Best practices at WDW.

Newsweek has discovered that Walt Disney World has "a lot to teach about the realities of business." While this discovery seems to come a little late in the game, it's a good reminder of some of the reasons that fans (such as ourselves, if I may be so bold) flock to the parks time and again. Author Daniel Gross writes:

Airline executives should rush to the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom. Our heads sank when we approached and saw the sign advertising a 15-minute wait. Despair turned to elation when we were ushered into the spooky entry hall in just a few minutes. This experience was repeated time and again—at rides and restaurants—where promised delays of 20 minutes miraculously shrank in half. After a few days, it became apparent that this might be a conscious strategy of underpromising and overdelivering. Which is precisely the opposite of the tack airlines have taken lo these many years. The carriers continually promise that planes will leave or arrive at a specific time when they know the probability of an on-time departure is only slightly greater than the probability of your suitcase's being the first item to hit the luggage carousel.

Curiously, the article immediately following this one in the print version of this week's Newsweek is about scattering cremated ashes, and the "comforting farewell" the act can bring to surviving family members. Perhaps while Disney is enlightening Newsweek regarding best practices, Newsweek in turn can offer some insight to the various Disney cast members that encounter individuals scattering ashes to and fro as they deal with the situation.

RIP.