The Magic of Disney

I've started a book project, and I'll be sharing the progress as I go.

In the United States, a trip to a Disney theme park has become a rite of passage for many families. My parents took me twice in my childhood, and the memories stayed with me into adulthood. I've now returned a number of times with my wife, almost every year since our engagement in Cinderella's Castle in 2006. And we have since ventured overseas as well, visiting every Disneyland park around the world.

What has fascinated me is the almost universal embrace of the spirit of Disney, originating from Walt Disney himself. His words of dedication at the opening of Disneyland in 1955 have withstood the subsequent decades as a guiding spirit for what a visit to a Disney theme park is about. Some say it started with a mouse, but it actually started with a father's wish to spend a day with his daughters at a place where he could play right alongside them. And to set it all in a place that recalled the magic of his youth and his parent's youth, so that any child could connect the past, present, and future in a way not apparent or easily achieved in everyday life.

To follow the growth of Disneyland is to follow the hopes and dreams of economic prosperity around the globe, from the post-WWII "American Dream" to the "China Century" of current day. In between, something formulaic has proven not just durable but translatable across continents and cultures in ways that are difficult to comprehend initially but start to make sense in the context of that famous "magic of Disney."

I'll share more as the writing progresses. In the meantime, leave a comment to share your interesting connections with Disney and your trips to Magic Kingdoms around the globe.

Comments

Everyday Love Poem to my Wife

Over a year of marriage carries Happiness, love, and sometimes cranberries But eventually the pace slows down, Work intrudes, some days a frown And suddenly the world has changed. What we must do is simply rearrange The days so that other things fit neatly In their own places, and move on sweetly To the beauties of the everyday together. Because there is love everywhere, wherever You shall be - and perhaps also Rosie - This is a good thing naturally, So good to state it thus and remember That only frigid mornings in November Can keep us apart, but only so long As the work day lasts because so strong Is our pact that I worry not a wink - Your loveliness is worth so much, I think.

Muggles...

...is what I tweeted last night after having the privilege of attending a private screening of the movie hours before the midnight premiere. As much as the digital revolution has fragmented the shared experiences that we have, it has also greatly expanded the impact of those events that touch various peoples. Witness Harry Potter. In the pre-digital world, this would have been an uniquely British story about wizards and boarding schools, but it has captivated global audiences and transcended the borders of its now-uber-wealthy writer. We were part of the crowd that spanned the globe to see this movie, which I can say, lives up to the hype. On a Thursday evening, we could watch the lines of children queuing up to get a chance to say goodbye to a childhood growing up with Harry Potter and watching the actor grow from a plump-faced little boy into a serious actor and apparent alcoholic. It did not matter for 2.5 hours in the theater, of a movie that was pretty gripping from beginnin...

Sitting in a NYC Taxicab

I was whirring up Park Avenue for a meeting at the Waldorf Astoria (oh, how posh!) when I pulled out my cameraphone to snap a picture uniquely indicative of New York City. Something representative without being overdone (easier said that done!). Something relatable to almost anyone that has been to this wonderful city. Something easy to recognize. Something difficult to forget. Sitting in a NYC taxicab, it was apparent where the shutter would point itself. Of all the places that I have been in Manhattan through the years, none have been so welcoming and iconic as the backseat of those yellow beacons of light after a bender of a night. An United Nations of drivers mans these vehicles, representative of the dream that the United States has often been for the fortunate, displaced, and ambitious - not that disillusionment did not follow when finding the cab as an occupation hopeful for a better future. Regardless, the taxicab is often friend, sometimes foe - and sometimes the instigator of...

Journal : OpenRoadWorks

Search This Blog