Customer Reviews

Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book chronicles the professional lives of the masterminds behind Arrow Development. They worked closely with Walt Disney while Disneyland was being built, and designed many of the ride-systems. The book tells many tales of those days. From semi-technical discussions of the operations of the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more (all made easily understandable) to backstage tales of Disneyland and Walt Disney, this book is fantastic. Other topics in the theme/amusement park industry are covered as well, and are just as fascinating. This book truly does deliver a credible behind the scenes look at Disneyland and the industry. Well done!

This was a fantastic book, full of colorful stories, and lots of facts. I was already aware of Arrow Development, but had no idea that they were responsible for the invention of so many different types of ride systems. The book details, their entry into the business. Their eventual association with Disney and how it all started with the hand-built Mr. Toad cars, and continued from there. Water rides, such as It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean, in addition to log rides. These were the guys who invented the corkscrew roller-coaster. They built rides for many other parks also, and it details those projects also. I was fascinated with everything that I read in this book, that I couldn't put it down until I had finished reading it. A must-have book for any theme park / roller coaster enthusiast. 5 stars, as fas as I'm concerned!!

A very good insight on the start of a great roller coaster company. Learning about thier partnership with Disney and seeing how some of the most unique rides at Disneyland came to be shows how creative the human mind is. Also very helpful to any Walt Disney Imagineering hopeful, like myself!

A fascinating journey down the road that led to the "Happiest Place on Earth". The story of Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon has been fittingly retold, and the end result documents their 20 year relationship with Walt Disney and what became known to us all as Disneyland. Somewhat homespun (needs a bit more editing and proofreading)... but don't let that stop you. This book is essential for any student of Walt Disney's greatest accomplishment. Includes their reknowned work at dozens more amusement parks around the world. Includes some great photos. Thanks to author Robert Reynolds for a fantastic insider's look at the creation of Disneyland.

Are you interested in how the pioneers of amusement parks designed their rides? This book is about the development of ride vehicles and technology at a little company called Arrow. They may have been small but they made a huge impact on the ride and theme park industry. They invented the first steel tubular track coaster for example, and it is known as "The Matterhorn" at Disneyland.

Nice stories from the owners memories of how it was back in the day... They worked on nearly everything that had ride vehicles. Disney designed and built alot of stuff right at the Disney studio machine shop, but these guys built a lot of ride vehicles and tracks for Disney as well. Pirates of the Caribbean boat vehicle, flying saucers, small world boats, mine train cars, Autopia cars. They built stuff for other long-gone parks you rarely hear about anymore, like Freedomland.

There are tons of great photos in here, (including Walt testing some ride vehicles), but it is not a coffee table book by any means. Be forewarned that this book does not give enough credit to the great Bob Gurr, a Disney Imagineer at WED who did tons of basic engineering, design, and drafting for most of the great ride vehicles that Arrow built for Disney. They do have some nice stuff about him on page 81, just not enough. The book tends to omit other people as well.

The book seems unfinished, and leaves you wanting so much more. There is no index to look things up as a reference. The writing style kind of ambles around with no clear direction. BUT having said all this, it is still an interesting book if you are consumed with the subject of amusement ride design and construction, especially Disney's. If you have a Disney book library, this should be in it. I would not give up my copy, I just wish it were a little better.

This is a very interesting history of roller coaster and amusement park ride development. These guys designed amazing rides from scratch. The book is mostly comments (interview style) from the designers so the information is as they remember it, not like a history book that gets the information second hand. I recommmend this to anyone interested in the technical aspects of designing rides and running a ride design company in the early days of the industry.

Not an easy book to read this - even if you're a big fan of theme park rides and Disney you're going find it hard going. The gramma and writing can be truly awful at times, particularly at the beginning. A few black and white photographs are of interest - Walt testing some eary ride designs (grinning from ear to ear!) and stories recounted by the great Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon are interesting but I must admit to being a little disappointed, and that's mainly down to the presentation. An editor would have been a good idea - or proof-reader maybe? It feels like the book was written in a couple of days from interviews of Bacon & Morgan, then printed. No tidying, editing and little structure, which is a great shame because this is an important historical subject. There's some good stuff in there but I suspect you'll have ripped all your hair out by the time you get to it...

This book was a very good one. It focuses on a small company called Arrow. They designed rides for amusement parks. Walt hired them to build some wonderful rides for Disneyland though. This is all about the cars you ride in at the park, and how they move, on what type of track ETC. All the special effects were done by the Disney Company. It's very interesting that a park like Disneyland had this company push the limits with ride design. But unfortunately, as all you Disney Park enthusiasts know, that with Eisner's penny-pinching methods, and the new California Adventure next to Disneyland, most all the rides are 100% off the shelf carnival style rides. A good book! Especially if you want a look in the old days when the Disney Company actually spent money and cared!

Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon, the genius entrepreneurs who helped bring Walt Disney's Disneyland to mechanical reality were directly interviewed in this detail-intense book. It journeys through the startup days of their company Arrow (now S&S Power/Arrow Dynamics), and their long relationship with WED. After reading it cover to cover in less than a week, I put it down wishing I could interview them both further myself. There are wonderful (albeit simple) schematics of ride system component patent applications, and some fabulous rare photos of Walt trying out the ride prototypes (such as Pirates of the Caribbean) himself. Unfortunately, because much of the interviews realistically had to be taken from a larger manuscript, some of the detail is incomplete or patchy. The wealth of information and memories these two men collected could have filled 500 pages and kept me interested. I would read this book again just to pick up more detail. It simply is a must-have for Imagineering buffs and anyone else who is awed at the lasting heritage and legacy that are the Magic Kingdoms.

This book is great for any future roller coaster designer. it follows the development of Arrow Dynamics, Ed Morgan, and Karl Bacon. Lots of information on the building of Disneyland. Not many pictures, but great information and stories.