Hello all! It's been awhile I know, but just because I haven't posted, doesn't mean I haven't been writing. This decidedly happy post comes to you from inside The Happiest Place on Earth during the Leap Day celebration, full of pixie dust and magic!
I'm so very glad I went. If you know me at all you know that I'm ALWAYS glad to be in Disneyland but I'm especially proud of this trip because I did it on my own. When no one else could go with me I decided I was going to get there anyway. Now, I've flown over, taken a shuttle, and stayed in a hotel room all by myself over there quite a few times. However, plane tickets were not in the budget this time, even from AZ to SoCal and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go at all. Then my brilliant mother, a certifiable genius in my opinion, suggested I rent a car and drive myself. LIGHTBULB!
I’ve of course driven there many times, as a passenger. I’ve wanted to make the drive myself dozens of times but as my car currently only runs because there’s a cork in the engine, it’s never been a prudent idea. So, I ended up renting a totally sweet Mitsubishi Eclipse which I’ve decided is the type of car I want to get, and whisked myself off to the west coast all on my own.
I find it odd that I’m posting this almost exactly seven years after I attended for another large event, the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. It hardly seems so long ago, but it was. Spending a full 24 hours inside the park was amazing, but it wasn’t what I did while there that was amazing, it was just that I was there. It reminded me how much all things Disney mean to me, how important it is to have magic in your life, and how many important events in my life have been marked by a trip to a Disney park, or a release of a Disney movie and how much I relate to some of the classic stories.
This leap day was another milestone for me because I made the trip myself, and drove the whole way alone. It was like a scene out of one of the movies. I had to decide to take charge of
my destiny, have faith, trust, and pixie dust and just… leap.
A few weeks after my 24 hour leap day stay I was tasked with giving a presentation at one of my office’s weekly staff meetings. The subject I was given? Lesson’s I’ve learned from Disney characters. Ha ha, does my boss know me or what? Anyway, so I’m posting it here for you now to read.
Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned From Disney
Think back to when you were young, as young as you can remember. What are some of your favorite memories from your childhood? The things we experience and learn as children influence the type of person we become when we’re older. The lessons we learn as children are some of the most important. For me, my most treasured childhood memories involve either a trip to a Disney park or a Disney movie. The imaginative spirit and colorful characters taught me lessons that were ingrained into me at a young age and have stuck with me to this day.
To understand how these movies and characters were created you have to know a bit about the man who was the catalyst in creating them. Walt Disney was born December 5th, 1901 into a poor family. When he was a young boy they moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri where his imagination began to grow and his love for drawing began. Though his living conditions were meager, he had a grand imagination that made the most of his circumstances and turned the ordinary mundane life around him into interesting stories and characters. He even named the animals on the farm, doodling characters from them. This surely led to early cartoon characters like Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and inevitably Mickey Mouse himself.
Walt was not only an imaginative storyteller. He was also an innovator, inventor, and a pioneer, a risk taker. He not only came up with ideas, he was always thinking of how he could improve them and make them better. One of Walt’s most famous quotes is about Disneyland and how it “…will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." Walt’s own life story is the same as that of the characters he created, and they all have lessons we can learn, and stories to inspire us.
There are many lessons to be learned from Disney characters. They teach us to have a good
attitude, laugh, work hard, make our own path instead of following everyone else, and to stand up for what’s right. We learn that no matter who we are or where we came from we can achieve great things. The characters and stories are universal so there’s something everyone can relate to.
Disney characters always have a good attitude. Dumbo the elephant shows us how to take something that people use to keep us down and turn it into something that empowers us. The
rags to riches story of Cinderella inspires hope that no matter how low our circumstances seem or how cruel people are to us, if we have a good attitude then good things will come to us. Snow White teaches us the same thing, and reminds us that “life flows along with a smile and a song.” Likewise, Pollyanna helps us see that we can always find something to be glad about.
Characters like Roger Rabbit, Goofy, and Dopey, remind us that it’s important to laugh every once in awhile, especially at ourselves. There are characters that teach us how to be good friends as well. In the movie The Fox and the Hound, a young fox befriends a young hunting dog. Despite the fact that they should be enemies and are taught so later in their life, the friendship they form when they are young carries through to their older years and ultimately saves each of their lives. Characters like Lilo and Stitch and The Incredibles teach us the importance of family and how having a support system is essential to our well being.
We can also learn important things like the value of hard work from Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and perseverance from Mulan. Remy the rat in Ratatouille shows us that it’s better to do something because you love it, not for the recognition or praise of others. In Meet the Robinsons young Lewis teaches us to keep moving forward when things don’t go our way and not be stuck in our failures. Pinocchio teaches us the evils of lying. We learn from Ariel to never lose our voice, and WALL-E reminds us to take care of the earth.
We can also learn about love and belief from a lot of characters. Sleeping Beauty proves that true love conquers all. Beauty and the Beast teaches us to look beyond the outward appearance and see the true beauty inside a person. Peter Pan reminds us to never lose our child like spirit. Jiminy Cricket tells us to wish upon a star, and from Rapunzel we learn to go after our dreams.
The list goes on and on of characters. Each of them is an individual and has their own unique lesson they can teach us. The beauty of these characters is that as children we take them at face value and it’s not until we’re older that we realize the sort of lessons they’ve taught us or the qualities we’ve adapted from them. Now maybe next time you watch a Disney
movie you’ll see deeper into the characters and stories you’re watching.
