When I was there in the early '80's, for two Saturday night's in December, they would close down the park and re-open it for an employees and their guests for our holiday party. We were able to invite up to three guests and pretty much everything in the park was free that night. Again, remember that this was before they had EPCOT or MGM Studios or any of the other attractions down there. So, closing the park meant that they were turning away paying guests and incurring all of the expenses of keeping the park open.
I can't speak for all of my fellow employees back then, after all, there were about 13,000 of us, but things like this made me really enjoy working at Disney and encourage me to give what I gave to the company. Remember, I was a frontline employee, not management, and many days, my job was not only mundane, it could be pretty hard. It was hot; many days I was talking to people who didn't speak the same language as me and really, I sold t-shirts in the Emporium on Main Street when I wasn't doing the parade.
But, they gave me extra perks and I gave them extra when I was on the clock. I was young and maybe today, these kind of things wouldn't have the same meaning. But taking my Mom & Dad to those holiday parties was a great family night for us. Heck, it's been 30 years and I can still remember them very vividly.
Sadly, they don't do things like this any more. And when I go to a Disney park, I don't get the vibe that I know I used to give when I worked there. I feel like I encounter more employees who work there because they get the pay check. I worked there because I really wanted to work at Disney.
I see companies like lululemon athletica and how they treat their employees, I think there's hope. Customer engagement can't happen without employee engagement. If you're not taking care of your employees, they won't be taking care of your business.