Disney Book Reviews

We've recommended (and not recommended) a lot of Disney books and have take the time to formally review some of them. Here, we'll provide a guide to those books we've written about in depth and provide links to those reviews.

Here are the Disney books about which we've written full reviews:

• Alcorn, Steve, Green, David. Building a Better Mouse: The Story of the Electronic Imagineers Who Designed Epcot. Theme Perks Inc., 2007.
• Yee, Kevin. Mouse Trap: A Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member. Ultimate Orlando Press, 2008.
• Emerson, Chad. Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World. Ayefour Publishing, 2010.
• O'Brien, Tim. Tony Baxter: First of the Second Generation of Walt Disney Imagineers. Casa Flamingo Literary Arts, 2015.
• Blyth, Jeff. Polishing the Dragons: Making EPCOT's Wonders of China. Bamboo Forest Publishing, 2020.

Walt Disney Books

You've probably heard that, "it all started from a mouse," and you probably know there was a man behind that mouse. If you're looking at this page, then you probably want to know more about that man, Walter Elias Disney, and we're happy to help.

Walt was a complicated man. As an animator and illustrator his talents were limited, but he was able to surround himself, encourage, and organize training for a remarkably talented group of artists, while creating an environment that pushed those artists to achieve more than they alone may ever have accomplished. Walt also had an understanding of what makes a compelling story that few filmmakers have ever matched and a relentless desire to innovate to find more effective ways to tell those stories. Walt was also difficult to understand, which made working with him a challenge for many people. All of those narratives play out in a variety of different books about his personal and work life. We'll highlight a few of those books here and provide a couple more complete lists below.

We suggest starting with Bob Thomas' Walt Disney: An American Original. This is an older authorized biography, which some may suggest presents a somewhat sanitized story of Walt's life, but it doesn't completely gloss over Disney's flaws and Thomas had access to information that other biographers did not. As such, it presents facts that are important to all those who followed Thomas in documenting Disney's life.

Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination is one of the more respected recent biographies of Walt Disney. Gabler also served as a advisor to the PBS American Experience documentary about Walt, which is worth seeking out if you prefer watching videos to reading about history. Last we checked, that video was available in its entirety through the Hoopla platform that is available through many local libraries around the country.

One Walt Disney biography that I don't recommend is Leonard Mosley's Disney's World. This was one of the first biographies of Walt Disney that I read, so I've left it on my list partly for that reason, but also because it does discuss one valuable lesson, that famous figures we build up with heroes have their share or human flaws. The trouble is the book tends to focus too much on Disney's flaws, without offering compelling evidence to back up many of the author's assertions, so it mostly just perpetuates (or, maybe at the time actually initiated) some myths about the man. It's useful mostly if you want to get an idea where some of those myths may have originated.

If you're looking for a book about Walt Disney that works well for younger readers, then Katherine and Richard Greene's The Man Behind the Magic is a great choice. If you wish to introduce even younger children to Walt as an actual person, then Brad Meltzer's I am Walt Disney offers an accurate overview of Disney's life in an engaging easy-to-read format.

Following the list of books directly about Walt are biographies about some of people who worked closest with him over the years and a couple individuals who Walt seemed to trust and rely on. Those who really wish to understand Walt will benefit from hearing how these individuals worked with and otherwise related to Walt. None of these individuals is more important than Walt's brother, Roy O. Disney, and Bob Thomas was again able to write the official biography of Roy Disney, Building a Company.

Several other individuals had frequent important interactions with Walt at different times during their lives, though Ub Iwerks was a key figure in the initial success of the Disney studio and returned to help the Disney brothers stay near the forefront of film innovation throughout Walt's life. Iwerks was also Walt's partner during some of his early, less-successful ventures, so outside of a short time running his own competing animation studio, his career was largely linked to the Disney studio. Don Iwerks documents this in Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor, a book full of photos, though a little light on text, that nonetheless sheds light on an often unsung essential contributor to Walt Disney's success.

