The Disney Institute
“Doing Things You’ve Always Dreamed Of, Or Things You Never Dreamed You’d Do.
You’ll Be Amazed What You Get Through, Learning Different Sides Of You.
You Won’t Believe What You Can Do!”
From 1996 to 2000, Walt Disney World resort offered an intimate resort community with a personal touch. Where guests young and old could do more than just get away, but also engage their body, excited their mind, and expand their horizons! This experience was known as the Disney Institute, and we’re going to take a trip down memory lane to revisit this resort in today’s Disney Throwback.
Disney Institute Concept Art, Image: Diz Avenue
Inspiration
Disney’s CEO at the time Michael Eisner was all about adding new experiences to Walt Disney World resort in an effort to keep guests at Disney as long as possible! (And coming back of course.) With new projects like the Disney Vacation Club, Pleasure Island, and Disney – MGM Studios, to say the Walt Disney World resort was pretty busy in the 90’s in an understatment!
The idea of the Disney Institute was born from an experience that Michael Eisner had at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. The Chautauqua Institution offers weekly programs and courses each summer in an array of fields such as arts, education, religion, and music. After visiting the institution, Eisner believed that there was a market for Walt Disney World guests who not only wanted to go on a vacation, but also wanted an enriched experience! He decided to move forward with the idea and the Disney Village Resort (near what is now known as Disney Springs) was converted into the Disney Institute.
The Disney Institute
The Disney Institute opened its doors to guests on February 9, 1996, offering over 80 different courses spanned across several core studies. When the institute first opened, there was a three-night stay minimum for guests looking to participate. While some existing buildings from the former Disney Village Resort were used in the remodel, additional buildings were constructed to make space for the many interactive experiences! The resort was designed by Tom Beeby and was meant to look and feel like a small town community.
The institute’s grounds featured spacious bungalows and townhouses all steps from the exciting experiences of the property! The Disney Institute boasted 28 program studios, a 1,150-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 225-seat indoor performance theater, a 400-seat movie theater, a closed-circuit radio station (WALT), a closed-circuit TV station (DITV), an 18 hole championship golf course, clay tennis courts, a youth center, six different swimming pools, and a cutting edge fitness center. Did I mention the full-service spa? Basically the Disney Institute was all that and a bag of chips!
Image: Diz Avenue
Core Studies
The Disney Institute offered an array of courses when it first opened — over 80 to be exact! Each of these courses were broken down into Core Studies, which featured the individual courses.
Animation
Being that the Disney company is no stranger it animation, it only makes sense that they would provide courses in this subject! What’s cool about this core study is that guests had the chance to dabble in an array of animation styles based on which classes they chose to take. For example, guests could choose to take a class in Clay Animation where they would have a chance to become a part of a film production unit working to develop at Claymation film. Guests curious about the production side of animation could work alongside a Disney Institute animator learning drawing techniques! There was even a course in Computer Animation — a fairly new concept at the time.
Culinary Arts
Food is also something Disney is really great at, amiright? To cover this exciting core study, the Disney Institute provided a range of courses from simplistic to more refined culinary subjects. For example guests could take simple courses in culinary technique where guests could brush up on their cooking skills, or get more specific with a Taste of the World course where they would prepare a dish from a specific region of the world! Other course examples included dessert creations in a Pastries and Confections course, recreating recipes from the pages of Southern Living in a Tastes of Southern Living course, and exploring food and wine pairings in a Wine, Wonders, and Song course.
Gardening
Gardening and landscaping is one major aspect of Disney parks that tends to go unnoticed, but even in the 90’s they made it a priority at their Disney Institute! Guests looking to get a green thumb could take a course in basic garden design or even the more advanced topiary design. (I would high key love to take that topiary course because the Flower and Garden topiaries are so dreamy!) The Disney Institute also provided courses in creative gardening, the history of plants, and more!
The Great Outdoors
The Disney Institute was all about trying new things and for many The Great Outdoors portion was a way to do so! From rock climbing and conquering a fear of heights to brushing up on tennis skills with a Disney Institute tennis pro, Disney really thought of everything. They even offered courses for beginners looking to learn gold on their 18 hole championship golf course.
Photography
A photography course in one of the most photogenic places in the world? Yes PLEASE. The Disney Institute offered a course about taking better home videos, as well as courses focused on outdoor photography methods, candid photography methods, and how to tell a story with your camera through photojournalism. One of the coolest course of all (in my opinion) was their Traveling Photographer course which was a 4 hour trip around World Showcase in Epcot capturing the architectural details!
