What is "Disney"

[disneyplanningdad]

I've noticed a few different threads where things were described as "disney" or "un-Disney" or giving a "Disney feeling." Iguess this is sort of the same as asking what makes disney special but here goes:

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF "DISNEY" WHEN IT IS USED TO DESCRIBE A RESTAURANT, ATTRACTION RESORT, ETC.?

 

[DisneyTN]

If it is a restaurant, shop, resort etc on Disney property or owned by Disney...it is described as "Disney".

"Non-Disney" usually refers to the same category (theme-parks, travel, leisure, resorts, etc) but off-property or competing with Disney. (Universal, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, etc).

 

[disneyplanningdad]

Sorry. I wasn't too clear. Let me try again.

What qualities make something belong in Disney as opposed to other parks?

 

[DisneyTN]

For me personally, it's the detail. I've been to a handful of theme-parks all over the country. Nobody seems to really create the atmosphere the way Disney does. For instance, I grew up near Downtown Atlanta. We would visit Six Flags Over Georgia habitually. Granted, the rides were great and it had some pretty decent shows, but the place really wasn't an "escape" the way Disney is; more like concrete & steel. You ride some of SFOG's rides, and you're overlooking the parking-lot, or viewing I-20. Not really a step out of reality.
Disney on the other hand, pushes the envelope with its' theming & detail. Just my two-cents.

 

[zackiedawg]

Attention to detail, amazing theming, friendliness, safeness, cleanliness, happiness, organization, fantasy, all-age design and accomodation, freedom from -isms, and a place that allows folks to drop the walls, shields, roles, masks, and attitudes they use in the outside world.

No place for me can mix elements of all of those things the way Disney can...mostly because no other place was founded by and inspired by the peerless vision of one particular man whose name the parks bear.

It says something that I am a person who has no interest in theme parks...I don't go to Universal or Busch Gardens despite both being within the same general distance to me...yet I go to Disney World 5 or 6 times a year.

I don't care for action rides, I don't care for carnival atmospheres, I don't find crowded theme parks to feel friendly, worldly, and accepting, I don't notice much in the way of intricate details and design at theme parks, and I don't find the employees quite as enthuisastic, happy, friendly, understanding, or well trained for the most part. Except at Disney.

That doesn't mean that there are no faults at Disney. They can get the theming wrong every once in a while. Some visitors to the parks might occasionally break the mold and be rude, judgemental, or hateful. Some cast members might be grumpy or disinterested. But these things are much more rare at Disney than any other place I've ever been. And even when it misses on one count, it hits on all other counts, and that more than makes up for the occasional shortcoming.

 

[DisGal520]

It is a challenge to narrow down responses to this topic to a phrase or two.

Here is Disney:
When returning to the DTD WOD store to look for a golf shirt I'd seen there 4 days previously I could not find it and enlisted the help of a CM. He searched the store using my description of the shirt. When it was not readily found he suggested I may have seen it in the sports store at DTD. I said no because I had not even been in that store. I thanked him and left WOD.

About 10 minutes later I am in a totally different store and I hear someone calling out "miss - is this the shirt???" I look around and there is the WOD CM waving the golf shirt on a hanger. I was speechless. He had continued to look for it, found one and then tracked through two more stores to find me. We walked back to his store to see if they had it in my BIL's size. Unfortunately no. He got on the computer and found the size at a WL store and said they would hold it for me. When I said I could not go to WL because we were leaving for the airport in an hour, he asked for my mailing address and said he would mail it to me. I dug out my VISA card and handed it to him and he said - we will not be charging you since we could not find it when you originally asked. Again I was stunned.

About 4 days after I returned home, the shirt arrived. I wrote a letter to his manager about how conscientious he was to continue searching for me after I left the store and how considerate he and Disney were to send me the shirt. For the investment of that one shirt, Disney has reaped the benefits from my telling this story to many, many people who ask me about Disney service. Its the word of mouth from us guests on Disboards and to our other friends that attracts people to Disney and keeps so many of us returning.

here is NOT Disney:
I'm in a local large department store recently and asked a clerk if they had a certain sweater in my size in red. Barely glancing up the clerk responded, "everything we have should be out". She could have been less interested. I said to my companion 'how UN-Disney'.


I have a lot of other personal and wonderful Disney definitions, and will watch for what others post in this thread.

 

[DisneyTN]

Where theme-park creativity is concerned, Paradise Pier at DCA would be the prime example of something on Disney property which is by far not Disney. As a matter of fact, the entire themed area represents everything Walt hated about amusement parks & fairs which inspired him to create Disneyland as something new & different.