Customer Reviews

Disneyland the Nickel Tour: A Postcard Journey Through a Half Century of the Happiest Place on Earth

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I cannot say enough about this handsome, evocative, skilfullywritten book. Just as Disneyland is more than an amusement park, thisis more than a trip through Disneyland's places and times...

I wouldhasten to add that this book does more than to simply transport you tothe park as it is today; it is the best simulation of a time machine,transporting you back to previous incarnations of the park, the waythat they were experienced and enjoyed in the vanished culturallandscape of the 1950s and the 1960s. A lot of those joys are gone --the Rainbow Caverns of the Mine Train, the subatomic journey of InnerSpace -- and this is the best way to see them again.

What Iparticularly enjoy about this book is that the authors clearly sharemy childhood fascination with wondering "how it all worked."You get aerial shots of the park under construction, pictures ofaborted attraction developments, and the stories behind detailsranging from the marching band kiosk to the eucalyptus trees inAdventureland.

Walt would have approved of this magnificentlyconceived and executed journey through Disneyland's past and present.

The "Nickel Tour" is an excellent pictorial review of Disneyland's history. Using postcards from pre-opening to the present the book explains how Disneyland came to be, and how it evolved into the cultural icon it is today. If a postcard does not exist to illustrate the topic or time period discussed the authors have found numerous rare photos and drawings to give visual heft to what they are explaining. This brings up what I most enjoyed about the book. Both authors are Imagineers (Disney's word for the engineers who design their theme parks) and they give detailed explanations concerning every postcard (or picture) in the book. They also spend a great deal of time explaining how certain attractions came to be, and the history of each area of the park. This includes many Disneyland attractions that we all remember, but which no longer exist. It was great to see my favorite childhood ride, "Adventures Thru Inner Space", again. If you are a fan of Disneyland, and want to really understand the Park's history there is no better source than this book. I highly recommend it despite its rather high price. You won't be disappointed.

I've read "The Art of Walt Disney", "Walt Disney Imagineering", "Disneyland:The Inside Story", and several other books about the Magic Kingdom, and this book is by far the most detailed and enjoyable of them all. Every store that's ever had an address on Main Street...every sponsor that's ever had an exhibit in Tommorowland...IT'S ALL HERE. My only complaint is that I wish some of the illustrations were larger so you could take in more detail...but considering that every postcard ever issued by Disneyland is included, in addition to behind-the-scenes photos and concept art, this is an understandable compromise. Absolutely the best book ever printed on Disneyland.

The Nickel Tour is ostensibly a pictorial tour of Disneyland's history through a presentation of every postcard the Park has ever offered. However it is so much more. Written by Walt Disney Imagineers Bruce Gordon and David Mumford, the books gives fans a glimpse behind the scenes of both Disneyland and its development wing- Imagineering. Want to know when an attraction opened? It's in there. Want to know the history of that attraction? It's in there. How about "what might have been"? Yup, it's in there too. If you are fan of Disneyland, or just Disney, you will love this book. The writing is fantastic, the images wonderful, and the inside info is priceless.

Nickel Tour is, without a doubt, the best book on Disneyland one can buy today. Not only does it have every postcard of the park, which alone results include hundreds of pictures, it has many other pictures of the park and concept artwork. The book tops itself by going beyond being just a book full of pictures. The book is entertaining reading as well, with a lot of Disneyland history. Two active Disney Imagineers wrote it.

The second edition makes updates scattered throughout the book and adds 24 new pages to the first edition. I liked the first edition so much, I bought backup copies in case I wore it out. I now have two copies of the second edition. I own lots of books on Disney, including some rare books, and this is my favorite on Disneyland.

Since it is published by the Authors, you will not find it many places. While a very small publisher, the book is professionally printed and bound, a real collector's book.

Nickel Tour is an absolute must for every fan of Disneyland.

Having grown up in New Orleans and now a resident of Los Angeles, I missed out on the early years of Disneyland. I bought this book and settled down with a bag of popcorn and my "mouse ears" and eagerly began a trip down memory lane for some, but for me it was wide eyed wonder. I was revelling in excitement over the Disneyland of the past. My excitement over the photos and text even made my California friends re-visit their childhood at the "Happiest Place on Earth" I highly recommend this book, for children of all ages. You won't be disappointed. Like the song say......"When you wish upon a star...."

If you love Disneyland and its history,you will LOVE this book. It features every postcard that has been published by Disneyland. What makes this book special is that they feature other photos to flesh out the full story. You relive every trip you've made to the park. If you do have a collection of the postcards, a checklist is also featured.This book was everything I had hoped for and more!

If you're a fan of Disneyland and it's history, then this book is a must! I was astounded by the scope of this work, and the attention to detail. It covers Disneyland from it's beginnings in the early 50's to the present day with individual "stories" about the different aspects of the park. Accompaning these "stories" are hundreds of rare photos and artwork along with the postcards the book is named after. This is a definite must have book for fans of the California park.

This is the ultimate book on Disneyland. It's more than a postcard book, it traces the history of the park & combines descriptive text with some of the best pictures you'll ever see of the park as well as the attractions, past & present. I have most every coffee table photograph book on Disneyland that has been released over the years, & this one is definitely the E-Ticket of the bunch. If you have the excellent 'Disneyland: Then, Now & Forever' (also Bruce Gordon), you have a taste of what you will find here.
The 2nd Edition is also the better of the 2 editions, with added material (1st Edition was 1995, 2nd Edition updates to 2000). I would take the 2nd Edition over the 1st Edition if they were both offered at the same price for this reason. This book is out of print... permanently since the unfortunate passing of Bruce Gordon in November 2007, there will not be any future updated editions.
Speaking of price, this book retailed for $75.00 when it was released. With some patience, this book CAN be found for around $150.00-$200.00 despite what you see here. These copies have been sitting for at least a few years at an inflated value. The book itself is spectacular, the fact that anyone would try to sell the book at $300 & up is shameful.

This is a beautiful "coffee table" book that transcends its status as the last word for Disneyland post card collectors. It is actually the best book on the history of Disneyland that I've ever seen (and I'm constantly looking :-). It is also fascinating just from a cultural history point of view--the complete oveure of all postcards from any landmark would be interesting to study changing styles and mores, and of course Disneyland is so rich and varied. Hats off to Mumford and Gordon.