Dear Lee,
I have written to you before, I have read your book, I am a huge Disney Fan and I clearly as it was yesterday remember my very first trip to Disney. Honestly, I don’t remember the year, my age, what car we drove to get there – but I remember the important stuff. We were visiting grandparents in Jacksonville, FL (1972, 1973) and we drove from Jacksonville to Disney World. Our reservation was at Fort Wilderness and we were renting a cabin or camper. When we arrived (and this is vague) my father was told there was a problem with the cabin and we needed to go to the Contemporary Hotel. My father was given directions and off we went. Yes, I do remember some mumbling taking place in the front seat of the car – parents were not very happy.
When we arrived at the Contemporary Hotel we were told that the camper we were going to be staying in had some heating and AC issues and we would be staying at the hotel. I will say, I don’t think my parents fully understood what was happening and me being around 7 or 8 I didn’t either. My mom had a car full of food to put in the cabin frige and she made a little stink about that and the very nice lady told us that our breakfast would be included in our stay at the hotel and right then and there it happened at the very moment the monorail system came through the hotel and we three were standing there with our wide eyes and open mouths. Then my father said – is the going to cost more? The very nice person behind the counter said no, mom and dad smiled and said – thank you very much what is our room number. Even in the 70’s Disney got it. Disney thought of themselves more than “just an amusement park”. They knew they were more and that is what they wanted to promote and they did and people followed, people visited, people come back.
Does your organization get it?…Don’t get bored with the basics….Lee