Alumni >  

Bart Butler

Bart Butler
Bart Butler

The Invisible Man

No lines, quick service at Disney means Bart Butler is doing his job right.

There are days when Bart Butler roams the Disney theme parks as a dad. With his wife and seven-year-old daughter in tow, he rides the thrill rides, attends the shows and takes in the parade. And he also stands in line for food or to purchase that have-to-have Disney souvenir.

While the lines may still be long at Tower of Terror or Space Mountain, Butler ('92 computer science) is one of the primary reasons why you're not standing in line for hours any more for food and souvenirs.

As Disney's general manager for technology, Butler oversees the ticketing, point of sale purchases and fast passes for all theme parks and resorts at Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. This includes the computer technology required for all food and merchandise sales at the happiest place in the world.

In Florida alone, that means four theme parks, two water parks, 28 resorts, Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. Butler and his team of 75 work to make sure that the guest's experience at Disney is special.

"Our goal is to be invisible," Butler said. "If we're doing our job correctly then the customer doesn't even know we exist."

The IT improvements Butler has been a part of in his nine years with Disney are numerous.

Fast passes have become the standard of the industry. Patrons now have the opportunity to "reserve" a time when they can ride a favorite attraction.

Wireless "cash registers" are now available throughout the parks and resorts. "We do very little cash transactions these days," Butler says. "Almost all of what we do is tied into our guests' Disney packages or on their debit and credit cards." This includes the purchase of a funnel cake off of the Magic Kingdom's Main Street or a Goofy hat in the Animal Kingdom.

Access control of entry into the theme parks now ties each ticket purchased to the finger identification of the owner of the ticket. "That way no one can swap tickets," Barton says. "The procedure has also reduced our entry time for our guests (into the parks) from 16 seconds to right around nine seconds."

These improvements are all designed to improve guest relations.

Barton describes Disney as a "guest service company" rather than an entertainment company.

The company's goal is no lines - at least not at the food vendors, getting into the park or at the various merchandise stands.

"It's not only a challenge but a culture here at Disney," Barton says. "Our job is to continue working on innovations that make our guests' experience at the parks or resorts is a good one."

One way Butler does that is making periodic trips into the parks to see what the guests' experience truly is like. Even during this interview, his eyes aren't going to the World Showcase exhibits in Epcot, but rather the line at the fish and chips stand in the England section.

"I go into the park and observe all the time," he says. "My wife (another Disney employee) and I bring our daughter to the parks on the weekends and I'm still looking to see how we're doing.

"I just want to make sure things are operating well. And if there is anything we can do to improve our guest experiences that we do that."