Customer Reviews

Designing Disney

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4 star:		(6)
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This is a pleasant little book authored by one of the original Imagineers, John Hench. We are treated to an inside look at the designing of the Disney parks, with an emphasis on the original Disneyland, although pretty much every park, including Animal Kingdom and DCA, gets some mention. There are plenty of color illustrations, mostly concept paintings and sketches, many of which I hadn't seen before.

This is not a book for the casual Disney fan, but if your interest in Disneyland borders on the obsessive, there are lots of nifty facts and anecdotes to be found here.

For example, when Space Mountain was being built, the author insisted the enormous steel T-beams be mounted backwards, to provide a smooth surface to project show effects; the Snow White wishing well was built next to Sleeping Beauty's Castle solely for the purpose of keeping guests from tossing coins in the nearby lake and waterfall; and a pond was built next to the long gone House of the Future to serve as a water supply for the attractions cooling system.

If minutiae like that is your bag, this is the book for you. It makes a nice companion peice to the book "Walt Disney's Imagineering."

This book is the Disney version of being John Malkavich. More than ANY living person, John Hench, knows Walt's history, philosophy and design theories. In fact, John Hench IS the artist behind much of the how and why of designing Disney theme parks from Disneyland (1955) to Disney's California Adventure (2002). More than just a book of inside trivia on why and how certain attractions look and work this is the observations of human behavior and understanding of all of us that Walt (and Hench) had, and used, to create these magically places we all love. As an Disney Imagineer I was fortunate to have known and worked with John Hench and co-author, Peggy Van Pelt. Herein they tell the real story behind how Disney's magic comes into being. As great as their words, John and Peggy have included lots and lots of John's stunning artwork--much of it never before published or show outside the Disney archives. Walt (and John Hench's) philosophy in this compact and rich book is applicable across the corporate spectrum. This book should set side-by-side with the larger (though less revealing) "Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look..." John Hench once told me, "I make all decisions with my heart." This book is for the heart and your head (left and right hemispheres) will enjoy it as well.

For most Disneyland guests, the nuts-and-bolts details behind the many attractions will ruin their illusions. Most people who are shown the tricks behind stage magic cannot get over feeling cheated. If you had to watch the process of making sausages from birth of the meat animal (pig or whatever) to the grilling of your breakfast in the restaurant kitchen, odds are that you'd enjoy your oatmeal instead.

But I enjoy seeing projects grow from project to fruition. John Hench's "Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show" in an insiders peek at the Disney theme parks and cruise line. Concept art is directed at a specific audience. Usually the task for concept art is to sell the idea to the "suits"--who are a very different audience than Disneyland guests. It's been said that executives consider everyone else subhuman--especially their customers and subordinate employees--so what "sells" a concept to a panel of executives will leave the end customer unimpressed. Once the project gets the go-ahead, changes will happen. "No plan survives contact with reality!" At Disneyland, "finished attractions" will continually be changed due to economics or guest feedback until the attraction is replaced. The Disneyland Monorail is a fine example of this. On pages 26 and 27 and on page 33 monorail concept art differs significantly from today's Disneyland Monorail. John Hench wrote about how this occurred.

Many ideas don't make it to the concept stage. Disenyland was very much the experimental community during the 1950's and 1960's. The Enchanted Tiki Room was originally conceived of as a dinner show. Around 1960, the South Pacific was considered romantic and adventurous. Today, the Enchanted Tiki Room is considered ho-hum boring by most--but just try to rid Disneyland of it! My visits to Disneyland are incomplete if I cannot see the Tiki Birds at least once!

Hench wrote about the central theme of the park attractions, how "show" was the focus. Some of the rides and attractions at Disneyland (Disney's California Adventure is a worse offender) are just rides or exhibits. They have little if any tie-in, no synergy, with the rest of the park. Walt Disney told stories with his park attractions. The "nuts and bolts" of telling stories with a walk-in theater and live actors is explained in simple terms. No math! Imagine equations for the curve radii and bank on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! Color, character, form, space, and time are some of the elements used to tell the story.

I like the panaramic photos of Main Street, Disneyland on pages 68 through 71. Disney theme parks keep changing. I like to see how the park has changed over time. Hench explained why these changes occured.

This book is a nice addition to my Disney library.

This is a fascinating look into the mind of the premier Disney designers. Hench explains how every single detail of the Disney parks is designed to fit into a great whole: color, form, space, and even time must reinforce a narrative theme in every single ride or experience, as if the viewer had entered a film sequence. All detail is foreseen - with storyboards! - discussed, and built with this kind of total consistency of experience in mind. I was astounded that the parts were so much more deeply planned than I had imagined.

I read this as part of my research for a writing project on Disney. For this, it was extremely useful and informative. It strikes me that the imagineering method is of great relevance to all managers.

While easy to read quickly, this book will give anyone who likes Disney a fascinating new perspective on one of the great American success stories. Warmly recommended. The writing is clear and to the point, while elegant.

Let's face it. There are hundreds of books about Disney. The movies... the stage shows... the company... the management style... recipes... fiction... even an incredible collection of Walt Disney World Trivia (currently in its second edition!). Occasionally, a book comes through that fills a unique void.

