Meet the Robinsons and Keep Moving Forward | Courtney Kern on Curiosity & Resilience

0:00 and i was like this is it like i i'm gonna head down to florida use this as my my foot in the door and see where this takes me and i have been here with disney now almost 12 years uh since so very grateful for that journey and they're so excited that he failed they're like congratulations you failed you learned a way that didn't work rather than dwelling on how negative that feels here i just went through a crazy last eight months this quite literally ruined our life is like was my initial attitude we lived in a hotel for over 100 days it was like $45 ,000 in damages to the condo, but the path might not be the one you thought or you foresaw for yourself, but just kind of have faith that it'll lead you through, but also remain curious. You are still in control of your destiny one way or the other. It's that curiosity that'll lead you down those paths.

1:07 growth, and imagination of tomorrow. All right, welcome to another episode of ESN Land. Today, we are very excited for our guest today. In 2007, Walt Disney released... Meet the Robinsons, which was just a lovely movie about keep moving forward. And our guest today has not only knows that line, but also lives it. She, in fact, is an employee of the Walt Disney Company. She works for Disney Cruise Lines as an analyst, which is pretty cool. And I will say before we dive in. We do need to note that everything you hear from her today reflects her personal views and not those of the Walt Disney Company. That way you know she's legit. You know she actually works for Walt Disney Company. We have to say that. Yes, thank you.

1:56 I appreciate you including that. So very excited today as well because Courtney. went on a seven -year journey of doing a podcast, which I think is just so lovely and a wonderful podcast she did, what I believe was with a good friend. Now, I don't know if she was a good friend when you started, but certainly y 'all became good friends over seven years of podcasting 120 episodes. Yes, one of my best friends. We met in college as teaching assistants for the same professor. You know, learned we had a shared love of Disney. Both of us did the Disney College program, and it was a few years after that that we met. We had gotten into podcasting, thought about what we want to do. And that is how our podcast Book of the Mouse Club was born. A little play on the idea of Book of the Month Club, where we would select a Disney inspired read, whether it was something like Bob Weiss's Dream Chasing or a book that inspired a film. We did not do the one that inspired Meet the Robinsons, but things like Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, over 100 episodes throughout. that journey. We did bring that to a close last year, but the episodes exist as an archive on YouTube if anyone's interested.

3:07 But yeah, that was a wonderful journey and a way to stay in touch with a friend long distance. For sure. And, you know, what's interesting that you mentioned that is I didn't realize or remember that Meet the Robinsons was based on a book. I realized that when I was watching the movie with my kids yesterday. Right, the opening credits. And I'm like, wait a second, this was a book? Yeah, I still haven't read it. I'm ashamed of it. I know. Well, it sounds like we got our homework assignment, right? We know what we need to do. Which, as I'm watching it, really starts to make sense, though, because it does have, there's a very clever. reveal at the end that you get the easter eggs of throughout but you don't realize the first time i watched i had no idea right and then suddenly like oh my goodness that totally came together so to me it's like really really compelling stories like that that are very clever makes sense they come from a book right um and that one did which is it's kind of awesome so much of the disney pantheon i feel like is inspired by literature even the ones you don't expect totally there are so many that's why i you know when i first came across uh courtney's podcast I was like oh there are there a lot of books and I started realizing like There actually are a lot of books, both based for the stories that they do, but then also just so many books about Disney, about Walt Disney, about things related to Walt Disney, some amazing leaders. There's great leadership books out there that relate to Walt Disney. So, I mean, you know all those things better than I do. Probably an interesting journey to kind of take through. Maybe things you wouldn't have read otherwise. Yeah, some surprises thrown in there for sure. What one sticks out for you? What's a book that you read

4:38 that you just, maybe you never would have read otherwise, but was a real gem? gem that you found? I think getting more into the classic literature, things like Treasure Island or 20 ,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In 2020, during COVID, we did like a themed summer. I think we called it the Summer Cinema Series and picked books, Pollyanna as well, that inspired live action Disney films. And that's where we first brought in guest readers. So friends from other podcasts joined us to be another voice in the conversation. I'm like, I don't... know that those were books i would have chosen to read otherwise but i was like oh now i now i can say i've read them for sure And, you know, one of the reasons why I came across the work that you had done in your podcast was because I heard you on another podcast. Yes, Podcast Universe. Yeah, right. And you were talking about Dream Chasing, which is the book by Bob Weiss. And we were blessed enough to have him on and really just enjoyed the things that y 'all had to say and the way you kind of took readers through a journey of what was in that book, but insights as well, bringing something more to the table than simply, you know, rehearsing what was in the book. And it was really... A nice way for me, actually, and I told you this before, a nice way for me to prep, actually, before I actually interviewed Bob. And so I used your materials to help prepare me for talking to somebody who's a Disney legend, right? Yeah, that was very kind of our friend Brett over at Notably Disney. We would often have him on our show as a guest reader or appear with him. So really fun, fun journey. And I think that's the wonderful thing about this Disney podcasting

6:10 community. Even if I finished my podcast, here you are inviting me to be part of yours. So I'm so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you. It is one of the nice things, you know, when you find community. I've talked a lot lately with my team here at my company, but also. Just talking with a variety of other people about that real need for a sense of belonging in a world that's becoming increasingly disconnected from human interaction because they're so tied to technology, tied to their phones. I think there's this real need for people to have belonging with a community. And honestly, as I started this podcast, as I started diving deeper into what I already have loved about Disney, but starting to see this, I'm seeing this whole community that exists there. And you've probably felt that.

