Comparing & Contrasting to Disney - Services

Living in Florida has many advantages, one being passes to all of the attractions the state has to offer. We have been Disney Passholders for three years and this summer Tom got passes to Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Then he proceeded to load us up in the car to take advantage of those passes the last two Saturdays.

Last weekend we went to Adventure Island. This weekend we visited Busch Gardens. Throughout the entire visits I kept comparing these attractions to Disney World, a habit that I have when visiting any attraction anymore. Behold the results of the service end of things:

• The biggest and most glaring difference that I find in comparing Disney with any attraction is cleanliness. Nobody beats Disney in that. Drop a piece of popcorn anywhere in a Disney attraction and before you can bend over to pick it up a cast member (Disney's word for employees) is there with a broom and dustpan. Whoosh! Gone. The walkways are pristine, the seats polished, and the air just smells sparkling and clean. Perhaps that is Tinkerbell's job.
  
• I have been to Disney's two waterparks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, but it was ages ago so my memory isn't quite as keen on these attractions. The biggest thing I loved at these attractions was purchasing a souvenir cup that could be refilled for free all day in the park. We bought one cup and shared. Downside to this was the high soda consumption. At Busch Gardens you could purchase a souvenir cup, but refills cost as much as $2.00 and as less as .99 cents.
• Getting into Busch Gardens parking lot and out of Adventure Islands lot was terrible. We spent almost 30 minutes sitting in traffic in Adventure Island's lot. Disney's parking is definitely high class. There are numerous spaces to enter and numerous parking stations where you must pay to park. All of these spaces eventually led into four spaces, but traffic flows due to the attendants spread out all over Disney's lots. The attendants direct you where to flow and where to park. It is neat and orderly and well run. Exiting is well marked and I've never sat in traffic to exit.
• Because the lots are far from the attraction entrances you must board a tram to take you there. Busch Gardens had little covered stations set up in areas covering approximately 10 to 20 rows. While the covering (and bench seating) was something Disney doesn't have in the lots the areas were smaller and most people ended up outside the shaded areas. At Disney you walk toward yellow posts all over the parking lots and the trams run almost one right after the other so that the waiting time is never more than 2 to 3 minutes at a time during crowded times. Disney's trams are also larger and carry double the amount of Busch Gardens.
• The ticket windows at Busch Gardens were so packed that waiting times were up to an hour. They had one entrance that wound around and around and around eventually funneling into the windows. At Disney there are multiple windows and multiple entrances so traffic again flows at a more rapid pace. A plus at Busch Gardens were ticket kiosks where one could go to scan his online codes or for credit card use. I have never seen this at Disney.
• I found the map of Busch Gardens to be inferior to Disney World's map. It took awhile to understand what I was viewing and the explanations of attractions were on the back instead of on the front under the attraction. I was forever flipping the map back and forth and loosing my place as they weren't listed under their section but alphabetized.
  
• At Disney World you walk up to a ride and a digital reading tells you the wait time. At Busch Gardens they use a clock with hands. I was never sure if it meant it was a 5 minute wait when the hand was on the five or a 55 minute wait. Some rides had nothing so it was study the line and guess for yourself unless you wanted to text a number they posted on a sign. Doing this gave you a wait time, but the one time we attempted this we didn't get a return text until 30 minutes later with our wait time. By then we had already left the ride.
• At Disney World cast members are everywhere. Have a question? There is a cast member always nearby who will answer your question or direct you to a cast member that will. If you are standing in the middle of the walkway looking perplexed or checking your map, a cast member will approach you and ask you if he can be of assistance. You never feel lost there because help is an arms length away. Cast Members wear the same colors and the same outfits so finding them is a breeze. At Busch Gardens they half the crew. I still couldn't tell you what colors they wore. I was constantly looking for help from someone, but finding help was not easy and when you found it it wasn't always the most friendly employee.

Disney takes the lead on the service end of theme parks.