John Hench was a designer with Disney for over 65 years. His designs are as identifiably Disney as anything else coming from the mouse house. In around 150 pages, Hench shares some of his design work in artist's concepts and blueprints. These are beautiful and rare, but it is his insight into the thought behind the design choices that turn this book from yet another Disney book to a text book worth much study.

Many books discussing Disney magic often push the art of looking around, taking note of details. This book helps you to know "How" to look around and "What" you are looking for... Hopefully, you'll never look at it the same way ever again. Entire sections are devoted to in depth discussion on color, costumes, character, line, layout and most of all, story. With over half a century working for Disney, Hench's resume is able to back it all up with beautiful artwork.

If there is one thing that is surprisingly absent from a Disney legend that spent years working directly with Walt, it is a lack of stories that bring you into Walt's presence. It lacks that emotional touch, but makes up for it in intellectual stimulation that will affect your thinking about Disney for many years to come.

WOW!!! This book is something else. Full of sketches and history, it really gives you an inside look at all the work that goes into creating the magic that is Disney. It's easy and fun to read.

Firstly, how fortunate for all those who understand the amazing implications of Walt Disney's transition from filmmaker to Town Planner that John Hench decided to write this much-needed and much-requested book just before his death.

What's so strange about other reviews and Frank Gehry's preface is nowhere is it observed without John Hench "Tomorrowland" might have been an embarrassing overreach - causing much mirth from Hollywood rivals expecting Walt to fall flat on his face.

It's clear from his sketches in this book and other Disneyland publications the only WED man with "a handle" on modernity was John Hench. Without him "Space Mountain" would not have its iconic spaceship form. Without him Disney's contribution to the 1964 New York World's Fair would never have produced the spin-offs which they then used to updated a large section of "Tomorrowland".

But nothing about the original "Tomorrowland" was behind the times. John Hench's designs are still valid interpretation of future forms of travel and curvy architecture. Added to which they provided the spark for Walt's imagination to move onto the creation of EPCOT.

Much as I appreciate Michael Eisner launching the "Disney Decade" (providing jobs for so many of us) it has to be said his architectural taste was lamentable. His preference for a "nothing style" called "Post-Modern" set a trend which had dire consequences for the entire Disney Company. If the boss has no belief in the Future then all of Walt's plans for creating Experimental Communities in Florida become null and void. The modern township of "Celebration" gets Cape Cod cottages etc. "Tomorrowland 2011" is cancelled and its rocket ships are replaced by a Jules Verne "Orbitron". The thin edge of the wedge leading to all of "Tomorrowland" being given a destructive irrelevant Jules Verne "makeover".

It goes without saying I never met a cartoonist who didn't wonder what Walt would have thought of this French invasion. But these orders were coming from above. Thankfully the orderers have now all retired and with a cartoonist John Lasseter in place at Disney HQ America can now reclaim "Tomorrowland". First move - obtain a NASA spaceship to allow young guests to go inside - as they do in Airforce One at the Reagan Library.

This might appear to be a personal digression but as I spent several hours talking to John Hench I've a feeling he would not object to my revealing one confidence. The cruelest of all the cuts he lamented was the "People Mover". Because it was his and Walt's brainchild, based on a method of moving steel bars they saw in Detroit. The double irony being their driverless method of safely moving people from place to place is now used in airports around the globe. PS Ironically "Rocket Rods" bit the dust after only 2 years! Leaving nothing!

Ditto Walt Disney's plans for EPCOT were exactly what America needed to keep up with the Future. All the new housing technologies the President is now forced to implement on a Governmental level would have been in place had Walt Disney's EPCOT ideals been pursued by those he trusted to keep the Disney Company ahead with the support of private sector investors. The method he used to make all his groundbreaking projects get done fast.

Because John Hench was an incredibly discrete gentleman none of his misgivings as to how different WED would have been if Walt lived another 20 years found a place in this book. Nevertheless I think every fan inwardly knows it's almost criminal to turn one's back on Walt Disney's version of the "American Way". Which, in his case, was to be constantly forging forward with NEW IDEAS AND NEW DREAMS.

A great exampample of design basics that made Disney Great. A recommended book for students of design basics, Disney Culture, and the art of giving Joy to others.

A rare and precious jewel for any aspiring Imagineer! Mr. John Hench, the writer actually is a legend that worked for Disney for more than 65 years and had the great honor of becoming a mentor of Mr. Walt Disney himself! It is certainly a book to read and re-read! A behind-the-scenes explanation to many of Disney's theme parks attractions and many interesting fun facts. A legacy that inspires dreaming, storytelling, and challenging paradigms for creating marvelous and unforgettable experiences!

One of the very best books about the design philosophy of Disney Imagineering, written by a Disney Legend. John Hench, whose work at Imagineering included work on signature attractions like the Cinderella Castles at Orlando and Tokyo, Space Mountain, and many others, records here his thoughts on design, theming, and the audience relationship. Seldom have I felt so much as if I were being given a personal glimpse of an artist's self-understanding. The book is a joy to read.