6:53 Oh, we felt that for sure in 2020. So we started the podcast in 2018 with the goal of doing at least one episode a month, which we kept all through those seven and a half years. But in 2020, that's why there's over there's like 120 episodes, because I think we were doing one like every every two weeks because everybody was just home and we needed that sense of community and quite a few authors we got connected with. He's now passed on Jim Korkis, a wealth of knowledge on Disney was like. oh, you can talk to DDA again and you can talk to Jeff Kurdi and just gave out their emails and everybody was home. So they were they were happy to chat with us. So I was like, well, we're really we're really churning through them in that that time frame. Yeah. One of those one of those blessings in disguise.

7:37 Right. Yeah. And, you know, it actually fits really well. with our topic today, right, of moving forward. Certainly, I mean, that's the theme of Meet the Robinsons. Yeah. And I also think, speaking of COVID, it was certainly a thing during COVID. that people, you know, if they could keep that in mind was a very helpful thing because it was really challenging, right? For everybody in many different ways and the ways that people had to encounter and challenge it. And for you guys in your podcast, it was sounding like it was just like, hey, keep moving forward. We're going to do even more content. We're going to do even more stuff. We're going to talk to more people, which is amazing. It's so applicable in so many ways. Yeah. One of the things that I like to do is kind of set the stage for the movie that we talk about. And so Meet the Robinsons is certainly a terrific Disney movie. I do think that may be a little bit underappreciated from some folks. Disney lovers and purists certainly enjoy it and watch it, but maybe didn't get all the fanfare otherwise. And so if there's anybody out there who hasn't seen it. Courtney, would you set the stage for us on kind of what is the overarching story going on in Meet the Robinsons?

8:50 Of course. So Meet the Robinsons was released in 2007 by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Interestingly, it's one of their computer -generated animated films that was on the early end for them but not affiliated with Pixar. So you have stuff like Chicken Little and things that deviated from Pixar but moved away from that hand -drawn animation. And in this one, we are focused on 12 -year -old Louis. an orphan who is interested in inventing and has these dreams both of being adopted, going through that process, finding his own family after his mother had given him up. That was pivotal for him, but also becomes so engrossed in creating an invention that will allow him to see back into that time period.

9:35 At the science fair, he meets Wilbur Robinson, a 13 -year -old from the future who kind of kidnaps him and is revealed you're at the center of this plot there's two missing time sheets a creepy bowler hat guy running around uh causing a lot of trouble and when lewis goes about at least 30 years into the future that's where he meets the robinsons a quirky fun family that helps him feel like he's starting to to belong somewhere and it's that family's motto and the patriarch of the family's big model keep moving forward that is at the heart of that story wilbur takes him 30 years into the future where he quite literally meets the Robinsons, a quirky, large family filled with zany, fun action and habits. And it's the patriarch of that family whose motto is keep moving forward, which is at the heart of it.

10:25 And it's with this family that Lewis starts to feel a sense of belonging. But there is more to come. I don't want to spoil some of the reveals. So I encourage anyone who hasn't watched it to go ahead and give it a watch on Disney Plus or wherever you may be able to find it. Well, so here's what I have to say, Courtney. It sounds like I need to have you do like every recap of the movie. My goodness, that was absolutely perfect because it does really give that idea of what's going on here. And it's a really, it's a good show because of so many reasons. But we're going to dive into some of that stuff. We're going to dive into a little bit of the journey of Lewis and what he's experiencing in Goob. uh you know what happens for goob we we may have to we may have to do some reveals though i'll say i think so so for everybody out there like spoiler alert okay if you have pause yes go watch it exactly Welcome back. It's only like an hour and a half, right? Yeah. It's only like an hour and a half.

11:21 And you can totally watch it. It's a quick watch. It's fun. It'll keep you laughing and enjoying during that hour and a half time. And then you can pop back on here. All right. Now we're in spoiler territory. That's right. Because, boy, Goob. I would not have guessed that Goob ended up happening. What happened to Goob? Nor was Lewis and Cornelius. Yes. Okay. Let me roll back real quick here because some of the things that I want to find out from you a little bit are, you know, for you in your life, this idea of kind of keep moving forward and how you've seen it. So we've mentioned that you're working for the Walt Disney Company, the Disney Cruise Lines.

12:02 So walk me through, like, actually you also mentioned having done the college program. I want to hear a little bit about the college program and kind of what the lessons were that you learned from doing the college program. And then we kind of can start fast forwarding through your professional career. Sure. I can back it up a little further. I went to the University of Maryland College Park where I majored in English. So totally made sense that I had a podcast about Disney. For sure. Yeah. Long time Disney fan. My family, you know, I recognize the privilege of this. We're members of the Disney Vacation Club. We were from Baltimore, Maryland. So very easy to get down to Florida. Quick little Southwest. flight, got to visit annually. And I just really loved the theme parks, Disney history, like in sixth grade, you got to do a research project of your choice. And I chose Walt Disney and really got to learn more about the man behind the name behind the company. And so people would ask, what do you want to do with your degree in English?

12:55 And I'd say, well, you know, I'd love to work for Disney. I don't quite know what that might look like. But, you know, that's the end goal. And I was thinking maybe that's like 10 years down the line in my professional uh career i was fortunate to be right near washington dc and do quite a few internships throughout my studies and so when it came time to graduate i felt prepared to enter the workforce but i found the loophole that you can do the disney college program after you graduate as long as you apply uh the semester ahead of your graduation you can uh show up at disney the following semester yes so oh my goodness i'm just gonna totally reveal my age here but i was graduating in May of 2014 and so I applied for the fall 2014 Disney college program and I was like this is it like I I'm gonna head down to Florida use this as my my foot in the door and see where this takes me you know I have the the rest of my life to do a career thing let's let's go do something fun and so I got to work at the iconic Space Mountain attraction in Magic Kingdom. Oh, amazing.

