Back Home Again

For our final day in Florida the students split into groups to get in some last minute activities before we boarded the buses for the airports. For our group of thrill seekers, the morning had the highs of riding Velocicoaster one last time, mixed with the lows of Hagrid Motorbike Adventure and the Forbidden Journey both being down. Others hit the CityWalk for some last minute souvenirs, while the reminder enjoyed some rest and relaxation at our hotel.

The buses picked us up and got us to the airport early, and we all made it through security quickly, which gave us time of our last academic activity for the trip: namely the student's elevator pitches. Woven throughout our guest speakers and in park activities was the theme of seeing how others pursued their passions, with the hope of igniting these same passions within the students themselves. For their final elevator pitch, each student had one minute to tell us about their passions, link their own pursuit to something they learned from one of our guest speakers, and share how they would use this to pursue their passions beyond the course. The ideas were distinctive and creative, and I look forward to seeing how these students take these sparks  of inspiration forward in the years to come.

After a slight delay, we were able to board the plane and fly back to Indy. We said our goodbyes at the airport then headed our separate ways. Once again, leading a travel course to Florida was an amazing experience. The students really bonded with each other, the guest speakers we had were amazing, and I think the course achieved all the goals we set out with. I will be reading their final reflections in the upcoming days, and we have one final meeting on campus to share what we learned on March 23rd.

All for now from the blog, thank you for following along with us on our adventures!

Paul Fonstad

 

Our last day at Universal was more of a slow one. Some of the class went to the park early in the morning to ride some things for the final time while others slept in. Later in the day, all the class met up at the pool and swam for a couple hours. There was a race between Logan, Lucas, and Corbin to run the length of the pool. Logan came in first with Lucas trailing behind.

 

Earlier in the morning, a majority of the group rope-dropped Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure so they had one last chance to ride it. A couple more people joined that group so they could ride VelociCoaster together. 

Our assignment today was to write a letter/email to someone you admire and appreciate. While we could write it to someone we know, we were encouraged to write to someone we have never met. This assignment was to help us become more comfortable stepping outside of our comfort zone to gain connections with people who share similar passions to us. 

After swimming, the group split off until later that night. Ken and I (Lance) wandered around CityWalk, getting dinner from the Panda Express and the Whopper Bar. We wandered around some shops for about an hour and then headed over towards The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium where we had reservation later that night. Nhi was also spotted heading into the parks around that time to do some last-minute shopping for a friend. 

 

The group met up again for our reservations.  The Chocolate Emporium’s main attraction is their huge milkshakes. Some of the group got different flavors of shakes, but the majority got the mint shake. They were super filling and almost no one could finish the whole thing. 

Most of the group went back to the hotel after our late dinner to start getting prepared for our departure tomorrow. A couple of people stayed back at CityWalk for one last performance of karaoke or to grab a donut from Voodoo Donuts. We head back to Indy tomorrow later in the day and we will be presenting our final elevator pitch for the course. 

 Franklin College Day

To kick off our last week in Orlando, our group was fortunate enough to meet with Franklin College alum, Travis Braun, via Zoom. Travis is a film creator and writer for Disney. He has worked for them for seven years now, and has created several popular kids shows such as, T.O.T.S., Fast Layne, and upcoming show, Pupstruction. Braun spoke about his journey through adversities, and emphasized how important it is to stay with your passions and never stray from who you really are. Our group then parted ways, and we all headed to the park. Alli and I grabbed a delicious lunch at Mel’s Diner in Universal Studios. On our way across the street to the Horror Make-up Show, we saw several familiar faces like, Bart Simpson, Marylin Monroe, the Trolls, SpongeBob and Squidward, and characters from Madagascar as well. After the show, we took a trip through Springfield along with the Simpsons family. Next, we hopped on a bike and flew E.T. home to save the planet. Famished from saving the world, we cooled down with Ice Cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

 

 

            While on our way to Islands of Adventure, we stopped to jam out with the Beat Builders, which was one of our favorite moments of the day. Our group met up later, with another Franklin College alum, Kiera. Kiera works part-time at Universal in their Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the park. She told us about all the cool things she is able to do as an entertainer. We were even able to watch a show that she is sometimes a part of. She, like many others in our group do, studied theater at Franklin. She explained that through the Disney College Program, she was able to land her dream job. It was great talking with her, considering we have a few students interested in the program as well as entertainment.

