4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

Picture it. Magic Kingdom. A beautiful hot July summer day, where the more water you drink the more you seem to sweat. You weren't able to get a fast pass for Seven Dwarf's Mine Train, and as of 12:30pm, it's 180 minute wait to get on the 2-minute minimal thrill ride. But, what if you could pay someone to stand in line for you?  What if you could sit in an air conditioned restaurant, while someone else sweats their life away for your place in line? Would you pay someone to do that?

As annual passholders, my daughter and I often bypass a line that is just too long to wait in. We have learned little tricks to getting on the most popular rides with minimal wait times. However, not everyone at Disney World is a passholder, which means they are most likely there for a brief period of time and have to make the most of their trip. 

I spoke with three moms (who are not Disney Passholders) to get their take on this idea. After all, moms are the ones who mostly plan family vacations. Even though I spoke with three moms, I got three very different answers - Yes, No, and Someone already started that business (well duh, I cannot be the only person who thought of this). Even better, after speaking with one of the moms, I actually found another problem and possible solution which I believe would be useful to ALL moms.

I'll start with the "No" mom. Although she loves Disney, and loves being there when she goes (about once a year). she will not pay for someone to stand in line for her, or her family. Her feeling is that they are already paying a lot of money to be at Disney World, why she should pay more for someone to stand in line for her? She understood it would allow her an opportunity to do other things while the person waits in line for her, but it just was not worth it in the long run. If she cannot ride the ride during her visit, maybe she will be able to next year.

My Reflection: I can see where this mom is coming from. Disney Vacations are not cheap, and unless you know the tips and tricks for getting around the parks, you may just overspend while you are there. Spending additional money to have someone stand in line for you seems excessive when you look at it from this mom's point of view.

Next mom is "someone already started that business".  She believed it definitely is a good idea, however because this type of business is already up and running, she suggested I find a target market with my idea. As we discussed this, I mentioned after all of my trips to Disney I never noticed this type of service being conducted. Maybe it's because I avoid the long lines as much as possible. Every now and then I will cave into a 60 minute wait (it's hard to keep an 8 year old entertained in an hour long line) for a popular ride, but I do not do it often. Now that the existence of this service has been brought to my attention, I believe I just might see them around the park now.

My Reflection: During our conversation, I was able to think of a target market - Disney Visitors. Being that I am an annual passholder, I will be at the park whether I was being paid to wait in line for someone else or not. Honestly, it would be fun to earn some extra money while I was there. 

My last mom is the "Yes" mom. She enthusiastically said yes to this idea. It would be a great way to make the most of their Disney Vacation to have a service like this. Her concern was other people in line. I hadn't thought about other people's feelings. After a moment, I suggested the person would then at least have to ride the ride with who hired them so it would look like family or friends holding a place in line in hopes to minimize any bad feelings. As we continued to talk, I realized families do not need just a person to stand in line for them at Disney, but they need a safe, reputable Uber-like transportation service for kids to get around. With more and more working parents, and kids who want to be involved in anything and everything, it's hard to get kids where they need to be. We are blessed because we have help, however, there are families out there who do not have help and who have to schedule every last second of their day to make sure everyone is where they need to be. As we talked, we started to discuss Care.com, a service for families to find babysitters, adult sitters, pet sitters, etc. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. This transportation service could partner with Care.com. As of today, Care.com has been one of the most reputable places to find people to care for children. They do extensive background checks of all sitters listed on their website. By partnering with them, it would be easier to ensure those drivers who want to participate in this type of transportation service would be vetted thoroughly and moms could rely on the services to help them get their kids to places they need to be. It would also help moms to ensure their kids are getting to and from different places safely.  It's not easy being a working mom with a daughter who plays soccer, dances and enjoys tumbling at gymnastics. Did I mention, she loves to participate in anything and everything STEM too? Having a service like this would be beneficial to me if we didn't have the help we currently have.

After speaking with these moms, and getting first hand feedback on this idea, I believe my original opportunity doesn't have much support. However, the new idea with developing an Uber-like transportation for kids seems to have a better opportunity to assist working families. As I was having these discussions, I realized entrepreneurs need to listen to their customers. What I believed to be a problem, really wasn't a problem.