That was definitely a lucid dream, congrats Aquablitz! Apart from that, I can relate somewhat to the dream feeling like a visualization. A while ago, I was practicing visualization exercises on a daily basis and at that point was getting really good at it and it was also starting to impact my dreams in terms increased dream control and also other effects. During that same period, I had a couple of lucids that just felt like a visualization, like I was holding the dream in my mind's eye but at the same time I was fully in. It was a very peculiar dream feeling.