn’t the show. It was they couldn’t make enough food & beverage per cap at night. This is problematic as two of their biggest sit down restaurants were Yak & Yeti and Rainforest Cafe, both owned by Landry, not by Disney. That left Tiffins and Tusker House. Not enough.
• Disney has a new chance with the Tropical Americas land and its addition of not only Encanto and Indiana Jones but the new Esperanza Character Carousel It’s where people are going to want to stay late, and crowds will still be huge come sundown.
• With these additions, Disney could create something like a Carousel of Color and bring the Disney animals featured in the carousel into a show on the water but done in animated form.
• An opportunity would be to take Restaurantasourus and make it a sit down restaurant in the evening while maintaining it as a counter service during the day. This would be similar to what they did with Be Our Guest. They could also try creating some specialized dessert party that gave them a better viewing area of the show. And a new restaurant altogether in the parks would not be bad either.
• Every park needs an emotional farewell. Disney’s Animal Kingdom cuts that opportunity short–and often leaves guests exiting the park in the heat or thunderstorms of the day when they could be leaving a world full of magic and wonder.

Note We hoped this week for Annual Passholder or general guest previews so we could present a review of the new Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. As of recording, I’m still waiting. And I’m traveling next week out of town. But hold on, we hope to have a really solid, and very fun review. And we hope in May to also share all the other new openings coming to include Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with the Muppets, Bluey over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Mandolorian and Grogu on Smugger’s Run and eventually the new Magic of Disney Animation experience.

Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization

If you like this kind of nerdy insight on all things Disney, then check out my newest offering. For over a year I’ve been capturing and sharing stories of Disneyland, while creating a new online tool for you to explore all of them in one place. It’s called Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization and it’s an interactive, multimedia experience. This is truly designed for those who are seeking to find new ideas that will guide you to 

1. Provide Individual & Organizational Leadership Excellence
2. Create Employee Engagement & a Team Culture
3. Offer a Superior Customer Experience

Not only does the content through examples, stories and models play to these themes, but each section provides “Souvenirs for You and Your Organization”. They are reflective questions that may be used to better the work or operation you may be lead or be part of. And in that instance, it is more of a business focus. In fact, many may utilize funding set aside in their organization for training and development to purchase this volume.

Click here to order Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization. It’s also available on the show notes page of our podcast. Whether you’re on a comfy sofa at home or on Main Street, U.S.A. this experience allows you to navigate through all nine lands to explore some 100 locations where you can find Disney insights that will be inspire and guide you and your organization. 

Books From Your Host at Disney Insights

Also, if you’re looking to grab something today, go to Amazon where you will find four of my books available for purchase. Three explore Disney at length, and one explores world class businesses to include Disney. Check them out!

My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! 

Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. 

Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence.

Thanks for joining us for this podcast. Know that as in the title of my organization, Performance Journeys, it’s as much about the journey as it is about performance. Find the second star to the right, and keep going straight on till you reach it. Follow the compass of your heart, and know that with a smile and a song, a little faith, effort and pixie dust, your dreams can come true. After all, if we can dream it, we can do it. Until next time, bright suns, we’ll see you real soon!