Customer Reviews

Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Many books on Disney's art and achitecture try to convey its appeal primarily through the visual. Other books, particularly those that whole-heartedly criticize Disney, try to ignore the appeal of Disney altogether. This book attempts to integrate the visual evidence (photos, concept art) with academic writing on Disney (Karal Ann Marling, Erika Doss, Greil Marcus, etc.). Together, these aspects make for a solid inquiry as to the appeal of Disney's architecture.

The book was written to supplement an art exhibit of the same name and, in many ways, feels a bit incomplete without its exhibition, partly because the book tries to cover a lot of territory in its two hundred or so pages. And a lot of the book's pages are used for the essays. But the essays also provide the readers with another "way of seeing" the imagineers' works, something that other books of this type tend to forgoe for more pictures. The essays are irreplaceable for this book--and many are useful for re-examining other books' materials as well (Try it!).

Particularly useful for the Disney enthusiast is the criticism of Disney criticism by Greil Marcus. He astutely summarizes much of the current criticism of Disney: "All [the works mentioned earlier in the essay] have their moments of interest and all devolve quickly into a kind of critical voice that can perhaps best be called spite. This is not a good posture from which to practice criticism--an angry defensiveness, a fear that somehow one's faculties or tools of analysis are not up to the job disguised as contempt for the job itself...." What Marcus calls for is a real attempt to understand Disney for what it is and for how it affects people/American culture, something too few critics have done without falling into an either all-good or all-evil knee-jerk reaction. Worse, many critics make no attempt to experience Disney before making up their minds. This essay is an excellent reminder to those critics and a call to action.

The other essays are interesting and useful, as well. The interview with Frank Gehry seems a bit brief, and perhaps Karal Ann Marling takes too much center stage in the interview (as with the entire book). Still, this book opens the door for an appreciative examination of Disney and one that embraces Disney by attempting a "thick description" of its materiality and appeal. This book will not provide an exhaustive look at Disney's theme parks but it will offer the interested reader materials with which to look at Disney's parks in a new way.

Next to "Gardens of the Walt Disney World resorts" this is the best serious Disney book that I've read. Goes into great detail on the design of the parks. This is for the Disney adict who is interested in architecture and design.

A look at the title, and even the opening, might lead one to think this book was written by and for academia. That is not true. You don't need to be an architect or engineer (either mechanical or social!) to enjoy this book. The photos of concept art make it worth the price of the book alone! One could happily treat this purely as a coffee table book. If you decide to read it, you will have to wade through the author's occasionally self-serving analysis, but that is not often. This is a quality book, based on an absolutely amazing traveling exhibit.

This is a very valuable book to me... I have been a disney fan for years, and when I finally went there, too many questions popped up.. why did they make that like that? whose names are those on the shop windows etc.

This book explains how the ride/show designers came up with various concepts and goes into some of the philosophy/psychology behind the designs as well.

Written as a series of lengthy articles, this encompasses most aspects of all the disney parks and is a valuable addition to anyones collection. I found it even more entertaining after having visited the park and experienced the architecture first hand.

It's too bad that so many people who reviewed the book here didn't seem to understand what they were buying and then were disappointed. It's a great book! I was particularly enthralled by the chapters by Greil Marcus and Erika Doss -- but who wouldn't be? Their work always combines the everyday and the academic in such fluid and fun ways. It's clear from the reviews that the folks who rated this 1 or 2 stars simply didn't understand what they were looking at!

The exhibit was excellent. When I purchased the book, I was expecting either an expansion on what was covered in the exhibit or at least a reveiw of all that was exhibited. Unfortunately there were many things that were left out. The illustrations & prints were small & a bit fuzzy & there are hardly any of the maquettes or minatures that were present at the exhibit contained in the book.

They also focused on criticism to show Disney's effect on our culture, but there are countless books that go over that.

I was hoping for new material with the same insight on the development for the parks & attraction that "Walt Disney Imagineering : A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real" contained.

I enjoyed the book, but given what was at the exhibit, I can't help but be a little disappointed in the book.

This book is amazing. It immediately captured me. It gives valuable insight on the vison of disneys world and on how this vision becomes tangible.

Not only it talks abou the history of the themeparks but it shows the sketches, maps, plans of different parts and attractions of the disney world. An amazing resource full of phantasy and a joy to watch. The photographs and illustrations are very well chosen and it is a plasure to flip through this pages every once in a while. A very inspiring book, showing that often it is enough to dream it and then it becomes reality.The most peculiar shapes and interior spaces are built to be reality.

I highly recommend it.

I bought this book and thought it was highly enjoyable. It never ceases to amaze me that for some reason, some folks tend to think that when Disney builds anything, they are trying to build things that are meant to be perfect. The last time I checked, Disney was in the business of building theme parks, not the Taj Mahal or Biltmore House. They are simply building things that are fun, period. This book does illustrate this quite well. The book has great art and the text is easy to read yet not insulting. Hey, if you like Disney or amusement parks or even really fun design/architecture, then check this book out. If you are just out to criticize etc., give us all a break and move on.

This book is great! I'm sure that every Disney fan will apreciate it. Being the authors chosen from wide-ranging disciplines, this book analizes Disney Theme Parks in all their faces; it starts with an historical view of the Theme Parks written by the historian Neil Harris and it ends with the interview with the architect Frank Gehry. Great choice of images and photoes.

This book is a must have for enthusiasts and interested scholars. The book is filled with many pictures, illustrations and original renderings of Disneyland, and the subsequent other parks. The conceptual development of the original Disneyland is the focus of the book that admirably discusses the many details involved in the process. The amazing part for me was the scholarly research and the well written quality of the text. The subject is well examined for the volume of information it covers. It is the first book I have come across that credit's Walt Disney's innovative process of applying stage set design to 3D proportionality using an over-ridding narrative to connect it all. The scholarly research by art historians and architects for the Canadian exhibition is impressive, which is done without the control of the Disney Corporation. The scholarly nature of the book lends a new dimensionality to the understanding of Disneyland as an innovative artistic development, and a new architectural expression.
Unlike other texts I have read about Disney architecture, this one takes on the subject from the art historical perspective examining the process that creates a new architectural form. Other books seem to veer away from this in favor of the new, celebrated corporate architecture at Disney company headquarters, or on these applications at newer Disney parks. By concentrating on the original development of Disneyland as a concept of Walt Disney's, and his special team of designers, the idea is well established as creating the foundation for everything else that comes after. This difference is insightful, and makes the understanding of the original conceptual design clearer.
I highly recommend this book for the wealth of information it provides and the good read it is. Even for a seasoned Walt Disney enthusiast, like me, it provides a new awareness of the multi-dimensional qualities of the form created, and it makes a rich addition to the information previously unknown.