Find The Details of DCA? It's Elementary!

Disney's California Adventure Detective: An Independent Guide to Exploring the Trivia, Secrets, and Magic of the Park Dedicated to California, by Kendra Trahan. Mission Viejo, CA: Permagrin Publishing, Inc., 2008; 213 pp.

Before we get started, I need to do a bit of full disclosure. The author of the book I'll be reviewing this time is a friend of mine (and hopefully still will be after this review!) and, as president of the NFFC, is also my boss. I also played a minor role in reviewing the book's content prior to its publication. Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's begin...

I know I've written this before, but it bears repeating: The magic of the Disney theme parks is in the details. Someone can enjoy a visit to Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, or any of the Disney parks without ever really noticing the details, but to truly appreciate what makes the Disney theme park experience different from going to any other amusement or theme park, a visitor really ought to take the time to find and appreciate all the little things that work together to immerse guests into an environment unlike any other they've ever experienced.

The trick is, how do you discover the details? For a long time, your only options were to find yourself a devoted Disney fan to take you around the park or spend a lot of time doing research. (I've probably spent way too much time doing both.) In 2004, Kendra Trahan came up with a third alternative; she wrote Disneyland Detective, a fascinating book that collected many of the most fun and interesting details and stories from the Happiest Place on Earth, so casual Disney park fans could discover for themselves a lot of what they'd been missing. So if you're Kendra, what do you do for an encore? You write another book about the Disney theme park next door!

Disney's California Adventure Detective is the first book published about Disney's second gate in California. The book covers the theme park as well as the Downtown Disney district and Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, sharing the some of the stories, secrets, and hidden details that guests can find in these places if they take a moment to look. There a lot of secrets and stories to be found at DCA and in this book - everything from hidden Mickeys and subtle references to movies and television shows to references to people and places in California history, as well as tributes to milestones in California architecture. The book is divided into seven chapters, each dealing with various sections of the theme park, and also contains three appendices that each go into greater detail about specific attractions where there are numerous references to be found. The book's layout highlights certain categories of information throughout, such as "lessons to learn" (background information on people and places referred to in the park), "treasures and trivia" (props to be found in attractions and fun facts related to an area or an attraction), and opening day attractions.

Kendra's done a wonderful job with this book. For a theme park that's been accused of not having a lot of "there" there (apologies to Gertrude Stein), Kendra's discovered a lot of interesting facts and details about Disney's California Adventure and its attractions. The book is a fast read, but I never felt like I was being shortchanged as far as content or detail. If someone can make it through this entire book without learning something new about Disney's California Adventure or about California, that person may want to consider applying for a job teaching California history or a job at the Walt Disney Archives! The book has wonderful photographs of the park and very nice illustrations of people who are significant figures in California history or who played a role in creating the Disney films and shows referred to in park attractions.

So, do I have any quibbles with this book? Well, yes (sorry, Kendra), but they're pretty minor ones. First off, while I think anyone from the first-time visitor to Disney's California Adventure to the person who's been to the park many times will get something out of this book, this isn't a book for "theme park commandos"; if your overriding goal when you visit DCA or any other theme park is to visit as many attractions as possible in a day, you're not going to have the time or inclination to really appreciate all the little details that make up the park, and you're not going to get all that much out of this book. (And if I've just described you, you may want to reconsider how you visit a Disney park - trust me, you're missing out on a lot!) If you're a first-time visitor to the Disneyland Resort, I'd recommend getting a good guide book in addition to this book to help you plan your visit (consider the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland or the Passporter Disneyland Resort); be sure to bring this book with you to refer to when you're in the park, though! There are a few factual and grammatical errors, but I don't think they really detract from the overall quality of the book.

