In the final days, my feelings about the experience kept oscillating between disappointment and hope. I saw plenty during these 30 days to make me fret about humanity’s future. On multiple occasions I wondered how intelligent this human species really is… and if I really want to be associated with it. It seemed like the Disney corporation was just manipulating people’s emotions for profit, and most people didn’t seem to notice or care. Many Disney properties promote the idea that if you’re dumb and naive but kind-hearted, just focus on being emotional and taking risks, and everything will work out okay. Of course such a lifestyle is more likely to lead to a wheelchair than a princess-like existence, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Plenty of people still want more.

I could also bemoan the fact that people are spending so much money on Disney-branded, Chinese-made trinkets and health-damaging junk food instead of on their education and self-development. But the flip side is that if people are willing to do this sort of thing, it points to massive opportunities as well. If Disney can get people thinking that a $20 Mickey Mouse Xmas ornament or a $35 Star Wars T-shirt is a good value – not to mention a $100+ admission ticket – then there must still be vast opportunities for starting businesses that provide people with more intelligent sources of value.

I ended up feeling really judgmental about certain aspects of society but also really grateful that I don’t have to engage with those aspects on a daily basis for the rest of my life. I think that if I continued to remain in that environment though, I could easily end up feeling depressed, jaded, and hopeless. But by diving into it and stepping back out again, I mostly feel inspired.

I feel especially lucky that the bulk of my normal communication (outside of this Disney experience) is with smart, growth-oriented people who want to make a positive difference in the world. I love and appreciate these people even more now.