By Munirah Looi
Recently, during a business trip to the US, we had the opportunity to make a short weekend break and excursion to Disneyland. One of the newest attractions that opened was the Star Wars themes Galaxy’s Edge. It was as advertised. A thrilling Star Wars experience, filled with groundbreaking technology and surprises – it included rides such as the “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.” Sadly, we missed the opening ride “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.” by a few days. Of course for fans, satisfaction was the opportunity to take photos with Chewbacca, Darth Vader & Clone troopers!
For those who rarely drink Coca-cola, they will find it hard to resist the one found in Coke’s new market in the land far, far away – Star Wars – Galaxy’s Edge! It is another sign that Disney is thorough in the entire experience. Consistent in-world, in-character experience is what the customer expects and Disney delivers in spades.
Overall revisiting Disneyland, the experience had been awesome, even more so having worked in Disney World / Disney Institute over 20 years ago. The experience was and is exceptional, then, and now.
This historical context and perspective gives us some advantage in observation and evaluation of how the digital change has taken place. Disney is one of the key pioneers of the Customer Experience or CX. Long before it became a buzzword, employees were told to consistently be in character. Everything in Disney World was orchestrated to give the ultimate customer experience. With that in mind, we could observe how Disney is leveraging digital technologies and platforms to engage, entertain and interact with consumers every day across its theme parks, studio entertainment, interactive media platforms and physical stores.
Disney embraced digital wholeheartedly but far from making it complex, it made it easier for customers to consume their products and services. You can use it for frequent activities like booking rides without waiting in long queues with “fast pass”; reserving dining to mobile food orders; merchandise shopping the selfie or image conscious, now generation – the casts helped take pictures throughout the park – you just need to scan the code on the mobile app and you can download them instantly.
Disney has truly mastered their CX and their track record with successful Digital Experience (DX) Transformation – they have truly and successfully ‘Transformed the Happiest Place on Earth’