            With a couple hours to spare before meeting the group for dinner, we took a ride high in the sky with the Suess Trolly Train Ride. We then hopped on the Cat in the Hat ride next door. After a fun evening, the entire group met back at our hotel to enjoy a delicious dinner provided by our instructors. We discussed our days with everyone else. Emily told us about her thrilling ride on the Velocicoaster, Ken and Lance spun around in Storm Force Acceleration, and after much anticipation, Olivia finally got to ride The Hulk! During our dinner, we practiced our elevator speeches to better prepare us for our presentations on Thursday. We also got our new assignment for tomorrow. Now, we will be ending the night with two different watch parties. Let it Shine in one room, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in another. Now where’s the popcorn?

 

 

Talk to ya Later! – Kinley & Alli

 

Our first full day at Universal

Today was our first full day at Universal Studios! We started off today by rope-dropping Islands of Adventure.  The first ride we headed to was Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. While a few of us chose not to ride it, it seemed like the rest of the group had fun! After that we walked through Hogwarts castle and some of us continued on to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. 

After these rides, our group split up to explore the parks in different ways. Ken, V, and I (Lance) rode over to Diagon Alley in the Hogwarts Express. We walked around the shops and bought wands and butterbeer. After lunch, we headed over to the Horror Make-Up Show, which was really cool. We ran into several Meet & Greets while were were walking around, including Beetlejuice, Hello Kitty, and Betty Boop.

Our assignment at Universal had us answering two questions. The first question was, “How much of Universal was inspired by Disney?” Everyone will have different answers to this question. As for me, I believe that Universal had taken from Disney was their T-Rex water slide. As Universal is a theme park that goes more foe the thrill they made the drop higher than the ride at Disney. The ride that I believe they took inspiration from is Splash Mountain, as it is a water ride that takes you though a little way to learn about it. The only true difference is the height of the drop. Disney’s ride is only a 50 foot drop and Universal’s is a 85 foot drop.

The second question is the opposite of the first question, “What in Disney was inspired by Universal?” Like with the first question there will be different answers from each person most likely. I will not go into detail as to what I believe, but how I came to my answer. When walking around all of the parks at both Disney and Universal you can see different parts of them that are similar, and when you know the order in which some of the rides and or attractions had came to each of the parks you see what was taken from each. Going to Disney first also aloud us to see everything that has changed since the last time anyone in the group had been there. When going to universal you can see the similarities of them both as well as the differences.

After we completed our assignment and our shopping we headed back to the hotel around dinner time so we could drop stuff off. Since the park was open late, we headed back to Islands of Adventure one more time to watch the Harry Potter night show which was quite a change from the Disney evening shows we'd been seeing. 

Tomorrow as it is our second day in universal we are going to meet two people, while we will not be able to meet our first guest in person we will be able to talk to them and find out how they made it to where they are, as well as their passion in the Disney and Universal theme parks. Their name is Travis Braun. Our second guest speaker works here at universal he works in the Hogwarts part of the park. She will be telling us about what it is like to work here as well as play the part in that area. We will be meeting her in person and at the park, as she has a background in acting due to this job she will also be talking to some of the theater majors on this trip. Her name is Kiera Shackelford.

Land and V

 From the World to the Universe

Today was a  travel day for our class, and a day off of blogging for the students. We started the morning by saying goodbye to Animal Kingdom Lodge. The unexpected upgrade was an amazing way to start the trip, and there really was something magical about being able to look out off of our balcony to see giraffes, zebras, wildebeests whenever we went back to the room.

Before we left, the students took a little time to practice their elevator speeches to each other. These  short, one minute talks on their own passion projects will be their last assignment before we head home. We still have more to accomplish here in Florida and more guest speakers to meet, but getting a sense for just how much time they have is an important first step.

After a short bus ride, we came to our new hotel, the Surfside Inn and Suites. We  had some down time before our rooms were ready, which the students to advantage of by relaxing, trying out some puzzles, or doing some coloring in the lobby.

Eventually, while part of our group waited at the hotel for our rooms to be ready, he rest went in to start exploring our two new theme parks. Lines were long, but they managed to ride both Spiderman and Cat in the Hat, as well as explore some of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter too.

The evening concluded with a pizza party back at our hotel. With the promise of an early morning rope drop, most of us turned in for the night, while a few went back to Citywalk to try their hand at karaoke. Tomorrow we will take a look at how Universal was inspired by the Mouse, and how Disney was in turn inspired by Universal. 

Thanks for reading! - Paul Fonstad 

 Keys to the Kingdom

Today, we woke up with the sunrise to pouring rain, but we didn’t let that stop us. We had two different groups taking the “Keys to the Kingdom” tour. This was a first for many of our group members and acted as our daily meeting. We got to get a deeper look into the magic that surrounds Magic Kingdom. Our tour guide, Darlene, was from Anaheim, CA. Her father was an original Imagineer from Disneyland. Darlene often saw the magic Walt made up close, as he would spend time with her. Darlene pursued her passions and lifetime dream to work as a tour guide in Disney parks. She followed Walt’s quote from so long ago, “don’t give up on a dream because a dream won’t give up on you”. He told her this as they ate ice cream near Main Street in Disneyland. 

