Emilie delivers a powerful Magic Moment at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Photo: Offbeat Training LLC

In our last snap, we learned that connecting with guests emotionally is at the heart of Disney’s’ customer service focus and we explored how Disney connects emotionally with its guests through Touch Point Tools. In this article, we explore another tool in Disney’s arsenal: Magic Moments. 

The goal of a Magic Moment is to surprise and delight the guest with an unexpected experience that makes them feel special. Some events are pre-planned. Others are individualized and spontaneous. Using the strategy of representative guests for instance, individual families and guests are invited to participate in various daily events: including opening ceremonies, parades, family of the day celebrations, flag retreats (especially for Military, police, and fire fighters). The participation is both thrilling to the guests featured and a way for other guests to feel like they were being represented.

But not all Magic Moments are pre-planned. Some, when the right circumstances arise, are Individualized.

• A guest wandering the Disney hotel hallways in the early morning hours told a manager that he was in food service and was amazed at the way Disney managed to serve large quantities of food at high quality levels. The manager then led the man on a surprise kitchen tour.
• A young boy told the Jammitors (an Epcot band of janitor drummers playing trash cans) that he was a drummer too. Paulie, the leader of the group, told the boy to return for their next set. At that set, the boy was made an honorary Jammitor, given a set of drumsticks, and got to jam with the band.
• An Animal Programs cast member at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge noticed a couple of guests watching her conduct training with a bird. The cast member, Emilie, approached the guests, told them when she would return for additional trainings, and entertained them over the next two days with her training activities and explanations.
• And internally, my fellow leaders and I delivered several magical moments for our team members, including one time at Epcot’s Land pavilion when we cooked early morning pancakes for the crew.

These, and many more, experiences have delivered memorable Disney World moments. You may not, in your world, have a theme park at your disposal, but you can certainly find  ways to surprise and delight a customer or co-worker with a little  extra magic. All it takes is thoughtful initiative.

In our next article, we will share a special Magic Moment example: one where a tragic moment was transformed into a magic moment through Disney cast member action.

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In V5I15, we will share another Disney trick for emotional connections: Magic Moments.