Homecoming Destination Disneyland is a coffee table hardcover photo book that covers the building of ones man dream into the theme park that all others have been modeled after. Carlene's grandfather, Mell Kilpatrick, was the chief photographer for the Santa Ana Register who was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and opened his dark room to Disney's official photographers and building a bond with Walt himself that would allow him unrestricted access to the park as it was being built.

Mell was a history buff, and avid photographer and a pack rat, not throwing away anything, and for that we are all very lucky! If it were not for the fact that he kept everything, this book would not exist and many Disney fans would be left wondering what the park looked like as it was being built.

The former city manager of Anaheim, Keith Murdoch, contributes a fantastic forward to the book outlining finding of the land that Walt used to build the park on. Here all the problems associated in finding the "just right" spot to build a dream on and the problems encountered.

Carlene was able to get many big Disney names from the past to write their special memories of Disneyland and Walt's dream. Tim Conway, Don Knots, Ron Dominguez (Give yourself extra credit if you know who Ron is), Wally Boag (Again, extra credit, but every true Disneyland fan should know this name), Ron Dias, Jack Lindquist and Fess Parker are just a few of the people who share their memories of Disneyland in this fantastic book.

Photos, do you like photos? Well this book is jammed packed with some of the best black and white photos you have ever seen covering the construction of Disneyland and the first few years of its opening. When you look at these photos you will be amazed at how much the park has changed over the last 50 years, and how much it has stayed the same. When you look at the photos of Main Street U.S.A. it is amazing at how much it looks the same today is it did on that hot July day in 1955. Other than a few name changes on stores, due sponsorship changes, it looks almost exactly the way it did 50 years ago. Then when you look at a photo of the Jungle Cruise it is amazing how different it looks with the trees and other foliage so young and small compared to what it looks like today, a jungle.

Did you know that the Columbia was built, from the hull up, at Fowler's Harbor at the park? You can see photos of the ship being built right there in the Rivers of America. Did you know that Walt owned the largest private fleet of submarines in the world? See the construction of the Submarine voyage and the subs in the lagoon. Watch the magical Sleeping Beauty's Castle grow from an orange orchard to the grand castle we know and love today.

This book is a must have for any Disneyland fan! You will love it from the moment you pick it up. I know I read my copy the first night, I could not put it down as I loved the photos and insight by people who knew Walt and got to enjoy the early years of Disneyland. You will not be disappointed with this book.

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