Scuttlebutt From the Columbia

Down below the in the Galleys of the Columbia at Disneyland is what is known as a Scuttlebutt. The name comes from a butt (cask) which has been "scuttled" by making a hole so that water could be served to the sailors. As they hung around this nautical "water cooler" they would exchange stories and gossip. In time the term "scuttlebutt" became a slang term for offering such rumors.

Contrast that with being upstairs at the helm or up in the crows nest. Surely the view is better up there. Are you providing leadership from up on deck, or scuttlebutt from below? Are you looking out for new possibilities, for new horizons? or are you looking for what's going wrong?

Coke, Pepsi, Batteries & Disney

Do you like Coke or Pepsi?

I suppose we have our preferences. Many of you may remember that at one time you could find both Coke and Pepsi products at the parks. There was Coke Corner, but there was also Pepsi-Cola's Golden Horseshoe Review. The park was divided in half by brand. For whatever reason, that worked. Why it doesn't work now, I don't quite understand.

I do know a little something about park sponsorships and so forth. When you give a retailer exclusivity to sell their merchandise, you get something in return. That can include promotional material, advertising, and discounted product. I suppose when Disney went to Coke exclusively, they got a terrific deal. Unfortunately, that didn't result in any savings to the Guest, because buying a coke at Disney is probably one of the most expensive places to buy it. I certainly can get it for a whole lot less at the grocery store. And that one sits right next to a Pepsi display.

I'm mentioning this in relationship to my blog yesterday that answered the question as to why Lithium batteries were not available. It turns out that they had a new sponsor with Ray-O-Vac, and that they didn't carry those kinds of batteries. They don't sell those batteries, and you have to walk off property to get them. Still, I fail to see what the benefit is to the Guest, the employee, the other sponsor like Kodak, or to even Disney's bottom line. Wouldn't it be better to sell both brands of batteries?

Why You Can't Find Lithium Batteries at Disneyland

David Koenig passed on a response from a Cast Member inside Disneyland. It's an answer to the question of why you can't find batteries. Here's the response:

I was reading an article today on MousePlanet by Jeff Kober “Brother, Can You Spare Some Batteries?” and it hit a chord. I feel his frustration, as well as for a lot of guests. Merchandise CMs familiar with this complaint say Energizer batteries is no longer the “official battery of the Resort.” I do not know exactly what happened, but Ray-O-Vac has taken their place. And they don’t make lithium AA batteries. Their batteries are cheaper, but they don’t last as long as lithiums. Merchandise CMs have passed on the Guests’ complaints, but it has fallen on deaf ears. A Merchandise manager was quoted as saying, “there’s a difference?” to an inquiring guest. The shortage of lithium AA batteries in the resort will continue until whatever contract Disney signed with Ray-O-Vac ends. And don’t be surprised if WDW is in the same boat.

There is little that is supporting the Guest experience here--internally or externally. Consider the following:

1. The customer is not getting the product they need.

2. Whatever savings in batteries is probably going to Disney's bottom line, not the customers.

3. Cast Members are disengaged having to tell Guests they do not get the product they need because of poor decisions on top.

4. Kodak as a sponsor of the store and it's products don't look better for this.

5. I think that even Ray-O-Vac would better benefit by selling a competitor's product when they can't offer that same product themselves. Surely this isn't benefiting anyone.

6. Disney is losing sales for not selling lithium batteries.

Does anyone win under this arrangement?

Can't Find Merchandise at Disney

Last week I published an article on MousePlanet about not being able to find Lithium batteries at Disneyland. Since then I've had a number of readers write me and comment about how they couldn't find certain merchandise at the parks as well. One attendee of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party commented how much of all of the merchandise for those events have been sold out. Here's what another reader wrote:

"I was there last week with my family and we couldn't purchase a set of Adult Classic Mickey Ears from WDW! They have zero on property. My wife and I were sent to 21 different locations on property to get them and not a pair to be found. When I finally inquired with the top manageer at World of Disney Store Downtown he said they are going thru a computer upgrade for inventory and will be running out of more than just Mickey Ears. He said it so nonchalantly and like it is no big deal. We are talking about Mickey Ears, the reason we are here on vacation, Mickey Mouse!

What has been your experience? Have you found it challenging to find something? Let us know.

Finding Light in Fowler's Harbor

At Disneyland, head to Fowler's Harbor and you'll find a sign for a Chandlery. In time a chandlery is became sort of a 7/11 convenience store to ships coming into the harbor. But originally, they were providers to the ships in fuel and lanterns for lighting the ship.

There is a quote that says that "Ships are safe in harbors, but that's not what ships are for." When your ship is in harbor, where do you go to get the light you need that gives you the confidence to again set sail? How do you provide that light to others

Immortal Lesson #1: Be Brave

In August of 1969 our family went to Disneyland. The Haunted Mansion was open and the lines were long. I was seven at the time. I had just braved the Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time, though truth be told, I experienced most of it with my head in my mother's lap. Notwithstanding, the look of that skeleton telling me "Dead Men Tell No Tales" followed by a fall down a waterfall frightened me to no end.

So perhaps it's not surprising if I confess that come nightfall when my older brothers were begging me to go with them into the mansion, I was not the least interested. To that end, I stayed outside the mansion with my mom and waited for them to return. They all came back and said, "It's not that scary!" But at seven I thought I knew otherwise. I thought it was scary.

I would be ten before I returned the summer of 1972. My brothers were right. It wasn't that scary. In fact, I loved it, and I went home with a souvenir LP of the experience.

Immortal Lesson #1: Be Brave.

Immortal Lesson #2: Creative Compromise

During the early years of the Haunted Mansion's development, many imagineers participated in crafting ideas. Many of those ideas were developed independent of one another. After Walt's death the challenge became a two-sided debate of whether the mansion should be scary of funny. Claude Coat's work provided a sort of sinister, dark experience. Marc Davis took from his success with Pirates of the Caribbean and a redo on the Jungle Cruise to create a montage of funny experiences.

Tony Baxter in Jason Surrell's Haunted Mansion book explains that the compromise ended up creating a sort of three act play. One that played out the creepiness of Claude Coats in the first half, the comedy of the Davis's graveyard scenes in the third half and a marriage of the two during the ballroom and the attic scenes.

Initially, guest review when the Haunted Mansion opened was very mixed. For many baby boomers in their teenage years, they were disappointed it wasn't scarier. The images that had come. Still, the details of the Mansion and the experiences therein have carried this "E-Ticket" attraction to this day as being one of the most popular in all of Disneydom. Certainly, creative compromise carried the day.

Immortal Lesson #2: Sometimes you have to use a little creative compromise. See where other great ideas can be married to yours.