All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
– Walt Disney –
Introduction
If you are reading this book review right now, I suppose that you are either interested in books or in Disneyland – or probably both – so you might be aware of the fact, that there are so many books about Disneyland out there, that sometimes it can be hard to keep track. Also, it can be a bit confusing to differentiate one book from another, since their title often just is Disneyland. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a blessing that we have all these books (as a Disneyland Paris fan I’d be happy to find just half of them on the market). However, it makes it difficult to know which books are well worth their money and which ones are just souvenir books with (sometimes) even bad photographs in it.
Among all these books, The Art of Disneyland is by far my favorite title, at least until now. You might also have heard of the famous Disneyland Nickel Tour, supposedly the Disneyland bible, which is out of print and crazy expensive.
Therefore, I was super excited when I heard that Taschen is working on a book dedicated to Walt’s dream project, Disneyland.
Knowing Taschen and their premium artbooks, for example the magnificent The Walt Disney Film Archives – The Animated Movies 1921-1968, my expectations for their new title, Walt Disney’s Disneyland, were quite high.
The book
As always, Taschen is serving topnotch binding and paper quality. The title of the book, Disneyland, is written in glossy golden letters – just perfectly eye catching on the magnificent dust jacket that comes in a matt finish.
The semigloss paper used for the pages inside the book feels great and is the perfect choice to bring out the beauty of the photos and the art, that sometimes cover a full page, or even a double page. A lot of the photographs shown in this book come straight out of the 50s and 60s, so I really wasn’t expecting to get pictures of such astonishing quality.
Speaking of photographs: As I said, there are many Disneyland books out there, and sadly most of them tend to simply recycle pictures, photos and artwork already used in other books, so a lot of them feel quite identical. But then, we have this book by Taschen, which shows us so much new material. Most of what I had never seen before. It’s easy to see how much research work was required to put this opus together.
The text is pretty much straightforward and traces the history of the park, starting with its conception. That isn’t a bad thing, since it makes it really easy to read. Still, I was super happy to see that the author integrated a lot of quotes from people who worked with Walt Disney himself and who were a huge part of the creation of Disneyland. For instance, Marty Sklar and Richard Sherman, without whom the book would feel a bit too superficial to me. All in all, a great and fun read!
The book itself is divided into three sections: The dream and the idea of Disneyland (including the big opening of the park), Disneyland from 1955 to 1963 and the time after Walt’s death. So it’s basically a chronological narration that recreates the timeline of the park.
The first chapter is by far the shortest, covering only 30 pages of the whole book, which doesn’t make it less interesting to me. However, I was looking forward to learn a bit more about the idea and the conception of the park, so I was a bit sad when I discovered that the opening chapter isn’t more in-depth. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every page of it.
The second chapter, covering the history of the park from opening day until 1963, clearly represents the focus of this book, which makes total sense considering the title Walt Disney’s Disneyland. Every land of the park during that period is treated in its own impressive chapter, brimming over with a great mix of concept art and photographs.
The last chapter is the most controversial part of the book in my opinion. As already mentioned, it retells the story of the park(s) from 1964 until now. Therefore, it first focuses on Walt’s Dream of a second park in Florida and the New York Wold’s fair (it’s a small world), and then discusses the park’s faith after Walt Disney’s death: New Orleans Square, the new Tomorrowland, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, the creation of its bigger brother (Walt Disney World) etc. The fact that the book discusses Disneyland’s second gate (Disney California Adventure) and Star Wars Land is a bit unexpected. Of course, it’s an interesting aspect, but to me it just doesn’t make that much sense to focus on something, that Walt himself had never thought of, especially in a book called Walt Disney’s Disneyland. Alright, I know that this might seem a bit farfetched, but hey, I gotta find something that isn’t perfect in this book.
Résumé
So, should you get this book? Surprise: Yes, I think you should.
Walt Disney’s Disneyland is by far the best book about Disneyland I own, besides my beloved The Art of Disneyland, which is purely concept art, so those two are hard to compare.
Finally we get a magnificent high quality book, perfectly balancing history and art, text and visual material. Plus, compared to the other Disney books by Taschen, this one is quite cheap (40 Eur).
Although flipping through this beauty really makes me miss the park, it also gives me a feeling of being right there, on Mainstreet USA, walking towards Sleeping Beauty castle, with Walt himself right beside me.
What a magical experience!
Where to get it?
Title: Walt Disney’s Disneyland
Author: Chris Nichols
Publisher: TASCHEN
Year: 2020
Price: 40€ / 60$
ISBN: 978-3-8365-6349-9 (german version) / 978-3-8365-6348-2 (english version)
Hardcover, 328 pages, 24 x 32,7 cm, 2,47 kg
You can get your copy at your local book store (if they don’t have it, they can order it via its title or the ISBN number). Otherwise you can also order it online at Taschen or on Amazon.
Taschen provided me with a copy of the book to facilitate this review.