Disneyland and Disney world: Designing and prescribing the recreational experience

Disneyland and Walt Disney World are two of the best known and most highly visited tourism destinations in the world. With this visibility and audience reach, the action of the Disney Company extends well beyond the boundaries of their theme parks. That is, the standards that Disney sets in the management of its park environments have the potential to become the standards against which all environments are judged. Similarly, the visitor expectations and experiences that Disney constructs can become models to which visitors would have all recreation managers aspire. Disney is often acknowledged as the premier visitor services organization, and it is partly this excellence that gives it stature and impact. As recreational visitors are increasingly being treated as customers, natural resource managers should consider the appropriateness of Disney's approach to designing and prescribing the visitor experience.