13:59 Most importantly, it was air conditioned because I did start in August of 2014. And I have been here with Disney now almost 12 years since. So very grateful for that journey. Started at Space Mountain. Disney also offers professional internships. So while the college program is more what you think of when you see people working within the theme parks, whether that be food and beverage, attractions like me, really any type of role that is guest -facing. The professional internships are more what you think of like a traditional office -based internship. So that is how I ended up in Walt Disney Public Affairs. Spent some time there and then had a complete career pivot to analytics. Really grateful for that. Was not where I expected when I said that's what I want to do with my degree in English. But I've found a passion for storytelling behind the numbers and instilling that meaning for it. I was going to ask you the connection there. I was going to ask you how that bridged the gap, right? How do we get from English to numbers? They needed someone to put meaning behind those numbers.

15:08 And here I am. I think having my background uniquely helps me with other partners who might not also have that richer. science, statistics background. I'm like, if I can make it to make sense for me, I make it make sense for them. So those are really long -winded answer. And I did not even tell you what I learned from my college program. No, you're good. Let's go back to it. So you're in the program and they, I'm assuming that they put you through some kind of like initial training right out the gate. I would imagine it's probably like. pretty intensive where you're going to go through some kind of training before you ever get out in the park. Of course. I'm not sure how familiar you are with it. If you haven't read, shoot, I'm going to, do you mind if I Google it real quick? Yeah, yeah, for sure. To get the title. And one of the things that you said was interesting too is when you're putting story to numbers. I remember like in school, I enjoyed math up until I had calculus and it was horrible.

16:08 But then once I had calculus, I was like, well, maybe I don't really like math that much. I don't like that. I feel that. And I was a business major. And then I took business statistics. And then that's where it connected for me. It did. Because now it's a story behind the numbers. It's explaining things that are happening in a business with the numbers. And suddenly the numbers are storytelling. So I found the book that I would recommend. And it's Walt's Apprentice, Keeping the Disney Dream Alive by... the late dick newness and he actually created disney's traditions program are you familiar with that at all i'm not okay so that is the training that everyone at the company uh goes through on their their first day really instills the five keys um behind disney's principles so that's that's well documented i feel like that's okay for me to share yeah and so yeah every that's where you get your name tag in a very magical moment where mickey mouse comes in and brings the box of name tags. And it's really about instilling the idea that we create happiness at Disney.

17:08 And so, yes, anyone from the highest level of the C -suite to the college program girl working Space Mountain goes through traditions. And then, of course, you learn more about I was an attraction, so different safety related things to that. And then, of course, you are trained on your attraction. I would assume something like merchandise would go through, like cash handling, different things unique to their role. to start at the top of the funnel and whittle your way down to what is specific to your unique role creating happiness at disney why do you feel like that is such a vital part of what they do that they make everybody go through that traditions program You know, I think it really instills just, again, that idea of we create happiness, that everyone contributes to that. I might not be in the parks anymore with the guests, you know, making magic directly with them, but I still play a part in that backstage now as an analyst, like making sure the website is functional and telling the stories to, you know, show here's maybe what recommendations I would make for optimizing the website to make that journey easier for the guests. I think it just shows that everybody has a part to play within the show. I love all the language that Disney uses around, like, cast member, costume, show, onstage, backstage. Yeah, for sure. I heard somebody talking not too long ago, and they were talking about the importance of each person understanding that and then started referencing, like, when somebody first shows up to, and I know Disneyland better, but first shows up to Disneyland, the

18:39 first people are actually going to encounter security. You got to go through security first. And I have definitely noticed because I've been to Disneyland so many times, like even going through security, you can tell it's people who care. Like there's a passion there. There's something behind it. They're not just like a TSA agent checking things. They are always so great about saying something to my kids, making them feel excited to be there because because your experience starts there. And if that's lacking. in that experience that's trying to be created. It is. It's exactly right. It sets the stage. And so I love that at Disney, it appears to me that every step along the way really needs to be part of the overall. And so everybody really does contribute. It's not one of those things where you're like, well, we want you to feel like you contribute, but you actually don't. No, people actually do matter. Everybody across the board matters because of what's trying to be created.

19:31 Your kind of career journey and career path. Certainly not everything has been. roses and butterflies. Certainly, I would imagine along the path, there's been things that have been difficult that you had to overcome. What has that been like for you and kind of your professional career and your professional journey? When have you encountered something that was pretty tough? Maybe considered a failure? A big thing for me was just coming into this career 180. I did listen to your Beauty and the Beast episode and the guest there talking about imposter syndrome. And that absolutely resonated with me. In applying for the role, I was now a senior analyst, but came in at an associate analyst level. The job description literally said degree required statistics.

20:17 And remember, my degree is in English. But in reading through the description of like ability to instill meaning and effectively summarize things which you saw with me but since uh make rocket recommendations i'm like i can do these things so i applied um i often say you know It helps to have someone get you through the door, but you still need to show yourself once you're in the room. So I did have somebody who knew someone in the department that through networking, you know, put my resume on someone's desk to say, hey, I think you should talk to her. I still, of course, had to go through that interview process and show my worth and that English major side of things. But I did have a bit of imposter syndrome at the beginning. Like, oh, my gosh, they made me take a math test. in the interview because i think they were just like we got to make sure she can do math in front of us um and i'm like okay i had to remind myself like you you did it you made it uh you know like you you're here for a reason um you got to keep moving forward to to go through our thing here but it that was tough and i think sometimes i still feel imposter syndrome and then i remember i'm one of the more senior senior analysts like i've been in this department for for over eight years and i'm like oh it's like that meme that's like i wanna i i need an adult and then you're like oh wait i am the adult like other analysts are asking for advice i'm like oh i'm i've been here a pretty long time like i guess i'm the one to to answer

21:48 that so I think imposter syndrome is something that a lot of people people face and that's definitely been a challenge and entering a field that maybe I wasn't necessarily felt that I was initially qualified for but have certainly proved that I am so I just gotta remember that yeah absolutely you do and and you know also during your during your journey of doing your podcast for seven years was there ever a time where you weren't sure you guys were gonna keep doing it or you ran into some roadblocks and things that were difficult and then you found a way to push through Yeah, I think, you know, we I'm really proud that we stuck to our mission of doing one each month. But I think sometimes in your journey, you have to think about when is it time to end?

