Dreaming Disney - Imagination

Throughout my days in Betweenland I have found plenty of high tech ways to connect back to my Disney experiences.  There are apps, video games, DVDs, websites, podcasts, music clips, audio books, and etc., etc. etc. etc.  

The Castle Front

But it took the Between Kids to remind me of one of the best ways to connect to Disney, imagination.  I was doing errands in the house when I heard, “Daddy, come here castle.” The youngest Between Kid had built a castle with blocks; multicolored, cardboard, square blocks.  There were no buttons, no Wi-Fi connections, no plug ins.  It was just a simple block castle and the whole family could clearly see Sleeping Beauty Castle on the playroom floor.  Of course the oldest Between Kid could not be satisfied with a smaller castle, so the two added blocks and soon Cinderella Castle was dominating the playroom.  Of course, a castle has to have residents so they then gathered up every Disney action figure they could find; with Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbarossa dwarfing three stories of the castle and making Sully look short.  They spent hours with this low tech play set, not manufactured and sold in any stories, powered purely by imagination.  A few hours later they built a Carsland expansion!

Jack Sparrow Takes Charge!

We can’t forget the power of imagination.  The Disney parks were built on imagination.  Walt Disney said of his first park, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”  Without imagination we would not have the magic Disney experiences give us.  And Disney noted that imagination sparked his creative endeavors, “I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination."  Imagination triggers inspiration. You don't get Imagineering without imagination!

Regardless of the toys we have, we have to remember that imagination is the best fuel for dreams Between Disney. To quote Figment, “Imagination, imagination. A dream can be a dream come true, With just that spark in me and you (One Little Spark)."  Go imagine my friends.