Results of ESPN weekend/Guest Service Class

This past weekend (March 2-4) Disney's MGM Studios hosted its annual ESPN weekend. The event went extremely well and it was especially successful for Disney's MGM Studios because of the publicty and attention it received from the media and ESPN. Famous athletes such as David Robinson, Charles Tillman, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Adam Vinatieri, and many more. They participated in interviews, live game shows, ESPN shows broadcasted live from MGM Studios, and guests got the oppurtunity to interact and with the athletes and ESPN broadcasters.

Because I have a great interest in hopefully writing for Disney or ESPN one day, this past weekend was a great oppurtunity for me. I was privilaged enough to be able to work for the special events team under the management of Mike Lolli, Disney's Special Events & Production Manager of MGM Studios. Although I didn't get the oppurtunity to directly network with any of the ESPN broadcasters or journalists I was able to become more familiar with their names and personalities. One of my managers for merchandise knows one of the ESPN employees and she said she might be able to introduce me to him in future. Overall, it was a great oppurtunity for me to become familiar with and make my name known in the two major companies I would like to eventually work in.

It was also very interesting to see the way in which Disney hosts special events. They have such a particular yet logical way of treating and transporting celebrities. For example, instead of having a group of body guards move the athletes from place to place and event to event, they had one person from guest relations transport the celebrity to where they needed to go. This particular way was not overwhelming to the guests, but yet kept the athletes safe and accounted for. I thought this was extremely successful for Disney to do and once again something they did that made them stand out from the other companies. They also involved all ages in the event so that the entire family could be a part of the event. For example, they hosted a Motorcade Parade in which the atheletes would ride down Hollywood Boulevard (the main street in MGM) in fancy sport cars and sitting right next to them would be a Disney character such as Mickey Mouse. This way Mom and Dad would be interesting in the parade, and yet the kids would enjoy the event too.

I was also very excited to meet and get autographs from David Robinson, Jim Palmer, Brian McCann, and Charles Tillman. I don't think I have a future career in the NFL, NBA, or MLB but it was a nice oppurtunity all in all.

This past Wednesday ( 3/7) I attended my first Disney's Exploration Series in Guest Service class. This weeks topic was resorts. The class was taught by Mayra Santiago, the head manager of Disney resorts. It was extremely interesting to learn the ways in which Disney designs and themes resorts to cater to certain audiences. For example, Disney resort cast members use a 5 step cycle to advertise and cater to guests. It goes from Anticipation, Welcome, Experience, Farewell, and Savoring. Basically Disney looks for ways to cater to guests as they are anticipating on coming to giving them the best possible guest service even when they leave and are planning their next vacation. The guest service simply doesn't only exist during the vacation; it is also before and after as well. Next week's topic is Park Operations and Guest Service in which we will hear from Park Operations Managers to teach the ways in which guest service can be seen through park operations at Walt Disney World.

Disney Exploration Series in Guest Service Class

This past week I signed up for another free class offered by Disney. This one is a little different from the Communications course I am taking. The official title of it is Exploring Guest Service at the Walt Disney World Resort. The objective of the course is to view how Disney has exceled in its guest service and how we can apply and learn the ways in which they practice it. The class is an 8 week class that meets every Wednesday for 2 hours. We will be looking at guest service through resorts, merchandise, park operations, food and beverage, and Disney profile leaders. One of the best parts of the class is that we will get to meet many different Disney executives. I am extremely excited to do this because I think it will be a great networking oppurtunity for me. My homework for the week consists of going to Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort and Spa. I have to observe the guest, cast and overall resort including the parking lot, porte cochere, lobby and lobby manager, and other leaders in the area, and theming. I am extremely excited to plunge into this course because I think I will be able to take a lot of the information I learn with me.

I also learned another interesting fact about how Disney's MGM Studios strategically places its garbages. All Disney garbages are 22 feet apart. In order to calculate the exact distance, Walt Disney handed guests who first entered Disneyland a piece of candy at the entrance. He would then calculate how many wrappers people left and how far away they were. It turned out that the distance from the distribution to the dropping of the wrapper was an average of 22 feet. Therefore, Disney has garbages every 22 feet from each other.

Disney Communications Course

While doing my Disney internship, I am also taking a course that meets once a week. The name of the course is Disney Communications Course and it meets every Wednesday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. The course is recommeneded by the American Council on Education for 3 semester hours in Communication, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or Management. The professor, Scott Duncan, is retired from the military and his job now is to mainly focus on teaching as Walt Disney World.

There are many learning objectives involved in the course. They are to describe the importance of of communications theory and application to business success, relate basic theories of communication to the Walt Disney World Resort's business and guest service practices, and identify and practice effective communication techniques in a variety of contexts.

