The Most Magical Place on Earth
A dusting of inspiration for the little things we often overlook.
By Jeff Barton, President, Founder, Oyster Creative Co.
I recently took a week-long vacation to Disney with my family and did so while being able to completely break away from everything happening back in the office. No small feat for me and it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing talent and chemistry of everyone on the crew at Oyster Creative! A huge thank you to the team for doing what they do so well.
The last time I was at Disney I was in high school, and to date myself a bit, cell phones didn’t really exist — unless you had one of those huge bricks that needed to be plugged into your car. Not much of a mobile phone and definitely not a smart phone. Back then, Disney was an exploration — you got your paper map when you arrived and plotted out the rides and experiences in logical order based on proximity and where you wanted to start.
The magic of that Disney experience was that your journey was up to you to discover. Yes, it was limited by the number of experiences you could fit into the course of a day and some of what you experienced or missed — was based mostly on luck. Maybe a line was a 30 minute wait, maybe it was two hours, but you had arrived at your destination and if you wanted that specific experience the wait ahead was non-negotiable. You just hoped you weren’t compromising your time now for other experiences later in the day.
Fast forward to now. I’m an adult (or at least that’s what they tell me) along with my wife Shelley and we’re in charge of creating the best possible experience for our two kids at the parks — Auggie (6) and Conley (10), no pressure, I mean they won’t remember this trip for years to come right?!
After booking our trip to Disney I was immediately put into their automated email drip campaigns. First message from Disney… DOWNLOAD their mobile app in order to get the most out of your Disney trip! Followed by a plethora of reasons to create your profile and all the ways the app would make life easier both before and during our trip.
Blah! One big reason for taking a vacation was to lock my phone in a safe and unplug from technology. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about the message they were sending me. After all, how often does a huge company with many moving parts actually follow up on the promise of making your life easier?
Then the magic happened…
First, we did actually download the app, created a profile for everyone in the family, and then decided which parks we wanted to go to on what day, all standard stuff. But then it unlocked a world I wasn’t expecting, you can select the types of experiences you are most interested in, then select from a list they filter for you based on your criteria which generate the Top 10 experiences you really want at each park… Now we’re getting somewhere. Oh yeah, it also lets you also start reserving many of the amenities that I didn’t get to experience on my last visit like sit down restaurants. NOTE: You’ll want to sit down more than you want to eat.
But that was just the getting to know each other phase of the app, beyond helping you filter down to the things you want most when you get to the parks, it truly does allow you to get the most out of your trip and takes a lot of the worry out. Food can be ordered, purchased and scheduled to be picked up once you’re done with your ride. Seriously, you can order your food while you’re waiting in line!
You can pick your lightning lane for the ride you want at 7 am. Then pick another at 9 am, after you ride your first ride and then again every two hours. That’s a TON of line skipping, you may have to walk a bit more back and forth, but being able to enjoy other things while you are waiting for your ride time is so much better than standing in line for hours. Also, the app will show you with pretty good accuracy how long wait times are for all experiences. So you can choose which line is worth waiting in line. I was absolutely amazed at how much friction their technology took out of the experience. It made me wonder how many more things in my life, especially at work, can be automated to run smoothly without the need to manually control. We’ll get to more of that in a bit.
It’s absolutely amazing how technology done right can actually augment an experience rather than bog it down and create extra steps.
Side note: this should be experience in marketing too. Deliver value for your customer that helps them quickly and they will be much more likely to come back to you for a sales pitch as a much more willing participant.
Second, this is Disney so you expect the unexpected. For example the idea of waiting in a queue line takes on a different life compared to a standard amusement park. In fact, a few times we used the lightning lane I was a little jealous of the people that went through the full line. Why? Disney does a great job of entertaining you while you wait. You can read facts, hear stories, and be immersed in environments that make you feel like a toy, an engineer, a kid, an alien, you name it. Oh yeah, and you can always look for hidden Mickeys… That was my boy’s favorite. Hint, most that they found weren’t all that “Hidden.”
