Review: The Disneyland Story by Sam Gennawey
The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream
by Sam Gennawey
The best word I can think of describing this history of the Disneyland theme park is a biography, if it were possible to have a biography of a place. Beginning with the frustrations Walt Disney faced with his movie studio and how this led to the genesis of Disneyland, the book carefully details the many challenges faced in developing Disney’s vision of a clean, happy place where families could explore the worlds of the past, present, and fantasy. Gennawey carefully traces the opening and closure of attractions over the years, charting the evolution of the park’s lands and its expansion under Disney. After he passed away, his successors did their best to steward the park through the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st, keeping it fresh and relevant for new generations. Meet the personalities behind the park and relive memories of lost attractions in Gennawey’s expansive history of Disneyland.
I love Disneyland, and visit it frequently, but at best my personal memories can account for fifteen, maybe twenty years of the park’s history. There’s over forty years of rides, shows, and other attractions that I never experienced, but I can’t help but wonder about them. Little clues to long-gone attractions are often left behind by Imagineers - Disney employees who work to create new attractions for the theme parks - on signs or in line queues. As I read Sam Gennawey’s book, I often found myself smiling as he revealed one of these nods to the past. For example, a robot in the Star Tours queue was a recycled animatronic from a previous Tomorrowland attraction called American Sings.
The story is also fascinating for the many individuals who helped create the parks. Each decade has personalities to define it: Walt Disney himself, whose vision steered the entire project, to artists like Marc Davis and Rolly Crump, who created some of the park’s most iconic rides, to numbers-focused men like Michael Eisner. Each leader embodies something of his time, whether a future-minded optimist looking to a bright tomorrow or a business dynamo focused on the new, the flashy, and the profitable. Each man’s competing ideas about what Disneyland could and should be helped shape the park as it is today, and I enjoyed reading about the impact of each success and failure.
If you spend much time at Disneyland, whether you’re a local who lives close by or a fan who can only afford to visit once every few years, this is a book well worth exploring. The backstories for your favorite rides will only increase your appreciation and fuel nostalgia for attractions that have since closed. It provides a cultural context for the park, mostly positive but also balanced by some of the criticisms that have been given of Walt Disney and his singular vision of America.
One minor criticism of the book: The Unofficial Guides are a series of travel books with hotel listings, travel advice, etc. Many of their titles are guides to Disneyland or Disney World, but they also cover other American tourist destinations like Washington DC and Las Vegas. It is a very odd choice to include The Disneyland Story in this collection, because it is NOT a travel guide. It is a history of the park. The Disneyland Story has been formatted to match the rest of the Unofficial Guide line, using the cheaper, flimsy paper that many travel guides are printed on because they are so disposable. It’s a pity because this is a book I will refer back to time and time again, and it’s already showing a fair amount of wear.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Disneyland Story, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: News: Reading Rainbow on Kickstarter
2013: Sailor Moon Vol. 10 by Naoko Takeuchi
2012: Fashionista Piranha on vacation until June 9th
2011: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
2010: LEGO: A Love Story by Jonathan Bender
2009: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
by Sam Gennawey
The best word I can think of describing this history of the Disneyland theme park is a biography, if it were possible to have a biography of a place. Beginning with the frustrations Walt Disney faced with his movie studio and how this led to the genesis of Disneyland, the book carefully details the many challenges faced in developing Disney’s vision of a clean, happy place where families could explore the worlds of the past, present, and fantasy. Gennawey carefully traces the opening and closure of attractions over the years, charting the evolution of the park’s lands and its expansion under Disney. After he passed away, his successors did their best to steward the park through the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st, keeping it fresh and relevant for new generations. Meet the personalities behind the park and relive memories of lost attractions in Gennawey’s expansive history of Disneyland.
I love Disneyland, and visit it frequently, but at best my personal memories can account for fifteen, maybe twenty years of the park’s history. There’s over forty years of rides, shows, and other attractions that I never experienced, but I can’t help but wonder about them. Little clues to long-gone attractions are often left behind by Imagineers - Disney employees who work to create new attractions for the theme parks - on signs or in line queues. As I read Sam Gennawey’s book, I often found myself smiling as he revealed one of these nods to the past. For example, a robot in the Star Tours queue was a recycled animatronic from a previous Tomorrowland attraction called American Sings.
The story is also fascinating for the many individuals who helped create the parks. Each decade has personalities to define it: Walt Disney himself, whose vision steered the entire project, to artists like Marc Davis and Rolly Crump, who created some of the park’s most iconic rides, to numbers-focused men like Michael Eisner. Each leader embodies something of his time, whether a future-minded optimist looking to a bright tomorrow or a business dynamo focused on the new, the flashy, and the profitable. Each man’s competing ideas about what Disneyland could and should be helped shape the park as it is today, and I enjoyed reading about the impact of each success and failure.
If you spend much time at Disneyland, whether you’re a local who lives close by or a fan who can only afford to visit once every few years, this is a book well worth exploring. The backstories for your favorite rides will only increase your appreciation and fuel nostalgia for attractions that have since closed. It provides a cultural context for the park, mostly positive but also balanced by some of the criticisms that have been given of Walt Disney and his singular vision of America.
One minor criticism of the book: The Unofficial Guides are a series of travel books with hotel listings, travel advice, etc. Many of their titles are guides to Disneyland or Disney World, but they also cover other American tourist destinations like Washington DC and Las Vegas. It is a very odd choice to include The Disneyland Story in this collection, because it is NOT a travel guide. It is a history of the park. The Disneyland Story has been formatted to match the rest of the Unofficial Guide line, using the cheaper, flimsy paper that many travel guides are printed on because they are so disposable. It’s a pity because this is a book I will refer back to time and time again, and it’s already showing a fair amount of wear.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Disneyland Story, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: News: Reading Rainbow on Kickstarter
2013: Sailor Moon Vol. 10 by Naoko Takeuchi
2012: Fashionista Piranha on vacation until June 9th
2011: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
2010: LEGO: A Love Story by Jonathan Bender
2009: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory