Quote by MK Haley Permission to be awkward and weird granted.” (by Disney Imagineers)
By Joyce:
I missed you guys.
DD, BD and I flew away, and now we are back on the farm.
I am here once again in the early morning hours—a sprinkle of rain just ran through the yard, and now a Coqui frog “Coquied” his joy in having called the rain. I sit jamming a figurative scrap of paper into a figurative bottle—let’s do a champagne bottle, my guests deserve the finest. Did it bob up on a wave for you? Can you see it? Do you need tweezers to get the note out of the bottle?
My favorite time in California was sitting in bed with a grandson under reach arm reading to them. A four-year-old and a one-year-old, both love being read to. I love it.
And DD, BD and I had Daughter number one with grandson for seven wonderful days—a blessing, a joy, it was terrific.
And DD and I studied Disneyland.
Disney said he didn’t want his guests to know an outside world existed while they were at Disneyland, and that was pretty much the case. For those people who think Disneyland is about rides they are missing the grand picture. My belief is as you do not judge a horse by its color; you do not only see rides at Disneyland—although they are pretty awesome. The boys loved the Jungle Cruse ride, The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World and the Submarine ride.
I was intimidated by the creativity that abounds in the Disney Park. Husband Dear reminds me that I am seeing the end result.
So I read through The Imagineering Workout book, and I see that I can make a lot of mistakes—that’s part of the creative process. I can learn techniques, have fun first—do rules second. Don’t be hard on oneself, they say. Panic. Share your stuff.
A To-do list:
Get going.
Get committed,
Get donuts or cookies
Get different opinions,
Get confused.
Get stuck.
Get unstuck.
Get your hands dirty.
Get reactions.
Get it on paper.
Did you know there is a basket ball court in the Matterhorn Mountain, built for the construction workers? And that in the Indiana Jones ride when the monstrous ball is rolling toward you it is not you moving, but the room? (Inspired by a car-wash, where you feel you are moving, but it is not you it is the machinery.) Have you seen the topiary work at It’s a Small World? Real trees, really sculpted. It takes 10 years to grow one of those critter sculptures, but that didn’t dissuade the Disney way. Get to work, do it.
Disney was a man who didn’t let naysayers get in his way, a visionary, man who loved it when his Imagineers said, “Yes, if.” Not “Yes, but.”
Whatever an Imagineer is asked to do something he/she says, “Yes.” They often do not know how to do it. There might be head banging privately back at their desk, but they set out.
The attention to detail at Disneyland is awesome. Even a simple little film like It’s a Bug’s World, has a theater to support it with such detail one is transported to another world—complete with the feeling of bugs crawling under your seat.
In the park there is attention to the long shot—everyplace you look is picture perfect. The various styles of architecture do not clash with each other, everyplace is clean. The close up shots are beret with detail-- “layering,” they call it. There is detail upon detail, so much you can’t take it all in, but it adds to the ambiance.
Once when I commented about the crowds DD said, “It’s a party.” So I rallied, got in the spirit of it, and off we went.
And then back home those two little baby goats I thought were so cute decided to dance on the hood of our Toyota Pruis, and the storage shed we thought we had fenced them out of—we didn’t.
Ah, life on the farm.
