Lawn & Landscape Magazine :: News :: GIE 2005:... -
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Published on: 11/21/2005
Last Visited: 11/21/2005
Lawn & Landscape magazine was granted an exclusive interview with Dennis Higbie, horticulture director for Walt Disney World Resort, who offered great insights into what it takes to run such a large landscape operation, as well as some philosophies that you can use as you build and maintain landscapes for your own clients.
THE MAGIC MAKERS.
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"We schedule as much work as we can and a typical day for us will start around 4:30 a.m.," Higbie says, referring to grounds crews for the Walt Disney World theme park properties."The crews go in early and get the majority of their work done before the parks open at 9 a.m.You may still see some of the gardeners working at that hour, but there's no earth-moving equipment, no mowers - all of that is out of sight when the guests arrive."
Along with the early birds, Higbie also has 27 night-owls on staff: ISA-certified arborists that start their work at 11:30 p.m. "In addition to pruning and regular tree care, there are always other things like pulling out or installing large trees," Higbie says, "We schedule those projects in the middle of the night so we can come in with the large cranes, trailers and other equipment."Making sure most horticulture crews and heavy equipment are off the grounds during park hours keeps guests safe, but it also keeps the "magic" on a Disney property from being broken by the grinding din of outdoor power equipment.
While you probably won't see many of the horticulture team's 600 cast members at the parks during the day, you may be able to meet some on the grounds of Disney's nearly two dozen resorts."The flip side of getting our park crews going at 4:30 is that we don't make a peep on the resorts before 9 a.m.," Higbie says.
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"In a place like this with the amount of people we have here, it really functions as a city," Higbie explains, noting that the entire team meets every morning for safety training and other notes relating to daily crew operations.Then, it's "off to work they go."
"We route ourselves so that, for a typical region, the turf team is scheduled to be at a certain place and time with all their equipment to do their next property," Higbie says.
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"Naturally, weather is our biggest challenge," Higbie says."Last year we were slammed by three hurricanes.Thankfully, we haven't gotten hit this year, but we can certainly relate to what the folks in the Gulf Coast region are going through.Even weather that's not that severe can interrupt our routes.We're open 365 days a year, and our resorts are open 24 hours a day, so if we miss a day, there's a tremendous amount of work to get done without being in anyone's way and without destroying the Disney experience for everybody."
Higbie says that each region generally has "rainy day" work at the ready should an extended period of inclement weather move in. "We're quite fortunate here in sunny Florida that such weather is a rarity, but we try to work around it as much as possible," he says."If we do have to put off work for an extended period of time, most of the time we're able to catch up by suspending activities that can be suspended - for example, shrub trimming.We will opt to get the grass mowed by taking forces usually dedicated to shrub trimming to boost our mowing crews.Once we're back on track, the shrub teams can make up the difference in a relatively short period of time.In rare instances, we'll work overtime if there's no other way to get the work finished."
Beyond weather, Higbie says horticulture crews also have to work around special events, such as weddings that take place on some of the Disney properties."It might be fine 50 weeks out of the year to mow the Grand Floridian on Thursday at 9 a.m., but for the two other weeks, there might be a reason that it's not fine," he says.
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Higbie explains that these groups work together to plan new color displays, rotate existing installations, and stay updated on existing plant materials used on the properties."Walt Disney World and the Disney parks and resorts are all about storytelling, so it's a big up-front investment in time and talent to get all of the designs where they need to be on opening day," he says.
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"Everything that's brand new is designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, which is responsible for concept and story development," Higbie says."We work in partnership with them to ensure that every plant in the palette is safe and that thorny things are kept at a safe distance from guests."
Higbie says the horticulture team participates in a review process for every new design as it's developed and that a team of in-house landscape architects has significant input on everything from the plant materials that are chosen for small jobs to the logistics of a multithousand-dollar renovation of a display.To create the landscapes for each Disney property, these designers must be very picky about both color and species.
"With bedding plants, the palette is usually somewhat color-driven; for instance, we want to have a big splash of red at the entrance to the Contemporary Resort," Higbie explains.
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Higbie says the horticulture division plans its annuals a year in advance, noting that a year out is the best time to evaluate what's already been done and what you'll need for the future."In horticulture, it's very easy to learn a lesson a year late," he says."Maybe you planted something you thought would work and you find out over the year that it's not the right plant for that area, in which case you've lost a year, or you don't plan early enough so that when you finally determine what will work best in your landscape, you don't have enough time to work with your grower to get those materials."
Instead, Higbie says, Disney will usually schedule the same crop of plant materials for the same time next year, unless they find they're not happy with a certain display, in which case the team can tell its grower 12 months early what to propagate for the next season."We're constantly monitoring the plant material to determine what's thriving and what's not, so we can stay on top of a situation where we may need to replace a shrub or something else," he says.
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"It goes back to words right out of Walt's mouth," Higbie says.
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