You As a Theme Park ~ Journaling Prompt

As writers, we often have to engage in some world-building to construct imaginary realms where our ideas or characters can live and breathe.

If you’re looking for inspiration for building out a small idea or a Cinematic Universe, you could do worse than Walt Disney himself.

Think about it. He first put thoughts down on paper, then translated those ideas to the big and small screen. Then his next feat of world-building was to actually build a WORLD. Walt Disney World. Ta-Dah. Pretty amazing. Disneyland and Disney World might be the greatest example of world-building ever.

When you stroll a lush resort or ponder the future on the people-mover, you see parts of Walt’s inner self, squeezed out in theme and music. So what if you took Walt’s same journey?

You wrote and crafted a narrative based on your thoughts, interests, and your life. Then you had to bring it to life in the form of a theme park?

It’s a journaling prompt that might help you appreciate Walt’s journey and your own a little more.

Who Is Your Mickey?

Each land, ride, and backdrop of Disney World is a construct of something from Walt’s imagination. Perhaps his true self in metaphors and avatars. Walt said that Mickey Mouse was his animated personification. 

So coming up with an animated version of yourself is the first step. Are you a goofy moose, a chatty vegetable, or a shy storm cloud with eyes? Perhaps you’ll need an animated movie for your avatar to star in. What would that animated movie be about?

Don’t rest on high ideals. You’ll have to pay the electric bills for your park, so you could need a whole cast of characters to sell to the world. Turn your parents and siblings into cartoon characters. Having a spokes-mouse or squid with lots of friends helps move merchandise.

Magic Kingdom and Epcot Designed by You

Main Street U.S.A. represents Walt’s idea of the classic American town square. It’s inspired by his old hometown in Missouri.

Create your own main street based on your hometown. Select the decor and the shops. Add the bookstore where you bought your comic books as a kid. Add the bakery that released all the best smells.

Adventureland and Future World express Walt’s childhood dreams and sometimes the things he was obsessed with as an adult.

What sort of lands would be fleshed out in your park? A section for astronomy? Horses? A land based on your favorite video game or novel? What sort of music would play in the background as people filed in? 

Epcot is a land of strange science, dusty history, and exotic locales. What states, hometowns, National Parks, or countries would have pavilions in your World Showcase?

What about the countries where your great-grandparents or great, great-grandparents immigrated from? Some boat rides/360 Imax Films based on tales you’ve heard from your parents and grandparents. How they met.

What gourmet treats would each booth and restaurant serve in each pavilion? A favorite dish based on your mom’s recipe? Pizza rolls? Lefse from Norway?

How would the destinations in Soarin’ change? What scenic wonders or quiet state parks would people fly over to get a sense of who you were and the sites that shaped you?

What music plays in your bathrooms? Will you provide quality toilet paper for guests?

Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios Reimagined

Throw a giant tent over your life and form a big top. See what emerges. Build a Hollywood Studios and christen rides (and entire lands) based on your favorite movies.

How about a creepy ride like Tower of Terror, but based on a favorite horror movie or series? Or maybe a thrilling attraction based on a real paranormal experience you witnessed. 

Kick Aerosmith out of the Rock n’ Roller Coaster and form a ride based on your favorite band. A land themed around your favorite childhood cartoon could be a hit.

Animal Kingdom could be redesigned to include your favorite animals. A focus on the fauna of a beloved country you’ve visited or the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps a land of just geckos!!!!

What about a family trip that went off the rails when you were young. That embarrassing camping trip may translate into an e-ticket attraction that thrills guests and proves healing for you.

Resorts for Your Theme Park Dedicated to Your Life

More Choices: Now pick themes for the resorts to surround your park. Base a resort on your favorite city, tourist spot, or on your favorite board game. 

You’ll have to pick your preferred method of transportation for people to ride back and forth to your thematic parks and lodging. 

You don’t have to include the hard times in your life. But don’t feel you are alone in carrying regrets and trauma. Walt himself went through layoffs, bankruptcy, and a nervous breakdown. He was cheated out of his beloved creations at times. 

Without a doubt, Walt suffered from anxiety. He met with failure, lost companies, and suffered ridicule for his risky idea to build a park for children (with the secret intention to delight adults as well). 

And yet Disney World still turned it into something positive. Walt absorbed the pain, the regret, the disappointment, but never let it infect the lands in his dreams.

He turned his struggles into comfort food for the entire world.

Breaking Ground on Your Theme Park

Perhaps this exercise becomes therapeutic. Your nutty childhood doesn’t seem as tragic when experienced through a few character rides backed with some cartoony music and narration.

Those big drops on the roller coaster that was your teen experience might be rebranded as coming-of-age lessons, suitable to put on a t-shirt.

Or perhaps someone you struggle to understand or get along with is easier to digest as an angry cartoon duck.  

You’ve got an advantage over Walt Disney. His parks have to please as many people as possible. Your park only needs to gratify you. END.

Bonus Content: I recently presented the crazy notion that Walt Disney World is the perfect place to do some journaling. Check out my top Disney World journaling hot spots, from the Soarin’ queue to the Space Mountain exit line.