Inside the Magic Kingdom : Seven Keys to Disney's Success [Hardcover]

Tom Connellan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1997

Now an insider takes you inside the incredible Disney service culture and presents simple, powerful concepts in a fun, memorable way.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Those who worry that corporations have become excessively big and powerful must still admit that firms such as McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and Disney have got at least one thing right. They know how to keep the customer satisfied and coming back for more! Connellan, a senior principal in a consulting firm specializing in customer loyalty and coauthor of Sustaining Knock Your Socks Off Service (1993), holds up Disney in particular as exemplary. Here he re-creates a fictional visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom to bring to life examples of the customer service concepts Disney practices. Connellan was neither encouraged nor authorized by Disney management to write this book, but he did attend a Disney University seminar in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, to learn more about the "Disney approach to leadership, people management, [and] service quality." David Rouse

From the Inside Flap

Disney is recognized and admired around the world. The company's remarkable success comes from its ability to keep customers coming back again and again. Almost 70 percent of Magic Kingdom guests are return visitors.

Now, the principles that drive the culture and phenomenal success of Disney are disclosed in this fun, easy-to-read book. Based on interviews and discussions with past and present Disney employees, it reveals seven key lessons that can be applied in any company and provides powerful examples that will help employees at any level become more customer focused. You'll learn:

How Disney creates and sustains one of the most powerful corporate cultures ever
Whos the real competition for Disney and your company
How to get all employees to understand and believe that they play an important role
The type of feedback that is even more damaging than punishment and how to avoid this common trap
The special way Disney cast members learn teamwork and how you can put that into practice at your company

You'll also learn many insider secrets that will make you a hero to your children and a fun traveling companion on your next trip to the Magic Kingdom!

Some of the lessons youll take from Disney's powerful customer service culture include:

--How to track customer satisfaction like Tinkerbell and get real-time data and high response rates (page 70)
--How to use powerful methods like Disney's "Guest Service Fanatic" cards and the "Spirit of Disney Award" to recognize, celebrate, and reward quality work (pages 87 and 90)
--How to best respond to a question like "What time does the 3:00 parade start?" (page 126)
--How to model your selection and training on such successful programs as "Traditions," "Wish upon a Star," and "We've Come a Long Way, Mickey" (page 139)
--How to create a feeling of partnership with outside vendors so they become part of your team (page 163)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Peak Performance; 1 edition (March 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885167237
• ISBN-13: 978-1885167231
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Business & Investing > Biography & History > Company Profiles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Management Seminar at Walt Disney World, May 15, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside the Magic Kingdom : Seven Keys to Disney's Success (Hardcover)

A number of years ago, I had the pleasure of leading a group of our clients to do a site visit at Walt Disney World to study the best practices employed there. During that session, I was struck that people who had been at Disney World as customers many times had failed to appreciate the management lessons of how the results are achieved.

This wonderful book gives you an experience very similar to the one that my clients and I had on this visit. You will find out about the incredible attention to detail that provides the potential for a flawless customer experience, the fabulous underground city beneath the Magic Kingdom, the remarkable recruitment and training methods used to produce the show with such a fine cast, and the principles of personal responsibility that make it all work.

All of this is summarized into 7 simple lessons that you will have an easy time remembering. Each is rooted in Disney examples that will stick with you, making good hooks for remembering the principles.

But this is not just another In Praise of Disney book. The author spends considerable time taking the principles and suggesting how they should be applied in other kinds of businesses, both large and small. This is done both through having 5 executives taking the tour, each from their own perspective, but also by providing some guidance at the end about how to use the lessons.

The format of the book is somewhere between management fable and analyzed case study. Since it is neither and both, you will probably find this to be pleasant reading. I know I did.

Enjoy and apply! Then give yourself a trip to Disney World to do advanced study as a reward! Disney offers many seminars and educational opportunities to extend the lessons offered in this book. How to sign up for these is outlined in the book

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down?, February 22, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside the Magic Kingdom : Seven Keys to Disney's Success (Hardcover)

If you've ever visited Disneyworld, you probably didn't know that as you stood gazing at the quaint replica Italian square, Morrocan kasbah or the castle of the Magic Kingdom, you were actually standing on the roof of an enormous building. Underneath your feet (which, by the way are being scanned by video cameras; a Disney security guard can find a lost child by the description of his shoes) is a hive of activity with "cast members" performing their roles with exceptional training and dedication.

Hidden doors, passageways and stairs are everywhere in Disneyworld--if you know where to look past the eye-teasing designs of the buildings. Behind the scenes a lot is going on, and that's what this book is about.

The book takes the somewhat hokey form of fictional tour given to a stuffy old guy who finally is won over to the Disney way. Despite the whimsical and not-exactly-business-textbook tone, the book does contain the principles which have made Disney a billion-dollar powerhouse. The Disney principles outlined in this book for customer service have allowed the company to achieve a consistent level of performance and quality that is unsurpassed. When have you ever heard a person return from the seemingly manditory pilgrimage to Disneyworld that they were "disappointed?" Here's a telling anecdote from a friend of mine that points to Disney's dedication to customer satisfaction; as they were leaving the park, their little daughter was crying. She didn't get to see Minnie Mouse amongst the roving costumed cartoon characters that day. Her cries were heard by watchful cast members and a Minnie Mouse was dispatched by radio to meet with her young fan before she left. It was unthinkable that anyone should leave Disneyworld disappointed.

If you read this book, and then get a chance to go to Disneyworld, you can watch the principles in action. If you are really lucky and get a VIP behind the scenes tour, you will never look at Disney the same way again. From crowd control to security, to marketing, to customer satisfaction, they have produced a product worth studying for success in your business endeavors. Some people find the fictional story a bit childish, but other find it makes the dry business reading enjoyable. Either way, the principles of customer satisfaction and how to achieve it are clearly outlined here and worth your while to know.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simple yet powerful ideas, July 23, 2000

By 

R. Mohr (Troy, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside the Magic Kingdom : Seven Keys to Disney's Success (Hardcover)

The Walt Disney Company is famous for having an organization that is dedicated to customer service and quality of product. The author of this book has attempted to break down the culture and philosophy of Disney into seven easily understood lessons. Since I have not worked for Disney, I cannot judge how well the author did in his understanding of the Disney organization's culture and techniques, however, the seven lessons that he presents certainly make sense for any business environment.

I am always amazed at how studies of successful businesses reveal ideas that hardly seem earth shattering because they are so basic and appear to be simple common sense. However, these concepts need to be repeated over and over again. One such idea is to know your customers and keep them the focus of everything that you are doing. But in the business world of today, these common sense ideas seem to get lost in rush to make a business successful, which is odd because these are the very ideas that will make a business succeed.

This book was enjoyable to read and the lessons are presented to the reader in a series of entertaining and relaxed stories. After reading this book I felt a renewed commitment to the common sense ideas presented in this book. I recommend this book to anyone in business that would like to renew his or her own commitment to solid business concepts.