There's some evidence to suggest Walt may have played favorites with some animators. Whether or not that is a fair description of how he managed the studio it's pretty clear that he recognized unique talent among those who worked in his studio, and the stories of a couple well-known Disney animators that stood out from the crowd and attracted more of Walt's attention than some of their co-workers were Ward Kimball and Rolly Crump. Todd James Pierce tells Kimball's tales in The Life and Times of Ward Kimball, while Jeff Heimbuch organized Crump's own words in It's Kind of a Cute Story.

Another grouping of books includes those with some stories about Walt. Marty Sklar was hired by Walt as a young UCLA student and went on to write some of the words Walt shared would speak. Sklar rose to lead Walt Disney Imagineering, and documents his own career and lessons learned from Walt in Dream It! Do It! (and later in two other books). Jack Lindquist and Tom Nabbe were two other individuals who didn't work as closely with Walt as Sklar, but also started their careers in the early days of Disneyland, with Nabbe actually talking Walt Disney into hiring him to work at the park while Nabbe was still a child. Others, who didn't work for Disney, have also collected stories about Walt and the company, including Jim Korkis, whose The Vault of Walt series is full of interesting and entertaining stories. Michael Crawford's The Progress City Primer does much the same, compiling some of Crawford's most popular blog posts into an intriguing collection containing some of the most offbeat stories in Disney history, but also including some stories directly involving Walt Disney.

 

One last series of books worth mentioning here is Walt's People, from Didier Ghez, a massive multi-volume collection of interviews with people who worked for Walt Disney or for the Disney company over the years. At last count there were 23 volumes of this series, so I won't link to each individual book here, but most should be easy to find through your favorite online book store. The DIX project website has details about what's in each edition and offers the chance to quickly search through the whole series if their is a particular subject you are looking for. Didier Ghez's own website also offers an far more complete list of Disney biographies if you're ready to move past the titles that we've highlighted here.

Biographies of Walt Disney

	Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original. Pocket Books, 1980.
	Barrier, Michael. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press, 2008.
	Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Vintage Books, 2007.
	Susanin, Timothy S.. Walt Before Mickey. University Press of Mississippi, 2011.
	Miller, Diane Disney Walt Disney: His Life in Pictures. Disney Press, 2009.
	Meltzer, Brad. I am Walt Disney. Dial Books, 2019.
	Greene, Katherine. The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney. Viking, 1991.
	Mosley, Leonard. Disney's World. Stein and Day, Incorporated, 1985.
	Moran, Christian. Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Walt Disney and Technology. Theme Park Press, 2015.

Other Biographies of Individuals That Worked Closely with Walt Disney

	Thomas, Bob. Building a Company. Hyperion, 1998.
	Iwerks, Don. Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor. Disney Editions, 2019.
	Pierce, Todd James. The Life and Times of Ward Kimball. University Press of Mississippi, 2019.
	Crump, Rolly. It's Kind of a Cute Story. Bamboo Forest Publishing, 2012.

 

Books That Include Some Stories About Walt Disney

	Sklar, Marty. Dream It! Do It!. Disney Editions, 2013.
	Lindquist, Jack. In Service to the Mouse. Chapman University Press, 2010.
	Nabbe, Tom. The Adventures of Tom Nabbe. Theme Park Press, 2015.
	Bossert, David A.. Remembering Roy E. Disney. Disney Editions, 2013.
	Crawford, Michael. The Progress City Primer. Progress City Press, 2015.
	Korkis, Jim. The Vault of Walt. Ayefour Publishing, 2010.
	Korkis, Jim. The Vault of Walt: Volume 3. Theme Park Press, 2014.

Let us know what you think of our list. Did you find anything here that's helped you? Have you already read any of these titles? Is there anything we're missing? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below or through our practicalwdw@gmail.com email address.