I'd like to take a moment to discuss one of the bigger objections people might have to getting a copy of Disney's California Adventure Detective - namely, "The park's going to be totally different in a couple of years - why buy a book on DCA now?" As you may know, Disney's announced a major construction and renovation project that will dramatically change Disney's California Adventure; when the project's done, DCA is going to look a lot different from what it looks like now and is going to have a lot of new attractions. Keep in mind, however, that the project's going to be completed in phases and won't be fully complete until about 2012; while parts of this book already no longer reflect what's actually in the park and other parts of the book will soon no longer reflect what's there, a lot of the things that Kendra points out in her book are still there and will continue to be there for a while -- all the better reason to take a little time to learn about them and appreciate them now while you still can.

Disney's California Adventure Detective is a fun and enjoyable way to learn about the history, secrets and details that make one of Disney's newest theme parks a fun place to visit, and in the process the book challenges the notion that the theme park has very little to discover and enjoy. Some readers will appreciate the book as a historical snapshot of a theme park that will be radically different a few years from now, and others will appreciate having an expert guide to discovering and appreciating a Disney theme park. Either way, anyone who's interested in learning and discovering more about Disney's California Adventure should consider picking up a copy of this book.

Passport Ahoy!

PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line and its Ports of Call 2008 (Sixth Edition), by Jennifer and Dave Marx. Ann Arbor, MI: PassPorter Press/MediaMarx Inc.., 2008; 352 pp.

I'm in the process of preparing for my first cruise, which - surprise, surprise! - is going to be a Disney cruise. As you may recall, a few months ago in one of my first reviews, I talked about the Birnbaum Guide to the Disney Cruise Line, which I thought was OK, but could have used a bit more information, especially about the cruise experience. While I was going through my local bookstore recently, I came across the PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line and its Ports of Call; all three of you folks out there who read my blog regularly may recall that I previously reviewed the Passporter Disneyland Resort and I was pretty impressed, so I picked up this book in the hope that it'd be a big help in planning for my cruise as I'm sure that PassPorter Disneyland Resort would be to someone planning a trip to Anaheim. After having read the book, I'm convinced that I made a great choice.

PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line (please forgive me for abbreviating the title!) is a comprehensive guide to the Disney Cruise Line experience. If Jennifer and Dave Marx don't provide just about every bit of information you might need for planning and enjoying a Disney cruise, they come pretty darned close. They thoroughly cover your options when booking a Disney cruise, including the different types of cruises available, the best times to go, and even the differences in stateroom categories, and give the reader tools and tips to help plan out their cruise itinerary and budget; they also cover everything happening on board, including dining and activities for various age groups. Jennifer and Dave also cover the ports visited by the Disney Cruise Line, giving the reader a rough lay of the land for each port, discussing the various port excursions offered by Disney (and alternatives to Disney-sponsored port excursions that might save passengers some money), and briefing the reader on activities that cruise passengers can pursue on their own.

As you might expect from a PassPorter guide, the information is well organized and easy to review and refer to, and as with their other books, Jennifer and Dave are happy to share their thoughts and their readers' thoughts on the various elements that make up a Disney cruise. They even provide information about the latest Disney itineraries and ports of call and provide information about the new Disney cruise ships - information that was curiously missing from the Birnbaum Guide.

I was really impressed by Passporter's Disney Cruise Line, but it's not a perfect book. Fans of the ringed binder format of most PassPorter books and of the PassPockets for storing important documents and reminders of their vacation will be disappointed to learn that the book comes in a standard bound format, with nary a PassPocket in sight (although you can pay a little more for the deluxe edition of the book and get it in the traditional format). It's not quite as colorful as the traditional PassPorter guides or the Birnbaum Guide, and since it's not an official Disney book, there aren't any photos of the Disney characters (although the Marxes include enough photos of their family enjoying the amenities of a Disney cruise that you'll still get a good idea what being on board is like). None of these faults is a deal-breaker, though.

PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line and its Ports of Call is a thorough and easy to use guide to just about everything you'd need to know to plan and get the most out of your Disney Cruise Line vacation. I think Disney could take a few lessons from the Marxes on how to put together a guidebook to Disney cruises, as the book does a great job of providing almost all the information someone would need to plan, book, and prepare for a voyage on the Disney Magic or the Disney Wonder. If you can only pick up one guidebook to prepare for your Disney Cruise Line vacation, make it this one.

