Would like to start by saying that this is an exercise I already perform as I too had a "parking lot" moment and since that moment I realized I could see the waking world the same way I did the dreamworld. So I often pretend I just got lucid in waking life and have a beautiful time experiencing everything around me.

It's great that you are including this as I find it vital for my lucid dreaming as I don't perform the usual reality checks, as they seem to have never worked in my experience. Which I think is because it felt like a task that you have to perform every so often. Whereas, after having my waking eyes opened I can do this because I generally enjoy doing it and not because I think I need to do it.

The trouble with this however is being able to maintain it, and for me especially is doing this at home as I seem to take it for granted, whereas when I'm out it is like I'm actually exploring a new place a lot of times and situations are never the same. Also, I'm not sure whether someone doing this will get them to see the world the same way as they do in a lucid dream if they have never had a lucid dream before, but I suppose that at least they will be paying more attention to things which is where awareness comes in.