Building A Better Mouse: The Story Of The Electronic Imagineers Who Designed Epcot (Paperback)

~ Steve Alcorn (Author), David Green (Author)
Key Phrases: pixie dust, world showcase, animation cabinets, American Adventure, Labor Day, Spaceship Earth (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

On October 1, 1982, The Walt Disney Company opened its EPCOT Center to the world, heralding changes that would take the Disney property in Florida from a mere theme park to a world-class resort destination. Authors Steve Alcorn and David Green were there, as employees of Disney's WED Imagineering. "Building a Better Mouse" tells the tale of the "hundreds of mostly young, mostly bright and all embarrassingly idealistic people" who worked on Epcot, and gives a unique insider's perspective on what it was like to be in the trenches as a Disney Imagineer in the early 1980s, from pixie dusting - when new employees are indoctrinated into all things Disney - through the craziness of the engineering design process, right up until the last frantic dash to opening day. It is a breathtaking, breezy, E-ticket ride of a book, required reading for both hard-core Disneyphiles and people interested in the business side of themed entertainment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Theme Perks Press (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972977759
• ISBN-13: 978-0972977753
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #501,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For dedicated theme park fans, January 1, 2009

By	a - See all my reviews

I am obsessed with Disney theme parks, and the original EPCOT Center has always been my favorite. Even so, I was wary about buying this book written by electrical engineers because I thought it might prove dry and technical. I was only half-right. Parts of this book are indeed complex for someone like me--an English and history major--who knows nothing about engineering. In particular, the one chapter which deals with the design of the underground carriage for the American Adventure was painful and almost made me shelve the book for a while. I am so glad I stayed with the narrative. In the end, while the technical bits here and there may be difficult to grasp, they do not make up the bulk of this book at all. What emerges here is a charming, breezy narrative about fun and idealistic young men swept up in extraordinary events.

The reader should be at least somewhat familar with the layout of the original EPCOT Center to fully grasp this text, but if you are interested in the nuts and bolts history of theme parks, this makes for a bit of excellent light reading. It's a pretty short book, but I was pleased to see how detailed the authors were in describing their work environments at WDI and at "ground zero" in Florida. I felt like I was there with them, and I especially appreciate the little details -- how employees would fight over souvenir buttons and shirts, and how enjoyable the annual open house day was for families. Those are magical little moments that really make me appreciate the results at EPCOT even more, and I'm glad to see them documented. (I really, really wish a lot more ex-imagineers would write books like this!)

If you're an EPCOT Center, Disney, theme park, or engineering fan, please give this book a shot, and if you're not technically minded (like me), just breeze through the occasional dry parts. But stay with the narrative. There's magic within.

4.0 out of 5 stars More content, September 13, 2009

By	Steven Boyd - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is really interesting, and insightful. It is way too short. There had to be more stories to tell!

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for behind the mouse, August 3, 2009

By	David Korhonen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have always loved Disney's animatronics. The actual process is very hard to come by.
Finally an imaginer has written a book about the actual development of a Disney park written for imaginers. It gets technical in parts and might bore someone without an engineering mind but the insight into things like pixie dust is fantastic. I can picture myself beside them when sensors fail and it's back to the drawing board or when it finally does work and pure glee blows up your bum. The only problem is that I wish it was longer.