What theme park have you always wanted to visit but have never been to?
I definitely want to go to Ghibli Park, which is not technically a theme park but has theming inspired by the Studio Ghibli movies, and those are near and dear to my heart and to our family. Also, to see what it means to be in a park that infuses wellbeing with theming and story. And it’s Studio Ghibli–it’s Miyazaki–come on! So, I’d love to go to that.
Photo courtesy of Disney
The other park I really want to check out is the new Zootopia Land that Disney just completed. It just looks fantastic from start to finish.
And the third one hasn’t been invented yet. It’s Wakanda. But when Wakanda is built, if I’m not part of it, I certainly want to go there. It doesn’t exist, but I’m manifesting it!
Was there a theme park or attraction that made you want to be in this industry, and how did it inspire you?
I’m a proud immigrant born and raised in Cameroon, West Africa, and I’ve seen a lot of the world just by being a nomad and a curious traveler, but my very first visit to the United States was when I was five and my family visited Walt Disney World in Orlando.
I still have photos of the trip. I did not realize at the time the imprint that it would have, but it was such a transformative experience because here I was, the kid who had certainly consumed a lot of Disney contraband from my parents’ travels, with them bringing home VHS movies and me just watching and consuming all this without having anything to apply it to. That sense of magic and memory was always something I associated with these characters just by the nature of the storytelling. So, to go to a world where I could see it all happen was transformative.
The irony is that I’m terrified of coasters and scary rides—I’m not a thrill ride type of person—but the idea of world-building and being enveloped in the story is certainly what drove me into joining theater instead of becoming a doctor, much to my parent’s chagrin. Then by default, that theater, the world around you, the make-believe, eventually brought me back to theme parks. I don’t think I connected the dots at age five, but it left a lasting impression on me. I remember everything—even hugging Pluto—and the feeling of wet fur. Pluto had come to the pool at our resort for a character meet-and-greet. He was in a furry costume, and we were all wet. Everyone was tackling him to give him a hug. I don’t even know if you can do that anymore. He became a kind of a wet carpet, and I remember thinking, Pluto shouldn’t be wet!
Photo courtesy of Disney Cruise Line
So, I have deep memories, like looking up inside the back of the fuzzy character head and seeing an actual person because, at least in 1986, they hadn’t quite masked or clipped in the costume features. I was short enough that I could see that it was someone on the inside and I thought, wait, what? There’s a human? People are behind the scenes here!
I also remember later in 1989, seeing “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and it blew my mind. This intersection of live action and cartoons and story. Then also going to the park—this time Disneyland—and seeing the parade with Roger Rabbit on a float talking to me, not behind a screen. I remember thinking that I wanted to be part of this forever. I wanted that feeling all the time.
I love that the intersection of make-believe and reality came together like that. And for a kid who just thrived in the “never grow up” sensibility, this was like the perfect storm. So, it was inevitable that I would come back. I took a long way through theater and other routes, but I think a lot of people can relate to this non-linear trajectory.