An Incomplete Look at Walt Disney World's Construction

What Would Walt Do?: An Insider's Story About the Design and Construction of Walt Disney World, by D.M. Miller. Lincoln, Nebraska: Writers Club Press/iUniverse, 2001; 111 pp.

As you may have guessed by some of the books I've previously reviewed, I'm one of those people that like to ask, "How did they do that?" But when I ask that question, I don't usually mean that I just want to know about the tricks of the trade that make rides and attractions in a theme park possible. I'm equally fascinated by the stories of how amusement parks and theme parks came to be - the people who designed and built them and the process by which they were built. So I was really excited a couple of years ago when a website I like to frequent (all right, it was jimhillmedia.com - hi, Jim!) mentioned a book that was about an insider's account of what it was like to build Walt Disney World. After reading the book, I was a little disappointed.

What Would Walt Do? is the memoir of D.M. "Mike" Miller, an engineer who worked for a contractor involved in the construction of the Vacation Kingdom. Mike intersperses his personal history and his experiences of working and living in central Florida during the initial phase of Walt Disney World's construction with brief historical summaries and anecdotes about Walt and Roy Disney and others involved with the construction project. While Mike never got the chance to meet Walt and only got to meet principal executives like Roy Disney and Admiral Joe Fowler once or twice, he does have some interesting stories to tell about the folks who did the grunt work on the project, and about how Walt's influence inspired Disney and the people who worked for them to settle for nothing less than the highest quality work on the project.

In spite of what the book's title might have you believe, What Would Walt Do? doesn't offer much new perspective about the decisions and the personalities that shaped Walt Disney World's construction. Unfortunately, Mike's position in the construction team's hierarchy didn't provide him much opportunity to interact with the key people on the construction project or to be there when key decisions were made. Mike tries to make up for it with the anecdotes he shares about Walt, Roy, and others, but most of these anecdotes are second-hand ones that he gleaned from other sources, so most readers who are into Disney history won't be reading anything about the key people that they haven't read before. This book is more about Mike than it is about Walt, which hurts the book; there's nothing wrong with a little biographical information to help set the story, but quite a bit of what's covered in the book, like detailed information about Mike's life before working on the World, his take on the mores and cultural values of the times he lived in, and his feelings about unions, are just distractions from the central topic.

Does that mean that What Would Walt Do? isn't worth your time? Not necessarily. I enjoyed reading about what Orlando and central Florida was like before it became the theme park mecca of the world; Mike's description of what life was like for him in Orlando in the late 60s and early 70s provides an incredible contrast to Orlando as we know it today. Mike had the opportunity to work with some interesting people on the Walt Disney World construction project, and the stories he tells are fascinating, even if they don't have all that much relevance to the book's main topic. Mike tells a pretty good story, but if you're a Disney fan looking for the story of how Walt Disney World came to be, Mike doesn't have all that much to tell you.

What Would Walt Do? is an interesting look into the life of one of the folks who did the important construction-related work that made Walt Disney World possible, and it provides the reader with a look into what it was like to work on what was then one of America's largest construction projects. Unfortunately, the book's title might lead a reader to expect a lot more from this book than the author can deliver. If you're looking for a general history of Walt Disney World's construction and early years of operation, I'd recommend picking up a copy of Realityland by David Koenig and then getting this book as supplemental reading; this book would probably also make a good supplement to a general history of Orlando and central Florida, as well. But if you're looking for a book that's going to provide you with a lot of insight into how and why things happened the way they did or tell you something new about major players in the story of Walt Disney World, you'll probably be disappointed.

Tangent Review: A Look Back at Orange County Amusement Parks

Images of America: Early Amusement Parks of Orange County, by Richard Harris. Charleston SC, et. al.: Arcadia Publishing, 2008; 127 pp.