I'm so very glad I went. If you know me at all you know that I'm ALWAYS glad to be in Disneyland but I'm especially proud of this trip because I did it on my own. When no one else could go with me I decided I was going to get there anyway. Now, I've flown over, taken a shuttle, and stayed in a hotel room all by myself over there quite a few times. However, plane tickets were not in the budget this time, even from AZ to SoCal and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go at all. Then my brilliant mother, a certifiable genius in my opinion, suggested I rent a car and drive myself. LIGHTBULB!
I’ve of course driven there many times, as a passenger. I’ve wanted to make the drive myself dozens of times but as my car currently only runs because there’s a cork in the engine, it’s never been a prudent idea. So, I ended up renting a totally sweet Mitsubishi Eclipse which I’ve decided is the type of car I want to get, and whisked myself off to the west coast all on my own.
I find it odd that I’m posting this almost exactly seven years after I attended for another large event, the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. It hardly seems so long ago, but it was. Spending a full 24 hours inside the park was amazing, but it wasn’t what I did while there that was amazing, it was just that I was there. It reminded me how much all things Disney mean to me, how important it is to have magic in your life, and how many important events in my life have been marked by a trip to a Disney park, or a release of a Disney movie and how much I relate to some of the classic stories.
This leap day was another milestone for me because I made the trip myself, and drove the whole way alone. It was like a scene out of one of the movies. I had to decide to take charge of
my destiny, have faith, trust, and pixie dust and just… leap.
A few weeks after my 24 hour leap day stay I was tasked with giving a presentation at one of my office’s weekly staff meetings. The subject I was given? Lesson’s I’ve learned from Disney characters. Ha ha, does my boss know me or what? Anyway, so I’m posting it here for you now to read.
Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned From Disney
Think back to when you were young, as young as you can remember. What are some of your favorite memories from your childhood? The things we experience and learn as children influence the type of person we become when we’re older. The lessons we learn as children are some of the most important. For me, my most treasured childhood memories involve either a trip to a Disney park or a Disney movie. The imaginative spirit and colorful characters taught me lessons that were ingrained into me at a young age and have stuck with me to this day.
To understand how these movies and characters were created you have to know a bit about the man who was the catalyst in creating them. Walt Disney was born December 5th, 1901 into a poor family. When he was a young boy they moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri where his imagination began to grow and his love for drawing began. Though his living conditions were meager, he had a grand imagination that made the most of his circumstances and turned the ordinary mundane life around him into interesting stories and characters. He even named the animals on the farm, doodling characters from them. This surely led to early cartoon characters like Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and inevitably Mickey Mouse himself.
Walt was not only an imaginative storyteller. He was also an innovator, inventor, and a pioneer, a risk taker. He not only came up with ideas, he was always thinking of how he could improve them and make them better. One of Walt’s most famous quotes is about Disneyland and how it “…will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." Walt’s own life story is the same as that of the characters he created, and they all have lessons we can learn, and stories to inspire us.
There are many lessons to be learned from Disney characters. They teach us to have a good
attitude, laugh, work hard, make our own path instead of following everyone else, and to stand up for what’s right. We learn that no matter who we are or where we came from we can achieve great things. The characters and stories are universal so there’s something everyone can relate to.
Disney characters always have a good attitude. Dumbo the elephant shows us how to take something that people use to keep us down and turn it into something that empowers us. The
rags to riches story of Cinderella inspires hope that no matter how low our circumstances seem or how cruel people are to us, if we have a good attitude then good things will come to us. Snow White teaches us the same thing, and reminds us that “life flows along with a smile and a song.” Likewise, Pollyanna helps us see that we can always find something to be glad about.
Characters like Roger Rabbit, Goofy, and Dopey, remind us that it’s important to laugh every once in awhile, especially at ourselves. There are characters that teach us how to be good friends as well. In the movie The Fox and the Hound, a young fox befriends a young hunting dog. Despite the fact that they should be enemies and are taught so later in their life, the friendship they form when they are young carries through to their older years and ultimately saves each of their lives. Characters like Lilo and Stitch and The Incredibles teach us the importance of family and how having a support system is essential to our well being.
We can also learn important things like the value of hard work from Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and perseverance from Mulan. Remy the rat in Ratatouille shows us that it’s better to do something because you love it, not for the recognition or praise of others. In Meet the Robinsons young Lewis teaches us to keep moving forward when things don’t go our way and not be stuck in our failures. Pinocchio teaches us the evils of lying. We learn from Ariel to never lose our voice, and WALL-E reminds us to take care of the earth.
We can also learn about love and belief from a lot of characters. Sleeping Beauty proves that true love conquers all. Beauty and the Beast teaches us to look beyond the outward appearance and see the true beauty inside a person. Peter Pan reminds us to never lose our child like spirit. Jiminy Cricket tells us to wish upon a star, and from Rapunzel we learn to go after our dreams.
The list goes on and on of characters. Each of them is an individual and has their own unique lesson they can teach us. The beauty of these characters is that as children we take them at face value and it’s not until we’re older that we realize the sort of lessons they’ve taught us or the qualities we’ve adapted from them. Now maybe next time you watch a Disney
movie you’ll see deeper into the characters and stories you’re watching.