22:32 And for me, as I shared, I recently ended that last November. That was the end of it. But we had a plan in place. It was kind of you start doing the work. And if you're not feeling as fulfilled by it, I loved it. I think it shows in each episode. But it was a lot of preparation. We read our books. We did our homework every single month. We weren't just popping on to talk about the latest in Disney news or things like that. It just became a lot to balance with other things going on in each of our lives. And so we broached the subject. And that wasn't an easy decision to make. But it's something that...

23:12 I brought to my podcast partner. I think she was maybe a little surprised by it, but accepted that. So that's an important navigating relationship piece there. But I gave her the options and said, look, we have the next three episodes planned out. I think we were up to August at that point. And we could end it with this summer series. We always did a themed summer series. This was celebrating Disneyland's 70th and some books that were tied to that. I was like, or we can end it towards the end of the year. i've i'm making this decision that i want to pull back but how can i help you feel like you also have closure to this and she said there were still some topics she wanted to cover um so we we kept that plan in place and then it was it was time to come to an end so yeah that can be bittersweet and tough but i think for me it was important to give our listeners closure because there's podcasts that i've listened to and loved and then all of a sudden they just stop and you're like are they alive? Are they okay? So is it behind a paywall now? Like, I just wanted to make clear to our wonderful listener community, like, Hey, you know, we had just a final episode that was like, you know, kind of like, thanks so much. Here's where you can still keep in touch with us. Like a little, a nice little send off for them. So going back then to meet the Robinsons, you know, one of the things that we see in there is, some of the characters especially experiencing some failures yeah and and so for for you what

24:44 what take us kind of through what lewis is kind of experiencing with he's an inventor he's trying to invent things and he's kind of suffering from some of these failures I think a moment that really stands out to me is when he's at dinner with the Robinsons and he's trying to fix something and he does fail and they're so excited that he failed. They're like, congratulations, you failed. You learned a way that didn't work. Rather than dwelling on how negative that feels, they turned it into a positive. Like, okay, you know, check off. That one didn't work. but keep moving forward on to the next one. And so we see throughout a lot of Lewis's sketches and pieces there that led him on a journey of inventing and growing in that space. Yeah, that was a real turning point, right? I mean, up to that point in time, you know, initially he's trying to create the device that can kind of read your memories, right?

25:44 And because it was sabotaged by the bowler hat. then it suddenly doesn't work. And he thinks things just can't work. And he's getting really frustrated with it. All his things seem to mess up. And I wrote down one of the quotes from that very scene that you mentioned. So I love that you took us there. And once that happens, and it's this, you know, peanut butter and jelly machine, right? To put peanut butter and jelly on your sandwich. And they're celebrating it, just like you said. And Franny says, I propose a toast to Louis. And his brilliant failure, may it lead to success in the future. Yes. And so what do you think is the importance of, maybe let's take it from the angle of somebody else helping to reframe it for you, right? Reframing what a failure is and what's the role in like maybe sometimes leaning on other people to help you kind of shake yourself out of something.

26:37 Yeah, I love that you mentioned somebody else reframing it for you. Sometimes we're so internalized in ourselves and our own thoughts that we don't look outward. I think another thing that pairs really well with that is the great shot of Goob. And he's like... walking through the hallway and the kids are like hey goop i like your binder goop and then he's like they all hated me and that's his internal perception and he didn't have anyone to step in and and reframe that for him so that's why i always feel like if you're going through something it's so important to to talk to someone about it whether it's your partner a parent a loved one a friend just having that sounding board and someone to come in and give you another perspective on it can be vital Before we jump back in, can I ask you a quick favor? If you're enjoying the journey so far, will you like, rate, and subscribe to our show?

27:32 It helps us reach more people like you. We can design and create and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make the dream a reality. I'm glad you pointed out that. That scene as well, because I think there's something additional that we can learn from Goob walking down that aisle. He had such tunnel vision of negativity from wallowing in the failure he had, right? So he has this failure of he's playing baseball. Yeah, I think it's a championship game. Yeah, he misses the winning catch because he fell asleep. Because his roommate, Louis, has been keeping him up late at night. Exactly. And so then he gets mad at Louis and he wallows what appears to be for decades, right? Three decades that he's wallowing. But when he's still in this wallowing phase of like super sad about it, he's such tunnel vision. with wallowing in this failure that he can't even see the people who are actually trying to reach out. There's kids in the hallway who are trying to say hello, and he can't see it. And I think sometimes we do get in our own way. If we could reframe, we'd actually realize, hey, there's actually people around me who actually do want to help. Maybe there's people who actually would want to be positive, but if I can't shake myself out, then I miss. those opportunities.