Are you ready for a shock? When I was growing up, I didn't spend all my leisure time at Disneyland. It's not that I wasn't as crazy for Disney back then as I am now; it's just that there were a lot of different things you could do in Southern California, and my dad wanted to do as many of them as he could. (Of course, the fact that Disneyland wasn't cheap even back then and there were no such things as annual passports may have also influenced his decisions as to where to go.) As a result, I got the chance to see a lot of places that are sadly now long gone, like Movieland Wax Museum, Lion Country Safari, Marineland of the Pacific, and many others. Today's review is about a book that may bring back some memories of long-since-vanished leisure attractions. It sure did for me.

Chances are that you're already familiar with at least a couple of the books in Arcadia's Images of America series, which feature collections of historical photographs of numerous communities throughout the nation. One of the latest books in the series, Early Amusement Parks of Orange County (that's California, by the way, not Florida), is a collection of photographs and other images from attractions that operated in Southern California. Some of the parks featured are well-known worldwide (Disneyland, of course, and Knott's Berry Farm), some were pretty well known to southern Californians in their day (Movieland Wax Museum, Lion Country Safari, Japanese Village), and some of the attractions featured may tax the memory of even the most devoted amusement park goer (Gram Paw Mac's in Garden Grove, Old MacDonald's Farm in Mission Viejo). Most of the photos appear to be publicity shots that found their way into local historical archives, but the book also features images of things like advertising and ticket media. There are captions accompanying each photograph to provide a little context and brief paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter provide a little background, but let's be honest here - most folks aren't going to bother with the text, and the photos are so much fun that I can't blame them.

I really enjoyed this book. It's not exactly the most demanding book in the world, but I spent a lot of time looking through it anyway; Richard Harris apparently knows his Orange County amusement parks well enough to skip some of the more commonly seen photographs of the attractions and present historical photos that many people reading this book may not have seen before. The text... well, I could take it or leave it; the information's interesting, bust most of it sounds cribbed from local newspapers or general histories of Orange County. But as I said before, nobody's gonna buy this book for the text.

My only other complaint about Early Amusement Parks of Orange County also has to do with the text of the book - or more correctly, what's not part of the text. A book like this would be really served well by some sort of bibilography; I'm sure that there will be amusement and theme park afficionadoes like me that will look at this book and want to learn more about some of the places and things they see, but there are no references to start them on their searches. I realize this won't be that big a deal to most people who buy this book, but a bibilography would have been nice.

Early Amusement Parks of Orange County is a fun way to relive memories of amusement parks you may have visited in years gone by - or to experience a little of these places, if you never knew they existed before picking up this book. It's not deep reading, and it's not cheap ($19.95 MSRP for a 127-page book?!?), but it is very enjoyable. If you're a theme park fan - Disney or otherwise - this is a book you should pick up.

Getting To Know Legendary Imagineers

Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park, by Jeff Kurtti. New York: Disney Editions, 2008, 141 pp.

Once upon a time (actually, 53 years ago, give or take a little), a place that was unlike anything people had ever seen before was created on some former farmland in Anaheim, California. People came there expecting a typical amusement park or a carnival, if they had any idea what to expect at all, and instead encountered a place that allowed them to step into the past, the future, and into realms of adventure and fantasy; they found a place where people of all ages could leave the real world for a little while and have fun together. One man got the credit from the public for bringing the world this new and exciting place, but he didn't create it all by himself. The fact was, that man did something even more amazing. He brought together a group of people with a wide variety of talents - some of which the people didn't even realize they had! - and inspired them with his vision as their guide to create someplace special, a place that would set the standard for places like it all over the world. We know a lot about the man - Walt Disney - and the place he inspired - Disneyland - but many people don't know all that much about the group of people that he brought together, and how each of those people contributed to the creation of Walt's dream. Jeff Kurtti decided to write a book to fix that, and he did an amazing job.

Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends tells the stories of twenty-nine Imagineers, their contributions to the Disney theme parks, and to the art and science of Imagineering. The book also tells us a lot about the man Jeff dubs "the first Imagineer" - Walt himself - by sharing how each of them related to Walt and how Walt's ideas , desires, and expectations affected what they did and what they created. If you've learned something about the history of Disney and of the Disney theme parks, the names of the folks you'll meet in this book may already be familiar to you, and you might be aware of some of the things they've accomplished, but most likely you've never learned as much about them and what they did as you'll learn from this book. Jeff does a great job telling the reader a lot about these folks in very few pages; even though I like to think that I know quite a bit about the folks profiled by Jeff in this book, I still managed to learn several things about each of the Imagineers profiled that I didn't know.

Jeff breaks up the Imagineering legends' profiles into several sections, tying groups of Imagineers together by the work they specialized in, such as concept art, model making, and music. A few of the folks profiled by Jeff don't fit neatly into categories of specialization, so Jeff created separate sections to profile their contributions to the Imagineering of the Disney theme parks; one person in particular was so knowledgeable about so many different interests that he's honored with his own section as WDI's "Renaissance Imagineer". Each section of the book starts out with a quote by Walt that ties into that particular specialty of Imagineering. It's a fun way to highlight the contributions of the folks being profiled.

Jeff's goal in writing the profiles in this book was to provide enough information on each person that the reader can learn something new about the background and the personality of each person being profiled, but he doesn't throw so much information at the the reader that he or she feels like they're going to drown in a sea of facts. Jeff even thoughtfully provides a good selection of footnotes to the profiles to make sure the reader understands the significance of something tangentially mentioned in an interview or in an excerpt from another work. There's a nice selection of photographs and art with each profile, so you'll get a feel for what each person has done, but the images also serve to remind the reader that there was an actual person behind the things that they've seen and experienced at the Disney theme parks.

Are there any problems with Walt Disney's Legends of Imagineering? Well, I wish that Disney and Jeff hadn't kept us all waiting so long for this book's release (this book was originally scheduled for publication about three years ago), but I can't find too much to complain about as far as the content. I suppose someone could complain that there should have been more Imagineering concept artwork, illustrations, and photographs of the actual attractions in the book as opposed to publicity photographs of the Imagineers from WED/WDI and the Disney Photo Library , but such a complaint misses an important point - namely, that this book is intended to acquaint the reader with the people who created the attractions and experiences, not the attractions.

Books that acquaint the reader with Imagineering and Imagineers can generally be divided into two categories: "Image books", which feature so many wonderful images of Disney concept art and attraction illustrations that you just might be tempted to skip the text, and "reader's books", which provide interesting reading but not as much in the way of illustrations that you haven't seen before. Jeff's book is definitely a "reader's book" and doesn't feature a lot of illustrations devoted fans of Disney history and Disney theme parks haven't seen somewhere else, but again, I think that's the point -- there are several good books out there featuring some of the art produced by the Imagineers (a couple of which Jeff has had a hand in creating), but this is the first book I've seen about Imagineering that really wants the reader to spend time appreciating the creators of the magic instead of appreciating their creations.

Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends is a fascinating look at the people who made Walt Disney's theme park dreams a reality and who set standards for creativity, artistry, and practical applications of technology that were the benchmark for not only the Imagineers that followed them but an entire industry. A famous quote of Walt's states that it takes people to make the dream a reality. This book is a great way to get to know some of those people a little better. If you're a fan of the Disney parks, take a little time to read this book -- I think that afterwards you'll appreciate what you experience at the parks even more.

Hide and Seek with Mickey at Disneyland

Disneyland's Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Disneyland Resort's Best Kept Secrets, by Steven M. Barrett. Branford, CT: The Intrepid Traveler, 2007, 94 pp.

