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. 

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). 

I have to credit this to the forums at DisBoards - One of the best of the Disneyland forums (they’re actually stronger in WDW stuff but have a great Disneyland section)

Mimi’s Cafe is a medium size chain of restaurants that began in Anaheim.  They’re a favorite among Disneyland goers for their proximity to the park, portions, taste, and PRICES!

When you sign up for the Mimi’s Cafe Eclub, you get a thank you from Mimi’s of a Free Breakfast!  From what I understand, each person registered in the Eclub is entitled to one coupon, but no limit per household. 

If you’re staying near Disneyland for a couple days, why not sign up a couple people in your party for the Mimi’s Eclub, eat a great big breakfast at Mimi’s and save some money you can later spend in the park on Vinylmation?…

I’m all about Disneyland savings, so Lela and I are signing up for the EClub and we’ll be using it in just three weeks!  Much needed vacation!

Jiminy Cricket may have failed a certain Curtis Cordery.

Curtis Cordery made the FBI’s Most Wanted list for bank robbery after he robbed a credit union in July.  He was apprehended after a neighbor spotted him at Disneyland.  The neighbor contacted Disneyland security who along with police apprehended Cordery.

You can find news articles here, here, and here.

Didn’t he learn anything from Captain Barbossa in POTC?

Barbossa: This is Aztec gold… The heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity.

The punishment?  I hope Disneyland Security gave him a lifetime ban. That’ll teach him!

If you’re traveling to Disneyland with small children - consider leaving your stroller at home and renting some of the Disneyland strollers.  The strollers you can rent at Disneyland are nice, they’re convenient, - AND best of all, you can rent them for FREE.

Disneyland stroller (courtesy of LaughingPlace.com)

The Disneyland strollers are nice.   What’s nice about them?  They are sturdy, have big wheels, and have a big space below them and a pocket on the back.  They are relatively light weight for the size - this became important on our last trip when our stroller was three stroller rows deep after cast members had to get creative (I’m sure they do it every night during the busy season) to make room for them all outside of POTC.  I was relieved we didn’t have a monstrous stroller since I had to lift it up over the two rows of strollers.

The Disneyland strollers are MUCH more convenient than packing your own.   You don’t want to take up valuable trunk space if you’re traveling by car (that’s a big one for us) - and if you’re flying in, that includes your rental car, you don’t have to fold/unfold the stroller to get on the tram, you just don’t have to worry about a stroller at Disneyland - they’ve got it covered.  If you plan on doing a lot besides Disneyland - go ahead and bring the umbrella stroller - but leave it at the hotel when you’re at the park!

You can rent Disneyland strollers for free.  That’s right.  For free.  It’s one of the free perks of the Disneyland Visa Card.  Just head to the right after entering either Disneyland or Disney’s California Adventure, and present your Disney credit card.  You get two free Disneyland stroller rentals per day - as a cardholder perk.  Look at it as a free annual pass for strollers!  Strollers are $12/day without the Disney Visa.

Some things to keep in mind for strollers:

• You can take them between parks.
• They have a visor to help keep out the sun OR drape a baby blanket over it to keep out the breeze also.
• Tie your backpack onto the back of it and have a place to keep stuff - leave it at a ride while you go do something -people don’t come to Disneyland to steal - you can feel safe leaving it unattended - AS LONG AS YOU CAN FIND IT AGAIN.
• After returning to the park to see if I could find our baby blanket in the lost and found, I realized I now had the blanket but would have to carry it around with me while I rode on a couple rides.  As my family was back at the hotel for the evening, I used my card to rent a free stroller, I put the baby blanket in it, and parked it next to Main Street Station.  NAUGHTY.

For those who’ve been looking at getting a Disneyland Deluxe Annual Pass (a steal at $269 for 315 days of Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure for a year), you might consider picking them up at a SoCal Costco.

The SoCal Costco locations sell the Deluxe Annual Pass for $269 BUT you get a $50 Disney Gift Card - meaning an effective $50 discount for each pass!

This offer is effective in SoCal Costco locations only - but is available to all residents (of course you must have a Costco membership to buy them). The $50 gift card is picked up at the gates.

Oh and for those of you familiar with the black out dates on the Deluxe AP? You can activate and enter Disneyland (not DCA) on your activation date, even if it’s a blackout date. So keep that in mind.

If you are getting multiple passes, you might consider putting one of the $50 gift cards towards the Deluxe Parking Upgrade ($59) for one of your family members or party. If you paid parking on your way into the park to activate your passes - bring your receipt - you’ll be reimbursed. This is just what my Sister and Brother-in-Law did recently and they say it was super smooth.

One caveat - I’m aware that occasionally these passes can sell out - I strongly suggest calling ahead to verify that the Costco you’re heading to has the passes in stock, and also we aren’t told when this promotion will end. Better include calling ahead as part of your vacation plans.

If you don’t have your AP yet - this might be a great chance to do it.

There aren’t many perks to owning Disney stock beyond the silly old reasons of investing in a giant media company with tons of intellectual property it can leverage for years.  But in addition to the small dividend, like any public company, you can gain entrance to the ANNUAL DISNEY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING. This year the meeting was held on March 10 at 10am in Oakland. If you’re a shareholder, you can order tickets, set up a DRIP, or request the annual report here.

Ok - so I wasn’t going to travel to Oakland for the 2009 Disney Annual Meeting of Shareholders, BUT I did request my ticket.  Just.  In.  Case.

GotShares.com had a great recap of the event, including presentations by Chairman of the Board John Pepper, and CEO Bob Iger.  They presented the answer to the then much anticipated question “Are You 23?”, which was super exciting for those of us hitting refresh on the AreYou23.com page.  There were also a bunch of characters there, signing autographs and taking pictures.

I was given a share of DIS for Christmas a couple years ago.  You can buy a single share of stock from OneShare.Com.  It’s really nice because the Disney stock certificate has a picture of Walt on it, as well as several characters - and it came in a nice frame.

Today I got my first Disney dividend check.  $0.35!  Even though it’s just a piece of machine generated paper and a million folks got it, I won’t be cashing it.  You can’t even buy a postcard at Disneyland for $0.35 let alone a check with your name on it.