Disneyland Coffee Table Books?

[SD33]

Does anyone have any good Disney park related "coffee table" books they'd recommend? You know, the big ones with tons of pictures, history, Imagineer stuff, etc.? Any must have books to start a collection?

 

[ChickenCarlos]

i hope to see some interesting stuff on here

 

[PinkBudgie]

Ok, I pulled out my stack.

Disneyland Then, Now, and Forever- I love this book with lots of pictures and shows past attractions and what was built in that area through the years.

Imagineering Legends- A good overview of the legends and what they did.

Designing Disney- written by a legend. Talks about the the art and colors of making DL and WDW.

The Haunted Mansion From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies- talks about the various HMs in each of the parks. Very interesting if you like the HM.

Not a picture book, but I must recommend The Disneyland Encylopedia.

 

[skiingfast]

That first book PP mentioned is good on pictures. You can buy it in the parks.

I'd also suggest "Walt Disney Imagineering", by the Imagineers.

And

"Designing Disney", By John Hench

 

[Luisa]

The Art of Disneyland and The Art of Walt Disney World, I love both of these books. I also like the Animation one from the archive series

 

[Sherry E]

Since you want coffee table books, I assume you mean hard cover books only, right?

These are not Disneyland-specific, but they are great nonetheless. If you can find a copy on E-bay (or sometimes they sell them in museum gift shops), look for these older books in hard cover format -

The Art of Mickey Mouse, which has all kinds of different artists' renderings of Mickey, including a Charles Schulz drawing of Snoopy and Mickey Mouse together.

The Disney Villain

The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters (which has a more updated version, I think)

The Disney Poster, great book which has a lot of pictures of old posters

The Disney that Never Was

Walt Disney's Treasury of Cartoon Classics (and Walt Disney's Treasury of Children's Classics too)

 

[Sherry E]

This one sounds good, too (though I'm not sure if it's hard cover or paperback). This is how it was described on the Disney Parks Blog:

Windows on Main Street by Chuck Snyder ($6.95). - The book maps out and profiles the various people whose names are imprinted on the shop windows that line Main Street, U.S.A. at both Magic Kingdom Park and Disneyland Park.

 

[Merry Mousketeer]

Disneyland - The Nickel Tour. It can be a tough one to find since it has been out of print for years, but it's cherished by Disneyland book lovers. It is a collection of Disneyland postcards through the years. It's really a beautiful book chronicling the changes in the park.

 

[skiingfast]

Disneyland - The Nickel Tour. It can be a tough one to find since it has been out of print for years, but it's cherished by Disneyland book lovers. It is a collection of Disneyland postcards through the years. It's really a beautiful book chronicling the changes in the park.

This would probably be ultimate for a Coffe Table book about Disney. Not much on information outside of the picture though.


Another I though of is

"One Day at Disney", again for pictures.

 

[perlster]

Animation (Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series) was published last December.

Walt Disney Animation Studios The Archive Series: Story was published a year earlier.

 

[PinkBudgie]

This one sounds good, too (though I'm not sure if it's hard cover or paperback). This is how it was described on the Disney Parks Blog:

That information about the windows is also in the DL Encyclopedia.

 

[SD33]

Thanks for all the input on this one! I am scoping out each of the books on Amazon as they come up. I can't believe how expensive some of them are that are no longer in print! Collectors items, perhaps? Makes me want to get them as they come out. I gotta put some kids through college someday lol.

 

[Sherry E]

That information about the windows is also in the DL Encyclopedia.

Right, but if we're talking coffee table books and if the book about the names on the windows is hard cover, I would get it just to have it as a nice, separate coffee table book. In other words, it's not just about the information for me - it's also about the look and feel of the hard cover books.

 

[Merry Mousketeer]

The Windows on Main Street book is a thin paperback and is not totally complete. While it does have complete maps of all the windows at DL and WDW at the time of publication, it highlights only the better known figures in the parks' histories. Also, some of the photos are surprisingly poor - taken at bad angles with sun glare and shadows. They do not seem to be very professional. However, despite all that I do like this book. Several of the Disney Legends have been at The Walt Disney Family Museum and they have autographed their "windows" in my book, so it is now a very nice collectible.