As summer draws to a close and the change-over to Pumpkin Spice Lattes and falling leaves is upon us, I’ve been thinking about transitions.
One of my favorite parts about visiting the Disney parks is the thoughtful way the Imagineers transition you between lands. It’s often done in a cinematic style, so subtle you barely know it’s happening until suddenly you’re in a whole new place. This is of course not surprising, as the original Imagineers were filmmakers and storytellers… fading out and fading in is how you transition from one scene to another.
When you walk under the train tracks to enter the Magic Kingdom, what you may not realize (consciously) is that you are physically walking through a cinematic transition. The lighting changes from bright, to dim, and back to bright again with the very act of moving forward in the tunnel. Your surroundings also change. You begin with a cheery welcome of the main gates, then the classic attraction posters on the walls act a bit like previews, drawing you closer and adding anticipation. On the other side, you find yourself amid the sights and smells of a gloriously nostalgic Main Street U.S.A. The transition is complete.
Other places in Disney also have this transition effect. Walking through the castle entrance to Fantasyland, walking through the fort gates into Frontierland in Disneyland, and then there’s one of the largest usage of the fade-in/fadeout effect… traversing the entranceway to Galaxy’s Edge (placing you not in just a different land, but a different galaxy!).
Each transition creates a leaving behind.
Maybe that’s where you’re at in this season… leaving behind what was known to what’s unknown. Maybe it’s a little scary. Maybe you’d rather return to the land you just left rather than face what’s on the other side of the tunnel.
But here’s what I know.
Disney designed a “hook” in each land to draw us through the tunnel. A visual anchor that makes us want to keep walking, keep exploring, keep trusting that what’s ahead is as exciting as what we leave behind (and possibly even more so). Peering from the hub through the castle, you clearly see a beautiful carousel turning around and around. Glancing at Frontierland, you can catch a peek of the Mark Twain floating lazily down the river. Once upon a time, you could catch a glimpse of a rocket or futuristic World Clock by turning towards Tomorrowland. (Adventureland has never had one by the way… because the hook is the fact that you have to go in to to find it and have an adventure on the way!)
Here’s the point… just as Disney pulls us through the story by the strategic use of transitions, so too will you be pulled through whatever you’re facing today.
You will never be left in the darkness. There is always hope in transition, a constant light from the other side that remains to bring you through. And there is so much goodness on the other side, a land to explore that is better than anything we could ever imagine.
Someone once told me that instead of hopelessly chasing the setting sun, you need only turn around and run into the dark to find it rising on the other side. Not unlike hustling through that tunnel only to discover a beautiful world on yet to be discovered on the other side.
Maybe we’re all being transitioned today.
Maybe you are being transitioned today.
But maybe, fellow Disnerds, we’re in a fade-in instead of a fade-out.
What would happen if we approached this time with excited anticipation of what’s to come as we move forward to life on the other side of the tunnel?
So go turn on some Disney music and remember walking under that famous sign… that one that says “Here You Leave Today and Enter The World of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy.” And as you do, remember that transitions are only temporary, and what come’s next is worth the wait.
