Customer Reviews

Inside Disney: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney World and the Man Behind the Mouse (Unofficial Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a quick read, poorly edited (as noted in a number of the reviews), and typeset poorly. Its format is paperback and likely may be read on a plane, or in your hotel room as a light supplement to the guides and actual tours.

For most Disney addicts the information inside is simply recast trivia and general factoids you already are likely to know. If you are an expert, there will be conflicts inside...Horizons in Epcot closed when? According to the book, two years before I first rode the attraction...HUH?

So, if you are curious, and a first-time Disneyophile, this is a fine start. If you are an expert there are plenty of better books on Amazon (Vinyl Leaves is just one; the Culture America series on Euro Disney another).

Teens interested in learning about Disney, or college students contemplating an internship might use this book well to cram.

Schizophrenically edited. Derivative of the other Eve Zibart Disney World "Unofficial Guide" series. About 3/5ths of this book is interesting and entertaining, but the rest is confusing (Animal Kingdom will be built, is being built, is open, goes back to will be built... all in the course of the same chapter) or mean-spirited. Whoever wrote the "America's Adventures in Wonderland" chapter has a chip on their shoulder - they must be the type of person who goes about searching for reasons to feel slighted and insulted. (Hint to the author: Disney World is a theme park, not a state textbook hearing.) Buy this book for the history and trivia, but if you're looking for a guide to Disney World, look elsewhere.

This could have and should have been a good book. It fell quite short of the mark.

Walt Disney was one of the most interesting men of our time, and from the title of this book I was prepped and ready to learn more about him and DisneyWorld. It wasn't very far into the book that I realised just how misleading the title is. It should be sub-titled the MEN behind the mouse because just as many if not more pages are written about Michael Eisner as are about dear old Uncle Walt. While I have nothing against Eisner, if I wanted to read about him I would read his biography, not a book alledged to be about Walt.

Large sections of this slim book are dedicated to other branches of the Disney empire and not to the parks as is indicated in the title. Again, if I wanted to read about Dsiney's accquisition of ABC, the development of the Disney channel, Disney's ownership of sports teams and the like I would seek out such materials, but I certainly did not expect them to pop up in a book about Walt and the Magic Kingdom.

Indeed, there was very little information about Walt or how he put the magic in the Magic Kingdom. Nothing new anyway. Everything presented is such common knowledge that even someone with only a mild interest in Disney would already know it.

There is a chapter about the Imagineers who helped and still help to make WDW magical. Their contributions are so great far more than a scant chapter is owed to them.

There is a chapter dedicated to hidden Mickeys that is so disjointed it is nearly impossible to follow. Had these hidden Mickeys been put in a simple list form this would have been a much more effective addtion to the book. There is a WDW timeline at the end of the book that is quite good and is the only reason I am giving this book 2 stars.

Aside from all its other faults, it needs serious updating. Some of the attractions mentioned have been closed for sometime now, The book mentions the All Star Sports and Music resorts, but no mention is made to the All Star Movies or soon to be completed Pop Century resort. The new Animal Kingdom Lodge isn't mentioned either. Mention is made to attractions under names that have been changed years ago, and still other comming attractions mentioned have been cancelled.

If this book is to go into additional printings it needs some serious editing and updating. Oh, and lots of pixie dust.

If you're looking for a Fodor's review look elsewhere! This is a great behind the scenes account on Disney. A must for any Disney Fan! Visiting the park 5 times myself, I found this book a great insight to the Magic and Myth of the happiest place on earth. The book covers everything from the land acquisition, to the history of the rides, to Eisner's Business dealings. Fun, yet frank. Straight to the point without being too biased or negative. Tons of facts. A nice easy read!

I was disappointed in this book even though my expectations weren't particularly high. A large part of my disappointment had to do with the muddied writing, as other reviewers have noted. While some--not all--of the facts are correct (and I could have used footnotes for the rest), I found myself relying on what I already knew to make sense of what was written. Particularly bad was the section entitled, "The Mouse that Soared: The Michael Eisner Era." I was also confused as to what was the book's intention: biographical, trivia, cultural critique? The book's intentions and tones wavered throughout.

In addition to problems with the book's style and objectives, I felt let down by its content. The book claims to be "for traveler who want more than the official line," but I didn't find it particularly revealing or enlightening. Many of the criticisms, especially those about Disney and history, are glossed over. Although I have heard these criticisms before (and find them valid), the book's use of these arguments seem underdeveloped. It appears the book attempts to appear critical by using others' critiques of Disney rather than developing its own. In fact, the whole book seemed derivative of Stephen Fjellman's Vinyl Leaves, biographies of Walt Disney, and other guidebooks or online resources.

To be fair, there is one section that might be useful to the Walt Disney World traveler. It's "The Fun Factory," a section primarily dedicated to Hidden Mickeys (three-circle icons resembling the Mickey Mouse logo that are cleverly concealed). The book reveals the location for several of these Hidden Mickeys. While this information is available online and in more accessible structures, having it available in a pocket-sized edition is convenient. The timeline is also nice as a summary. And if you already know a lot about Disney, the book does remind you of the park's background and some of its problems. I think the more you know about the parks--the good and the bad--the more you can appreciate them.

