Disney World’s Randy Pausch Tribute
Sometimes it is the little things that you remember most while touring the parks. For example, every time I visit Magic Kingdom I make it a point to stop by the Randy Pausch tribute. You don’t know about the Randy Pausch tribute?
As you walk by the Mad Tea Party, look closely and you will find a plaque that is shaped like a leaf (or all of the signage in Downtown Disney in Anaheim). It says:
“Be good at something, it makes you valuable…Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”
Randy Pausch (1960-2008) is best known for co-writing a book called The Last Lecture. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006, Randy put together a lecture called The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. He gave the lecture on September 18, 2007 and it became an instant hit on YouTube, which lead to other media appearances. Hyperion, a publishing company owned by Disney, paid Pausch $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book based on the lecture. The book went on to sell 400,000 copies in its first printing and has been translated into 46 languages. It spent more than 85 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. To date, the book has sold more than 4.5 million copies. Pausch was a professor of computer sciences and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, PA.
For more from Sam, buy his book Walt and the Promise of Progress City.
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I just watched the Last Lecture as part of my MAed program and I was in awe of the man and how he portrayed the BEST in his life. I just returned yesterday from a week at WDW and how I wished I had known about his tribute plaque before today. I live in Virginia Beach, VA (the city next to Chesapeake) and my wife had the opportunity to meet this man as she works for the Hospice organization he was with. I will definitely be purchasing the book and will forever try to incorporate his legacy of living into my life. THANK YOU Randy for sharing with all of us the message you left for your children
Thank you for introducing me to Randy Pausch. I will be looking for his leaf in six months when we are in WDW. Hopefully by then I will have been able to incorporate his lessons in my life.
I quote the last lecture atleast once a day ever since watching it 6 months ago. I feel ever person truely needs to watch this if you havent already, it still makes me want to break through some brick walls everytime I think about.
Don’t forget, he also had a Fellowship with Imagineering, working on the Aladdin VR.
Good Point. Thanks Neil.
Plus during his “last lecture” he wore an Imagineering shirt. Small but I think important detail.