OK... I know that this trip report is technically finished, but I have to share my excitement with somebody!
Last summer, I read Lee Cockerell's book, "Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney." If you aren't familiar with Lee, he was Executive Vice President of Operations at WDW throughout the 90's and into the mid-2000's. Pretty much in charge of all 4 parks, all 20 resorts, waterparks, shopping, etc. He built a tremendous reputation within the company and is responsible for so many of the programs that we as guests love today. The book is pretty much about what you'd expect from the title. But it's awesome. Seriously awesome, and worth a read even if you aren't currently in a position of influence where you work. I've since drank the kool-aid and also read his time management book and listen to his weekly podcast too. Really. Good. Stuff!!!
Anyway, while he was at Disney, he had a huge influence on the "Disney Institute", which aims to teach Disney's leadership strategies to people like you and me...
https://disneyinstitute.com/
They have courses that teach many of the same principles (as well as others) in classroom environments.
After reading the book, I thought, how cool would it be to actually attend onsite leadership training?!?!? I shared the book with my boss last year, and he loved it too. We've since shared it with a few others at our office... and they liked it too. Anyway, I floated the idea of attending the leadership course last fall, and we penciled it into the budget. (Just me as the guinea pig this year.) I recently found out that our training budget was approved and I have the green light to move forward!!!!
So while not a traditional WDW trip, looks like Stephanie and I will be hitting Orlando this year after all (May 23-27 or so). For me, I'm stoked to experience these leadership lessons first hand, and then share what I've learned with the rest of my team. But also, it's at the Boardwalk Resort, which I've never stayed at (just an evening stroll on the Boardwalk itself), and as part of the training, they apparently take you behind the scenes (and into the parks) to interact with actual cast members. Cool!!
Stephanie is going to tag along too. (Leaving the kids our parents for the week.) We are saving our "fun money" for our Hawaii trip in June, so she probably won't buy park tickets. Instead, while I'm in training, she plans to spend the three or four days just exploring the various resorts, having good meals, chilling at the pool, etc. (It's likely that we'll barely see each other.) I think that could make an awesome trip report in itself!
Not sure how it'll play out, but this might make for a really fun combined trip report. So stay tuned! Send me a PM if you'd like for me to keep you in the loop, if/when we get a report thread going
Happy Friday!