My family just spent 4 days around Christmas in 2011 in Disney World in Orlando. We did so at the same time in 2010. It will probably become a family tradition the way my daughter likes Disney. I do not know if I should feel happy or sad that I myself become a fan of it, too.
We visited all 4 parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.
My favorite is Epcot. Animal Kingdom is the 2nd best in my list because I like the Finding Nemo – The Musical so much. I'm ashamed to admit that I was in tears toward the end of the performance, touched not only by the story, but also the lighting, sound, and stunning theatrical puppets, all those careful little details, which create a great show. I know those guys behind the show put their efforts just like the Nemo and his own new friends who inspire him to do whatever it takes to see his father again. No wonder Disney World continues to attract huge crowds.
Here are the data from the attendance report for the June 2011:
- Magic Kingdom, 16.97 million visits (# 1 worldwide)
- Epcot, 10.83 million visits (# 5)
- Disney's Animal Kingdom, 9.87 million visits (# 7)
- Disney's Hollywood Studios, 9.60 million visits (# 8 )
No matter we like it or not, Disney has successfully found a way of attracting children’s and their parents’ heart and created a pop-culture superpower to make billions. Disney World earned their success.
I see a rough analogy with finding oil in petroleum industry.
In October 2011, I attended a conference in Houston, one of the keynote speakers mentioned that in North America alone, we have drilled more than 4 million wells. Being in drilling software business, we help drilling and obtaining the natural resource more efficiently together with thousands of other service companies. People do not reserve much effort to find oil and gas under the earth’s surface.
I guess that we need to find Nemo as well as oil. That is the way the world works: laughter vs. bread, emotions vs. physical, service vs. resource: the pairs go on ...