Inspiration for blog posts come from the oddest places sometimes.

Last week my family and I took a trip to Disneyland and other destinations in southern California.

It was my first trip to Disneyland, and in addition to my childlike sense of wonder, I also saw it with the eyes of a trained professional.

I couldn’t help but identify and analyze their systems and processes.

The whole resort runs like a finely tuned clockwork machine.

Out of all of it, the thing that stood out to me the most was the sheer attention to detail that Disney puts into everything you see and feel in the resort.

For example, in the line for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride, standing in the lobby of what’s supposed to be an abandoned hotel, the entire set is just dripping with visual detail to set the mood.

Looking up at the ceiling, inside the Art Deco chandeliers (notwithstanding that it’s an “abandoned hotel” but the lights are still on) in addition to the dust are what appears to be hundreds of dead flies trapped behind the glass.

Now, I know those aren’t really dead flies. Disney would never permit that. After all, there’s cans for garbage and recycling every twenty feet, and the streetcleaners are surreptitious but always working hard.

That’s how far Disneyland’s visual team will go to create a setting that will transport their guests to another place and, not incidentally, keep separating them from their cash.

The lesson here for AV Pros, and anyone else who’s business is creating “WOW!” experiences is that when it comes to surrounding your clients with a complete experience that will both amaze them and get their checkbooks out, no detail is too small to consider.