Souvenir Books - Do they still exist?

[deesquared]

I've been reading a great book about Disneyland (the Disneyland Encyclopedia), and it mentions Souvenir Books that used to be produced annually. They would have a map in the centre of the book, then describe each attraction, and have lots of great photos.
Are these still around? I don't remember seeing them during trips there in 2008 and 2011.
They used to be called "Walt Disney's Disneyland", and were a softcover book.
I want one!

 

[Raindown]

I don't believe they are around anymore. I have seen scans of really old ones, but I haven't seen anything like it when visiting.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

My Dad has these from our trips in the 70s... I would so buy those souvineer books today! Wish they were still around... Disney are you listening?

 

[deesquared]

Ahhh...too bad.
They would be a great, cheap souvenir. I know my kids would love to have something like this to look at over, and over again.

 

[tzeitel]

Like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Walt-Disneys-Di...398?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b885a35e

 

[spacemermaid]

I got one in 2007, but haven't seen them since then.

Edited to add: it was in the style of the ones from the 80s (longwise rectangular softcover format) and had no foldout map.

 

[disneychrista]

The last one I picked up was for the 50th Anniversary.

 

[tikiroomclan]

I asked about these in the Emporium in May of last year...they said Disney no longer produces them......I agree that these would make a wonderful, inexpensive souvenir for the kiddos. We would love to see them come back

 

[Sherry E]

I used to love those books. I still have all of mine (some are in better condition than others) from my DL trips in the '70s and beyond. I would get one on almost every trip to DL (so one book a year, or every other year, more or less). I was so happy when I would see that telltale rectangular shape!

And then, back at home, I would sit there, studying every photo and every sentence in the sections about each land and ride (I vividly remember the phrase "African Veldt" used in a paragraph to describe the Jungle Cruise setting, I believe), dreaming of my next trip to DL! Those books were my lifeline to DL in between trips. (I even ordered the books for the MK and Epcot, too.)

I can't remember when I got my very last book. I think they were still making them annually the last time I got one, but I just stopped buying them.

I used to think of the DL souvenir pictorial guidebooks as sort of the equivalent of a tour program you would get at a concert - that's what they reminded me of. A Disneyland tour program.

I saw the one on sale in 2007 that spacemermaid mentioned - probably in either the Gag Factory or in the Emporium. I remember feeling happy to see that familiar rectangular shape again! But I didn't buy it. And I don't believe I have seen another one since 2007.

 

[Sherry E]

Like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Walt-Disneys-Di...398?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b885a35e

tzeitel - I think I have the one in that photo you linked as well, but the ones that I got - the souvenir pictorial guidebooks from my youth and into the early '80s, which were new every year - were in a long, horizontal/landscape format rather than vertical/portrait.

 

[deesquared]

Like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Walt-Disneys-Dis...item27b885a35e

That looks like a much nicer hardcover book. The annual souvenir books were softcover, and horizontal, like Sherry said.

Here's a link to one on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/1958-Walt-Disneys-Guide-to-Disneyland_W0QQitemZ260761274994QQcategoryZ13848QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m1374QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DPI%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8255207977035482684

I would love to collect those. Thanks for the great description Sherry!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

When I visit my Dad in California I still lay on the big pillow on the floor in the family room and pull these books off the bottom shelf and relive DL just as I did when I was 5 or 8 or 12 or 16.

 

[spacemermaid]

I used to love those books. I still have all of mine (some are in better condition than others) from my DL trips in the '70s and beyond. I would get one on almost every trip to DL (so one book a year, or every other year, more or less). I was so happy when I would see that telltale rectangular shape!

And then, back at home, I would sit there, studying every photo and every sentence in the sections about each land and ride (I vividly remember the phrase "African Veldt" used in a paragraph to describe the Jungle Cruise setting, I believe), dreaming of my next trip to DL! Those books were my lifeline to DL in between trips. (I even ordered the books for the MK and Epcot, too.)

I can't remember when I got my very last book. I think they were still making them annually the last time I got one, but I just stopped buying them.

I used to think of the DL souvenir pictorial guidebooks as sort of the equivalent of a tour program you would get at a concert - that's what they reminded me of. A Disneyland tour program.

I saw the one on sale in 2007 that spacemermaid mentioned - probably in either the Gag Factory or in the Emporium. I remember feeling happy to see that familiar rectangular shape again! But I didn't buy it. And I don't believe I have seen another one since 2007.

Me too! I wish I still had all of mine from when I was a kid! My favorite was the one from the mid 80s with the silver/grey cover...the oh-so-80's silver/grey cover

I looked at the one I bought in 2007 and it's copyright 2005, so it must've been left over from the 50th. Though the cover makes no mention of the anniversary, so maybe it was just "recycled" with a new cover. I do remember looking in pretty much every store and not finding any, before I finally found one in the music store on Main Street, of all places!

It's too bad that they don't make them any more; besides being a favorite souvenir, they were also a good pictorial timeline/record of all the rides, shows & restaurants that have come & gone over the years.

 

[tzeitel]

If you all last saw them in 2007 then that must have been right before they "changed" the souvenirs. I remember reading - when planning our 2008 trip to WDW - that Disney was making most souvenirs not be WDW or DLR specific.

So something you see at WDW you would also be able to find at DLR, of course there are still some resort specific things but I did notice when we went in '08 that a lot of the souvenirs looked kinda generic.

Maybe that is when they stopped putting together the books

 

[skiingfast]

So something you see at WDW you would also be able to find at DLR, of course there are still some resort specific things but I did notice when we went in '08 that a lot of the souvenirs looked kinda generic.

What I like as an alternative to the souvenire books is "Disneyland Then, Now and Tomorrow" there is also a "Walt Disney World Then, Now and Tomorrow". With lots of pictures it covers the whole lifetime of the parks. It's like reliving all trips at once. $25 hardcover.

 

[spacemermaid]

What I like as an alternative to the souvenire books is "Disneyland Then, Now and Tomorrow" there is also a "Walt Disney World Then, Now and Tomorrow". With lots of pictures it covers the whole lifetime of the parks. It's like reliving all trips at once. $25 hardcover.

I love that book! Totally worth the $25, IMO. It's like the grownup version of the souvenir books I loved as a kid

 

[Karenann*]

What I like as an alternative to the souvenire books is "Disneyland Then, Now and Tomorrow" there is also a "Walt Disney World Then, Now and Tomorrow". With lots of pictures it covers the whole lifetime of the parks. It's like reliving all trips at once. $25 hardcover.

This is my go to book for flipping through the years and lands...well worth the money. I also have 2 of the souvenir books but my last was from 2005.