This magic place was created from a dream of one man in the early 1950s and expanded to Florida. The magic started to fad in the early 80s when a change at the top of the corporation took place and profits became their main focus. The employees and the guests who worked and visited there were just needed to keep the numbers the numbers up and the focus on providing a happy and magical place started to fade. At one time it was a place where you could bring your family and your grandchildren to recapture your childhood and the experience of being transported to a time of dreams and magic that really happens. The parks were always clean and fresh and no detail was ever over looked. When you were there you forgot the real world.

It is not like that anymore, no more smiles and caring employees and you can see and feel they now are in business for bigger and bigger profits and not interested in making the magic they used to be so good at. Yes, people still come to the parks but it has all changed If they would stop, think and look back to their beginnings they would not have attendance problems. New attractions will do it for the short term, but they are not what bring the guests coming back. They need to change their focus back to their roots and make the guests feel like they are the first ones to see this happy place where dreams and magic really happens. And they must remember it is their employees that can and will make the difference in the guest experience. They really have to start paying attention to them, not by words and slogans but how they are treated and respected for all they do each and every day. They are not just a number on the balance sheet, they are the company and the real magic makers and without them you do not have a company or the magic it used to stand for.

Laying off employees, cutting back on the forty hour work week, deferring maintenance and rehab tasks only work in the short term to raise the bottom line. When the pencil pushers continue trying to cut back for the sake of profit, the company will continue to experience declining attendance and low employee moral.

There was a time back in the 70s that the crowds were so large that closing the park was a common practice that only happens rarely now. The people at the top need to look back and ask themselves what are they doing different today. Chasing the dollar only makes it run faster away.

Maybe it is time to roll back the clock Disney and return back to your roots of make it the happiest place on earth to work and play

MEET JOE GACCIONE

Joe GACCIONE began his career in the aerospace industry and for 17 years was involved in the technology that sent people to the moon, and the development and testing of a nuclear rocket engine. You would think after sending people to the moon there wouldn't be any challenges left for Joe, but he was looking for new challenges and came to Walt Disney World in 1971 starting out as Supervisor of Parks Maintenance. After 2 years, he moved to Facilities Division as the Safety Engineer. Then on to Superintendent of Maintenance for Resorts where he was responsible for the maintenance activities of the Contemporary Hotel, Discovery Island, Administration Area and Little Lake Bryan. In 1976, he transferred to the Polynesian Hotel and was in charge of maintenance for the Polynesian Hotel, the Disney Inn, Tree Farm, Environmental Lab and the Gulf Care Center. It wasn't until 1979 that the Resort Division reorganized and changed from complexing to assigning Engineering Managers to each property. In 1983, Joe came back to the Contemporary, where he had stayed in one capacity or another and was a member of the Design Team for the Grand Floridian, Caribbean Beach and future unnamed hotels.

Joe considered his job as that of an orchestra leader and his people were the different players in the orchestra. Should Joe not move the baton right, his people were going to make sour music. Joe felt that he and his manager's role was to give positive reinforcement to his people as they often work under difficult situations. Joe's philosophy is "don't settle for second best on what you do, how you do it, how you work, and the product you make, etc. If you don't have your people's support, you don't have anything. No one knows better what is going on than the guy who has his hands on actually doing the job. They are in a situation where they are the craftsmen, part of the organization, and can make a difference

Now Joe is at the stage in his life and career where he wants to share what he has learned. He devotes several nights a week teaching Engineering and Hotel Management courses that cover the whole spectrum of hotel management including supervision, housekeeping, front office, sanitation, facilities, safety, security and design to name a few. Joe, working with a team of educators and engineers was instrumental in bringing on line a two year State Of Florida Certified Building Maintenance Apprenticeship Certification Training Program, that has been in place for five years, and they have gotten the approval from the State Of Florida for a one year State Certified Housekeeping Apprenticeship Certification Program.

Joe retired from Walt Disney World in 1995. He is now President of a Hotel Management Consulting Firm, GACCIONE and Associates, Inc. He lectures and speaks for outside groups and has articles published in The National Hotel Motel Engineers Association, Executive Housekeeping Today, the Laundry News, and is on the Board of Directors for the National Hotel, Motel Engineer Association.