Television/Radio
Guests of the Disney Institute had their chance to experience the exciting industries of Television and Radio thanks to courses at the resort! With their own television station (DITV) and their own radio station (WALT), the Disney Institute guests really got an authentic feel for these modes of entertainment. There were courses in radio production where the guests would get to dive deeper into each role. As for television, there were courses in television on location as well as television live. These short films produced during the class were later aired on the Disney Institute TV Channel!
Youth Programs
Even the youngest guests at the Disney Institute had courses geared towards them! To keep things simple, the courses were split up by age. One set of courses were geared for guests ages 7-10 and the other set was for guests ages 11-15. Some of the courses for 7-10 year olds included acting, singing, and dancing lessons, campfire cooking lessons, how to create comics, a Discovery Island kid adventure, and face painting. Courses for 11-15 year olds included cartoon secrets for comic strips, a tour of the utiladors in Magic Kingdom (oh my gosh, what an opportunity at 11-15!), rock climbing courses, art courses, and a Discovery Island expedition.
In addition to these major core studies, the Disney Institute also offered quite a few additional courses in random topics like antique treasure hunting, deejaying, imagineering, puppetelling, self-defense, and more! The Disney Institute was going to be Disney’s way of providing more educational experiences to their guests while they were on vacation at Walt Disney World.
How Much Did It Cost?
We’re still talking about Disney here, so obviously this level of additional entertainment options had to come at a price. Prices per person ranged from $582-$1986 depending on the length of stay at The Disney Institute and number of courses taken while visiting. According to RobPlays, with the prices adjusted for inflation it would cost between $910-$3107 per person today! Due to the major additional fees from a normal Walt Disney World vacation, this project was basically failed from the start.
Image: Diz Avenue
The Fall of the Disney Institute
Once the Disney Institute opened its doors, Disney was still struggling to get guests to invest and try out this new experience. With the new program ranging in cost from $500 to almost $2000 per person, it’s not surprising that most Disney guests weren’t prepared to make that kind of investment so quickly. Unfortunately with the lack of interest, Disney would have to cut almost half of their programs within the first year! In an effort to get the guests interested, a few months after opening Disney offered guests “Preview Days” where they could pay $49 to come by the Disney Institute and experience a day of courses.
Even with these efforts, the Disney Institute wasn’t picking up steam like expected. In 2000 after almost four years of disappointing numbers, Disney decided it was time to shift the focus on the Disney Institute to try to make more income. Instead of gearing courses towards recreational activities for guests, the Disney Institute began to cater to businesses of all sizes offering business and leadership seminars on the Disney Institute campus.
Image: Disney Tourist Blog
This idea was both a success and a fail because while it was creating new business for the Disney Institute, it wasn’t enough to justify using the whole facility. So in 2003, the Disney Institute facility was shut down to be reimagined into a new Disney Vacation Club resort, Disney’s Saratoga Springs! After a slight makeover of the existing property, Disney’s Saratoga Springs resort opened to the public on May 17, 2004. The resort has an 1880’s Victorian theme inspired by upstate New York — how fitting! If you’re in Disney Springs, feel free to take a short ferry ride over to Disney’s Saratoga Springs to see if you recognize any of the old Disney Institute buildings!
Image: Vista.Today
The Disney Institute Today
The Disney Institute is still offering business courses to this day around the Walt Disney World resort. Courses are offered as a single day or multi day training institute for businesses. Some of the main focuses of the Disney Institute are Employee Engagement and Leadership Excellence. Although the Disney Institute has changed its course subjects, the pricing is still pretty steep! At around $1500 per person for a single day training and around $5000 per person for a multi day training, this training experience may cause some initial sticker shock. I think what sets this new Disney Institute idea apart though is that because these courses are now geared towards business, it is much more likely that employers will be paying these fees instead of the guests themselves. Courses no longer take place in one facility and instead explore the backstage areas around the Walt Disney World resort!
Image: Driven Data
Why Did the Original Disney Institute Fail?
I think the original Disney Institute concept failure is a great example of the importance of knowing who your target audience is. I think with a little market research Disney would’ve discovered that this concept wouldn’t have been realistic for the majority of their guests who are already splurging on a trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth. People weren’t going to Disney to learn, they were going to Disney to have fun! (We all love some edutainment though, amiright?) Add a hefty price tag onto that and you’re sunk for sure.
Although the Disney Institute was a Disney fail, there was some good to come out of this endeavor. The idea of exposing businesses of all sizes to courses about some of the corporate aspects that Disney succeeds at is such an amazing concept! Its also said that many of the backstage tours around the Walt Disney World resort were inspired by or started at the original Disney Institute facility. If that one failure created a domino effect of greatness, I’d say that’s an overall success story!
Looking to learn a little more about the history of the Disney Institute? Check out this video by RobPlays and this footage from one of the original promotional videos from Disney Avenue!