28:51 I miss those connections. And sometimes we have to reframe for ourselves. One of my biggest pieces of advice to some of my colleagues is you're stuck on an analysis. You're getting tunnel vision in the work that you're doing. Close the laptop and go for a walk. Come back to something with fresh eyes, a renewed perspective. And it does wonders. I am a big proponent of getting away from my desk for lunchtime. I like to go to the break room and read. Don't be chained to your desk. You need those mental breaks to come back and work more efficiently later. Yeah, that's exactly right. I tell our employees here, I tell other people as well that... you know, the idea of taking breaks, the idea of taking a lunch is because it really does break things up and it can help us to get outside of ourselves and then jump back in with those new eyes. And I think... you know sometimes what people need to do is like give themselves that grace like it is okay to go take that break like it's normal you sometimes need it you've got to do it you've got to you got to acknowledge that that's okay i'm not being lazy i actually need this my brain needs this so that i can come back better and look at things differently And boy, Goop sure could have used that and unfortunately didn't get it when he was younger. Had to wait to 30 years in the future to get it after he got manipulated by the actual bowler hat, which was interesting.

30:18 Let me ask you about this quote. There's some quotes I have from some just people out there, thought leaders, other authors. And this is one from Brene Brown. She says, vulnerability is not winning or losing. It's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. So for you, how does that play into this idea of, you know, what the Robinsons really embrace, which is keep moving forward, right? When we have failures, keep moving forward. Yeah, I feel like the entire family shows up for each other. I love just the montage of, I believe, is it? Bud is kind of the older patriarch of the family, taking Louis through all the different rooms. And that's how we meet the Robinsons ourselves.

31:08 And seeing just how... they're not afraid to to be vulnerable to be chaotic uh you know they're driving a train racing through it playing little games inside the the potted plants so embracing the weird like stay weird embrace that uh there is a vulnerability to you know kind of showing your passions and your interests sometimes but that's a family that that truly embraces that and that sometimes is really hard for people to do right that Like, people kind of get in their own heads. We get insecure about things that maybe we have that are a little bit different and unique and weird. I mean, it was interesting when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a podcast. Because I knew that I wanted to do one. I just felt like it was something that I was almost called to do. But the thought of doing a Disney one was like, well, but I kind of hide the fact that I love Disney, right? Like, I totally love it. I'll sing Disney songs in the car with my kids all the time. We play Name That Tune. We embrace it. We love it. We go to Disneyland all the time. But like in my professional career, like, oh, I certainly couldn't be some huge Disney fan. And I kind of had to get out of my own head and realize like, no, this is actually something that like, hey, I might be a little bit different or unique or weird. And that's okay. I'm going to embrace it. And then you're going to make connections with other people who love it. That's exactly right. And those connections can be really meaningful. You know, and somebody who appreciates the fact that that's the case, that I can be a little bit different and a little bit unique, a little bit weird.

32:36 I had a connection just like that. I went to a rather large high school in Baltimore. Like my graduating class was like 575 people. And so when I went to the University of Maryland, it was about an hour away from home. And my now best friend, Betsy, not the one that I did the podcast with. That was Emily. They're both wonderful people. They were both my bridesmaids when I got married a few years ago. Betsy and I went to the same high school, but we. joke that we weren't friends, not because of any animosity, but because we were just in different classes. Like I might've been in the accelerated English classes and she was an accelerated math. So we knew of each other, maybe swap numbers. Cause we knew we were going to university of Maryland. Um, and so I remember that first weekend, one of us texted the other, like, Hey, do you want to get lunch? Like, I don't really know anyone.

33:21 And so we did that. And just the natural conversation of, oh, well, what did you do this summer comes up. And I said, oh, I went to Walt Disney World. And she said, oh, I did that too. And I was like, oh, well, my family has like this. uh timeshare type thing she's like oh the disney vacation club and i was like yeah and she said yeah my parents have that too and that that is what cemented our friendship you know come to find out we have a shared sense of humor many other things in common but literally just that lunch sharing what we did the summer prior to going into college and it was go to walt disney world was the foundation of our friendship and i get back to her dorm and she has like a tinkerbell lamp and i'm like yeah we're going to be the best of friends. These are my people. These are my roommates for the other three years of college. Amazing. And, you know, if we are unwilling to open ourselves up to a little bit of that vulnerability. Then we do miss those. We miss those opportunities. We miss those connections and those relationships.

34:16 And those are really important. They're a really fulfilling part of our life. I mean, it sounds like your two bridesmaids are from these two wonderful people, right? Because of Disney friendships, basically. Which is amazing. Emily that I did the podcast with, we were both teaching assistants. And so, you know, we're just in meetings and it somehow comes up that we love Disney and the movies and the theme parks. Again, there you go. That's the foundation, I guess, now that I think about it, of both of my bridesmaids. Yeah, I love that. So at the very, very end of the movie, the flashes across the screen is a quote from Walt Disney, which, of course, is where this actual idea of keep moving forward comes from, which I guess comes as no surprise.

34:57 If somebody didn't know before, then it probably makes sense that that was the case. And here's what the quote says. Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we're curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. So for you, here's what I'm curious about is there's this idea like we don't look backwards for very long, but that does obviously mean that we do look backwards, right, to some degree. So where for you is the balance of looking backwards and what's the value in that and then knowing when to then move forward and let go of the past? Yeah, it is a balance. I like that phrase, but I think I'm a big proponent of everything happens for a reason. I know that might be like a little like woo woo, but. All of the paths that you take lead you to where you are today.

