Exploring Disney Heritage

My Exploring Disney Heritage class was an 8 week seminar held on Wednesday afternoons from 1:30-3:30! Here is a little recap of what we learned about each week!

Week 1: Introduction
We had an overview of our course and what we would be learning, and learned about our fabulous instructor, who is the same instructor from my Leadership class too! We started off with a background of Walt's early years. Then, we split into groups and did a trivia game of Disney history and heritage.

Week 2: Walt and Roy: The Original Dream Team
We learned about the impeccable partnership between the brothers, and examples of how Walt ran the creative aspects, while Roy handled the business side of the company.

Week 3: The Very Beginnings of the Walt Disney Company
We had a guest speaker that presented little known facts about Disney's Golden Age of Animation. We also learned about Walt's experiences in the Television field.

Week 4: Milestones in Theme Park History
We talked about the opening of Disneyland, and significant events such as the Disneyland 59 event and 1964 World's Fair. 

Week 5: The Man, the Mouse, the Dream [Magic Kingdom field experience]
We had a guided tour through the Magic Kingdom, learning about the opening day version of the park, secrets and hidden facts throughout the various lands, and we went to see Mickey's Philharmagic!

Week 6: The Florida Project (EPCOT)
We had a wonderful guest speaker that presented on the original concept of EPCOT as a prototype community and the transformation into the theme park, Epcot Center. We learned a lot about opening day and how Epcot has evolved since Walt's original dream.

Week 7: Heritage Competition [Hollywood Studios field experience]
We had a scavenger hunt competition through Hollywood Studios, learning about the architecture of the buildings that represent landmarks, exploring the One Man's Dream attraction, and discovering various trivia facts!

Week 8: Closing Session
We de-briefed on the entirety of the experience and lessons from the course, and wrapped up our seminars by earning our Mouseters Degree! We also learned that my team took first place in last week's Heritage Competition!

My Mouseters Degree and Perfect Attendance Award

Overall, I really enjoyed learning so much about the heritage and heart of the Walt Disney Company, and of Walt Disney himself!