Universal Versus Disney


Book Description

Universal Studios never really wanted to get into the theme park business. They wanted to be the anti-Disney. But when forced to do so, they did it in a big way. Despite the fits and starts of multiple owners, the parks have finally gained the momentum to mount a serious challenge to the Walt Disney Company. How did this happen? Who made it happen? What does this mean for the theme park industry? In Universal Versus Disney, his newest work to investigate the histories of America's favorite theme parks, seasoned Disney-author Sam Gennawey has thoroughly researched how Universal Studios shook up the multi-billion dollar theme park industry, one so long dominated by Walt Disney and his legacy.




A Portrait of Walt Disney World


Book Description

This expansive, must-have coffee table book paints a robust portrait of the Walt Disney World Resort, across half a century, through diverse and vibrant voices and mostly unseen Disney theme park concept art and photographs. Walt Disney's vision for the Florida Project begins with Disneyland and the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. After an imaginative and expansive design, a unique land acquisition process, and an innovative construction period, the Walt Disney World Resort celebrated its Grand Opening in October 1971. It featured a theme park dubbed the Magic Kingdom and three recreational resorts: Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Polynesian Village, and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. As Walt Disney World consistently grew and further evolved through the five decades that followed, certain themes reverberated: an appreciation for nostalgia, a joy for fantasy, a hunger for discovery, and an unending hope for a better tomorrow. Inspirational and memorable theme parks, water parks, sports arenas, recreational water sports, world-class golf courses, vast shopping villages, and a transportation network unlike any other in the world resulted in fun, festive, and familiar characters, traditions, spectacles, merchandise, and so much more. The resort has come to represent the pulse of American leisure and has served as a backdrop for life's milestones both big and small, public and private. Walt Disney World: A Portrait of the First Half Century serves as a treasure trove for vacationers, students of hospitality, artists, and all Disney collectors. Searching for that perfect gift for the Disney theme park fan in your life? Explore more archival-quality books from Disney Editions: Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks The Disney Monorail: Imagineering a Highway in the Sky Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe Marc Davis in His Own Words: Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks Yesterday's Tomorrow: Disney's Magical Mid-Century Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic Poster Art of the Disney Parks




The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, 3rd Edition


Book Description

The latest edition to the successful Hidden Magic series features updated information on the latest attractions at Walt Disney World, including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway! Whether it’s your first or fiftieth visit to Walt Disney World, you’ll be surprised at how much you can miss during your trip. But with this guide to Disney’s hidden treasures you’ll learn: -You can search for more than the usual hidden Mickey. There are other beloved characters like Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse hidden around the parks. -The book Belle reads in Beauty and the Beast is a real book...and you can find out what it is by heading to Maurice’s cottage. -Imagineers hide symbols of themselves around the park to “sign” their work. Including all-new information on Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, 3rd Edition will inspire you to relive the magic year after year!




Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2019


Book Description

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2019 explains how Walt Disney World works and how to use that knowledge to make every minute and every dollar of your vacation count.




Project Future


Book Description

The Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida is one of the world's most famous vacation destinations. This iconic resort is now located in what once was thousands of acres of swamp and marshland. Through spy-like moves and innovative strategies, Walt Disney and his cadre of creative leaders turned this massive swamp land into today's Disney World. This books shares the amazing behind the scenes story of how Disney's Florida resort, code-named Project Future, rose from the marshes of Central Florida to become one of the world's most popular theme park resorts.




Stories from the Magic Kingdom


Book Description

Admit One to Magic In this collection of fanciful stories set in Disney's Magic Kingdom, one for each of the six lands in the park, you'll take a grand circle tour of exploration, mystery, intrigue, exotic thrills, and things that go bump in the mansion. Brave danger with the intrepid skippers of the Jungle Cruise, team with Mr. Tom Morrow as he fights galactic crime in Tomorrowland, attend a swingin' birthday party in the Haunted Mansion, delve into the fearsome bowels of Big Thunder Mountain, take the villains' side in an all-out assault on Fantasyland, and ride a Main Street train to an enchanted station not on any map. Tickets, please!




The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom


Book Description

Introducing a different kind of guidebook for a different kind of theme park experience. This is a guide for those ready to immerse themselves in the magnificent achievement that is Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Wallace goes beyond the average guidebook to provide a lighthearted but scholarly look at the history, lore, and literature that inform the designs and storylines of every ride and attraction in the Magic Kingdom.




The Wonders of Walt Disney World


Book Description

Planning a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort? The Wonders of Walt Disney World is the essential read before your visit with Mickey. It's part guidebook, part secret stories, part informative history, and part of your plan for a magical trip!The Wonders of Walt Disney World will guide you from park to park and attraction to attraction, across all of the Disney property. It will open your eyes to the stories behind the stories of each attraction and bring forth hundreds of secrets that Disney weaves and hides just below the surface.Wherever you are on the Disney continuum, from your first trip to your hundred and first trip, this book will make your Disney experience all the richer. Even for the self-proclaimed Disney expert, there are numerous insider stories and details to entertain and inform you:What lasting legacy did Justin Timberlake and *NSYNC leave at Epcot?Which attraction at the Magic Kingdom has been scientifically proven to greatly aid in passing a kidney stone?What does actor Tom Selleck have to do with Epcot's lovable Figment character?Unbeknownst to Disney at the time, which country announced they were going to be the first to sponsor a pavilion at Epcot, only to have the deal fall apart?In addition to discovering the secrets, stories, and magic, The Wonders of Walt Disney World elaborates on many subjects a traditional guidebook touches on, as featured throughout are ratings for rides, restaurants, and resorts from the world's largest travel website. Already have one of those popular yet dense guidebooks? This book is the perfect complement.Updated annually, it's the perfect companion for your next trip or a nostalgic look back on what you have experienced or may have missed during your last visit. If you've never been to Walt Disney World, or even if you visit several times a year, by the time you finish the book, you will have not only a better sense of where things are throughout the parks but a greater appreciation for the attractions themselves.As the un-guidebook, The Wonders of Walt Disney World is a comprehensive and entertaining tour designed for both easy reading and reference.Come discover the wonders that are hiding in plain sight!







Where Is Walt Disney World?


Book Description

Building the most magical place on earth was no fairy tale. Learn the story behind the creation of Walt Disney World. In 1964, when Walt Disney and his brother Roy decided to build a second theme park in the Florida swamplands, they kept it super hush-hush. Why? Well, if word got out that they planned to buy up lots of land, the price would have skyrocketed. So the Disneys cleverly covered up their trail, avoiding the Orlando airport and even using made-up names, like Walt and Roy Davis, for their flights. The deception worked. In covering the history of the "Most Magical Place On Earth," Joan Holub takes readers both behind the scenes and underneath the park (there are secret employee-only tunnels that form one big circle under the Magic Kingdom). Loaded with fun facts, this book is a great companion to Who Was Walt Disney?