What do you get when you combine a cruise on land, mystery dinner theater and a costume party?
A trip to the Galactic Star Cruiser Hotel at Disney…
Yet nothing that you picture would even come close to what it actually is, because that description makes me want to do anything other than attend, and yet I loved every minute of our experience.
And, the ideas I took from going gave me so many ideas on how we can apply them to what we do in our businesses.
I have a three-part series for you on this one. Starting with…
Before Arrival.
Months before our trip even took place, the magic had begun for our trip.
Immediately after I paid the initial deposit for this trip, which was a birthday gift for my super Star Wars nerd husband, The Tall One, the emails started.
They looked different than any other emails I ever got from Disney or even from another resort before travel.
They were about the experience and immersed you into the trip before arriving.
We took this inspiration and changed up our event marketing to match (see example below.)
And then prior to the trip, I got a call that they noticed we hadn’t yet set up Disney Park Play Accounts and we’d want to have that set up before we got there to get the most out of our experience. The message went on to tell us exactly how to set them up.
The marketing was sure to use different language and imagery that set this experience apart from any other regular old trip.
We can do that same thing by using proprietary language that is unique for our community. It stops having what you do compared to anyone else.
For the Galactic Star Cruiser, everything pre-trip was on-point to make sure we knew this was going to be different than anything else we had experienced before.
And it was.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you some lessons learned from inside the hotel and how we can translate them to our business.
Until then…start imagining how you can set apart your pre-event experience for your clients…
And in case you are wondering, I did not wear a costume. But I did have one heck of a good time.
Cheers,
Kim “Star Wars Nerd By Association” Walsh Phillips
