While I wasn’t lucky enough to be in Philadelphia on Wednesday, I did get up at six-thirty a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) to fire up the Evinrude and tune in to the live webcast of all the fun. I don’t know where they found “Evelyn” but for my two scheckles, she was much more over the top than any other speaker from the floor. So much for those obsessive Disney fans there was so much worry about… For the record, I don’t own a single share of Disney stock. Instead I have a Disneyland Premium Annual Pass. After all the fluff the various divisions put on (during which I fell asleep at least three times), I decided that I would offer a few points of my own today. Based on that AP, here we go! With Disneyland’s 50th anniversary coming next year, I am today offering ten, count ’em, ten points, eh suggestions or things that I would do for next year if I were King, or Michael Eisner, to make that event all the more special. As Mel Brooks so well put it in his “History of the World – Part I”: “It’s good to be the King!” In no particular order… 1. Between January 3, 2005 and the May event kick-off, I would return to the practice of Disneyland being closed on Monday and Tuesday. Now with the notable exceptions of holidays and Easter week, I think this would do a lot of good. Give the folks who bring us the magic a chance to have those two days a week to get an extra jump on all of the projects they need to have ready. Without those annoying Guests to get in their way they could be all the more productive, couldn’t they? And with DCA across the way, that park can be open and fully staffed to take up the slack for those two days. Bigger numbers make managers look better right? Let’s go for it! Frankly, this makes much more sense to me than the erection of all the more walls, scaffolding and long term eyesores from now until next May. They’ll be there anyway, but those two extra days each week will help make things sparkle all the more… 2. Bring back the Tahitian Terrace, Golden Horseshoe Revue and the Festival of Fools shows for a limited time run during the 2005 summer and fall. Yes, I know that these live shows have enormous costs associated with them. But what the heck? You’re only fifty once, or so they tell me! These shows are examples of the kind of thing that made a trip to the Park all the more special. Walt loved them and so did we! And sell commemorative merchandise for all of them. Synergy people, synergy! Reservations for them? Now that makes sense, heck even a fancy Fast Pass machine could be used to keep things down to a dull roar and ensure that as many guests as possible could see a show during a day. Now there’s an idea! Fast Passes for Fantasmic? Why not? Anything that can be done to keep the camping out for this show down works for me. 3. More live entertainment. More of the Dapper Dans, the Keystone Cops, the Steel Drum Band, the Royal Street Bachelors, the Side Street Strutters and on and on and on… Keep the guests happy while they’re standing in line for ninety minutes or more. Yes, I know these folks aren’t cheap, but again synergy! Sell CD’s of these folks all over. Acts like these do that extra bit towards making a day at the Park all the more magical. 4. Make more area specific merchandise for sale in the Park. Again, synergy people! Special pins, t-shirts, buttons, the whole enchilada should be there, ready for willing people to buy. Cater to the fact that people have different areas of the park that they all love and enjoy. For some, it’s New Orleans Square, for other’s it’s Toontown. Don’t overlook the chance to cater, eh sell to those interests. Don’t let any unspent excess cash leave the Park. 5. Quality merchandise is one heck of a lot easier to sell than schlock! Let’s have a logo for this event that looks like we put all of our talent behind it. If there is one failure of past events, it is the poor quality of designs. Again 50 only comes along once, so make it so special that every guest will want to have something that has the logo on it to share or show off to friends and family. Don’t recycle. Again, cheap design equals poor sales. 6. Don’t be afraid to dip into the past. After all, this is what nostalgia and the big five-oh are all about. The key to marketing this event is recognition of the past fifty years. That means recognizing the people who made this happen, too! Go out of your way to make the Cast feel that they made this possible. That must be the Cast of yesterday, today and tomorrow. If it can be done within a reasonable budget, remind Guests of the Disneyland of the past and show them the Disneyland of the future. Be realistic. (That doesn’t mean dropping millions into the black hole that is the Submarine lagoon.) Remember all the promises that were never kept? The Disney Decade comes to mind… 7. Costuming! Bring back area specific costumes. Costumes cost money no matter what. Spend a few extra bucks to make them like they were in days gone by. And afterwards, make use your Disney Auctions to sell off the best remaining pieces. There is enough of a black market or eBay sales of them as it is, so why not go legit with them? By the end of the event, you will have well amortized the cost, so selling them is all gravy, right? 8. Welcome the media! Want the word to get out about all of this? Get your PR flacks to see to it that media outlets are there every day during the event. Invite television stations, newspapers, internet sites, anything you can think of to get the word out. During the year, you should milk them for all the coverage you can get. Don’t let the event kick-off be the last and only time you court these folks all year long. 9. Bring back the Gift-Giver Extraordinaire! Sure, you’re having a party! So give gifts! Every guest should get something to celebrate. Could be a box of popcorn or a Disney cruise for the family. Make every guest feel special every day, and this goes a long way towards that. Recall the mythical family of four and what they spent for that day in the Park? A few free ice-creams or sodas helps them in more ways than you can imagine. 10. Remember the secret to success! Word of mouth. Walt Disney got this one right. The tale is told of how souvenir books were to be sold in the early days showing Disneyland in all it’s glory. Some folks wanted to see these as a profit center. Yet, Walt insisted that they be priced only slightly more than actual cost. He knew that if Guests took these home, they would share with friends and family, creating more Guest visits. And what do you know? It worked! There might be a small lesson there. So there you go. Not much, but it’s what I would do if I were King! Now we can only hope that similar thinking has or is taking place in Anaheim and Burbank.
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Ruminations
