One of my favorite examples of premium service comes from the Disney World Theme Parks. Most of my childhood was spent in Florida. I grew up loving Disney World, and I’m not alone in my appreciation for those magical playgrounds. Orlando, Florida, the home of Disney World Theme Parks, receives more vacation travelers than any city in the world, in large part because of Disney World. There are other theme parks all over the world, but no one else even comes close to Disney’s parks, measured just about any way you choose.
Many factors go into making the Disney magic happen. One of the most remarkable factors in their magical experience is something you don’t see: trash. With over a million guests per park (on a slow day!), there is a lot of trash to deal with. But next time you’re there, look around and see if you can find a single piece of trash on the ground. And if you do find one, keep your eye on it and see how quickly someone comes along to sweep it up.
Cleanliness is one of Disney’s service standards.
Rather than rely on motivating the team to be clean, Disney has built a system to ensure they have cleanliness all day, every day. Some of the success can be attributed to hard work. There are more than 120,000 Disney employees dedicated to upkeep at all the Orlando parks and resorts. But they don’t rely on pure labor alone.
They have done their own research and set up a robust system of cleanliness. Specifically, they did a study to see how far away a trash can could be before a guest would feel like it was too far and instead just “accidentally” drop their trash at their feet. The answer was twenty-seven feet. (For the record, I’m not sure I like what that says about humanity!)
They could have complained about the sloppy habits. They could have put up “Don’t Mess with Disney!” signs to motivate people to be more thoughtful. They could have added this to all the safety messages around the park.
In fact, wherever you are in a Disney Theme Park (unless you are in a queue for a ride), you are never more than twenty-six feet away from a trash can.
I can personally confirm that this systemic approach works. I’ve not only verified this at multiple Disney theme parks but have also installed this system in my house. I have four children, and like all children, they generate a lot of trash. My wife and I have lectured them on cleanliness a lot, but after learning about the Disney system for trash management, I decided to change my approach at home. I bought more trash cans and placed them all throughout my house.
There are two entrances to our kitchen, and we had one large trash can; now, we have one large one at each entrance. I placed trash cans next to every nightstand and also near every door in my children’s bedrooms. We have three small trash cans in our living room alone, all discreetly in arm’s reach so that my kids don’t even have to walk to the other side of the room to throw things away.
You could just get upset when you see trash lying around, or you can build a system to make cleaning easier.