 

This specific tour can take the magic away from Disney, as you see many secrets of making the magic. However, many of us left the tour feeling inspired by the true magic that grew within Walt himself. Nate Irskins said, “When I finished the tour, I looked down Main Street and saw pure magic being created flawlessly”. Keys to the Kingdom is a magical experience to learn about the risks and rewards of following your passions. Fully immersed in magic, I have never felt more inspired by the littlest things in each park. Small features have colossal meaning to fulfilling the dream of a man with a raging imagination. 

 

 

Once the tour ended, we found ourselves free to explore the parks. Today was all about diving deeper into our passions to make a draft of our elevator pitch. This will be a fun way to apply all of the knowledge we have gained thus far. Some of us found ourselves watching the Festival of Fantasy parade, while others said a tearful goodbye to Splash Mountain. Of course, with it being in the 60s, Splash Mountain was hysterically freezing. Teeth chattering and laughter were the new staple for our group.

 

 

We had another surprise added to our trip this evening! Junior Ken Casey and Sophomore Lance Fennell got engaged today. The whole group was extremely excited for them and gave proper congratulations! We wish them the best in their future endeavors together!

 

 

Tomorrow marks the end of our time at Disney. While many of us are sad to leave, we are equally excited to travel to Universal at eleven in the morning. We will spend our day relaxing before going to enjoy the parks on Sunday. We are so excited to pursue our passions at Universal. 

 

Elizabeth and Emily

 Race Day

After several of us stayed out until 1 AM at the Magic Kingdom, this morning’s wakeup call came very early for the group. Many of us were at the bus stop by 7:30 to hop on a bus bound for EPCOT, where we would divide into teams and take part in a knapsack race. From park opening, 8:30, until 12:30, all of the teams were on a mad dash to complete all the rides they could to accumulate varying point totals. The “bigger rides”, such as Test Track and Cosmic Rewind, were worth more than the “smaller rides”, such as Nemo and Figment. A few of us had some interesting encounters while taking part in the race. One team, Team Vanellope, while riding Mission Space: Orange dealt with some strangers who, to put it lightly, could not exactly handle their stomachs. It was definitely scarring to a certain extent, but the seven points earned were well worth it! We took part in this race to pay homage to Len Testa, who we had the privilege of meeting with later in the day. Len is the creator of Touring Plans, which helps guest optimize the way to maneuver the parks to get the most accomplished. The winning team accumulated a whopping 82 points in those short few hours!

 

After each team was spent from racing around the park, keeping track of times, enjoying attractions, and filling out score cards, we were treated to a fabulous lunch at the Sunshine Seasons restaurant located in The Land. We partook of a wide array of dishes, such as oak-grilled salmon, stir-fries, and roast beef sandwiches. It was a much needed break and opportunity to cool off and reset for the remainder of the day. After lunch and discussing our Len Testa inspired assignment for the day, we parted ways and returned to enjoying Walt Disney World at our own paces for most of the afternoon. After we enjoyed some snacks, rides, and rest, we were excited to meet with the man who not only created an ideal way for guests to enjoy the parks, but also writes the Unofficial Guides. We had heard a copious amount of good things about Len and were looking forward to what he had to say. 

 

We met with Len Testa at Connections Eatery. As mentioned earlier, Len is the creator of Touring Plans and the Unofficial Guide books. Len is a computer scientist that uses his love of Disney to solve logistical problems in the theme parks and ease the process of planning a vacation. He talked about the various services that he created to help guests have their best trip possible. To give an idea of what they offer, Touring Plans has a picture from every hotel room, optimized touring plans for each park, “true” wait times, and other features.

Len grew up going to Disney at a young age and has carried a lifelong passion for the parks. He enjoys helping others with questions, especially with how complicated Disney is, and is thrilled to have a career based around Disney World. Overall, Len was a great guest speaker and we loved his energy he brought to our course. He is a great example of how pursuit one’s passions can create a lifelong career that has meaning. 

 

After Len, some of us park hopped to Hollywood Studios to close out the night. We rode Rock n Rollercoaster and finished out with Fantasmic, a favorite of our group. Lucas, Logan, and I (Corbin) got very excited for the show, much to the dismay of the guy in front of us. We had a perfect day and are looking forward to experiencing the Keys to the Kingdom tour bright and early.