Customer Reviews

Modern Marvels - Walt Disney World (History Channel)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This History Channel produced documentary provides a nice, overall view behind the scenes at one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, Walt Disney World.

For those who have watched these specials before, there are going to be a number of things presented that you're already familiar with. The history on Walt Disney's purchase of the Florida land is here along with the building of Magic Kingdom, as well as construction on the other three parks: EPCOT Center, Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom.

The documentary does go underground to show you the underground tunnel system used by cast members and park management that keeps the show running above. You see the control room that ensures the functions of many popular attractions such as The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

A nice attribute to this documentary is how it shows the inner workings of WDW's famous daily parades. While seemingly simple, you get a taste of how these parades are, in and of themselves, a technological wonder.

You're also treated to a limited first look at Expedition Everest and the first free walking animatronic, Lucky the Walking Dinosaur. If you were unable to see this invention at Animal Kingdom last year, you can get a taste for the amazing piece of work this animatronic is (so amazing that it was featured in Time Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2003).

All in all, this DVD is a great way to familiarize yourself with the inner workings of the resort with a lot of new (as well as some old) material for Disney fans.

I rated this only four stars because the audio track on my DVD was out of sync with the video. It appears that the film to DVD transfer didn't compensate for the film audio being several frames ahead of the images.

On the other hand I now have images of the Utilidors. I managed to take two backstage tours of Walt Disney World during the 1990's. The Keys to the Kingdom tour and the three-park Backstage Magic tour were expensive and took up an entire day--but I thought them worth the trouble and expense. It took me three years to book the Backstage Magic tour, and for several good reasons I didn't get to take home photographs of the backstage areas such as the Utilidors. Modern Marvels provided me video images to keep these vital infrastructure of Walt's utopian village fresh in my mind.

I learned about the new Expedition Everest ride, and how the Tree of Life was grown by the Imagineers. I love the Monorail system and the Contemporary Resort--featured! This DVD lets me tour Walt Disney World and its secrets in the comfort of my home, without flying cross-country and putting up with crowds. It isn't "the real thing," but this DVD allows me to scratch my Walt Disney World itch until I get the time and a couple of thousand dollars to return to Orlando.

With not even being a big theme park fan, I found this program to be SO interesting. I actually saw it on TV but am now buying the DVD as a gift. It is fascinating to see Disneyland and Disney World come to life and all the thought and creativity that produced it. Anyone who has that curious streak and always ponders "How'd they do that?" or "I wonder how that works??" will LOVE this show.. it is SO COOL!
Sharon A.

On March 28 get ready to got behind the scenes of Walt Disney World! This tells the history starting from the success of Steamboat Willie to Walt Disney World what it is today. A sneak peak at Expedition Everest is included. This TV show goes behind the doors of the most popular attractions. The main thing to learn about is synchronous motors, Soaring castles, sleek monorails and life-like animatronics. Watch and learn why so may people love Walt Disney World. The run time is two hours. Enjoy!

We used the video Modern Marvels - Walt Disney World as the basis for home schooling our grandchildren about their up-coming visit to Walt Disney World. It was unbelievable. The kids, ages 7,9,11, and 13 were totally amazed at the information presented. They were intrigued by the behind the scenes look at the place they will be visiting and now have a much better appreciation for Walt Disney, his vision, and the imagineers and engineers that made it possible for them to have an awesome experience on vacation. I extracted words from the video to compile a spelling/vocabulary list for the kids. At the end of the week, they made a one hour presentation to their parents about what they had learned. I was AMAZED. I would highly recommend this for anyone (child or adult)who will be going to or who has already visited Disney. It was worth every dollar we paid, and then some!

This is a very informative trip through the unseen world of Disney World. If at all possible it should be seen before your next trip. I bought the DVD after returning from a 7-day vacation package and throughout the program, I kept saying to myself, "We should have gone there, and there, and there...," and, "So that's how that works!" Nice job History Channel!

This is a MUST for Disney fans. Besides showing images from rides that are not on Disney DVDs, they present much information about the construction of the parks and the backstage of WDW. The DVD presents everything in a chronological order, separated according to the theme parks and it includes the uptodate information, like the Expedition Everest ride.
It's a pity not having subtitles. But I really recommend it.

This DVD offers a nice sneak peek behind the scenes. I found it very interesting and it offered a lot of nice facts and pictures that I had not seen or heard before. If you like Disney, check it out.

The Disney fanatic's Dream! Behind the scenes to the extreme. Learn the secrets to the Disney Magic and how the whole thing functions and is soo perfect!

This video is amazing! It shows how each park was built with some focus on the Magic Kindom and the utilidors (first time that I see footage of them!), how Soarin' was built, on how the Epcot fireworks were created, on the Tower of Terror construction and finally on how the Tree of Life was built on an oil rig platform as well as the Kilimanjaro safari. This is a focus on how the park were built and not on the shows. I just wished there was some explanation on how Fantasmic! was built... Otherwise it is a very well made production. For any Walt Disney world fan that wants to know how the parks were created; it took more than pixie dust to make them appear in central Florida!