FLYING WITH ELEPHANTS, PART TWO
Disneyland was not only a fun place to visit with my Dad; it became an inspiration to me as I found my way into a career as a storyteller. Walt Disney told stories with his movies and in the three-dimensional environmental story of a theme park; my chosen medium is musical theater, but the concepts of telling a story are similar. On one trip to Disneyland – as an adult, long after my childhood visits with my Dad – my best friend Annie introduced me to a little detail in Disneyland’s storytelling that impressed me, perhaps, more than any other.
Annie had insisted we ride "Dumbo," despite the long line of toddlers and exhausted parents wishing to do the same. It's Annie's favorite ride in all of Disneyland; it's so beautiful, she said, with the water underneath and the design of the mechanics -- and it was clear we weren't leaving until we had taken the Dumbo flight.
So there we were, Annie and I, riding Dumbo. The cooling breeze in our hair, the pinks and blues and lavenders of Fantasyland swirling below our little elephant. I understood what Annie had meant, and I was already happy I had indulged her. And then I saw it: a small sign, painted onto the roof of the little kiosk at the entrance to the ride. It was in a spot where it couldn’t be seen from the ground; the only people who would ever see this sign were small children and their parents, and most of them would be preoccupied with making their elephants fly up and down. A little sign, which most people wouldn’t even notice. The sign read:
BELIEVE AND SOAR!
My heart swelled when I read those words. The essence of the Dumbo movie, boiled down to a three-word moral. It was spelled out for me there, in the most out-of-the-way place, in a way that made it seem as if the Disney Imagineers had placed it there specifically for me to read. At the time when Annie and I were flying high above Fantasyland, I had just begun toying with the idea of pursuing a career writing and directing for the musical theater. It was a far-fetched dream. The odds were against me. But Dumbo himself was reminding me: “Believe, and soar.” The inspiration of that specific message, received in that exact way, has stayed with me ever since.
More than that, though, the crafting of that message by the Disneyland creative team, served as a Master Class in storytelling: everything should contribute to the story being told. Would the Dumbo ride have been fun if that sign wasn’t there on top of that building? Sure. Most people on the ride probably don’t even notice it. But how much richer is the experience, for those that do notice that detail?! The take-away, for those of us who work in the theater? Costumes aren’t just the clothes the actors wear, and sets aren’t just the structure upon which the actors walk… the costumes, the sets, the lighting, the props, the overture, the exit music, the smallest walk-on role, the typography on the cover of the playbill – everything contributes to the story, and all of it should be carefully designed and respected as critical elements in the storytelling that is live theater.
Next time you visit a Disney theme park, look for the details that help to tell the stories. If you visit the Magic Kingdom in Florida, you’ll find that when they re-designed Fantasyland and re-built the entire Dumbo ride, they opted to place the message full-out front for all to see, on a huge sign over the entrance to the ride. You won’t have to take the ride to see the message which inspired me all those years ago. …But go on the ride anyway – I’m sure you’ll discover other delightful details which can only be seen from a flying elephant.
