Disney Service; A Double Edged Sword


8We love Disney and are pretty entrenched in the Disney community. One thing we hear stated over and over again is that Disney service is the bar. We pay a premium for Disney and experiences associated with Disney because the level of service is the standard for the industry.


Disney Cruise Line is set apart from competition due to the cleanliness of the ships and the superior level of service that we all expect and quite frankly, due to the price tag, demand which is completely understandable.

So, where does the line get drawn between the level of service that is the Disney standard of excellence that is expected and the pixie dust moments that Disney sprinkles around to certain guests?

96Disney Parks are set apart from other theme parks by the above and beyond attitudes of the castmembers and the magic created within the property lines.

But, what happens when that level of service is met with a gesture from the company to spread that extra pixie dust to a few?

65What tends to happen is that guests hear about the pixie dust moments that happen for a few and come to expect that same service and treatment to be extended to them as well. Through the power of social media, guests want to share the moments that Disney went above and beyond to add to their vacation and create that extra magic.

So, when a trip isn’t met with extra gestures from The Walt Disney Company, the guests become disappointed that Disney didn’t extend those same magical moments to them even though those aren’t the standard and should never be an expectation.

Food for thought: If Disney extended extra magical moments to every guest, they wouldn’t be extra, they would be the standard and then what?

Let’s talk about some examples:


11A family is headed to Walt Disney World and one of the family members suffers from a terminal illness. The family is unexpetedly gifted access to an exclusive event at one of the theme parks to show the family some additional love from The Walt Disney Company and to make the trip extra memorable for the whole family.

44When they return home, they post about their trip and graciously thank Disney for this exciting and unexpected gesture. Other families see the post and have similar situations; when they check into the resort they are sure to let castmembers know of the situation but there is no grand gesture in return and leave Disney disappointed even though their trip was magical, the service was spectacular and the family had a great time. They are disappointed because another family suffering similar plight was shown extra pixie dust but they weren’t.


2A family has just booked their first Disney cruise and joins a Facebook group to learn more about Disney Cruise Line. A woman writes on the Facebook page that her and her husband just returned from their cruise celebrating their ten year wedding anniversary and that their stateroom host had put up surprise special decorations for the couple to celebrate.

The family gets excited. Their cruise is on their 10th anniversary as well. When they embark on the cruise, they continue to look for that extra touch and although their cruise was a very positive and memorable experience, there was no pixie dust and they feel jilted.


54These are just a couple of the examples of setting yourself and your crew up for failure. Pixie dust is magical and but if Disney pixie dusted everyone it wouldn’t  be special, it would be expected. Over 52 million people visit Walt Disney World each year; thousands of them are celebrating, thousands more are honoring or taking a final trip to make memories with a family member.

Making memories doesn’t have to be reliant on Disney gifting us with something extra. Walt Disney created this amazing, magical place where families could come together friends could laugh and forget about their woes.

32Disney is a place where people can come together and everyone is welcome and everyone is special and every guest has the chance to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Whether it is your first or fiftieth trip to Walt Disney World, take time to appreicate where you are and who you are with and the magic that surrounds you.

It isn’t Disney’s job to pixie dust you or your family regardless of your circumstance. So, when they do it, when those families or people receive extra magical moments or gestures, be happy for those people and the magic that was gifted to them instead of hoping and expecting that or something similar to happen to you.

Just a little food for thought.



Leave a Reply


WordPress.com Logo


Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s