35:45 And so you're going to learn from each of those journeys, whether it's a job that you're no longer in or a relationship that didn't work out, that still shapes who you are and who you've become as a person. So I think it's a matter of, I like that, you know, we don't look back for long. Like you said, it's not that we ignore it. We don't just move on blindly. We think about those experiences, how they shape us and use that to move forward down the path, then make the informed choices as we continue to keep moving forward. And I think sometimes when we take those opportunities, like you mentioned, where, hey, we just got to step away for a second. Those are opportunities for us to think sometimes through, OK, that didn't work out. It's not working. So maybe a little bit of failure. OK, what can I do to learn now from that? Now I can move forward. What's the lesson? And now let's move forward. What role do you think curiosity plays in this for the ability to move forward? I feel like it's so important. I can tie it to my role a bit as an analyst. You have to be curious. It's sometimes not enough to just be like, yes, this was the number that we saw this week in whatever key performance indicator or KPI that you're looking at. You kind of have to be a little bit of like Olaf, like, yeah, why? Yeah, why? And keep digging down that. So I guess when this became like my personal motto, I didn't know I was going to end up on this specific path. But now I'm seeing the path of how it led me to where I am. But

37:17 yes, all that to say, curiosity is so important as a driver, because if we're just complacent about things, I don't feel like you're in as much shape of your destiny as you could be. Well, that's actually a great tie in. I love that you mentioned Olaf because first off, I mean, who doesn't love Olaf? I love him. But it really is that idea of like, yeah, why to really do try to understand. I think sometimes we're quick to judgment. We're quick to think we understand what that number means or what that person meant. Right. We get an email and we think we know what their intention was. And we put all this story behind what we think their intention was. And we don't get curious to say, OK, why? Why was that? the thing they said? Why was that the recommendation they made? And when we get curious in those situations, we open up a new world of understanding. Now, maybe we don't come to the right, you know, perfect resolution, I suppose. But if we understand somebody more, that understanding, I think, does bridge those gaps oftentimes and really does help to build that connection. And decisions have to get made and you have to do things in a business.

38:26 But without that understanding, I think it's lacking. And I think people don't feel as valued and appreciate as much as if you do. You have that understanding of where they're coming from and have that Olaf curiosity. So good. I just love that you said that. You're welcome. Here's another quote I want to run by you and get your take on. And it's similar to what we're talking about, but it's just one that I really love. It's from Carol Dweck. Carol Dweck is a college professor. She's got a doctorate, wrote a wonderful book called Mindset. And she's just amazing. And what she said was, becoming is better than being. The fixed mindset does not allow people the luxury of becoming. They have to already be. And in this book, she's really making the argument that fixed mindset is going to keep you in that negativity, keep you without being able to move forward. The growth mindset, on the other hand, is what opens up those possibilities.

39:20 So can you give me your take on that quote? Yeah, I hadn't heard that quote before, but I do feel like it pairs really well because becoming is a continuous path. I think if you're just being. you're not moving on the path you're just there maybe you just you sat down for a little bit but becoming to me this is getting into the english major side that's an active verb that's that's moving and so i i absolutely see the the connection there yeah and i think if we look at that through the lens of goob right the movie actually does a really nice job of like he's sitting there in his bunk bed right when the orphanage is closed and he hasn't changed clothes in 30 years like goop's got to smell a little weird if you think totally and he was just being he literally during that time was just being he wasn't becoming anything different and it's it's obviously it's an extreme example like somebody actually sit there for 30 years but it does such a nice job of visually highlighting that yeah So that we can understand it better, right? What times in our lives are we actually goob, sitting there in the same set of stinky clothes for entirely too long? Versus I think if we're okay to reveal now, but we've given the spoiler warning, Lewis grows up to be Cornelius. After he's adopted, he changes his name. And so as you go through the Robinsons' home, you see all of the failures, his different inventions, kind of like a haul of them to me.

40:45 that that is becoming that's becoming better at this you know there's two time machines you see the different prototypes as they go through the little joke about the model it's like oh it's pretty small uh what is this a center for ants uh type of gag there uh but yeah that's kind of like goofus and gallant but it's it's goob and cornelius yeah it's such a good depiction too and we can see how That idea of keep moving forward served Cornelius and then brought together his family and how they all really embraced that in such a beautiful way and were supportive of each other, which is just such a nice way for us to see that and understand more about ourselves by seeing them do that. So, okay. So let's do this. Let's take you to our this or that segment.

41:30 Okay. And then we'll hit our rapid fire and then we'll circle back at that point in time to kind of our closing reflection and our three actual takeaways. So first is our this or that. So buckle up, Courtney. Okay. Here we go. Time machine or Lewis's memory scanner? Time machine. I love to travel in general. So now you're just opening up new possibilities for me. Oh, yeah. So many. So many, right? Okay. Carl the robot or Lefty the octopus butler? I really like Carl. And he had little mini Carls. Oh, totally. There's a lot of potential there. I mean, Carl was making them dinners and stuff. Yeah. I could use a Carl. Yeah, no doubt. Peanut butter and jelly machine or flying car? Blind car. I hate driving. I'm going to believe that it's also like autonomous driving thing. Get me around. It's fine. It's you know, I think I start to get a little tired of that. Oh, 100 percent. OK, now here's a harder one. Disney World or a Disney cruise? That is very tough, but I am going to have to pick Disney Cruise. I think if you haven't done one, it is a great new way for you to experience the magic of Disney, the Disney level of service, but also...

