By Lybbi Hebel, PR & Social Media Specialist
This time next week, we will have just wrapped up our 2025 Gifted Travel Network Conference at the Conrad Orlando, and I will (hopefully) already be elbow deep in a bag of cotton candy while waiting in line for Space Mountain after Professional Lybbi clocks out and Leisure Lybbi spends a few days at Walt Disney World.
I am well aware that not everyone loves Disney like I do. I participated in the Disney College Program and spent seven months working at EPCOT in my early twenties. Long before that, I grew up about an hour away from Orlando, and my family went often enough that (as my mom loves to remind me) I would whine about how I didn’t want to spend my Saturday going to the parks AGAIN. But that was a long time ago, and as I tell my parents often, they are more than welcome to take me to Disney anytime they want.
I do want to clarify – there are a lot of different things under the Disney umbrella, but my deep love for them is pretty specific to their physical properties. I’ve never been a history person but learning about all the effort and detail that went into building their parks, hotels, ships, etc. is endlessly fascinating to me.
In honor of the 2025 GTN Conference being in Orlando, I felt that this was my big moment to talk about how much there is to learn from Disney Parks about providing luxury-level service to your travel clients. However, I am very aware that if I’m not careful, I will end up with a full book rather than a blog article. And so, I won’t focus on all the tiny details that work together to form an immersive story for visitors, or how no one will ever appreciate, or even notice, all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating a seamless guest experience. (Though, if you ever want to hear more about these things, come find me for a chat.)
For this week’s article, I’m zeroing in on something that I believe anyone would benefit from implementing in their business, and that Disney’s guests will never actually see or hear about.
On the very first day of my Disney College Program orientation, we were introduced to their “Four Keys,” AKA the four main pillars that make up the Disney guest experience. They drilled this into us all throughout our training period, and over a decade later I can still rattle them off in my sleep.
Safety. Courtesy. Show. Efficiency.
Now, having a set of core values for service is not that revolutionary. I’ve worked at other places that have a similar list of items that are unique to their brand experience, and I bet you have as well. But there is one thing that sets the Four Keys apart that I don’t really see anywhere else – hierarchy. The Four Keys go in that exact order because they aren’t just a list, but a whole operational system. While each key is important, they don’t hold equal weight, and each key is only relevant if it satisfies the ones that come before it.
For example, I worked in merchandise, and we were encouraged during downtime to interact with guests and play with the merchandise, which isn’t as efficient as having us just focus on cleaning and stocking, but adds to the show aspect.
Or at other parks like Magic Kingdom, there have been times when the crowd levels were high and they would open up a backstage path to exit so people didn’t all have to swarm down Main Street USA, which ruined the show aspect a bit but was a courtesy to guests so they could leave more quickly and easily.
Safety is at the very front because that is first and foremost the most crucial of the keys, and in a situation where safety is a concern for anyone in the parks, it cancels out the other three.
When I worked at EPCOT. I was in merchandise and had a few different locations in my rotation, including the two outdoor kiosks on the bridge to the World Showcase. There was one day when a bad thunderstorm hit the area, and as you may know, these Florida storms can go from zero to downpour very quickly. The rule for storms was that, when instructed, the kiosks had to be emptied of any guests and the panels had to be rolled down so that everything in the shop, as well as the cast member working there, could be safe and secure until the weather improved.
On this particular day, there was a father and young son in my kiosk who were not thrilled when I told them I needed them to brave the storm and dash to the nearest indoor location so I could close my kiosk. I tried to be sympathetic and explain that it was a safety matter and I would have to call security if they didn’t leave, and the dad just kept yelling at me. I picked up the phone to call for help, and it was only the son panicking that I was “calling the cops on them” that finally made the dad crankily grab his kid and run for it.
I may have ruined their vacation, but Disney is okay with that as long as I was acting in the name of following safety protocol.
I share this because I think that everyone who is running a client-centric business should have their own pillars that are ranked by importance. It’s not just to maintain a consistent client experience, but also to protect you and anyone on your team. Sometimes you will have to stand up to a difficult client and say “no,” whether it’s because they are asking something truly impossible or because they are not treating you with the respect you deserve.
When setting expectations for client relationships, decide what things are crucial in these interactions and rank them by priority. Is it about trust? Personal touch? Listening? Expertise? Advocacy?
Whatever your Keys end up being, make sure you (and anyone on your team) not only know and understand them, but understand the “why” behind each one and the reason why it’s more or less important than the others.
