Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World
by David Koenig
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Book Summary Information
Author: David KoenigEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10
ISBN: 0964060523
Number of pages: 334
Publisher: Bonaventure Press
Book Reviews of Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World
Book Review: Great read - if a little short on recent history
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm travelling to Florida shortly, and have visited Disney World three times in the past so ordered this ahead of time as holiday reading. Unfortunately I'm going to have to order something else for the trip, because once this book arrived I wasn't able to put it down.
David Koenig starts with a slow build up detailing the planning and construction stages of WDW, and it's in these first chapters that the book really shines. Following a largely chronological order, we start at the concept initially debated when Walt Disney was alive, through to the completion of the park and subsequent opening. This makes for a fascinating reading, as the scope of book covers the big ticket items of interest; the internal Disney politics, design decisions, construction issues, third party management, the egos, the logistics, the sheer scope is revealed in what was clearly an enormous and complex project.
About half way through the book starts to cover the subsequent EPCOT era, and whilst there's a similar range to the content, the detail is a little lighter. This light-touch pace then follows for the rest of the book, and eventually you find that by the time the author gets around to covering Disney's Animal Kingdom . by which point Disney MGM Studios has also been discussed - there's only a handful of pages left in this 300 page tome. So it comes as a little disappointment not to find the same in-depth, extensive coverage for the later parks.
In a way, David Koenig does almost too good a job covering the first parks history, the Magic Kingdom, with such vigour that you can't help yourself but be a little disappointed with the last third of the book. It feels slightly rushed, and I could have easily have read another 200 pages more. Maybe we can expect more of a revision.
In the meantime, the book is still worth the entry price for the content that's there. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in theme park construction or management. or indeed that of the company - Disney - behind it.
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