BOOK REVIEW: Tony Baxter: First of the Second Generation of Walt Disney Imagineers

By Tim O'Brien
Casa Flamingo Literary Arts (October 30, 2015)


Tony Baxter: First of the Second Generation of Walt Disney Imagineers is mostly a list of Tony Baxter's accomplishments during his long career as a Disney Imagineer. Among his many well-known projects, Baxter was took the creative lead on designing attractions like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Journey into Imagination, and the Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland, while also re-designing Disneyland's Fantasyland and developing the look of the entire EuroDisneyland park. The book is an honest, at times insightful look into Baxter's character, at what made him successful, what challenges he faced, and a taste of what it was like for others to work such a powerful creative force. All of this is laid out in a sensible structure, outlining Baxter's career, and then attempting to draw some conclusions.

The book starts right away, wasting no space with title pages or other filler, only a brief foreword and then Chapter One. The publisher describes the Legends & Legacies series, of which this book is a part, as "a quick and easy read," and that is an accurate description of this work. At only 90 pages of text, no topic in Baxter's life is covered in much detail. Events are presented mostly in chronological order, with little thought given to transition between items, which are presented in short segments within each of the three chapters. It would be easy to pick up where you left off if you put the book down, but if you read a chapter straight through there isn't a whole lot of flow from one topic to the next.

One thing that stood out when I first opened the book is the inclusion of color photographs, however, as I read the book I noticed these images appear randomly interspersed throughout the written words, with little or no connection to surrounding text. For example, early in the book we are introduced to Maxine Merlino, a college professor described as a mentor to Baxter, and she appears in photos with Baxter a few times later in the book, but nowhere in the text is any explanation of how she mentored Baxter in first place or how he kept in touch with her. There are a few exceptions where these photographs add to what was written, like Baxter standing outside in front of his property holding a model he used to design and build that house, but for the most part the photos are just images from Baxter's life that would be been better placed together in the center of the book or just left out.

The text also includes some minor errors, including several typos, such as misspelling Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn's name (as Steve Wynne) or sentences with extraneous words added, like this quote attributed to Baxter about the Abraham Lincoln animatronic in Disneyland, "I had hoped, with the all the advancements in technology..." Other items were presented in an (unintentionally, I suspect) misleading manner, including describing Journey into Imagination in EPCOT Center as opening on October 1, 1982, then shortly afterwards, noting the "ride premiered later on March, 5, 1983." While, technically, the Imagination pavilion may have opened (with just a 3D movie) on the same date (October 1) as the rest of EPCOT Center, it is generally accepted that the opening date for the Journey into Imagination attraction, five months after the park opening, is the relevant date. The author also presents some facts out of order, like a reference to the death of Disney President Frank Wells two pages before the author explains, "Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter accident on April 3, 1994." Some of these errors may be nitpicking, but suggest an overall lack of attention to detail.

The book draws primarily on previously published interviews (notably with The Season Pass Podcast), but supplements these with the author's own conversations with Baxter and a few people who worked with him, mostly his one-time bosses Marty Sklar and Mickey Steinberg, and his Imagineering colleague Tim Delaney. The result is very little new information on Baxter's well-documented career.

In addition to outlining Baxter's professional accomplishments, the does book touch on his personal life. From his "early introversion", frustration with cancelled projects, rejuvenation while redeveloping and building Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland, to confidence following the renovation of Fantasyland in Disneyland that "literally anything was possible," readers get a glimpse into who Baxter is as a person. One of the more striking comments on a topic I had never heard Baxter talk about was his admission, "It’s really hard for me to make space for others in my life. It’s never been an urgent issue with me." Although the author generally doesn't attempt to offer his explanation of what was shared in interviews, readers can gain some insight into how Baxter thinks after reading his thoughts throughout the book.

Despite the narrative being primarily driven by Baxter's own account of his life, the author doesn't shy away from controversy. That includes: enthusiasm over the start of Michael Eisner's tenure as leader of Disney to a frank assessment of the former CEO's later years with the company, the reason the company chose not build Westcot in Anaheim, cost-cutting measures in Disneyland, and even Baxter's own reputation for being difficult to work with, accusations that he took too much credit for projects were all discussed, and his status as a "celebrity" Imagineer. With these topics, the author generally generally lets the subjects he interviewed speak for themselves.