42:44 to get to experience other places outside of the theme parks. I was fortunate enough to do one in the Mediterranean in summer 2024. And to just, you know, you only had to unpack once in your stateroom, but you wake up and one day you're in Sicily and the next day you're in Santorini. And I'm like, wow, this is the way to do it. Oh, yeah. I've only been on one and it was nothing short of magical. You could do a land and sea. I mean, they sail out of Port Canaveral, so do a few days at Walt Disney World and then go on your cruise. That's the best. That's the best way to do it, right? Mix both. Best combo, yes. Okay, how about this one? A Disney book or a Disney movie? Oh, that is so tough, but I will go to my roots and I will say Disney book. There's something to be said about uncovering new knowledge hidden. secrets behind things I'm actually a big Disney non -fiction fan we certainly covered fiction on the podcast both Disney fiction like the Kingdom Keepers and the fictional stories that inspired movies but I loved me a good like memoir biography making of type thing oh absolutely uh okay how about this one an ocean view room uh on the cruise or being out on the pool deck I'm going to go with the pool deck. Look, I have stayed plenty of times in an inside room that didn't even have a view of the ocean. Like I'm traveling at an affordable price here. The room is just somewhere to sleep at night and shower.

44:09 And so, you know, the rest of the ship is your world to explore. Courtney, I totally agree. My wife and I actually were talking about this just last week because when we went on a Disney cruise, the only one we went on, we did have an ocean view room. But we were hardly ever there. But then even when we were during the day, it was like we wanted to catch a little nap and then it wasn't totally dark. And it was like, yeah, I have an interior room. Oh, my God. I have never slept better than in those interior rooms because I am so light sensitive and I'm a morning person. But I tell you. I've slept till like 10 in those indoor rooms and that is very late for me. I'm like a 6 to 7 a .m. wake up and I was like, oh my God, what time is it?

44:50 Where am I? It was so dark. Yeah, the interior room can really help. But when we go again, and we certainly will go on another Disney trip, we are definitely getting an interior room. Save yourself a little bit and put that money toward the fun fund and spend it on an excursion or something. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Okay, here's the last this or that. Rope drop. at a park, whichever park, or staying for the fireworks. I'm a rope drop. Yeah, I was the morning person in me. It didn't surprise you. My family was definitely if you can make it from rope drop to fireworks, more power to you. But also, again, the crowds on the fireworks are going and stuff. I'm a let's take advantage of everybody else sleeping in and get right on Space Mountain.

45:34 Yeah, I love me a good rope drop. I'm a big, big fan. OK, here's our rapid fire. OK, so buckle up. Favorite Disney movie? Beauty and the Beast. Favorite Disney song? Out There from Hunchback. Oh, okay. That's not one I've gotten yet. That is a... Yes. Okay, I like it. It's a great one. Favorite Disney princess? Belle. Favorite Disney villain? Hades. Oh, he's so good. He's so funny. I like... That was fun for me as a kid. I love Hades. Favorite Disney ship? Oh, the Disney treasure. If you're a theme park fan, if I can explain that one. That's the one that has... the haunted mansion parlor bar on it a 20 000 leagues inspired pub so they were just i'm like this feels like niche things that i'm interested in as a disney fan it's it's absolutely stunning That one's going to be pretty high on my list. I was just talking with somebody in my neighborhood and they had just gone on the treasure. And I was like, oh, this is sounding pretty great. I also feel like the treasure is kind of my baby because I have been with Disney for 12 years, but started on cruise line in 2022. And so that was the first ship that like I saw from we're giving you the name all the way up to her hitting the water.

46:50 Like when I came in, the wish was about to sail. So it was like, okay, like, yeah, I can support that. But like. I feel emotionally attached to the treasure because that's the first one that I really saw from the beginning. It's connection, right? You have a connection to it. So yeah, that totally makes sense. Favorite Disney book? I highly recommend the Bob Thomas Walt Disney. biography. It was the authorized one by the family, but still doesn't shy away from different experiences that Walt and Lillian had. And so that's just one. I told Emily she did the college program the year behind me. I was like, read this before you go on your college program. It just puts you in the right mindset. So I think it's Walt Disney and American Original is probably the subtitle. Well, I mean, I'll tell you what, I'm going to download that into my Audible as soon as we get done recording here because I'm definitely going to read that one. Yes, Walt Disney and American Original. Okay. How about favorite Disney author? I'm going to give it to Jim Korkis just because he had such a prolific Vault of Walt series trivia master. If you happen to read his Disney Cruise Line book about... you know, the history of the cruise line and fun little things there, I do get a shout -out under my maiden name, Courtney Guth, in the foreword because I helped him with some trivia. Amazing. That's fantastic. Well, I'm definitely going to pull that out. Okay, and here's the last rapid fire.

48:18 Which character from Meet the Robinsons do you relate to most? Definitely not goop. I think I think Lewis is at the heart of it. And so just following his journey and that spirit of optimism that he has. But he's like he's a realist, too. Like we get to see him, you know, frustrated by the interview process and not being adopted. I like that he's well -rounded in that regard. Yeah. Yeah. He's fantastic. Yeah. I love that. Well, let's take us to kind of our closing reflection and then let's get your three actionable takeaways. So can you give us your reflections overall on this idea of keep moving forward and what that kind of means from this wonderful gem of a show, Meet the Robinsons? Yeah, this movie is the film that introduced me to that quote. So even though I did that project on Walt Disney years before in sixth grade and learned about Walt the Man, it was that moment that you described in the credits where that quote, flashes on the screen i get like a little verklempt when i see it happen i get choked up thinking back to that i was um like 14 or 15 years old seeing that movie you know you're in a pivotal time period coming into high school all of that and that quote just stuck with me so much so that when I was applying to the University of Maryland, one of the required of three, I'm sure, essays was what is your personal philosophy? And I chose keep moving forward.

49:47 It was also my senior quote in the yearbook. So I just really internalized that quote in my freshman year. And then by the time I graduated, I was just I was thinking about this watching the movie because it does have a lot to do with fate and the curiosity and the paths that we take and where that leads us. I'm like, Maryland is where I met my two best friends. It's where I met my now husband. I'm like, man, if I hadn't written that essay, like I might not have gotten in there. I might have been on a completely, completely different path. So again, going back to that everything for a reason piece as well. Brilliant. Brilliant. Yeah, I love it. Keep moving forward can be such a great mantra to have. And we all go through struggles at times. We all go through trials and difficult seasons in life.

