Tag: Retirement

Who usually makes it?

stromatolites
Hidden stromatolites?

Who usually makes it?

What type of person can turn a business dream into a reality?

Here are some top of mind characteristics:

  • Bold
  • Lucky
  • Tenacious
  • Crave risk
  • Cannot accept defeat
  • Probably crazy

•  •  •  •  •

This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.

Disney retirement anniversary

Disney Customer Service Keynote speaker
Seven years ago, 2015…just getting started on my own after Disney retirement.
Disney Keynote Speaker Jeff Noel
Telling the “What’s your Bear’s name?” story.
Disney Keynote Speaker Jeff Noel
Intentionally making a transition from suit and tie to jacket off and sleeves rolled up. Because the goal was to do something that scared the heck out of me. Had never done it and now that i’m my own boss, post-Disney, i make the rules.

Disney retirement anniversary is one week away.

It’s been eight years since officially retiring.

It’s been 14 years since the decision to retire a decade before i wanted to.

•  •  •  •  •

This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.

Retiring from work makes sense

mountain creek
Perhaps it’s time to let the water run downstream, never to be seen again.

Retiring from work makes sense.

Spend decades earning a living and eventually retire to “enjoy life” before the final curtain closes. Makes perfect sense.

What about retiring from writing?

•  •  •  •  •

This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.

Who gets invited

Joseph Gardner presents a Disney Trophy to Jungle Jeff.
L-R: Jungle Jeff, Jack Santiago, Ernesto Salas, Sara Walsh.
L-R: Jungle Jeff, Cheryl Noel, Chapin Noel, Sara Walsh, Jack Santiago, Ernesto Salas, and two Contemporary Resort catering team Cast Members (top right).
Pure backstage fun, Disney Cast Member style.
More backstage fun, Disney Cast Member style.
The Disney retirement party happened a few weeks after the official Halloween retirement date.

Who gets invited to a Disney retirement party?

Whoever you want to invite.

Obviously the entire 100-ish Cast Member Disney Institute team get auto-invited.

But here’s the rub, i picked a small venue.

Didn’t pick it to keep it small. Picked it for what the Contemporary Resort and the entire North end of Walt Disney World property means to me.

We live, intentionally, less than one-mile from the North side of Walt Disney World property. Can literally see our home from The Napa Room.

Thirteen of the 15 total years in Resort Operation’s locations are visible from The Napa Room. The other two Resort Ops years were at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resort Hotels (1990 opening team).

Back to who gets invited.

Wayne gave me 12 extra invitations. That’s it. Understood it because of DI’s size and the Napa Room’s size.

  1. Cheryl Noel
  2. Chapin Noel
  3. Lee Cockerell
  4. Bob Spina
  5. Joe McColgan
  6. Lori McColgan
  7. Karel Rhodes
  8. Djuan Rivers
  9. Richard (The Grand’s Legendary “Greeter”)
  10. Neal McCord (my first Resort Ops supervisor and the person who recommended me to Disney Institute)
  11. Joao (John) and his wife….
  12. Arlete (The Grand’s legendary Main Lobby Showkeepers)

Intimate was the way to go.

Would have been cool if Walt (and Roy) Disney stopped by in a Dream.

Maybe they did.

Due to the Pirates Code, their appearance (or not) has never been commented on.

Richard Disney's Grand Floridian legendary Greeter
Richard and i worked together in the mid-and-late 1990’s. My son and i visited his Kissimmee Hospital room to pay final respects before heading to Glacier National Park. Richard was still lucid. When we returned, he was onto his next realm in our Universe.

•  •  •  •  •

This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.

Disney Institute 1999-2014

Final day. Intentionally picked Halloween. Teeing up this remark: “After 30 years at Disney it was really scary to leave.”
Rod and Morgan.
By 2014, most Disney Institute (DI) facilitators and advisors worked from home. The DI leadership team and administrative staff occupied the available office space.
Keeping it fun. It’s a non-negotiable.
Watch what happens in this photo story…
Blurry, unposed photos are among the most cherished.
This is what happens when you follow the rules.
Starting to not follow the rules.
Wait for it…
Ta-da! Live like you mean it. Life is not a dress rehearsal.
Last day at Disney Institute, Halloween 2014. It was a “Ghost-Town” late on a Friday afternoon. A Halloween Friday at that.

Thought Cheryl and i would spend 40 years each at Walt Disney World. Can you imagine one couple serving and leading (and having fun) for 80 years combined?

Which begs the profound question – the one i coined and operationalized at Disney Institute…

So what?

So what if you spent all those years at Disney. Who cares? What does that give you after you’re retired? And finally, so what, was it worth it?

•  •  •  •  •

This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HOME, click here.