Overall, the book is a useful collection of often-repeated stories from the career of Tony Baxter, with some new information coming from the new interviews the author conducted. I learned more about Tony Baxter the man than I had in the past and gained a little insight into some of the challenges he faced. By seldom interjecting his own opinions, the book neither attempts to glorify Baxter's distinguished career, nor does it try to exploit his weaknesses. It is a fair presentation facts, which Baxter has described by saying, "everything in it is accurate." At less than 100 pages, the book doesn't aspire to be the definitive account of Tony Baxter's life and career, but it is a great place to start for someone unfamiliar with Baxter's career, and even avid Disney history fans will likely learn something new. Tony Baxter: First of the Second Generation of Walt Disney Imagineers is a useful biography to read, though you will have to decide if the relatively high retail price makes this a book you wish to own.



If you wish to purchase Tony Baxter: First of the Second Generation of Walt Disney Imagineers, then please use this link to amazon.com. NOTE: Using this link will help support this web site, as amazon will offer (at no additional cost to you) a small portion of the purchase price of the book to our site.

If you wish to learn more about Tony Baxter or hear his words firsthand, the search for his name in the archives of The Season Pass Podcast. There are hours of conversations with Baxter, over the course of several years.

Book Review: Building a Better Mouse: The Story of the Electronic Imagineers Who Designed Epcot

By Steve Alcorn and David Green
Theme Perks Press: 2007


I was initially disappointed by what was not included in Building a Better Mouse, but was soon taken in by the unexpectedly compelling story of the construction of EPCOT Center mostly from the perspective of the electronic engineers in California who designed the systems that operated the attractions in the park, primarily the American Adventure.  When I first purchased this book and read it (a year and a half ago) I hoped to read about all the pavilions in their early days and see pictures of EPCOT Center being built.  This book does not attempt to take on the ambitious task of documenting all of the construction of a park as vast as EPCOT Center.  Instead, the book attempts to put you in the shoes of some of the people who helped bring that park to life and does so effectively.  Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising, given Disney's history of impressive storytelling, that the authors would know how to tell a tale.

The book is rather short, with only 130 pages of text, and the edition I read would have been considerably improved by the addition of pictures and diagrams to better tell the story.  There is a new "30th Anniversary" version of the book, which includes a note that it is now "with Photos," so if you are considering purchasing the book, then I recommend the newer version [Note: At last check, Amazon was selling both versions of the book for the same price; our link at the bottom of this review is to the newer version].  Continuing my list of gripes is that with two different authors it can sometimes be difficult to know which one is telling the story, but my biggest complaint with the book is the casual use of first names.  Whether it be Mark, Marty, Jane, Brian, Jenny, or a host of other names I often felt as though I should have known who people were as they appeared in stories.  Early in the book more than a dozen engineers and managers are introduced within a few pages, so the second time I read the text I made note of all of their names and (when-provided) the descriptions of their jobs, but even after doing so I still found a host of new characters appeared in different anecdotes without a proper description of who they were or what role they played in the story.  Generally speaking, I could still figure out what was going on, but it would often have helpful to know who some of these people were - managers, colleagues, co-ops from college, engineers from another team?  Too often it felt like people telling inside jokes that I wasn't in on.

Despite that criticism, the story is otherwise very-well written, introducing the "normal" work environment of a Disney imagineer in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s and documenting how their lives and jobs changed as employees relocated to Florida in preparation for the opening of EPCOT Center.  The book documents the increasingly hectic days when the previews prior to the park's opening drew near through transcripts of an audio diary kept by engineer Glenn Birket.  This successfully conveys the strain everyone was under to bring the American Adventure online in time to the park to open, along with the seemingly impossibly long hours that were needed to do so.  The book also serves as a reminder that projects of the size of EPCOT Center don't last forever, and as much as building the park consumed the lives of so many people, it was not long after construction was complete that their services were no longer needed.  As the author's elegantly describe, their "ears were amputated."

