Luckiest photo opp ever. We just happened to be where they were planning to pose for photos on during out last night at the park.
We just returned from a family/dance trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
This is the 60th Anniversary of the park and Disneyland is really going all out to celebrate their Diamond Anniversary, including special events in California Adventure Park.
To be honest, if my daughter’s dance team had not been planning to perform in one of the parks and at Downtown Disney, as well as taking a dance workshop there, I doubt our family would have made the trip this summer.
I am not sure if simply knowing it was the 60th anniversary would have been enough to compel me to go. But now that we have gone, I think skipping a visit during the Diamond Anniversary would have been a mistake.
Before we left, I remembered how much I was inspired by Disneyland the last couple of times we went. But on this visit, I could not help feeling that every creative person really needs to go to Disneyland at least once in their lifetime to reap the rewards. And the Diamond Anniversary Celebration is an extra-inspiring time to go.
Nobody invited me to write this post to promote Disneyland and California Adventure Park. This is purely my opinion as a longtime creative. If you are also a longtime creative, here are a few reasons why you might want to attend:
1. Creativity needs inspiration. There are probably a handful of exceptionally creative people, in my opinion, who maximized their creative gifts in their lifetimes. For me, Walt Disney was definitely one of the most creative and visionary men who ever lived. And any creative person attending the 60th celebration will catch the creative wave that Disney created and feel buoyed up by it.
2. Walt Disney was a creative visionary and a business person. I have been teaching creatives to become more professional since 2001. Disney did not combine the two skills perfectly all the time, but I have yet to meet anyone who does. Most creatives I know can stand to expand their professional skills. But you can’t help but think of your creativity as a business after a trip to Disneyland.
3. It’s fun to feel like a kid again. Taking your family to Disneyland is a lot of work. No matter how large your family, there is no way to avoid some of the logistical stress that accompanies any cross-country family vacation. But you know what? About fifteen minutes after you enter either of the two parks, Disneyland or California Adventure, you will forget about everything except how much fun you are having.
4. We live in cynical times. We compartmentalize things. We intellectualize. We justify feeling stuck by calling it “being a responsible adult.” But in doing so, we cut off our access to the magic that might otherwise seep into our everyday lives. At Disneyland, the staff is trained to turn up the magic. And this is a feeling you cannot help but catch and enjoy during your visit.
5. You are probably stuck in the ways that you think. No matter how much I already appreciated the way Disney used to think, and no matter how much I have always been inspired by previous visits to Disneyland, I am always struck by just how eye-opening the experience is each time. And to make matters better, I notice and appreciate new things every time I go.
6. Disney was global and multimedia before it was easy to accomplish either goal. Today, we can go global in the touch of a few buttons on a laptop. What would Disney have accomplished if this had been the case for him? And yet, despite the challenges in creating a progressive, evolving business model, he found ways to make it work. Check out this two-hour documentary on Walt Disney, below, for more background information.
7. It all started with a drawing of a mouse. Then Disney animated the mouse. Then he produced a few short films with the mouse. Then he produced Steamboat Willie. Then he kept doing more smart things with the mouse like adding merchandising and launching The Mickey Mouse Club. Eventually Mickey Mouse earned Walt Disney an honorary Oscar. All of this took time, of course. None of it happened overnight. But nothing happens overnight. And when you visit Disneyland, you will see for yourself what sustained commitment and consistency can produce.
Maybe you are cynical. Maybe you think Disneyland is kid stuff or a giant marketing machine.
You’d be right. It’s both. The price to get to Anaheim and enter the parks and keep your family fed and rested is high.
But as a creative business person, you really can’t afford to not go and experience it for yourself, whether it’s your first time or your tenth.
Besides, your kids will love you for it.
If you like, enjoy this two-hour documentary about Walt Disney produced by The Walt Disney Family Foundation. It’s called, Walt, The Man Behind The Myth.
You don’t have to be a die-hard fan to get inspired by Walt Disney and Disneyland.
You don’t even have to go on an anniversary year, if the timing does not work for you.
Are you planning to go to the Diamond Anniversary celebration? Why or why not?
Why not share your favorite memory or inspiration from Disneyland in the comments?
