Despite having three children and living for nearly 18 months within 100 miles of Disney World, my steadfast resistance to the magnetic pull of the Mega Mouse finally ended last Tuesday.
I have NO idea how many hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent by Disney trying to lure me and mine into their money pit, but until recently Disney’s efforts have fallen upon deaf ears. Not even my minister’s rendition of a trip with his grandchildren could move me. This is probably because in my youth, my parents took our family to each of the Disney destinations in the United States. Needless to say, if my memories of either of the trips had possessed ANY “magical” qualities, I might have been more interested in exposing my children to the experience. However, my memories of our trips to both Disney World and Disney Land are almost without exception of us standing in line for the rides under a blazing hot sun.
The most memorable “standing in line” experience was while waiting for Disney World’s “It’s a Small World” ride. I distinctly remember wanting to take an ice pick to my temple in an effort to remove that @#$% song from my head. As I forced my children (ages 19, 16 and 12) to ride the ride, I was amazed that the music wasn’t nearly as loud or incessant as I had remembered. My forcing of my children to ride the ride is now referred to in our home as “continuing the cycle of abuse.”
So what changed my mind? What made me pull out my credit card and order tickets online?
Was it a television ad? Was it a billboard? Was it an advertisement on a soda can? No, none of the above. It was another mother at a fall baseball game who told me about the “Mickey’s Not So Scary” events that are held on various nights at the park. The words she spoke,
“It was great fun. The lines aren’t long at all and we had a blast last year.”
So I pulled up the website, entered my zip code and within a few minutes I leap frogged over 30 year old memories to purchase tickets for the event and she was right. The lines for the rides weren’t long and we had a blast.
That is the power of word of mouth advertising. Sometimes it’s called a “testimonial.” Either way, it’s powerful stuff.
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