"A project like this is so vast in scope it will take the cooperation of many people to make it a reality."  These were the words of Walt Disney, describing his original concept for EPCOT in a film promoting the plans for his Florida Project.  Near the beginning of the book the authors quote several paragraphs from that film that were part of the "pixie-dusting" of young engineers (and presumably others who built the park) as they started their careers as Disney Imagineers.  These words, in particular, serve as an important reminder that actual people, lots of them, built the park that so many of us look back upon with fond memories.  It is easy to remember the shows and rides, but Building a Better Mouse sets out to make sure we don't forget the people behind the scenes who made that happen.

If you wish to purchase Building a Better Mouse, then please use this link to amazon.com.  NOTE: Using this link will help support this web site, as amazon will offer (at no additional cost to you) a small portion of the purchase price of the book to our site.

If you enjoy this book, then you may also enjoy some of Steve Alcorn's other books, including another focusing on theme park design and a handful of novels.  You can see these books listed on his publishing site (http://www.themeperks.com/).  Alcorn also offers an online class in theme park design at (http://www.imagineeringclass.com/) and appeared on The Season Pass Podcast (http://www.seasonpasspodcast.com/) Episode 157: The Steve Alcorn Interview - http://traffic.libsyn.com/seasonpasspodcast/The_Season_Pass_157.mp3

Book Review: Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World, by Chad Emerson

By Chad Emerson
Ayefour Publishing: 2010

Project Future sets out to fill in the gaps that many books covering the history of Walt Disney World have left.  There is deliberately no talk of the construction of the park, its rides, hotels, or other attractions, as the author acknowledges that history has already been thoroughly documented.  Instead, Chad Emerson focuses on equally important, though easily overlooked, contributions to the history of Disney's Florida Project by outlining the real estate purchases and the legal foundation that set the new park up to enjoy success for years to come.

The book reads somewhat like a timeline, with each chapter including a date in its heading, and with the chapters more or less in sequence (there is sometimes an overlap timewise from one section to the next).  The content includes discussion of the search for potential locations for a second Disney park (following the success of Disneyland), narrowing in on a location in Florida, details about the individuals involved with the actual purchase of land in Central Florida, and a look at the legislative framework that allows Disney World to operate almost as a city unto itself.  These are some weighty topics and the book does follow through on its promise to cover them in more detail than others have done in the past.  Most people will find the subject matter somewhat dry, but Disney parks historians will enjoy it, though the book left me thinking the author could have shared more.

I'm glad to have read Project Future and think this book is worthy of inclusion in the library of anyone who studies the history of Disney World.  I've also had the opportunity to listen to interviews with Chad Emerson and it is clear that he is a knowledgeable and passionate person to tell the behind the scenes stories of the business side of Disney World's origins, but I fear he has omitted details in an attempt to reach a broader audience.  In the Acknowledgements section of the book, Emerson states, "My goal was to create an interesting book that would, whether relaxing on the beach, flying on a plane to Disney World, or anywhere else, provide the reader with a look at how the magic of Walt Disney World Resort came to be".  The goal of bringing this story to the masses is laudable, but I think the audience reading this book is limited to those seeking a deeper understanding of the park's origins than the 162 pages of text provide (there are a number of appendices tacked onto the end).  Emerson also chose to omit maps, diagrams, pictures, or any visual aids the supplement his words, which would have made it easier to following the story.  In doing so, he was able to produce a book at a lower cost to the reader, but the lacking the complete detail that the people likely to buy this book will expect. [NOTE: I know you can search for these visual aids online, but that is difficult to do if you are reading on the beach or an airplane].  Project Future does cover parts of the creation of Walt Disney World that you will not read anywhere else, but does not fully explain how the Reedy Creek Improvement District functions, how Disney was able to convince Florida lawmakers to allow the company to have such broad powers to essentially self-govern, and whether or not this model of private management of a large mass of land could still apply to companies today.  It is a good start for those seeking a complete understanding of the creation of Disney World, but not as complete as I was hoping.

If you wish to purchase Project Future, then use this link to amazon.com.  NOTE: Using this link will help support this web site, as amazon will offer (at no additional cost to you) a small portion of the purchase price of the book to our site.