Unfortunately,I do not recommend this book to anyone but the most die-hard fans who can supplement this book with their own knowledge. While I have always found The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World helpful and delightful, I cannot say the same for this book. It does not live up the Unofficial Guide's reputation. If I wanted to read a book that offered more than the unofficial line in its examination of Disney World, I would read Fjellman's book. It *is* critical, but also well-written and detailed (if a bit dense at times). Or buy another Unofficial Guide.

For anyone interested in knowing more of the facts, details, trivia and a few stories behind Walt Disney World and the Disney Company this is an interesting book. It does tend to have it's dark side, but since it's an "unofficial" book that is expected. It was easy to get over those parts and move onto reading the more interesting facts and trivia provided.

This little book is packed with lots of fun and interesting history and trivia about Disney. It covers everything from parks to rides to hidden Mickeys to the main players such as Walt Disney and Michael Eisner. I've read many books about the parks, Walt, Eisner, etc., and I honestly expected this to be a condensed re-hash of all that. I am pleasantly surprised to find that's not the case. I am also surprised that some of the other reviewers mentioned negativity on the part of the author. I didn't find it negative at all -- and as a Disney enthusiast, I surely would have picked up on that! In contrast, I found it fresh and just an incredibly FUN book. And the price can't be beat!

I think Zibart misses the point with this book. It reads like a collection of magazine or newspaper articles, and has a highly cynical tone, that masquerades as investigative journalism.

Some portions of the book are interesting, but the most interesting parts are borrowed from widely available sources (she quotes Birnbaum's guide frequently). The review of Eisner era history is perhaps the most informative section of the book.

Zibart doesn't go to Disneyworld to be entertained or to have a good time, she is in search of a story, and she doesn't really find one. Her chapter on Disney's view of history is particularly mean spirited, and deconstructionist in nature. She often gets it wrong, looking for political correctness. She overlooks Disneyland as an historical antecedant to the WDW Magic Kindgom, in terms of ride development and change. She overlooks the value of Disney style entertainment in stimulating interest in history. She also applies a kind of psuedo-psychological analysis of Disney, which ultimately says much more about Ziebarts psychology than Walt's or Eisner's.

She spends far too much time writing about hidden Mickey's when that information is readily available on the Web. She doesn't give credit to her sources either.

There are better insider books available. This fails to be an expose or a well thought out critique.

I purchased the 2000 edition of this paperback, but it actually took me until 2008 to get around to reading it from cover-to-cover. It's a perfect little book for light summer reading. You can easily devour it within a day or two, especially if you are already a fan of Disney theme parks. And ah, there lies the problem. Throughout my reading, I was constantly wondering who the target audience for this odd little book would be. It is billed as a companion to the Unofficial Guide, although I hardly think a casual theme park tourist would care about all the intricate historical and socio-economic details that the author shares. At the same time, most of the information shared would equally not be of interst to diehard Disney fans. It is either a series of poorly repeated, well known factoids; misinformation; or brief summaries of other (much better) books about Walt Disney World.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I actually liked this book... to a point. There were a few new trivia tidbits that I had not heard previously, although I am forced to question whether or not these untold tales are true. For a book that mentions the "dinosaurs" in Spaceship Earth, highlights the "AdventureQuest" park open at Downtown Disney, and shares the old chestnut about the ring-in-the-pavement at the Haunted Mansion as an actual part of the Imagineer's story, it is no wonder that I doubt everything I read. That said, it remains an interesting little book because it is so odd in its layout and content.

The book covers, in no particular order, a very brief history of Walt Disney (the man) and Walt Disney World (the park), touching on things like the underground access tunnels, food preparation, plants and animals as found in the park. It also jumps over to an annoyingly preachy and cynical diatribe on how Walt Disney World presents a skewed and politically incorrect version of American history and then tries to deconstruct the park by exploring Walt's motivations and attitudes within the context of the time. I have seldom seen an author present contextual history and revisionist history so close together in the same book! The fact that this super serious discussion is sandwiched between a chapter detailing "Hidden Mickeys" in the parks and a chapter excessively cataloging the different types of plant life at Disney World is laughable.

I will agree with others that the book is poorly edited. Although Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 and I have the 2000 edition, the text constantly jumps around from "when The Animal Kingdom opens in the future" to suddenly sharing a personal account of riding Countdown to Extinction. This sometimes happens in the same chapter, within pages of each other. Clearly the bulk of her comments on Animal Kingdom comes from early press releases. I really enjoyed her vague discussion of the planned-but-never-built Beastly Kingdom, almost as if she experienced it firsthand.

If you can pick this book up for a couple of bucks--and if you're a Disney collector--and if you are not too overly critical--and if you have some free time in the summer (or plan to, like me, within the next eight years) then go ahead and pick up this book. Sure there are lots of others that are much better, but I have yet to find such an odd one that feels a bit like a Disney rollercoaster.

Review from my wife:

The only reason I give it 3 stars and not 2 is that it has the basic "Behinds the Scenes" information in it that most Disney buffs know already - but a newbie would not know. So for a new person, it would be interesting for them.

Yes, there are factual errors in it and some "smugness" in certain areas. Take it with a grain of salt - all of the UnOfficial Books are like this.

It was fun to read in retrospect. It talks about future plans, etc. So that was interesting.

I read it while on the treadmill. It kept me entertained for a few 45 minutes for a few days.