I’m always looking for new creative challenges and ways to learn. So when I discovered a chance to take an online course dedicated to designing and dreaming up a theme park for Disney? Hot diggity dog! I was all ears. :)
My passion thrives on seeing inside scoops of processes and ways creative teams collaborate and work together. Getting a glimpse inside the world and meeting the people who meticulously create every detail in a Disney theme park is certainly a cup of tea I’d like to take a ride in.
Behold, Imagineering In A Box. It’s created by the company that delivered Pixar In A Box and it’s offered completely free online from Khan Academy. I learned quickly creating a land or attraction at Disney is not just about creating thrills, it’s about designing an experience that takes guests through an imaginative journey — to make everyone feel like they’re part of a story.
So with that in mind. I present my theme park: Cloud Land.
Cloud Land: a roughly sketched map
The Theme.
Cloud Land is designed to make you feel like you’re up in the clouds. As a guest, upon approaching the gates of Cloud Land, you’ll experience rising up to the clouds by way of a magical big red balloon. Once “up in the clouds”, you’ll be surrounded by a valley of cloudscapes, and the paths below will be transparent or engineered with visual effects, giving the guests an illusion that they are walking high in the clouds above a cityscape — and if you look closely, the Disney Park itself.
What’s up there?
In Cloud Land, you’ll meet Disney and Pixar’s most beloved birds and characters. You’ll be greeted by a grand and gracious Partly Cloudy, a signature feature of the land, along with new cloud characters that surround the land and immerse guests in the clouds. What’s there to do? Up here, you can create the sky and design your very own cloud at The Cloud Sculptors. Have you ever dreamed of learning to fly like a bird? Who hasn’t? At the main attraction, you’ll meet JoJo the High Flying Dodo and experience the thrill and awe of learning to fly. Dance and make it rain below at Rain Dance-Dance Revolution or enjoy the musical performance from a Jungle Book Vultures inspired new-age pop flock. Floating on a giant cluster of water drops and ice clusters make you thirsty already? Crack into Zazoo’s lovely bunches of coconuts. Indeed it’s a lovely place to be, up where the air is clear, up in the atmosphere, you might even get to meet Miss Mary Poppins who occasionally swoops in with the help of her magic umbrella.
Places to eat
The Early Bird cafe has some of the greatest views on the cloud. Dine in or on the fly, there are healthy choices for the whole family. A perfect spot for a family breakfast and to enjoy a Cloud Foam Cappuccino. For treats, snag a Cotton Candy Cloud or swing by Zazu’s Lovely Bunches Of Coconuts, to enjoy refreshing fresh coconut treats.
Main Attractions
Fly like a bird with the coolest, boldest bird on the cloud, JoJo The High Flying Dodo. Gregarious and full of energy, JoJo needs the help of your flock and wants you to experience the awe-inspiring joy and thrills of flying. Jojo is on a mission and she can’t do it alone, she needs the help of the flock to find her baby bird Dede the Dodo who might be in trouble. A dark ride construction built in a modern-mirrored glasshouse to reflect the cloudscapes around it, you and your flock will be following Jojo’s tail through the sky as she searches the clouds for her Baby Dede. But as you’ll find it’s not always sunshine and rainbows in the skies. Some skills to manage stormy weather and outmaneuver the Hairy Eagle predator birds are necessary to becoming a master of the skies like Jojo.
So my drawings are a bit rough, but here’s what I learned...
It’s that imagination never gets old, and the joy that comes along with it has the ability to make me feel like a kid again. It takes years and thousands of people from many different disciplines to create a park and the stories guests enjoy at Disney. Thanks to Imagineering In A Box, I was able to see a new perspective, let my mind soar and dip my toes in the magic.