Customer Reviews

The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

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The entire point of imagineering anything is to convey a story in a consistent and complete manner. How this is done is the subject of several imagineering books. For the newcomer, the book simply entitled Imagineering is it. For the next stage of imagineer-wannabe, there is the Field Guide. Take a guided tour of the Magic Kingdom land by land, attraction by attraction and learn what goes into making it all work cohesively and seemlessly.
This is an absolutely essential component to anyone's library of Disneyana or, more in general, anyone's library of the creative process.
This is supposed to be the first in a series of Imagineering Field Guides and I cannot wait until the next ones are published.
Good Show.

Full of the information that makes the Imagineering side of Disney tick, "The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World" is a wonderful book to help you better understand how and why Disney designed the Magic Kingdom the way they did. You learn to appreciate the importance of theme at the Disney parks as well as the minor quirks and inside jokes that comprise the art, layout, and design of attractions that usually go unnoticed by most tourists.

The book takes you through each land of the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and delves into each attraction. The history of the attraction and storyline behind the attraction is detailed, as is the design and construction. Just for fun, the Imagineers throw in some trivia that helps you to appreciate the tons of work put into the overall attraction experience.

It should be noted that this is not a guide book to Walt Disney World. Anyone looking for hotel information or restaurant reviews in this book will be sorely disappointed. But for those looking for something beyond the regular theme park experience, you cannot go wrong with this. I only hope they publish additional volumes for Epcot, The Disney-MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Anyone that knows Disney knows that it's all about the details. This guide if full of historical tidbits and the meaning behind the design detail of the Magic Kingdom (MK). For example: "There's a nice little propping detail in the second-floor window on the side of The Hall of Presidents, facing the Haunted Mansion. If you look up into this window, you'll see the two lanterns of Paul Revere as described in the famous line, "One if by land, two if by sea."" There are dozens of these "Quick Takes" sprinkled throughout the guide. After reading it, you'll have a totally new perspective on the MK and perhaps many new things to see during your next visit. I'm in the midst of planning my 7th visit to Walt Disney World and will certainly bring this guide along. I regard it as a must have for anyone ranging from an Annual Passholder to a first time visitor. I cannot wait until more are published about other Disney properties!

I think this book is very good. It's packed with information on the architecture of the different 'lands' and how they made the transtions flow seemlessly. The Imagineers go in depth to explain why and how some of the popular attraction were created. There are so many things I learned from this book. I have been to Disney World seven times and I found the perspective given by the Imagaineers a must buy for Disney fans.

For some of the naysayers. This is by no means a pamphlet. It has a spine and is over 125 pages. Yes, the size of the book is small. So it would stand to reason the print is smaller also. It is not impossibly small unless you do have very poor vision. I had no issue at all with the size of the type. As others have stated that this is a guide, you would want it to be small in order to carry it with you. I for one have no disire to lug a around 'field guide' the size of War and Peace.

If you like behind the scene information and love Disney I would recommend this book.

I loved this book. I try to get to Disney every couple of years or so and this book will really get me pumped to go. Bring it with you. If you like Disney at all, you'll love this book. I can't wait for the Epcot book coming out in June 2006.

This book was great! It explains the reasoning behind why and how all the current attractions were constructed. I would have liked to see a little more on the past and the potential for future attractions, but it was good. It is really interesting to see why this ride was built just like it was and how the idea formed into what it is.

I'm a big Disney fan and take 3 to 4 trips a year to Disney World so I am very familiar with the Magic Kingdom. I loved this book so much I bought one for my brother (another Disney fan). This quick read full of backstory and pictures of the Magic Kingdom gives an insight to the method behind the Disney Magic.

I gave one of these to each of my 4 children for Christmas and they have all really enjoyed it. It is full of lots of fun facts. We've been to MK several times, but are anxious to check out some of the things we learned from the book. We'd like to see the equivalent for Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios as well.

On October 1, 2006, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom will have been in operation for 35 years. Roughly 50% bigger than Disneyland, WDW's Magic Kingdom is a different world. How did the Imagineers build a better mousetrap? WDW's estimated attendance is over 30 million annually--and led to Disney theme parks in Japan, France, and China--that seems as if the world is beating a path to the Magic Kingdom's door to me!

"The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World" is organized into chapters covering the eight themed "lands," an introduction to Imagineering, and a bibliography with a graphic "index" at the back. The 128 pages are lavishly illustrated. I bought this book so that I could see the Magic Kingdom through an Imagineer's eyes. In the introduction, a brief explaination of the many show elements (from planning to construction) and a glossery help bring those new to Imagineering on board. The glossery even has a useful summary of brainstorming.

Walt Disney World is always changing. The last time I was there was July 2004--and The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World" lists several new attractios that weren't open when I visited. One attraction that is on my "must see" list is Stitch's Great Escape because of the complexity of the Stitch figure (pages 114 and 115). Page 81 shows an effect that's been there for a while, but one I overlooked because I stand 6'3" in my stocking feet--my sightline went over this pleasant little surprise in Fantasyland. This 128-page book isn't too big to take along on my next visit, it won't take me hours to read, and it will enhance my Disney experience by letting me in on the tricks of the Imagineer's trade. I get an insider's looks at the jokes and tributes hidden in plain sight, too! One example of an inside joke is the chess match in Pirates of the Caribbean (page 49)--I don't take chess THAT seriously!

This isn't as good as going to the Magic Kingdom with my own personal Imagineer in tow--but I don't have any personal Imagineers handy when I'm visiting Walt Disney World. "The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World" is a fine substitute, and less espensive, too.

I will admit to being disappointed when I got these books in person and saw how small they are (I purchased the Field Guides for Animal Kingdom and Epcot, as well). I consider myself fairly well versed regarding the parks of WDW as far as attractions, history, trivia, Hidden Mickeys, etc. are concerned. However, I have learned a LOT in these small guides. The guides do an excellent job of presenting how each park tells its own story as a whole and how the individual lands and smaller areas within each park contribute to its story. These guides do not spill behind-the-scenes secrets, so they do NOT spoil the magic; in my opinion, they only enhance it for a Disneyphile. We have gone to WDW almost twice a year for the last few years so we know a lot about the parks. We just returned from a trip and I can't wait to go back to see in person some of the things I've read about. I didn't see a similar guide for Disney Studios; I hope one is in the works.

My only complaint about the books are their size. They are, obviously, meant to be sort of a pocket guide, though this is not the sort of thing I would read while in a park. Because of the small size, the print runs pretty close to the gutter of the book and it is difficult to read at the very inside edges of the pages. I have to really spread the spine open and I'm not sure how well the books will hold up because of that. However, I would still recommend these Field Guides to my fellow sojourners and lovers of Walt Disney World.