In A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World, Andrew Kiste delves into the historical and cultural influences that inspired Walt Disney and his Imagineers. The book explores the iconic rides in the Magic Kingdom and the origins of the park’s attractions and shows. Kiste also delves into the history of the United States in the theme parks and resort hotels of Disney World, starting with the colonial era.
The book also delves into the reasons behind Walt Disney’s desire for a Jungle Cruise, the close resemblance of his pirates to real pirates, the original conception for Tomorrowland, and the Crystal Palace’s design. The Unofficial Walt Disney World 1971 Companion offers an unofficial account of Walt Disney’s haunted mansion and the Imagineering process.
The Disneyland Book of Lists offers a new way to explore over sixty years of Disneyland history, featuring nearly 250 fascinating lists. The Hidden History of Walt Disney World is not an extensive tome covering the entire 52-year history of the resort, but it shares the inside scoop on the conception and creation of Disneyland, the world’s first theme park.
In conclusion, A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World provides a comprehensive exploration of the history of the United States in the theme parks and resort hotels of Disney World. It offers a deep dive into the back stories of five beloved attractions and shows, as well as the unofficial and unofficial aspects of the park’s history.
📹 A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World | Book Review!
Today I take a look at both volumes of “A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World” by Andrew Kiste, a pair of unique and entertaining …
📹 Five Great Disney History Books!
Volume one and two of A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World by Andrew Kiste are two books that go beyond the history of …
My first Disney books were the Imagineering guides. Each book is about a park and each chapter a land. There’s lots of concept art and some quick blurbs about how the attraction and area got made, as well as a dictionary of some more commonly used terms, like WED and weenie. Still love those books to this day.
Another great one is “From Dreamer to Dreamfinder: A Life and Lessons Learned from 40 Years Behind a Nametag”. It’s the autobiography of Ron (not Rob) Schneider, the ventriloquist who would play Dreamfinder the meetanle character. It describes a lot of the jobs he did at the park leading up to that point, what it was like being Dreamfinder, and had lots of other cool info on working at theme parks.
I suggest “Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City” by Sam Gennawey. This is an in-depth history of the ideas and development of Walt’s original concept of EPCOT — the Experimental Protoype Community of Tomorrow. Not what we know as Epcot today but the original city that was to be there. The book is amazingly detailed and even ends with an analysis of would EPCOT worked. Highly recommended.
We’ve been looking forward to this article—-Thanks for making it! I (Jenny) recently read a book called “Together In A Dream: The Unique Careers of A Husband and Wife in the Early Decades of Walt Disney World.” Though it’s a pretty easy read, there are some amazing imagineering stories and anecdotes I had never heard before (i.e. like the time there was a LIVE cougar roaming the Jungle Cruise—fascinating!)
Great recommendations I loved Disney War. I don’t usually like corporate type books but this was fascinating. Other books I’d recommend are Walt and the Promise of Progress City by Sam Gennaway on the original plans for Florida and EPCOT, Since the World Began by Jeff Kurti, it’s a bit old now but a great history of the early days of WDW and it’s kind of a cute story by Rolly Crump which is a fun autobiography of an interesting character Would,love to see you do a companion clog on your favourite coffee table books on Disney
Probably everyone knows this but, I hear it on/off these days online and in the parks of kids and adults wanting to becoming Imagineers. Marty Sklar’s One Little Spark!: Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering is a perfect example and one of his most recent novels before he passed away recently, to become and doing of Imagineering.
The Art of Walt by Christopher Finch and The Vault of Walt are good books. The Disney Book is a fun read with some nice pictures. Also Walt Disney’s daughter Diane Disney Miller wrote a small book about her daddy with some really nice pictures in it. I was going to order Disney War when I first learned of the book a couple of years ago but I chose to buy the book The Three Men Who Would Become King about DreamWorks Katzeburg, Spielberg and Geffen. But I am going to get the book.
I think there’s many reasons why i like Disney War, but thr one antidote that’s memorable is Stuart describing what it’s like to be a fur character at one of the parks. Essentially, the Disney company gave James unpresedened access at the beginning of the book’s writing period, before Eisner was outed from the company. They allowed him to go through a crash course on how to be a fur character (tigger), then giving him a shift at the Magic Kingdom. That story stuck for me for some reason…