Disney Books "To Read" List

[FFMatt12]

I read my first Disney autobiography and I must say, it created a new found appreciation for the Disney Parks and the history behind the entire company.

The first book was "Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney's Magic Kingdoms" by Marty Sklar
I learned SO much information about the culture of the company from the 1960's up through the recent years from Marty's stories and personal accounts. I also learned a ton of why certain parts of the parks are the way they are. (More than your average WDW documentary tells). I highly recommend it.

So my question to you Disborders, are there any books that you recommend to my growing list of "Must-Reads"? Is there anything on my list below that is not worth the time? Thanks!

• "Birnbaum’s 2015 Official Guide to WDW" by Birnbaums
• "The Customer Rules" by Lee Cockerell
• "Disney Dons Dog Tags" by Walton Rawls
• "Disney During WWII" by John Baxter
• "Designing Disney: Imagineering" by John Hench
• "Ears of Steel" by Bart Scott
• "The Imagineering Field Guide to: Magic Kingdom" by The Imagineers
• "Married to The Mouse" by Richard Foglesong
• "The Revised Vault of Walt" by Jim Korkis
• "Service With Character" by David Lesjak
• "The Unofficial Guide to WDW 2015"
• "Walt Disney: An American Original..." by Bob Thomas
• "Walt Disney’s Epcot" by Richard Beard
• "Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real" (1996) by The Imagineers
  "Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real" (2010) by The Imagineers
• "Walt Disney World Resort 100 Years of Magic" by Pam Brandon

COMPLETED:

• "Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney's Magic Kingdoms" by Marty Sklar
• "Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service" (Disney Institute Book)
• "Since the World Began: Walt Disney World - The First 25 Years" by Jeff Kurtti

[I went back 10 or so pages of threads and didn't see any similar threads with the search feature being down]

 

[gilana]

All of the Imagineering Field Guides are fabulous, very informative little books and a quick read. And I just read John Hench's Designing Disney: Imagineering and loved it. The Revised Vault of Walt was a mixed bag; I'm more interested in Disney World info and less in Walt's personal life, and it was a little heavier on the latter than I had expected. But if you're interested in Walt, you'll probably like it.

Looking forward to hearing what other people have to say, and if anyone has any other recommendations!

 

[FFMatt12]

All of the Imagineering Field Guides are fabulous, very informative little books and a quick read. And I just read John Hench's Designing Disney: Imagineering and loved it. The Revised Vault of Walt was a mixed bag; I'm more interested in Disney World info and less in Walt's personal life, and it was a little heavier on the latter than I had expected. But if you're interested in Walt, you'll probably like it.

Thanks! The field guides seem to be harder to come by these days. Gotta see if I can grab one at the library or amazon

 

[keneka]

I love the Imagineering Field guides too.

Some of my favorite imagineering books - Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality, Since the World Began (WDW), Designing Disney's Themeparks:The Architecture of Reassurance, Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, Walt Disney Imagineering & the old hardback Souvenir guides that you could only buy from the parks (not sure if they exist now).

Training as an animator I used to also collect the Art of (animated films) books, purchasing one every time I visited - I used to like the 2 different editions they had - the one which included a limited edition animation cel & the standard edition (the one I could afford) - also the How to Draw series. My favorite shops to buy books in the parks were the Animation Courtyard shop in Hollywood Studios, the shop in Marketplace (now design a tee) & the shop on the left hand side next to City Hall in Magic Kingdom (I think it's used as a tour check-in now) - also if you love books on the parks, I would recommend the Keys to the Kingdom tour in Magic Kingdom for a look behind the scenes as well as info about the parks.

 

[Hootch]

I have "Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real" (2010) by The Imagineers. It's more a coffee table book. Lot's of illustrations with some verbiage.

It's Kind of a Cute Story with Rolly Crump. It covers Rolly's time working at Disney and other companies. There are additional audio downloads available, but I have not listened to any of them.

Another guide book I like is the Complete Walt Disney World. I'm reading that and the Unofficial Guide for our upcoming trip. I haven't finished The Complete Guide for 2015 yet. A previous version included detailed descriptions of the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. So far this one has intereting things to look for on rides or in parks.

 

[kenny]

Started reading ears of Steele. Is ok. Wasn't crazy about it as it was geared more towards "manly" side of disney

While I consider myself manly as a disney enthusiast and purest I still enjoy classics such as small world, COP, etc

Reality land was good. Overview of how parks were built. Follow bf it interesting

Also a thinking fans guide to wdw. While much is a general ride by ride overview/insight that I have heard before each ride then gives you a movie that will remind you of the ride. Thought that was pretty cool. Wasn't watch Peter pan to Peter pan ride eithet which I liked


Also liked Walt Disney bio by gabler

 

[skipfierce]

"Walt Disney: An American Original" is a very good book if you are interested in the man himself.

