Customer Reviews

Secrets Of The Mouse: An Unofficial Behind-The-Scenes Guide To Disneyland Park

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

 

 

What a fantastic aid for Disneyland guests, whether first-time visitors or die-hard fans. The book is very well organized, the information concise, and just enough photos (all black and white) to represent the park.

The book is divided into sections:

1. Attractions: Each attraction is listed under the land in which it is located (for instance, Haunted Mansion, Club 33, and Pirates of the Caribbean are in the New Orleans Square section).

2. Hidden Mickeys: Add an extra dimension of fun to your next trip by finding the famous Hidden Mickeys sprinkled throughout the park. Just like attractions, the Hidden Mickeys are listed by land/attraction. In addition, there is a photo of each one, just in case you have a hard time finding them by the description alone (this is a nice touch that no other guidebooks I have seen offer).

3. Queue Games: This is one of the best features of the book. How many times have you waited in line and gotten bored? True, Disneyland does an excellent job of themeing the line queues and giving guests visual eye-candy to look at, but when waiting 30 minutes or more, there's only so much eye-candy that can keep you from getting annoyed at having to wait for a 5 minute attraction! Problem solved with this book: the author gives games/activities for most attractions, alleviating the boredom you might feel from having to wait.

I also liked the size of this book; it is just the right size to be able to carry it around the park and refer to it (which the author, Alan Joyce, suggests in the intro), once again, enhancing your visit to the park. There is also just enough history/background information on the attractions to enhance (not bore!) the reader. Many volumes get weighted down to the point that the average reader would find no use to them; although some might enjoy knowing how many rivets are used in a particular piece of machinery, the average first-time visitor doesn't care. They'd rather know how long the ride is, what fun things to look for (that they might miss on a first trip through), and how some of the special effects are created (yup...there are some scene-spoilers here, so if you don't want to know how some of the magic is created, you'll need to skip through the book carefully). It is also very refreshing that this book doesn't waste time on petty negative comments against Disney/Disneyland.

Note: as one of the other reviewers states, this book does NOT have information on California Adventure...which makes sense since the park is about to undergo a $1 billion + renovation, which would make any guide book virtually useless.

Overall: highly recommended!

The book is short. Don't go by the listed number of pages if you think that may indicate amount of information in its pages.

The layout of the book is decent and goes by the different themed lands in Disney land, but all of the secrets are very pedestrian. There are no behind the scenes photos and IMHO 90% of the information is public knowledge.

The layout of the pages is almost as if someone printed out a web page, very bubbly and wastes paper (but does increase page count).

If you are looking for a book that peels up the veneer of Disney land and examines the cogs, this book is not for you.

If you are taking your first trip to Disneyland, or you are a current visitor, do take this book with you. You will enjoy the activities included on the book. (Specially if you need to wait in line duing peek visit season) There are extra pieces of information that will make you look like a Disneyland expert.

Who ever thought knowledge will be so much fun!

"Secrets," "Unofficial," and "Behind-the-Scenes" are misleading terms to describe the content of the book. I was expecting a few juicy tidbits, former employees spilling the beans about weird protocols, perhaps a couple anecdotes about what happens when things go wrong in the Magic Kingdom, material that Disney might not necessarily want known. This is the wrong book for that.

The book reads more like a sanctioned tour guide pamphlet...

Want to know how many Tiki birds are in the Tiki bird hut? Or maybe you can't wait to find out that the Tarzan tree house used to be the Swiss Family Robinson tree house?

Those are the kind of gems the book offers.

I suppose the book helps as a way to pass the time while standing in line at the park. And the list of hidden Mickeys could spice up a trip. But don't be fooled that this is something you'd actually sit down in a room and read like a real book.

My mother wanted a book on Disneyland so I did a lot of research on different books. I now know much more than I ever wanted to on the subject of Disney trivia books. This book is, I think, the best book available on its subject. It is, however, somewhat lacking. Some of the most interesting bits of trivia about the park are omitted, and most chapters leave the reader unsatisfied with the generally sparse amount of information for each attraction.

This book is full of fun facts about the Magic Kingdom. For those that fear it will ruin the fanciful experience of a trip to Disney Land, worry not. The facts presented here make it more of a treasure hunt to see if you can find everything they talk about. They even include a list of things to look for while waiting in lines for attractions. Reading this book has only spurred interest in hunting out similar material to delve further into the "behind the scenes" of Disney's parks.

Anyone who has been to Disneyland more than a couple of times already knows most of this stuff. If you really want to know the secrets of Disneyland hook up with someone who lives nearby and regularly buys a yearly pass. The information they know about any single item in this book would fill a book of equal size. Still, it was interesting to learn about the basketball court.

What a fun book to have, no matter how many times you've been to Disneyland. Well organized, beautifully written with great wit. A must for those waiting in the queues.