If you enjoy this book, then you may also enjoy the author’s postings on the Blooloop.com web site (http://www.blooloop.com/blog/authors-posts/22) or his publishing company that has released several other Disney themed books (http://ayefourpublishing.com/).  Chad is also a regular contributor to The Season Pass Podcast (http://www.seasonpasspodcast.com/).  To date, he has participated in the following episodes:

• Episode 121: Discussion of Project Future 
• Episode 158: 4 Decades of WDW Magic 
• Episode 178: 40 Years of WDW 
• Episode 186: Interview with Lee Cockerell, retiredExecutive Vice President for Operations at Disney World 

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Book Review: Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member, by Kevin Yee

Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member

By Kevin Yee
Ultimate Orlando Press: Orlando, FL, 2008

Mouse Trap is an easy read in which Kevin Yee provides a rare behind the scenes look at Disneyland from the perspective of an experienced former cast member. While I have not yet visited Disneyland, the brief glimpse into the orientation of a new cast member, hearing the inside terms, and reading descriptions of the backstage areas of the park helped me, a Disney World and theme park fan, have a broader picture of what goes into making the “magic” that I see in the parks. Having read one of the author’s books (Walt Disney World Hidden History) and some of his online work (from http://ultimateorlando.blogspot.com/), I had confidence in his ability to deliver interesting material for a Disney fan and he did not disappoint. The prose is not always the most elegant, but Yee is an effective storyteller and has enough Disney experience to have a lot of stories to tell.

The book is divided into nine chapters, starting with the author’s Disney orientation and continuing through the end of his career as a Disney cast member. Yee admits to being taken in by the Disney magic, but is not afraid to be critical of the company. This is by no means a scathing tell-all attack of the company, but the author doesn’t hide some of the shenanigans that his co-workers were involved with. There are times when I felt like I was hearing stories where “you had to be there” to really appreciate, like when Yee mentions the early morning cast member canoeing practice or some of the other cast parties that the company used to hold, but things probably weren’t a whole lot different than company parties I was part of in my early twenties and knowing that Disney organized these get-togethers gave insight into how they formed happy and productive teams.

That leads to my biggest complaint about Mouse Trap, that it sometimes left me wanting to hear more of the author’s stories and more detail about some of those that he told. The “We are Family” chapter covered some of the aforementioned team building activities and employee celebrations in varying levels of detail, but many were glossed over. If they weren’t memorable enough to add personal anecdotes, then they probably didn’t need to be mentioned at all. The “Studying at the Disney University” chapter also left me wanting to hear more. In the previous chapter, the description of the CAST “four keys to success” offered insight into how Disney sets its priorities, and then the cast member training chapter listed a lot of courses, again with varying levels of detail, but all sounded like they would benefit employees in a wide range of industries. My last petty complaint about Mouse Trap is that many of the small black and white pictures were difficult to see in my copy of the book (I suspect this was a limitation of having the book printed at a reasonable cost, but perhaps the author, could or maybe already has, offer some of the pictures in greater detail on his web site) and the chart in the backstage chapter was difficult to follow (it is probably easier to see in color and it would help to have all of the descriptions of the numbered items on the chart on the same page as the chart itself).

Since my biggest concern about Mouse Trap is that I wanted to hear more about what I read, it’s easy to recommend this book to any Disney theme park fans. Regular Disneyland visitors will probably appreciate the book more, as they will already be familiar with most of the locations “on stage” that the author describes, but anyone interested in knowing what it is like to be a cast member at a Disney theme park will enjoy this book. The book isn’t for everyone, but Disney fans who like to know how real people make the parks work will find Mouse Trap well worth their time.



If you wish to purchase Mouse Trap, then use this link to amazon.com. NOTE: Using this link will help support this web site, as amazon will offer (at no additional cost to you) a small portion of the purchase price of the book to our site.  If you enjoy this book, then you may also enjoy the author’s blog (http://ultimateorlando.blogspot.com/) or follow him on twitter @cafeorleans