 

[1937Fan]

There are so many great books. I got into the Walt's People series. It is a collection of interviews witheople who worked with and for Walt. It's on the academic side, but I enjoyed ready peoples unedited memories.
Any of the Jim Korkis books are great.
If you're into animation, J.B. Kauffman's The Fairest of them All is amazing.
I have so many books on my reading list now too. Its been a really great few years with so many memoirs and academic books recently.

 

[LifeTheDisneyWay14]

Great list! I second Walt Disney's Epcot!

 

[mrsclark]

This is great - I was just coming to this forum to start a thread on the topic of Disney books and then found this thread!

DH is currently reading Disney War which from what he has told me covers the 80's and 90's at the company.

Also, I own The Pixar Touch by David A Price. I haven't read it yet, but have heard great things about it!

 

[CaptHook34]

thanks for this list!

 

[hurley41]

Books that I have but haven't finished yet:

- Disney War by James Stewart
- Walt and the Promise of Progress City by Sam Gennawey
- Realityland by David Koenig (currently reading this one and find it very fascinating and entertaining)
- Be Our Guest by the Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni
- How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams with Jim Denney
- Dream It! Do It! by Marty Sklar
- A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World: Volume 1 by Andrew Kiste
- 40 Years in a Mousetrap: My Walt Disney World Career in Words and Pictures by David Ackett


Books I've finished:

- The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom by Aaron Wallace
- Hidden Mickeys by Steven Barrett
- The Vault of Walt Volumes 1,2,&3 by Jim Korkis
- It's Kind of a Cute Story by Rolly Crump
- The Ride Delegate: Memoir of a Walt Disney World VIP Tour Guide by Annie Salibury
- The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World by Susan Veness



I don't know if you do any reading on a e-reader, but if you do check out Kindle Unlimited ($9.99 a month I believe). There are a lot of Disney books on there that you can borrow like Jim Korkis books and books from Theme Park Press. It's nice if you just want to take a couple months and read some books that you want to read but not own.

 

[DisneyMarvelStarWars]

I love reading Disney/Disneyland books and have a nice library. Are you looking for just Imagineering and behind-the-scenes type of reads?

 

[Andrew Kiste]

Books that I have but haven't finished yet:

- Disney War by James Stewart
- Walt and the Promise of Progress City by Sam Gennawey
- Realityland by David Koenig (currently reading this one and find it very fascinating and entertaining)
- Be Our Guest by the Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni
- How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams with Jim Denney
- Dream It! Do It! by Marty Sklar
- A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World: Volume 1 by Andrew Kiste
- 40 Years in a Mousetrap: My Walt Disney World Career in Words and Pictures by David Ackett


Books I've finished:

- The Thinking Fan's Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom by Aaron Wallace
- Hidden Mickeys by Steven Barrett
- The Vault of Walt Volumes 1,2,&3 by Jim Korkis
- It's Kind of a Cute Story by Rolly Crump
- The Ride Delegate: Memoir of a Walt Disney World VIP Tour Guide by Annie Salibury
- The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World by Susan Veness



I don't know if you do any reading on a e-reader, but if you do check out Kindle Unlimited ($9.99 a month I believe). There are a lot of Disney books on there that you can borrow like Jim Korkis books and books from Theme Park Press. It's nice if you just want to take a couple months and read some books that you want to read but not own.

Hurley~

I'm glad you have a copy of my book, A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 1. I hope you enjoy it.

To everyone else, I will be at Disney August 9-12 and will be handing out three free copies of my book autographed while there. Keep up with me on my Twitter (@HistTourWDW) for details of where I will be and when for your free copy!

 

[hurley41]

Hurley~

I'm glad you have a copy of my book, A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 1. I hope you enjoy it.

To everyone else, I will be at Disney August 9-12 and will be handing out three free copies of my book autographed while there. Keep up with me on my Twitter (@HistTourWDW) for details of where I will be and when for your free copy!

I'm really enjoying it, well done! Too bad I won't be around then.

 

[Andrew Kiste]

Hello, friends! I will be handing out FREE AUTOGRAPHED copies of A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 1 next week during my trip to Disney! I will be at Downtown Disney on Sunday, Animal Kingdom on Monday, and Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Stay tuned to my Twitter (@HistTourWDW) to find out where exactly I will be and when I will be there. Look forward to meeting some people!

 

[OhStuffandFluff]

I work at a small private college and will be teaching a class next spring on Disney and its impact on society. Curious if anyone has any recommendations for a good textbook to use in the class. Thanks for your help and input!!