Disneyland & Walt Disney World
My complicated relationship with Disney's theme parks over the years
DISNEYLAND WILL NEVER BE COMPLETED
—as long as there is imagination left in the world, said Walt Disney. Since its first iteration opened in Anaheim, CA, in 1955, Disney’s parks around the world have gone through many re-imaginations. While classic rides like Matterhorn Bobsleds and Spaceship Earth have retained their charm to this date, other rides like Splash Mountain and Horizons have evolved with the society or become defunct.
The parks themselves have also evolved over the years, creating countless memories for families and controversies for headlines. Some may call Disneyland the happiest place on earth, and some may call it the symbol of American capitalism. Nonetheless, we should never lose sight of one thing—it all started with a mouse. Walt Disney left this place with us because he believed that there will always be a great beautiful tomorrow.
Just like the parks, my view of Disney’s theme parks has evolved over the years, too. Growing up in South Korea, I thought only the “best” countries like the United States, Japan, and France could have something like Disneyland. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2009, I thought only the “best” families could go to Disneyland. Today, my view of Disneyland is drastically different. It has become more than just a theme park for me. This is interesting because I didn’t grow up with much Disney content in Korea, nor theme parks. What I see in Disneyland today is rather one man’s wonderful dream realized by thousands of artists, imagineers, and cast members. Before discussing my admiration for Disney’s theme parks, let’s rewind the clock a bit to the darker times.
Disneyland diorama at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, CA
As an immigrant…
I first heard of Disneyland when I was in elementary school in Korea. One of the video games I was obsessed with during that time was Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. There is a crazy story about the game itself, but I’ll save that for another day. In one of the wild online forums about this game, I found people trying to replicate Disneyland in the game. If you speak the language, that’s a lot of mods. After seeing and hearing glorified stories about Disneyland, I thought visiting Disneyland was a bucket list experience equal to visiting the Eiffel Tower or Yosemite—once in a lifetime kind of a thing. It was a place made of dreams for happy families and happy countries. While Korea had its Lotte World and Everland, comparing them to Disneyland was like comparing other MP3 players to an iPod—iPod was clearly more than just an MP3 player.
Despite my curiosity about the park, I always thought Disneyland was for kids, not teenagers or adults. It’s filled with fantasy elements like princesses, pirates, and talking animals, not thrill rides. When I came to LA as a teenage tourist, I had no interest in visiting Disneyland. When I moved to LA as a high school student, I still had no interest in visiting Disneyland.
There were several opportunities to go to Disneyland, of course—but I didn’t go, or I couldn’t go. As an immigrant high schooler with a single dad, my time was preoccupied with whatever I could do to go to college, save money for tuition, and find a way to stay in America afterward. Perhaps Disneyland felt like a very American thing to do because it took you to be an American to do. Busy with other things, I couldn’t go to grad nite, prom, or anything—Disneyland was one of them. To me, Disneyland was literally made of dreams—dreams that most people never get to live in. I certainly thought so during that time.
The Imagineering Story, a documentary about “imagineering” on Disney+
As a designer…
After meeting my partner, Elena, Disneyland became lesser of a dream and more of a reality. Even after visiting several times, however, I never discovered that magical connection people described. I thought maybe it was because I didn’t go to Disneyland growing up, didn’t watch a lot of Disney content, or had such a traumatic relationship with the place—it just never clicked with me. That was until when I randomly found out that the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios cost more than the Jurassic Park movie itself. Then I realized the theme park ride business is a serious business. It takes hundreds and thousands of people who do an astronomical amount of work in design, engineering, and service to bring such rides to reality from ideas. I would later learn that all Disney castles are hand-painted by artists, that there are classically trained musicians who compose songs for the rides, and of course, that there are digital product designers who design the digital guest experience. From ticketing to queuing—they are all intentionally designed at Disneyland. I realized the entire park is a giant singular product filled with art, engineering, and hospitality. It’s the ultimate end-to-end customer-first well-designed product, much like an iPhone.
Then you learn about the amazing founding stories behind rides like "It’s a small world” in Anaheim, Expedition Everest in Orlando, and the steampunk Space Mountain in Paris. You learn about the audacity the imagineering team had, building robots in the 1960s like Boston Dynamics and Tesla today. You learn about legendary artists, designers, and engineers like Tony Baxter and Joe Rohde. As a designer, the history of Disneyland becomes a textbook about craft, ingenuity, and inspiration.
At last, you realize this was all possible because of one man’s dream. The vision, aspiration, and optimism Walt Disney had in mind for Disneyland resembled much of what Steve Jobs had for Apple—they spoke their words out of hearts, not numbers; dreams, not plans; hopes, not wants. One wanted to build a tool that enabled inspiration and creativity around the world, and the other wanted to build a place that spread inspiration and creativity around the world. They were so much alike. As a designer, I couldn’t appreciate more the fact that they wanted to paint a soul behind their logos.
Elena and me at the Walt Disney World Magic Kindom in April 2023.
As a (dog) dad
Today, I credit much of my admiration for Disney and Disneyland to my partner, Elena. Don’t get me wrong—it still took me 3+ visits to start appreciating the parks fully. After knowing what I know about the parks, how they started, and how they have evolved, I no longer fear Disneyland like I used to. Disneyland became an experience that is not just for me, but something I want to share with people I love. Much like good stories, good food, and good trips, it’s an experience we crave and cherish to share with our favorite people.
I cannot imagine how much some parents cannot wait to share this experience with their kids, just to see their reaction to a ride that used to be their favorite. To steal Don Draper’s quote from Mad Men, these rides are not just rides; they are time machines. They go backward, forwards. It takes us to a place we ache to go again. That’s why people go to Disneyland, over and over again—to ache in nostalgia and imagination.
I’m sure many things will continuously change at Disney theme parks over the next 5, 10, or 30 years—but I’m also sure one thing will never change—Disneyland will always be yours. Not because Walt Disney said so, but because the memories you make are truly yours. The dear memories of your first time at the Rise of the Resistance, 2 hours of playing heads-up with your friends in a line, and the innocent, goofy, yet happy face you make like a child in a ride photo—they’re all truly yours. The spirit behind all this is something I grew to cherish in my life dearly. Disneyland always gives me the time and space to feel inspired, passionate, and fulfilled—that’s why Disneyland belongs in my love section of Ikigai. If you share a similar feeling about Disneyland, I can’t wait to share it with you. If you don’t share a similar feeling about Disneyland, I can’t wait to share it with you, too. With that, I’ll leave you with the beautiful opening speech that Walt Disney gave.
“To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” — Walt Disney.