Bob Iger, President and CEO of the Walt Disney Company said this “…we want to be the most admired company in the world, admired for the quality of our product, the integrity of our people, and the way in which we behave as citizens of the world.”

The Disney Institute, business training following the Disney approach, serves not only the business leaders it provides valuable lessons that have helped build the Disney company, but as a tool to achieve this vision that Iger has set forth.

Business leaders from across the country have access to well presented classes and workshop on many themes - from leadership to people management, quality service and creativity.  These classes are available through private engagement, or through open-enrollment classes at both Orlando and Anaheim parks.  Some classes are available in a city near you (although these tend to be shorter classes - perhaps appropriately described as ‘teasers’).

I had the opportunity this week to attend three one-day workshops at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim.  For me, these classes were eye opening. 

The Walt Disney Company is a world-class entertainment company.  They’ve strived to improve results, and the people, places and processes that deliver those results for YEARS.  They have dedicated people that buy into the Disney culture and they’ve had millions of data points of customer feedback - not just through their own VAST efforts to ask for it but also from the millions of letters they’ve received since their creation.  All of these efforts, targetted, smart efforts, they’ve come up with A LOT of information and perspectives that really, I think, will change my life.

If you have an opportunity to attend classes through the Disney Institute, do it!

One thing I thought was terrific about on-site classes was the access we had to the parks.  Each day included at least one field experience outside on the property.  Our facilitators, Bruce Kimbrell and Leslie (will get her last name!) were terrific, and had more combined experience than the Disneyland park has been around.

If one of Bob Iger’s goals is to the world’s most admired company, the Disney Institute does a great job as ambassador to business professionals throughout hundreds of industries, and thousands of companies.

Just an interesting note:  Mr. Kimbrell authored a class available to the tens of thousands of Disneyland cast members called “Walt & You”.  Googling his name I found this image, a faux book case located in City Hall. 

At Disneyland, a lot of times I’ll bring a back pack with some granola bars, bottled water, maybe my camera. Backpacks are awesome right?

Ahhhh. So where to put your backpack? You don’t want to carry it around all day, do you? I can’t say that I blame you.

I used to be able to rent a free stroller with the Disney Visa Card by Chase. One of the benefits was at Disneyland and Disney World, that you could rent two strollers per day, absolutely free.

I could stick my backpack on a stroller, push it around the park, park it amonst the strollers by a ride, and there would be my own personal locker, right there at Disneyland, free of charge.

Now the program has changed, strollers at Disneyland are $6 (half of the $12 regular price) with the Disney Visa Card. That’s still a price I’m willing to pay to have a locker that I can move with me, and a little bit cheaper than the lockers available there.

Worried about someone stealing your backpack and waters/ I suppose that’s a risk I’m willing to take - you’ll have to decide whether you think it’s likely that someone will steal your stroller at Disneyland. Personally, I’m willing to trust my backpack tied to a stroller that has my name on it, right there at the park.

You’d be hard pressed to find a less expensive souvenir in the shops of Disneyland than a flattened penny.

Pressed penny machines take a regular penny and squash it between two special plates, each with a special design - Splash Mountain for example, or a character like Mickey.  The Disneyland pressed pennies typically have a desigon on the back (although not always), while Walt Disney World pressed pennies are typically one sided.

 Pressed pennies generally cost just $0.51 each (two quarters plus the penny to be pressed) - a price hard to be beat.  Combine that with the seemingly endless variety, spaced throughout the park, and collecting pressed pennies is something you might want to look into.

Town Hall has a one page, two sided sheet with a listing of all of the available pressed pennies from Disneyland, and on the other side those from Disney’s California Adventure.

Like pin trading, collecting pressed pennies is something that you can do between your run from Space Mountain to Splash Mountain - break up the walk by stopping in to a shop that your list tells you might have another pressed penny you don’t have.

There are enough pressed pennies with unique designs that it’s not easy to get them all in one trip.  Budget your collection over several trips, adding more and more to your collection.  There’s no need to get them all at once, or even to get them all ever!  But collecting pressed pennies is a great activity to add to your Disneyland “Must Dos”.  It’s a relatively inexpensive way to buy souvenirs, and there’s enough variety to keep it interesting.

Some shops sell pressed penny albums, and it’s a popular enough hobby that there are outside providers of pressed penny albums as well.

Megan celebrated her 5th birthday Monday. 

She received a call from Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) at 7:30am, Snow White at 8:00 and Belle at 8:30.  It was a fun surprise for her.  Later in the day when Lela and the girls went outside to play, Megan insisted on taking the cordless phone outside “Just in case somebody calls…”

Disney’s Enchanted Calls allows you to have your choice of princesses (or Mickey, Pooh, or Tigger) to call and give a birthday, congratulation, or “just because” greeting to the phone number of your choice.  You can schedule them far in advance.  The calls run $2.50 each, and you can order as many as you’d like!

Right now, you can earn one free Disney Enchanted Call when you sign up for DisneyMovieRewards.com (which is also free).