A visit to Orlando, FL, USA-site of the ITE 2004 Annual Meeting and Exhibit-is not complete without a trip to the area's theme parks, including the Magic Kingdom® and Epcot® at Walt Disney World® and Universal's Islands of Adventure(TM). These parks provide impressive, high quality entertainment in a clean and friendly environment. They also provide impressive transportation services. Clearly, theme parks are different from traditional public agency transportation systems; however, theme parks can provide lessons for transportation operations.
THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS at Walt Disney Worlds® Magic Kingdom® and Universals Islands of Adventure(TM) in Orlando, FE, USA, embody some of the key characteristics of 21st-century operations-particularly in the areas of customer service, use of real-time information and a systems approach. These characteristics are executed through parking management, transit management, traveler information and demand management.
PARKING MANAGEMENT
Walt Disney World begins to manage the travel experience as soon as visitors enter the parking lot. The goal is to get visitors into the park as efficiently as possible and in a good mood. Guide signs with Mickey Mouse ears (no, they do not meet the standards) convey that the Disney experience is about to begin.
Friendly staff first direct visitors to parking areas named for key Disney characters and, then, to the next available parking spaces. There is no circling and no searching for parking spaces. This efficient system results in minimal stress for visitors, unlike parking in a typical U.S. city.
Some studies indicate that as much as one-third of downtown traffic in U.S. cities is caused by people searching for parking. Parking management systems and signs providing real-time information about the numbers of available parking spaces have been used in Europe for some time. However, they are used only minimally in the United States.
Another type of parking management system is in use at Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) Airport in Baltimore, MD, USA. The BWI parking garage is instrumented with signs that convey how many vacant spaces are available on each aisle. This system is more efficient, saves time and reduces stress.
TRANSIT MANAGEMENT
After parking at Walt Disney World, visitors are directed to transit. The parking system is designed so that the parking areas facilitate easy access to the trams. Trams meet visitors at the end of each aisle. There are no long walks to the entrance. Rather, the trams provide a mobile collection point and meet visitors at a reasonable distance from their cars. If one tram is full, the next one is in sight. Visitors do not have to wonder when the next tram will arrive.
After taking a short ride to the Walt Disney World entrance and paying to get into the park, visitors are anxious to get to the Magic Kingdom. There are two mode choices-a monorail or a riverboat.
The riverboat holds a large number of people but moves slowly. However, it does not travel a great distance. If one boat is full, the next boat is in sight.
By contrast, the monorail is not always in sight. It feels much like waiting for a subway train. This is the only occasion in either Walt Disney World or Epcot® when the next ride is not in sight and visitors are not told when the next ride will arrive. This is more typical of transit experiences in the United States.
Progressive transit agencies throughout the United States are providing experiences similar to Disney's. Large metropolitan areas with light rail systems are offering frequent service that does not leave customers waiting for more than a few minutes. The use of real-time signs showing the time until the arrival of the next train or bus is becoming more common.
These signs do not change the operating characteristics of a system but they do make people feel better. Other metropolitan areas that cater to tourist populations understand the need for their transit services to be "fun." Vehicles that look like trolleys and transit services with clever names help make the experience more enjoyable.
TRAVELER INFORMATION
Once inside the park, the big question is: "How long are the lines for the rides?" Both Epcot and Islands of Adventure use real-time information to inform visitors about wait times and help them make better choices.
The wait times are posted in the center of each park on large dynamic message signs. The signs show all the rides and their wait times-Disney's version of pre-trip planning. In most cases, it is an easy walk to a sign to survey the wait times and make a decision on how to allocate the day. This has the added effect of more evenly distributing visitors to all the rides.
Upon arriving at a ride, visitors find that a sign is posted at the entrance with an approximate wait time. They eagerly queue at rides with posted wait times of 45 minutes. Visitors know what to expect and can make their own decisions as to how to use their time.
Furthermore, for every ride, the actual wait time is less than the posted wait time. Therefore, visitors experience a pleasant surprise when they board the ride sooner than expected. What a nice model for how to make traveler information useful to people for informed decision-making.
Use of dynamic message signs in the United States is improving. More agencies are providing specific and more useful information than "congestion ahead." For cities with good surveillance infrastructure, Web sites are helpful in giving information about the current operation of the transportation system. The recently released nationwide 511 number holds promise as another way to communicate travel information to the public.
DEMAND MANAGEMENT
Islands of Adventure uses an innovative approach to spread the demand for rides throughout the day. When visitors arrive at a ride and decide that the wait is too long, they have the option to take a ticket that designates a time range. If they return during the specified time range, they receive express access to the ride-walking past all the other visitors waiting in line.
The incentive to the customer lies in dramatically reduced wait times for the rides. The concept is similar to congestion pricing but uses time as the incentive instead of money.
Demand management strategies are used in various forms throughout the United States. High-occupancy vehicle lanes are intended to provide service like that at Islands of Adventure-speeding up a trip in exchange for higher vehicle occupancy. Success has been mixed. Today's work environment incorporates more work-hour flexibility and growing opportunities to telecommute. More aggressive measures such as congestion pricing hold promise if the perceived political concerns can be overcome.
LESSONS FROM MICKEY MOUSE
Customer Focus
The objective for Walt Disney World, Epcot and Islands of Adventure is easy to understand. The parks are focused on their customers from the beginning of their experience to the end. The sooner visitors are in the park-stress free-the sooner they will spend money. The happier they remain and the more rides they are able to enjoy, the more money they will spend. (In the newer parks, the exit from each major ride leads visitors into a store based on the theme for that ride. Visitors must walk through the store to get outside.)
Disney's financial health is tied directly to good transportation operation-minimizing travel time and stress. Similarly, the economic health of the United States is tied directly to good transportation operation-also minimizing travel time and stress.
How much productivity is lost when people arrive at work on a bad commute day-both late and stressed? The dollar impact on the economy due to travel delays can be estimated. Most people likely relate more personally to the toll that travel-induced stress takes on their lives.
Real-Time Information
Walt Disney World and the other theme parks understand the importance of managing their customers' expectations. They use real-time information to do it. People have an amazing ability to adapt when they know what to expect and have a little time to plan.
When people are told that the next train or bus or chariot will arrive in five minutes, five minutes does not sound like a long time. However, without any information, five minutes feels like an eternity, particularly if people are running lace and do not know what to expect or how to plan.
Frequently, transportation professionals believe that unless precise data can be given, no data should be given at all. In Disney's case, for example, a sign at the entrance to a ride says to expect a 45-minute wait. Generally, the actual wait is about 30 minutes. From an engineering perspective, there is a high degree of error in this information. From a customers perspective, however, the experience is positive because it exceeds expectations.
