My story

Walt died before this castle was built. But his team didn’t quit.

Everybody has a story. Here’s mine.

It was July and we were enjoying our vacation at Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Resort, one of the original hotels that opened along with Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

After a day at one of the water parks, we returned to our room without dinner plans. Most of our time at the parks was planned including our dining. But not this day.

I went to the concierge desk where I was waived over by Kacy, a Disney College Program intern from Washington, DC. He asked how he could help me. Knowing it was the last minute, I explained our dilemma and asked if he could assist us with making a dinner reservation. His two-word response spoke volumes.

“Of course.”

In other words, why would I think otherwise? It was his job to help me and that’s what he was going to do.

From that moment, I resolved to learn all I could about the Disney way of service.

Those two words led to the discovery of many books written about customer service and the Disney way of creating magic. Specifically, one book was by Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney introduced me to the Disney Institute, the professional training arm of Disney.

I have worked in many jobs during my life where the focus was on the customer. I have been blessed to work for leaders and innovators.

I hope to do the same.

David