This book caught my eye when I was looking for guide books for our Walt Disney World trip and since I've long had a fascination with amusement park history, I decided to read it. The story documents the origins of Disneyland in California from Walt Disney's fascination with model trains and miniature villages and the desire to give something for fans of Disney films to do when they requested to visit the studios in Burbank. It eventually grew to be the theme park built in an orange grove near the then remote town of Anaheim. Disney's monomaniacal commitment to building and then tinkering with Disneyland over the last 15 years of his life makes one wonder how he found time to work on the studio's film and television project. This is doubly true since he was bringing a lot of the talent from the studios to work on Disneyland, becoming the first imagineers. For all the artifice of Disneyland it is fascinating how many real things - from train engines to architectural details - were salvaged to build the park.

The book is basically in two parts. The 1950s and 1960s are more intricately covered with the focus on Disney's dream and the projects completed and started in his lifetime. From the 1970s to the present, the book is more of a listing of annual changes to the park, and the sense that Disneyland is getting neglected due to the company's focus on new parks in Florida, Japan, France, and China. The Michael Eisner era seems to be wrapped up in red tape and bad ideas as the company continually fails to expand Disneyland and the initial disappointment of the Disney California Adventure when it finally opens in 2001. This period is also marked by the Disney company seemingly doing everything in their power to avoid ever paying any taxes to the city of Anaheim. Nevertheless, while the book is rightly critical it also celebrates the imagination that went into creating and changing Disneyland and the joyous role it plays in American culture.
Favorite Passages:

Disney archivist Dave Smith said, “Disneyland’s true appeal, we admit now, is to adults. Children don’t need it. Their imaginations are enough. For them, Disneyland is only another kind of reality, somewhat less marvelous than their own fantasies.”

According to architect Robert A. M. Stern, “Ironically, Main Street and the very way the theme parks are designed would probably be, much to Walt Disney’s surprise, the actual genius of American Urbanism captured at a time when it had no value to most people, certainly in the architecture and planning profession.”

According to Crump, when he started working on the project, Ken Anderson took him aside and said, “Now you guys remember that when you’re designing anything for Disneyland, you’re the gods! You tell them what you want, and you make sure that they do it your way no matter what!” Then Crump met with Walt, who told him, “You gotta remember that there are electricians, there are plumbers, there’s air conditioning … you’ve got to work around that … they’re just as important as you are.”

At lunch with Walt one day, Ray Bradbury asked, “Walt, why don’t you hire me to come in and help you with ideas to rebuild Tomorrowland?” Walt replied, “Ray, it’s no use … you’re a genius and I’m a genius … after two weeks we’d kill each other!” Bradbury was flattered, “That’s the nicest turndown I’ve ever had, having Walt Disney call me a genius.”

Ray Bradbury recalled a time when Walt told him “Nothing has to die.” He wrote, “Walt was right. Nothing has to die. Just rebuild it. Steamboat America, lost? Carve a river bottom, flood it, and send your Mark Twain paddle wheel down the riverway. Victorian train travel, gone? Nail up a rococo scrimshaw station, steam in the 19th-century locomotive, carry passengers from Civil War territories through African jungles into AD 2000.” Disneyland was a way to live forever.

( )

I received "The Disneyland Story" as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

Sam Gennawey explores the history of the original Disney theme park. Often overshadowed by Walt Disney World, Disneyland has a special place in my heart because, well, it's the one I've visited, so there's a certain nostalgia connected with it.

It was a nice read, comprehensive without being unwieldy, detailing the park's conception prior to WWII and its opening in the mid-1950s. Much attention is paid to the early years of Disneyland, particularly the first decade or so, when Walt Disney was still alive. This period takes up probably 2/3 of the book, whereas the last 40 years or so receive the remaining third.

If I had a complaint, it was that the book got a little listy and repetitive chapter after chapter--a lot of "In [year], [ride/attraction] was closed/outdated and was updated in the following ways." Tha said, it's a pretty good read, especially for big Disney fans who want an in-depth history of the park. ( )