There are many different assignments and evaluations. All students are required to do a communication behavior paper, a 1 minute impromptu speech, a 1-2 minute persuasive speech, a 4-5 minute prepared informative speech, a 3-4 minute entertaining speech, a 1-2 minute extemporaneous speech, an informative research paper, and take a final exam. The communication behavior paper is 1-2 page action plan for applying principles to being a more effective communicator. The informative research paper is a 1-2 page research paper on the topic of the Informative Speech.

Overall, I have found the class to be extremely interesting. We presented our first speeches (persuasive speech) on why the Polynesian is the best family resort at Walt Disney World. I think my communication skills are above average and I think this class will help them to become excellent. One of the most interesting topics we've touched upon has been the idea of listening. Many people confuse communication with simply talking, but the other half (listening) is completely forgotten. We also learned that there are many different types of listeners such as active, passive, and controlling.

The name of our text is Communication in a Changing World by Bethami Dobkin and Roger Pace. We are required to read 3 chapters a week from the text. I find that I learn more from attending the classes, but the text is a good supplement to what we've learned. For example, the last chapter we had to read was how to present a speech. Our professor gave us chocolate and required us to present a 2 minute speech on the spot about the chocolate. I learned more from the chocolate demonstration than from reading the textbook.

This is a link to the course's syllabus for more in-depth information.
http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/syllabi/CommunicSyll.pdf

ESPN Weekend

Disney's MGM Studios is currently preparing to host Disney's ESPN Weekend taking place next weekend (March 3-5.) ESPN weekend is basically live telecasts of shows on ESPN such as Sportscenter that are all broadcasted live from MGM Studios. Many different athletes such as David Robinson and Michelle Kwan will be present at the event for question and answer sessions. There will also be many interactive games for guests to play and give them the real sports experience. The following two websites explain the event in a little more detail. I will be able to explain the event in more detail as well once it starts. For right now, Disney's MGM Studios is getting ready and all cast members will be working as best they can to make a good impression of not only the park, but Disney.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/specialEvents?id=ESPNSpecialEventPage&CMP=KNC-WDWEspnTWGoogle&HBX_PK=espn+weekend&HBX_OU=50

http://espntw.secondthought.com/?CMP=BAC-ESPNTW1001

More fun facts about Disney's MGM Studios

Here are some more fun facts that I've learned while participating in the Disney Internship Program.

This gift shop to the left may look like an ordinary MGM movie themed gift shop. The entrance of this shop is designed to look like the guests will be entering a theatre. The name of the theatre is Carthay Circle which was an actual theatre in California. One of Disney's best creations, Snow White, premeired in the Carthay Circle Theatre. This movie is still one of the best selling animated movies of all time. Therefore, since Disney's first animated movie was such a big hit, the Walt Disney World Resort decided to name one of their Disney MGM Studios gift shops after the birthplace of Disney's blockbuster animated movie. This name is extremely significant and not many guests know the significance of its name.

Fun Facts About Disney's MGM Studios

This first picture signifies one of the most interesting facts I've learned about Disney's MGM Studios while working there so far. As guests enter the park they see this tall pole with Mickey Mouse standing on the world on top. Underneath the pole is a small gift shop called the Crossroads. Most guests think this is just a landmark and architecture for them to look at while they enter the park. This is acutally a lightning rod as Orlando, Florida is the lightning capital of the country. Once again a hidden secret kept by Disney in diguising everyday necessities with authentic items from the park.

This second picture may look like the typical Tower of Terror attraction in Disney's MGM Studios. The height of the tower is acutally very significant. They refer to the tower as "one foot under the red light." In other words, in Orlando 200 ft. on a building is the limit for an airplane light to warn airplanes of tall buildings. The Tower of Terror is 199 ft. (one foot under the limit) which was done purposely to avoid having to use an airplane light and destroying the authenticity of the park.

2nd week

This photo is the Careerbuilder.com and Disney commercial that will be aired in the future that I took part in. I am just to the right of the word "your." The name of the campaign is Find Your Dream Job.

I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable not only with my job but working in Disney's MGM Studios. Overall the park layout is pretty simplistic to explain to guests. There are two parts: Sunset Boulevard and the Backlands Area. I am stationed in the Backlands Area.





I have also learned why and how Disney goes above and beyond exceptional customer service. In the Merchandise field specifically Cast Members must not only do the transaction correctly for the customer, but also touch on guest service points. Disney holds their cast members to extremely high standards, but that is essential for such a Fortune 400 company. The customer service skills that I will be learning while working for Disney are one of a kind and will be exceptional to take with me in future occupations.