The Walt Disney World® Resort Difference
By Magic Maker® Kyle Froman
One of our most vivid trips to Walt Disney World® Resort was in December of 2003. It was my Honeymoon with my new bride (so it had better be vivid right?!). We were embarking on our first Disney Cruise Line® voyage, to be followed by a short stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort. We had been planning our trip for almost a year and our anticipation, and expectations were extremely high.
The first several days of our honeymoon were absolutely fantastic; they were everything we had dreamt of, and more. However, as our sailing aboard Disney Cruise Line® drew to a close, an unexpected visitor decided to pay us a visit, Mr. Flu. Unfortunately Mr. Flu is no respecter of newlyweds or honeymoons.
These were hardly the high expectations we had in planning our trip. Regardless, the honeymoon must go on!
After muscling through a very tough night we arrived back at Port Canaveral and were ready to disembark and try our land legs out again, making our way to Disney’s Polynesian Resort. The check-in process was pleasant, however I was completely miserable. I can only imagine what the Cast Member assisting us thought about our honeymoon comedy duo, it had to appear as if our honeymoon was pure drudgery.
With all of the joy a newlywed could muster, I drug our bags out of the lobby and to the building we were staying in, mustering just enough strength to get us into the door I plopped onto the bed where I intended to stay until my body told me otherwise. After a few minutes, which felt like an eternity, there was a knock at the door.
On the other side of the door was a Cast Member, bearing a covered room service tray. Our first assumption was that the Cast Member had the wrong room, and now we were being inconvenienced by their error. The Cast Member was persistent that it was for us, and left it on the small table in our room to carry on with his next delivery.
Upon uncovering the tray, we find a piping hot bowl of chicken noodle soup, along with a get well soon card from the Cast Member who checked us in to our room. We did not tell this Cast Member I was sick, she just knew, and she went beyond any reasonable act of service to make sure our trip exceeded any expectation we could ever have.
This is the Walt Disney World® Resort difference.
You see, Walt Disney World® Resort doesn’t employ staff members or even team members, they employ Cast Members. By their very name they get into the ‘production’ of creating a vacation experience that is unlike any other.
The Walt Disney World® Resort difference is found in its Cast Members and their care of our investment is why our family will return year, after year, after year.