At the Disney theme parks, the magic is in the details. The thing that makes the parks so special is the wealth of hidden (and not so hidden) details that individually may not seem like a big deal , but that together enhance your overall theme park experience. One of the details that's captivated a lot of Disney fans are little things known as "hidden Mickeys"; over the years, the Imagineers have left their mark on the attractions and environments they've created by leaving partial or complete images of the world's most favorite Mouse (and a few of his pals) in the designs of those attractions and environments. Some folks at Disney claim that there are no such things as hidden Mickeys. Other folks acknowledge their existence, but can't confirm where they may be - the Walt Disney Company has never taken up the task of documenting them, as far as anyone knows. Like many things at the Disney theme parks, it's up to you to discover hidden Mickeys for yourself - but that doesn't mean you can't get a little help from a master hidden Mickey hunter.

Five years ago, Steve Barrett wrote a book called Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Walt Disney World's Best Kept Secrets, where he told his readers about these hidden treasures and provided a series of scavenger hunts so that folks could search for a few of these treasures themselves. Well, the book was so successful that Steve created a sequel, this time covering the hidden Mickeys that can be found at the Disneyland Resort. In a brief but fascinating introduction, Steve explains how the phenomenon of hidden Mickeys got started and some ground rules for determining what is and what isn't a true hidden Mickey, and then sends you off all over the Disneyland Resort in search of more than 170 hidden Mickeys. The scavenger hunts are organized into three sections - one for each theme park and one for the Downtown Disney district and the Disney hotels. The Mickeys are rated on a point scale in terms of how difficult they are to find, so you can test your hidden Mickey spotting prowess against Steve, or you, your friends, and family can challenge each other to see who's the greatest hidden Mickey finder of all.

I have to admit that I'm never much been into hidden Mickeys, and I'm awful at spotting them (you practically have to lead me right to a hidden Mickey for me to spot it, no matter how obvious it is), so I approached Disneyland's Hidden Mickeys with a little trepidation. Well, it turns out that I really shouldn't have worried. Although I won't talk about how well (or should I say how badly) I did at finding the hidden Mickeys in Steve's scavenger hunts, I did have a lot of fun learning about them, and I had a good time trying to find them using the clues in Steve's book.

The nicest thing about Disneyland's Hidden Mickeys is that you have a lot of options as far as using the book. For example, if you're not in the mood to go on a full-blown hidden Mickey scavenger hunt, Steve has thoughtfully included an index of locations in the back of the book so you can look for a Mickey while you're headed to or in line for your favorite Disneyland or DCA attraction. Totally clueless as to where that Mickey you're trying to find is? Steve has provided hints in separate sections from the scavenger hunts for when you get frustrated in your search. The book is compact enough that you can toss it into your bag or your back pocket and pull it out to go Mickey hunting when the urge strikes you. There's even a website associated with the book where you, Steve, and other hidden Mickey hunters can share (or debate) your discoveries.

So, are there any downsides to Disneyland's Hidden Mickeys? Except for the very real possibility of blowing a good part of your day at the theme parks hunting for hidden Mickeys, I can't think of any. Obviously, if you intend to do other things during your visit to Disneyland besides hunt for hidden Mickeys, you're gonna need another book to get you around. If your time is really limited at Disneyland or this is your first visit, you may want to forgo this book until you're able to devote some time to the scavenger hunts - but as I mentioned above, you do have the option of just looking for hidden Mickeys while you're waiting to ride an attraction by using the index. Aside from that, I have no real complaints.

Disneyland's Hidden Mickeys is a fun and easy way to introduce yourself to one of the more unusual aspects of the Disney theme parks. If nothing else, you'll learn to really pay attention to the little details that make up the parks, but more likely, you and your family will also have a lot of fun looking for a few of Disneyland's hidden treasures. Pick up a copy before you head to Anaheim or pick one up at one of many locations throughout the resort, and keep your eyes open - you never know where that Mouse may be hiding!

Obligatory Excuse Post Number Two

My apologies to all three of my loyal readers. Things have been, to put it mildly, hectic over the past four weeks, thanks to everything I had to do related to the NFFC Convention and everything I had to do at work after getting back. Things have now returned to what passes for normal around here, so I should be able to return to my regular schedule. But enough of my groveling...