50:33 And it's not always easy for us to keep moving forward. You want to know what's crazy? Yes. Okay, I'm assuming you still have Facebook. And you know how Facebook will have your Facebook memories? Yeah. Okay, today... 13 years ago i posted like a keep like a an infographic of keep moving forward the walt disney quote with like the castle behind it so i don't remember what i was going through at that moment 13 years ago but like wow how cool was that i saw that this morning i was like oh my gosh we're gonna be talking about this tonight the perfect thing how beautiful that really is um and it's so nice to have have things like that sometimes pop up because it reminds us like hey you know there are things in life that are inspiring and things happen for a reason and oh that's just that's wonderful thank you for sharing that you're welcome um so if you could provide to our listeners three actionable takeaways of something that they could put in effect into their lives starting today what would those three things be yeah i think one thing that we didn't touch on too deeply though is the process that lewis goes through um going through adoption and i i really saw parallels to that of going through job interviews because he's kind of being interviewed by these parents and he says he's you know faced 124 and counting and mildred the the orphanage he's like i'm sure that's an over exaggeration he's like no this is the tally so i i feel like that's probably something that would resonate with those maybe in search of a job right now or going through that that You're going to face rejection in life.

52:07 Maybe not everything on the path you think you're supposed to be on is going to pan out that way. But you will find the place where you're meant to be, your family, so to speak. Yeah. Just like Lewis finds the Robinsons. Yeah, absolutely. Then the other one that I really thought about, again, everything for a reason, going back to a big... The crux of him doing the memory scanner is he wants to see his mom in that moment. Like he feels like if he could go back, if he could change that, she's the one who wants him. Like she just couldn't maybe take care of him at that time. He just wants, he wants to feel wanted and he wants to go to back to that moment and change it. So when he finds out about the time machine, it becomes a deal between him and Wilbur Robinson. Like you're going to take me back to see my mom. And we have this moment where she's quite literally in front of him and he could reach out and touch her and essentially change his fate if he were to intervene. And this is everything that he's thought that he wanted.

53:08 And then he doesn't do it. And I think that's because he realizes, like, if I do this, it's going to. change what I know my future to be. We don't have, unfortunately, the ability to know our future, but I think it gives us peace that maybe everything that happens for us does happen for a reason and leads you down that path. Yeah, because he gets to see this beautiful family that gets created because he went down this path of not knowing who his mom was and gets to embrace that. Yeah, just taking comfort in that when you're going through a tough time. If I can get a little personal here, I just went through a crazy last eight months. We previously lived in a condo and the tenant above, we owned the condo and we're living there. Someone above us was renting and did unauthorized construction and completely flooded our condo. And I was like, this quite literally ruined our life is like was my initial attitude. We lived in a hotel for over 100 days. It was like $45 ,000 in damages to the condo. But we got new floors. We got new kitchen. We got the walls that had a lot of posters and stuff patched. And they packed up all of our stuff. And we were collectors. And I was like, wait a second. This is awful. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. But that was the impetus for us to now be in a single family home that we closed on a month and a half ago. Because it was like, OK. this is what we've been dealt this is terrible but let's keep keep moving forward

54:40 i mean and maybe for everything for a reason um i don't want to belittle the drama that experience was having to deal with but And because of that, it made us rethink, like, well, do we want to still live here? Moving to a single family home was something that we had talked about, my husband and I, for a while. But it was like, oh, you know, maybe like our mortgage rate, those adulting type things. It's like, oh, we have all this stuff. Like, OK, somebody else paid to have the insurance. pack all that up for us and now they've upgraded the kitchen cabinets and things like okay maybe this is the push that we needed to to sell to start over we don't want to be in this home with this traumatizing memory and living below this person who who caused all this for us and so that i think within you know the last year has been a huge piece of reflection for me uh on on paths and and what gets us to maybe a journey we didn't expect but are ultimately grateful for the outcome yeah yeah and i think one of the things you pointed out is i think right it doesn't mean that we have to say like oh it was an easy experience no we can acknowledge like that was hard and we have hard things and we can also move forward past them and we can also find the good in things even though something was difficult yeah And so at the end of it, the third takeaway is just keep moving forward with it. The path might not be the one you thought or you foresaw for yourself, but just kind of have faith that it'll lead you through, but also remain curious. You are still in control of your

56:12 destiny one way or the other. It's that curiosity that'll lead you down those paths. Absolutely wonderful. Oh, those are some absolutely terrific takeaways. that I think can really bring some more peace and happiness for people if they'll try to put those in action into their lives, keep moving forward, do so with curiosity. Courtney, it's been a pleasure visiting with you today. It has been a treat for me as well. I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate the knowledge that you bring. I appreciate the perspective. I appreciate getting to watch Meet the Robinsons. It's been a while since I watched it, and I love getting to watch it. It's been a while for me too. It's always good to circle back to some of these, especially when, you know, when you have an impact like it did for you, that quote for you, you know, and you get to circle back to these things. And it's a reminder of like where you've come from and what exciting things are ahead as well. So appreciate you being on our podcast, Yes and Land, and hope the best for you and everything you've got in your life and in your journey with the Walt Disney Company.

57:12 Thank you. And I look forward to seeing how you keep moving forward with the rest of your episodes. As you leave this conversation, remember that yes, the past can hurt and you can either run from it or you can learn from it. So here's to learning and finding joy in the journey. See you real soon.