Homeschool Topics at Disneyland

So you have a Disneyland vacation on the horizon and would love to tie in some learning with the Happiest Place on Earth...Are there any unit studies you can do before your trip? Is there anything you can study to drum up excitement about your upcoming getaway?

The answer is an astounding "Of course!"

Here is a list of possible unit studies connected to the Disneyland Resort:

Links will take you to unit studies we have done or to Homeschool Share for resources for a specific unit study.

By Land:
Note that these topics can be adjusted for nearly any age group.

Main Street, U.S.A.

1. Trains
2. Transportation of the early 20th century (horse-drawn carriages, vintage vehicles, steam-powered pump engine)
3. Early animation (to coincide with the Main Street Cinema)
4. Abraham Lincoln (for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln)
5. Neighborhoods and Main Streets 
6. Firefighters/ Fire Stations
7. Horses (Belgians and Percherons pull the streetcars and drivers are always more than happy to talk about their horses)
8. Forced perspective (architecture in Main Street utilizes forced perspective)
9. Dinosaurs (from Primeval World)

Adventureland:

1. Tropical birds (for the Tiki Room)
2. Rainforests and Savannas (for the Jungle Cruise)
3. Explorers and archaeologists (for Indiana Jones)
4. Tarzan
5. Treehouses
6. Animals of the rainforest/savanna
7. The Nile River and Amazon River
8 Animatronics and robots (Tiki Room was the first attraction to feature audio-animatronics)
9. Indiana Jones character/India

New Orleans Square:

1. 19th century Louisiana, New Orleans/ Creole culture, food, and music
2. Pirates
3. Ghosts/ Ghost stories
4. Mardi Gras

Frontierland:

1. The Old West/ Westward Expansion
2. Native Americans
3. Mark Twain
4. Trains (for Big Thunder Mountain)
5. Old country music and instruments 

Critter Country:

1. Animals of North America (turtles, foxes, bears, skunks, raccoons, etc.)
2. Winnie the Pooh/ A.A. Milne
3. Br'er Rabbit stories/ Gullah culture
4. Bees/Honey

Fantasyland:

1. Castles
2. Medieval life 
3. Arthurian legends
4. Alice in Wonderland/ Lewis Carroll
5. the Circus (for Casey Jr. Circus Train)
6. Wind in the Willows (for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride)
7.  Peter Pan/ Pirates
8. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carl Collodi/ Marionettes
9. Elephants (for Dumbo)
10. Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps/ Yeti legend/ Swiss music and culture
11. Children's stories from around the world (for it's a small world)
12. Fairy Tales (like Rapunzel, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, etc.)

Toontown:

1. Max Fleisher's early cartoons
2. Early animation with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck


Tomorrowland:

1. Space/the universe/planets/the sun/the moon
2. Space travel
3. Space race of the 60s
4. Astronauts
5. Automobiles (for autopia)
6. Star Wars
7. (for little ones) Letter Z (for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters)
8. Ocean life/ Great Barrier Reef (for Finding Nemo Submarines)
9. Submarines
10. Fish/Sharks/Whales
11. Inventions and Inventors
12. Michael Jackson (for Captain EO)
13. Agriculture (for Tomorrowland's Agrifuture)

Over-Arching Themes:

1. Modes of transportation: trains, monorails, canoes, riverboats, ships, street-cars, etc.)
2. History of Walt Disney
3. Physics of roller coasters

If you're wondering how to put these unit studies together, read about How to Create A Disneyland Unit Study.