I wanted to capture the joy and use the examples of creativity in Disneyland to help people become more creative. Creativity is a core part of our humanity. People have been artists and storytellers since they came together in caves hundreds of thousands of years ago. Human beings survive as a species not by being the fastest or strongest but by being the most creative. Our creativity allows us to adapt as a species, and our personal creativity allows us to live better lives. I wrote “Disneyland Is Creativity” to help you find your creative process and empower you to become more creative.

Why Disneyland?

Growing up in the projects, Disneyland was the one place we would go as a family where I felt safe and empowered. It is a place associated with magic and joy in my memories, and it instilled a lifelong love of Walt Disney and the company he built. Walt Disney’s creative organization, under Walt Disney, came up with:

• the first synchronized sound cartoon (Steamboat Willie)
• the multi-plane camera (The Old Mill)
• the first color cartoon (Flowers and Trees)
• the first full-length feature animated film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• the forerunner to stereo called Fantasound (Fantasia)
• the first theme park (Disneyland)
• audio-animatronics (the Enchanted Tiki Room and President Abraham Lincoln)

Other inventions that have contributed to entertainment and joy for children around the world. In Disneyland’s dedication speech, Walt Disney said he wanted the park to “be a source of joy and inspiration for all the world.” I took that to heart and realized that the park’s structure, innovations, and history provide a perfect backdrop and analogy for creativity.

Why Do We Need an Explanation of Creativity?

As I was doing the research for my creativity dissertation, one of the studies I came across was meant for other researchers to use as a guide to understanding creativity; it compared creativity to an amusement park. I realized that if people studying the subject of creativity didn’t understand what it was, the layperson would have little hope of knowing how to become more creative. My goal became to write something that everyday people could use in their lives to harness their creativity and to live more fulfilling lives that could benefit society as a whole. Disneyland’s structure and history is a great way for me to do that.

On Creativity

If you love Disneyland, “Disneyland Is Creativity” will take you on a detail-rich tour of the park while examining scientific principles of creativity and using examples from the park’s history to illustrate those principles. Its sequel, “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” uses the classic attraction’s structure and history to further explore creativity principles.