101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World - Softcover

Kevin Yee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0977375870 ISBN 13: 9780977375875

Publisher: Ultimate Orlando, 2009

Synopsis

Think you know Walt Disney World?

You might have heard a few interesting facts about Walt Disney World over the years. Perhaps you've heard that the windows on the second story of the buildings on Main Street honor individuals of note in WDW history? Or that the company plane Walt used to survey the eventual WDW property from the air now lives at the studios park? It's all true... but these are only two of the interesting facts pointed out in this book. And those are only two of the best-known examples. Many of these stories deal with much more obscure, yet equally interesting, pieces of history of the theme parks. You haven't heard all these stories before!

Do you know the nods to now-removed attractions at Mission: Space, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, American Idol Experience, and Animal Kingdom's Discovery River? How about tributes to the Living Seas, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, El Rio Del Tiempo, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alien Encounter, or the Main Street Electrical Parade? Do you know where in each of the four parks the opening date of the park is commemorated?

Not enough yet? How about Walt Disney's first office as a new arrival to Southern California, McDonald's former sponsorship of Dinoland, Bob Hope, or the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim?

There are tributes to Imagineers Marty Sklar, John Lasseter, Herb Ryman, Joyce Carlson, Leota Thomas, Blaine Gibson, Fulton Burley, Winston Hibler, Rick Rothschild, Harper Goff, Morgan Evans, and dozens more. Can you find them all?

The second edition greatly expands the roster of tributes. In fact, the individual items are no longer numbered, and the list wouldn't stop at 101 if the numbers were still present. There are more like 250 items explained here! This edition also adds photographs of many of the items in question, introduces a section on mistakes/gaffes in the attractions, and even serves up a section on the hidden tributes in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.

About this title

From the Author:

There are lots of Disney guide books in the world, but where are the books detailing interesting stories behind odd theming choices, hidden tributes, or the weird references to names or numbers scattered around that probably mean something specific but aren't explained?

This book fills that void and was created to be accessible for every level of Disney fan. Newcomers to Disneyana will be bowled over by the volume of detail, the rich layers of self-reference, and the abundance of insider tributes. Readers accustomed to such stories about Walt Disney World will find a useful resource that not only catalogs such occurrences in one spot, but goes far beyond the usual, and brings a wealth of new stories and anecdotes to the table.

The individual 101 Things referenced by the title are all items you can actually point to at the parks, so that the book provides a kind of walking tour of the parks (in guided tour format, rather than "question-and-answer" format) that yields a glimpse of the deeper history percolating below the surface. Moreover, each of the 101 "interesting facts" comes with an explanation as well as an embellishment that goes in related, but different, directions. These embellishments are practically interesting new facts all by themselves, so what you get is closer to 202 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

#35: The staging of animal encounters on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad pays tribute to the ride which was its creative ancestor.

When Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first premiered at Disneyland, it replaced Mine Train thru Nature's Wonderland, a slow-moving train ride through desert scenes and tableaus of robotic animals interacting with their surroundings in various ways. Some of those interactions are recreated at the Magic Kingdom's version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, such as the bobcat taking refuge from three attacking boars atop a cactus or a face-off between a roadrunner and a snake, both of which take place in the town of Tumbleweed, and are best viewed from the passing Walt Disney World railroad.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ultimate Orlando
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0977375870
• ISBN 13: 9780977375875
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 157