I cannot think of anything more enjoyable than spending my entire day at any of the four Disney parks here in Florida. But running a close second is my love of Disney trivia and History, especially the trivia pertaining to the Mickey Mouse shorts and anything about Walt Disney and his life, and the Walt Disney Company. My library is filled with Walt Disney biographies and anything else I can get my hands onto. So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I was introduced to this new book entitled "THE DISNEYLANDS THAT NEVER WERE".
This book is written by Shaun Finnie, the same man who gives us "This Day in Disney History" on the Mickey News website. In fact Shaun's little history notes were the first thing I noticed on the Mickey News. That got me hooked, since I just love all that history and trivia. So I purchased the book and I can tell you that it is every Disney History buff's dream. I though I was pretty hip and sharp on the subject, but this well researched and documented book certainly taught me things I never had any inkling about!
What this book explores is the history of Disneyland, from Walt's first ideas to the final building of that famed park, and all the other parks and attractions that followed. But it goes even deeper than that. How many of you out there just wondered how Walt and his Imagineers got the idea for say, the Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, Pirate's of the Caribbean, etc? How did the concept of EPCOT and it's attractions and World Showcase come to be? Well it's all here in this "Bible" of Disney Parks history.
Just a few teases from this book: Did you know that the original concept of Disneyland was just a small park that Walt wanted for his employees to relax at lunch, maybe play a little baseball. This than grew into a bigger park that Walt was going to call "Mickey Mouse Park", a place where Mickey and all the other characters lived. This came about because so many children would write and ask Walt where did Mickey Mouse live? Walt got many ideas after visiting the Henry Ford Museum. From this humble beginning, Shaun's book goes on to explain dozens of concepts and ideas that never made it past the drawing board, or just the talking stage. Here you will learn how many of your favorite attractions and rides began with a totally different plan, only to finally morph into the ones we know today.
I could cite many other fascinating and outlandish plans that were tossed around, discarded and tried again, but you will want to read it for yourself. The book is well organized and an easy read. It's very hard to put down once you start, and if you are a Disney History buff like myself or just curious as to how the Disney parks grew to such size and diversity, this is your book. You can log onto Shaun's website WWW.SHAUNFINNIE.COM for more information and how to order a copy for yourself.
