Today we’d like to introduce you to Becki Whittaker and Lori Webre.
Hi Becki and Lori, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
We “met” in 2009 in a homeschool chat room through a Disney fan site before Lori moved to Central Florida. Becki started with Disney in April 2010 and worked on Main Street USA. Lori started with Disney in April 2012 and worked at Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom and Treks and Trails in Animal Kingdom.
In 2020, we both were furloughed due to Covid. Upon our call-backs, Lori was called back to her home area at Animal Kingdom and Becki was re-deployed to Fantasyland Attractions. Due to personal challenges, we both were struggling and since we are friends, we were sharing that with each other. In April of 2021, we found ourselves at a crossroads in our jobs. Within weeks of each other and after months of struggling with this decision, we both decided it was time to leave the company.
Now, we aren’t the type to sit idle. As we thought about our experiences as cast members (a job we both loved) and as retired homeschool moms, we decided we wanted to do more. We wanted to do something creative that we could share with others. That’s when we combined our love for Disney, puzzles, and homeschooling into creating fun theme park-inspired activity books.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Yes and no. It has been smooth between us – ideas flow regularly and we work well together. We know we have to be open to criticism as it makes our outcome better. We have similar ideas about the products we wish to create and we push each other to make that product better.
Our challenges have come mostly in the form of marketing and how to reach our target demographic/customer. We continue to research the changes in social media algorithms and how the various demographics use social media.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Past Cast Creations started out by creating our Puzzling Through The Parks activity book kits. Volume 1, inspired by the Universal Orlando theme parks, was our first activity book. It was easy to start with Universal because we were passholders and had no blackouts. We had so much fun brainstorming puzzles and activity ideas and bringing them to life in this book. From this point, we went on to create 3 additional volumes – 2 inspired by Disney and 1 inspired by Harry Potter.
One thing that sets these books apart from others is that they are travel-size and they include everything you need. This includes a pencil with an eraser, a small pack of colored pencils, and a sharpener. Volume 4 also includes game tokens and a penny for 2 games within its pages. As moms, we know how having everything you need for an activity for the kids is helpful.
As cast members, we saw families more and more on their phones missing out on magic and experiences. So, we designed these activity book kits with those families in mind. This led us to expand our product line. We now offer digital/printable travel journals and countdown calendars. We also carry physical and digital/printable appreciation cards for the team and cast members. As cast members, we always enjoyed and appreciated the little tokens of thanks that guests gifted to us.
Becki is most proud that we haven’t given up yet! All joking aside, she is most proud of the activity books- she is the puzzle master and sudoku creator extraordinaire- check out her musical note sudoku challenge in one of our activity books. Lori is most proud of the covers (because she drew them) and the fact that we are an international shop! We have sold digital products to the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Canada!
We have researched and scoured the interwebs! There is no product like ours that we could find. Our products are unique in several ways. First, even though the activity books are theme park inspired, you do NOT need to be in the parks to enjoy them. They are perfect to bring a little theme park magic home. We designed them with road trips/plane travel in mind – mostly for those on their way to and/or from the Central Florida theme parks. However, we realized they have many other uses also! Puzzling Through The Parks is also a fun way to introduce critical thinking skills into your child’s education. A couple of the activities in each book may bring your kids/friends/family together to solve. Volume 4, inspired by Magic Kingdom, has 2 board game-like activities we hope kids will enjoy. We have designed these particular activity book kits for 7 years to adults in mind, but there are some that younger ones can participate in as well as a few coloring pages in each book. For the younger set, we offer vacation travel journals with some easier activities, as well as coloring pages. These are only offered as a digital/printable option.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The biggest and most important lesson we’ve learned is that we are more resilient than we thought. There have been times we were ready to quit before we started but we didn’t. We pushed through and never gave up. We look forward to many more years of creating and getting our ideas out into the world.
Pricing:
- Activity books – $9.99
- Physical thank you cards – starting at $4.99
- Digital thank you cards – starting at $2.29
- Digital travel journals – starting at $4.99
- Digital countdown calendars – starting at $2.29
Contact Info:
- Website: Pastcastcreations.Etsy.com
- Instagram: @pastcastcreations
- Facebook: @pastcastcreationsllc
