Storytelling by Disney

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Walt Disney Company's Coverage Of The D23 Expo 2022

Storytelling by Disney

Josh D'Amaro is one of the frontrunners to be the next CEO of The Walt Disney World Company (1). I actually met Mr. D'Amaro on one of my first days off. He was just walking through one the of theme parks, and was a super nice guy. He was happy to take a selfie with me and asked how I liked the college program. Back in August, he gave a presentation at the INBOUND conference where he talked about Disney's six steps for storytelling. Cast members had a link to watch through the employee portal, but the video is not publicly available. However, Forbes author Megan duBois wrote a nice article summarizing the speech, and I'd like to quickly walk through the six steps D'Amaro described (2).

1. Emotional Connection. I have seen this first hand as a cast member on Big Thunder Mountain. Parents will tell their kids about their first time riding the ride, or being in the park. I get to see kids that start off the ride pretty scared come off the ride elated and ready to ride again. D'Amaro said much the same in his speech, that the experience needs to be emotion and "amazing."

2. Innovation. He referenced Tiana's Bayou adventure and the next-generation Audio-Animatronics that are almost lifelike. I've been on the ride multiple times (it's also in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom), and the animatronics have come a long way from the Abraham Lincoln model the debuted at the 1964 World's Fair by Walt himself (3). 

3. Relatability. D'Amaro talks about the 180,000 cast members employed in his "Disney Experiences" division, which includes theme park cast members like me. He explained that photos, social media, and feeling part of the experience are all part of the storytelling magic. duBois gave an example with a link to this instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/Csy1ezlore3/

4. Attention to Detail. D'Amaro talked about how important every little detail is in theme parks and storytelling. He brought some new BDX droids on state (4) and showed off how the little details matter. Our attraction leaders emphasize this point too, and cast members are held to a high standard for costume, safety, and guest interactions.

5. Courage. He talked about "taking big swings at ideas even if they aren't quite sure how they are going to pull them off." I think the Star Wars themed-hotel is actually an example of this, they were exploring a brand new idea. Even though it didn't pay off this time, they hopefully learned enough to make the concept better and try it again.

6. Boundless Thinking. He talked about always moving forward and looking ahead. One of my favorite Walt Disney quotes is "There’s really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward – opening up new doors and doing new things – because we’re curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We’re always exploring and experimenting. At WED, we call it Imagineering – the blending of creative imagination with technical know-how" (5). I do hope Disney keeps moving forward and trying new things! 

Topic: Multi-Channel Media Marketing, Integration of Technology

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