Exploring Guest Service

My Exploring Guest Service class was an 8 week seminar held on Wednesday mornings from 11:00-1:00! Here is a little recap of what we learned about each week!

Week 1: Introduction
We had an overview of our course and talked about the important of guest service to the entire Disney Company. We learned about guest service soft skills and how to incorporate them in our daily operations.

Week 2: Park Operations
We had managers from Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom that shared the tasks and challenges of incorporating guest service and maintaining operational excellence throughout the entire line of park operations, including Attractions, Main Entrance, Vacation Planning, Parking, Custodial, and many other operational fields.

Week 3: Merchandise
Our guest speaker this week was the Merchandise Communications Manager, Steven Miller, whose articles I have been reading on the Disney Parks Blog for years now! He shared with us how the innovation of merchandise impacts our guests and the creative content that lies behind the merchandise we sell.

Week 4: Food and Beverage
We had two restaurant Guest Service Managers that talked about how Disney incorporates great service into our dining options. Then we got to create our own items in an Iron Chef competition to learn about food cost.

Week 5: Guest Relations
Walt Disney himself established the Guest Relations department, and today we got to hear from two Guest Relations hostesses about the heritage behind GR and what the role entails. A lot of aspects of Vacation Planning overlap with the responsibilities of Guest Relations so this week was especially interesting to me, and Guest Relations has always been a dream job of mine!

Week 6: Entertainment
Today we had an Entertainment manager from Disney's Hollywood Studios share how Disney provides the best entertainment in the world and how guest service plays a part in this important aspect of our company.

Week 7: Resort Operations [Animal Kingdom Lodge field experience]
We got to learn all about the hospitality world through touring Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We learned about Resort Operations from two resort managers and got to tour a beautiful Disney Vacation Club Grand Villa (3 bedroom suite) at Kidani Village.

Week 8: Closing Session
We de-briefed on the entirety of the experience and lessons from the course, and wrapped up our seminars by earning our Mouseters Degree!

My Mouseters Degree and Perfect Attendance Award

Out of the 4 exploration seminars that I took throughout my program, the Guest Service class was by far my favorite. Disney is world-renowned for it's incredible guest service, and getting to see first hand how our Cast Members work towards serving our guests so well was amazing. Seeing how we incorporate guest service techniques and approaches into every line of business was invaluable and I loved getting to learn more about the different areas of our company.