Disney Insights

We imagine the excitement of heading to Florida to visit Walt Disney World, Universal, Sea World, beaches, sunshine and more. Our itineraries fill up quickly with things to do, and yet one of the most important ingredients in any vacation is where to stay. This is particularly true if you’re planning on a total holiday vacation stay, or if you are being joined with other friends and family, or if you’re looking for a truly unique experience in your accommodation. We visit with Danielle and Shane Peterson, who as Disney fans, have created some amazing vacation homes for families looking for a park-like experience when they come back at night from the parks. We’ll look at their journey, how they got into the vacation rental arena, the huge marketplace here in Orlando, and the amazing “wow” creations the Danielle and Shane have developed. Here only the hallway separates you from the worlds of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Frozen, Beauty & the Beast and more. If you’re thinking of doing an AirBNB type stay while visiting Central Florida, this podcast is for you. Moreover, I think you’ll be touched by their story, and how very difficult circumstances led them to creating a work of love—together. Join us as we talk creating a magical place to stay with a little bit of faith, trust & pixie dust! To learn more about the homes Danielle and Shane have created, please visit www.magicaladventurehomes.com You can also join them on their Instagram page: @magical.adventure.homes. Know that you can use disneyinsights (all lowercase) as a discount code for helping you find the best discount possible! Be sure to check out my latest endeavor, Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization. __________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. _______________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.comOwner/Agents(309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I’ve worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena. Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!

It's hard for even the most devout Disney Apologist to forgive what was the original Disney's California Adventure. With a troubled budget from the start, and perhaps the wrong theme for millions of people already living in California, this failed on so many levels when it came out the gate. It certainly didn't help that it was being built across arguably the greatest park ever built. And yet in the shadows of Disneyland, there is really something magical about Disney California Adventure and with time and investment, it has come around to being the 5th most popular theme park in North America, behind Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Epcot & Disney's Hollywood Studios, and yet ahead of Disney's Animal Kingdom, and every Universal Busch Gardens, Sea World and Six Flags park in the country. It's been a long 25 years, but with big new attractions coming, Disney California Adventure stands to compete in big ways moving forward. Join us as we celebrate Disney California Adventure! _____________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. Disney Insights Facebook Page--Come join and interact in conversation with others. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. ________________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.comOwner/Agents(309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I’ve worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena. Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!

Several topics have been circling around recently, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to offer some thoughts about what is going on in several Disney park realms. Anything about Villains Land has people curious as to what is happening. This includes some work being done by The Haunted Mansion. We'll explore the rumors and conjecture on how this land will be laid out. Next we talk about Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. There have been announcements of not only new additions, timelines, and offerings being added not to Disney's Hollywood Studios version of this land, but at Disneyland. Finally, speaking of Disneyland have you seen Disneyland Handcrafted? This film done by Leslie Iwerks gives insights to what things looked like when Walt Disney determined he would open a brand new themed park concept in the space of a year of construction. This is a fascinating documentary with some terrific ideas, So join us for Disney Insights on Villains Land, Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and Disneyland Handcrafted. _____________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. Disney Insights Facebook Page--Come join and interact in conversation with others. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. ________________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.comOwner/Agents(309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I’ve worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena. Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!

The Wall Street Journal this week published an article entitled, "The 3,000-Person Team Working in Secret to Create Disney Magic". This article written by Ben Fritz makes a number of claims about the challenges Walt Disney Imagineering has in being able to do massive projects on time, under budget and on benefit. We will share these claims and weave these insights with a book I use in my leadership programming--How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project. It becomes a sense by which we can better understand why Imagineering experiences the challenges it does. We'll look at Imagineering Leadership and CEO leadership, and how it has had a big impact on how the work gets done as Disney seeks to spend 60 billion within the next ten years. And already one Imagineer, Joe Rohde has weighed in on his comments. So joining us for Walt Disney Imagineering: The Secret to Being on Time Under Budget & On Benefit. ________________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. Disney Insights Facebook Page--Come join and interact in conversation with others. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. ________________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.comOwner/Agents(309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I’ve worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena. Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!

I have to admit that this year has flown by quickly. Full of highlights, but still Spring became summer, and summer went right into Thanksgiving, and the next thing you knew the year was closing. On many levels I have enjoyed the parks perhaps more days in the year than in previous years. Unless I'm out of town I'm there once a week at least, but lately, I've found myself easily there 2-3 days out of seven. And it's been wonderful. Just during the Christmas season we have had some really wonderful visits. We'll discuss new attractions that have emerged in 2025, as well as moments I have had cherishing the final days of attractions that have now parted. Among all this I'll share my favorite moment of the entire year. Then we'll look forward to the new year. I don't believe Disney has yet to disclose all that is happening in the parks in 2026, but there's a solid start to the first half so far. We'll look at each incoming experience, and then focus in on what will be the most important announcement to happen in 2026. Finally we have an announcement that sets the stage for Disney Insights in the upcoming year! So join us as we celebrate 2025 and anticipate all to come in 2026! ________________________________________________________ Disney Insights YouTube Page--Check it out and subscribe. DisneyInsights.com--So many resources at our home site. Be sure to subscribe to receive notice of upcoming podcasts. Disney Insights Facebook Page--Come join and interact in conversation with others. My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence. ________________________________________________________ Check out Zanolla Travel to book your next vacation! David & Leah Zanolla ZanollaTravel.comOwner/Agents(309) 863-5469 _________________________________________________________ Performance Journeys This podcast and post is provided by J. Jeff Kober and Performance Journeys, which celebrates more than 20 years as a training and development group bringing best in business ideas through books, keynotes, workshops, seminars and online tools to help you take your organization to the next level. Want a Keynote Speaker? More than just nice stories, I offer proven insight and solutions having worked in the trench. Need Consulting? I’ve worked for decades across the public, private and non-profit arena. Need Support? We offer so many classroom, online, and other resources to help you improve your customer service delivery, leadership excellence, and employee engagement. Contact us today, and let us help you on your Performance Journey!