This reminds me of what vacationing Disney Guests feel like.
My family and I are preparing for my very first Writer’s Retreat combined with an annual summer vacation to our favorite beach get-a-way.
We’ve calculated this is our 23rd visit in the past 21 years.
Same island. Same accommodations. Same Ocean.
Different owners. Different management team. Different emotions.
We are not sure this experience will be as relaxing as in the past.
Why?
Too much change perhaps. Too much focus on the bottom line. Too much heritage lost.
The last one, heritage lost, is the thing that worries me.
Now that our son is almost nine, he has really great memories of this place and looks forward to it even more than we do. Our first Lab went for 12 years. Our second Lab, now ten, has been going to this sunny place since he was four months old.
In fact, last October, we took him there, for what we thought was his last weekend on earth. He obviously, and miraculously, survived – further cementing our emotional attachment to this special place.
We feel like owners. Seriously. I’ve never felt this unusual feeling of entitlement.
Because of our loyalty, we could easily daydream that when we arrive, the trumpets will sound as the red carpet awaits us.
This is what I’m absolutely certain Disney’s long-time returning Guests must feel like.
I hope the trumpets blare and the red carpet awaits them and their families.
What a huge responsibility it is to make people feel like Royalty.
What a huge privilege.
Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂
