Waking Walt (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: world showcase, guest services, cryonic suspension, Waking Walt, Rebecca Ling, Alex Kane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

WAKING WALT is a spellbinding take on one of America’s most enduring urban legends. Could it be true; Walt Disney was never cremated and buried at Forest Lawn as the official story goes? Imagine that, for nearly 40 years, the great entertainment genius has been in cryonic suspension, waiting to return when a cure for his lung cancer is found. Now, an experimental drug being tested looks like the answer. The waiting is almost over.

Then, disaster strikes!

In a déjà vu nightmare for The Disney Company, a ruthless corporate raider launches a takeover attempt, planning to sell off the company’s assets to the highest bidders. And this time there are no white knights in Disney’s corner.

But the Circle is still there, the small group of confidants who helped Walt escape death and who have been guarding him and his secret ever since. Even though they’re all old men now, they’re not about to let Walt’s company be torn apart without a fight. And they know just who can lead them. However, as they scurry to wake him, the Circle discovers there are powerful forces that want the dead to stay dead. But they don’t know Walt Disney!

About the Author

A former Disney marketing executive, Larry Pontius is the author of two books of poetry and lyricist of over 100 published songs. At work on his second novel, he lives in Florida with his wife and children and a large, orange dog named Samson.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059525425X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595254255
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #818,994 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very enjoyable caper, March 21, 2003

By	Shelley Mckibbon (Halifax, NS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

WAKING WALT is a caper novel, largely light-hearted, and this is
reflected in the fairly low body count. The plot revolves around the idea that Walt Disney has been cryogenically frozen, and needs to be thawed out to save his company. (Anyone familiar with the legends about sleeping giants like Glooskap and Fingal is nodding in agreement right now.) The Disney company
is in dire shape, and a possible cure has been found for Walt's cancer, so a collection of devoted geezers has decided that now is the time.

It would have been easy for this story to bog down completely in the minutiae of Walt's disease, the cryogenic process, and a detailed summary of where the Disney company went wrong. Instead, Pontius inserts a few crucial details about the disease and the new wonder drug, managing to sound authoritative and convincing while not bogging down on details. We don't need to know exactly how the "wonder drug" works in order to believe
it. The cryogenic process, not itself important to the story, is briefly outlined to a new recruit to "The Circle," and let go at that. We get much more information about where the company messed up, and this is framed as the cranky old men disgustedly telling each other who did what wrong. They sound so much like real old guys complaining about long-held grudges that I was on
to the next chapter before it occurred to me that I'd just read one of the most enjoyable information-dumps in history.

WAKING WALT isn't perfect: there are some minor characters who could have been used better, with the result that the mystery aspect of the story is a bit of an afterthought. It probably could be a little tighter and more active in the middle. But it's more a novel about characters than mystery, and several of these characters are very memorable. It has the kind of
ending a good, fun caper novel deserves.

I'll look forward to more by Larry Pontius.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Waking Walt - Good Stuff!!!!!!, February 2, 2003

By	Ian J. Mitchell "Smarter Than You" (Colmar, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What if the urban legend about Walt Disney being frozen were true? That's the premise of Larry Pontius' book, Waking Walt.

Waking Walt takes us inside "The Circle", a small group of close friends that Walt Disney entrusted with the most important job of his life ... literally! And when The Walt Disney Company is threatened with being taken over and broken up by a ruthless corporate raider, the Circle knows it is time to act.

I found this book a VERY entertaining read. Pontius, a retired Disney marketing executive, does a great job creating an honest representation of Walt, eschewing the easy way out and not giving us a watered down "Uncle Walt" type character. Rather he portrays Walt with all of his rough edges still intact.

The story is just the tiniest bit contrived, but it's really fun and if you take it for what it is (don't go in expecting Shakespeare ) you should really enjoy it. This is Pontius' first effort at a novel, so the writing is just a bit amateurish, but it never gets in the way of the story at all.

If you're a Disney and and you're look for a light, entertaining read I highly recommend you pick this one up!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspense to the very end!!, August 25, 2003

By	Christine Louise Hohlbaum "award-winning auth... (near Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

Suspense novelist Larry Pontius provides his readers with a thrilling display of good versus evil with a complex cast of characters to match. His exceptional ability to develop his characters into believable figures makes the novel even better. Pontius makes the words fly across the pages of this lengthy book. I literally couldn't (amd much to my husband's dismay, wouldn't) put it down until the very end. I still have goosebumps from the last scene of the book. A fantastic read for all ages! I highly recommend Waking Walt.