The experience of being so well entertained in a world when so much of life has been whittled down to pure efficiency and maximum profit was a breath of fresh air. So often we are put into an environment where the company or people in charge are only thinking… We got’em, they are already here, or they have already paid — we don’t need to work on making that experience better. Just provide the bare minimum, they will be happy, and even come back again!
Having all these positive unexpected experiences, or surprises and delights as we call them at Oyster, made me question the goal of efficiency that most companies strive for. Ultimately rushing people through experiences and products that companies “think” they want based on an understanding that has been ingrained in us and train us to accept that we shouldn’t expect anything more than the bare minimum.
In reality what we all crave are moments that make you say, “Wow, this is so much better than I expected!” “Why has no one else delivered X, Y, or Z experience to me like this before?”
“That person knew exactly what I needed, why has nobody ever offered that before?” When you’re in those moments, it makes so much more sense than what you expected. It makes you question everything! So after the hundredth moment of “Wow, I didn’t expect that!” I started to think more and more about every small interaction we create at Oyster Creative and I have in my day to day life — experiences, people, products, and service. How can I look at them in a new way that will make them better and in the most enjoyable way possible? Maybe that is speed for some things, or cost for another, but quality going that extra 10% or more can’t be beat.
Quality by definition is: the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.
The challenge is that this definition means that quality is truly in the eye of the beholder. And, the only way to make anyone appreciate quality is to deliver more than just the experience they expect.
That brings me to the power of a great idea and there are a lot of them at Disney. It’s easy to tell their entire culture is built around looking at every moment and asking themselves, how can we make this experience better or more engaging? When it comes to a great idea in the non-Disney world the excuse is that there isn’t the budget to bring it to life. But, as my business partner Dan and I consistently say, a great idea can always scale down or up. Also, often what isn’t thought about is the return on delivering that extra 10%. You may get 30% more return on your investment and that is a no-brainer, not a cost you want to cut.
To build on the concept of bringing great ideas to life I’ve really been working to take a new perspective on the way we at Oyster Creative work, deliver ideas, and bring them to life. I always prefer to bring a great idea to life in a small way than for it to never see the light of day. After all, if you can show one person in the course of a busy day that there are those who care and are working to make their life easier it’s a win-win for everyone. It’s truly the little moments that make a big difference over the course of your interactions with a company and their brand.
The question we need to ask ourselves a bit more often is, Is there any way to make this experience more enjoyable? I’m sure there are plenty of things Disney is currently working to make more enjoyable and just like all of us will never be done striving for — perfection is by definition unattainable. But, by asking such an open ended question that applies to every aspect of our lives. i.e. Standing in a queue line for a ride, doing chores around the house, sending emails, running status calls, making sure everyone has the information they need, creating email campaigns or advertisements, you name it. When you look at those moments and make them the best they can be, everyone’s stress goes down, their experiences are more fulfilling, and the most positive result is that we’re happier, do even better at everything we do and increase the amount we’re able to accomplish.
Don’t get me wrong, my experience at Disney wasn’t perfect, in fact there was hardly anywhere to sit and rest when that was all I needed to do. And while their app truly helped us get the most out of our trip there were still plenty of things we learned or even missed along the way simply because the information we needed wasn’t easily available. For instance when the buses actually start running to get you to the parks… It wasn’t when we thought — but, that’s not the point.
It’s really easy to look at the few negative experiences and complain. It can be a challenge to actually look at all the great experiences and enjoy them, especially when you’re in the middle of it all and exhausted. Even more important is that it is downright hard to look at the everyday aspects of life and work then work to make them more enjoyable for everyone that comes in contact with them. Those that do that type of work will reap the rewards and I believe live a much more fulfilling life. And who doesn’t want that as a life goal.
So the moral of my Disney adventure? Focus on all the little things and sprinkle a little more magic dust on them to make life a little more enjoyable with everything you touch.
