I'm afraid what kind of traffic this post might bring, but I had such an amazing experience this last week I just have to share. Work sent me to Ontario California for the week where we taught Camtasia and SnagIt at TechEd for practically 72 hours (it felt like it). By Wednesday night we were all beat. Some of the group went to a baseball game, but a couple of us didn't have tickets and really wanted to go to Disneyland.
So, with no real plan and no desire to spend $66.00 to get in for a couple hours, we wandered to Downtown Disney, which is just shops and restaurants near the park entrance. We kept wandering until we were right up to the gates separating Disneyland and California Adventure. We took some pictures and looked around, and it just killed us that we were so close but weren't going to go in. So we started heading out and as we exited I teased the nice middle-aged lady at the gate that she should let us in. She laughed and said she would if she could, but have we ever heard of a "Disneyland shopping pass?" No, do tell...
The Disneyland shopping pass lets you in for one hour. Enough time to look around the shops or (if you're four young adults) ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Indian Jones. They take your name and (I think) photo copy your ID, and let you in. It was great, but it left us with a moral decision; could we just stay? What would happen? Would Disney send us a bill or banish us from the 'happiest place on earth'? Rather than find out, we exited the park (a little late because we ran into the parade) and checked in at the ticket booth like we were suppose to.
While the ticket lady was crossing our name off the list, I looked at her and asked, "we were having such a wonderful time, could we go back in for another hour and have dinner?" Her boss was right behind her and heard me; they both started laughing. "You just went in the park for an hour, came back, and now you're asking to go back in again?" they asked. I'm not completely sure what was so funny about it, but they took it well, and I guess we were sincere enough that the ticket lady said, "okay, I'll walk you in."
Amazing! I don't know how Disney does it, but they train their people well and give them power to do very kind things; like let a bunch of almost-30-year-olds into the park free. I will never forget that night. The park was practically empty, we walked on all sorts of great rides, ate expensive Disneyland food, bought souvenirs we wouldn't normally, and sang Disney's praises. What a great experience.
Recently Chris Anderson posted an article in Wired magazine about free. I'm not sure Disney would go for this, but wouldn't it be neat if you could get in free, buy stuff in the park and validate your entry pass? I don't know if it would bring the same joy as we experienced; especially if you knew you had to buy stuff to earn your admission, but I do know that getting something for free is a powerful experience.
So, somewhere between genius business models and out-right miracles, there is this Disneyland experience. And, really, it was amazing customers service and training that did it. The end result is a night we will never forget where four more people became Disney nuts that will support the franchise more than ever.