Book by Koenig, David

    Spring '98---copy being written at this moment

    The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies will illustrate how the Mansion's 999 "grim grinning ghosts" moved from sketches to reality, evolving from earliest story concepts through adaptations and changes as it moved into each of the parks, to the very latest ideas for show enhancements. This book will also confirm or dispel the various myths and rumors that surround the mysterious Mansion's story. In recent years, The Walt Disney Company has seen the demand for theme park attraction-specific merchandise explode, and the Haunted Mansion resides at the top of the list. Fans are waiting with super(natural) anticipation for the upcoming movie, and this book will also explore the latest technology developed to bring the Mansion's inhabitants to an afterlife like never before.

    It's where visitors go to cajole, connive, and most of all, complain. Guests cry. They lie. Some even collapse to the floor. For these unhappy campers, Annie Salisbury was the power behind the pixie dust. Her tell-all will shock and amaze.From her unhappy start as a DisneyQuest cast member, Annie worked her way through the theme parks to Guest Relations, and then Magic Kingdom tour guide. Along the way she made friends, she made enemies; she delighted some guests, disappointed others; she discovered the vast gulf behind the public face of Disney and the backstage cauldron of politics, jealousy, and betrayal.Annie's witty, incisive memoir is a fascinating tale of day-to-day interaction with the people behind the pixie dust, and the pushy public who want some of it, no matter what: Share the pain of Annie's disastrous stints at DisneyQuest and the Great Movie Ride Learn the ins and outs of Walt Disney World Guest Relations Stand behind the counter at City Hall in Magic Kingdom and meet some of the craziest guests ever to set foot in the park Tag along with one of Annie's Magic Kingdom tour groups Meet a rogue's gallery of cast members who come to work each day to create magic ... for themselves WALT DISNEY WORLD GUEST RELATIONS: WHERE PIXIE DUST TURNS TO ACID RAIN

    Packed with photos, Baham's book contains everything there is to know about the Mansion, with never-before-told stories and comprehensive coverage of the Haunted Mansion's colorful past and its chilling presence at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and other Disney theme parks.The Machine in the GhostsBeginning with the Haunted Mansion's original (but never realized) incarnation as "Bloodmere Manor", Baham pulls back the shroud on the clever effects that haunt the Mansion, including Ken Anderson's plan for a cyclorama-enhanced Headless Horseman, Yale Gracey and Rolly Crump's creative wizardry and "happy accidents", Bob Gurr's Doom Buggies, the technology behind Madame Leota's crystal ball, and the controlled chaos of the Ballroom Scene.You'll learn why X. Atencio's idea for a raven narrator was ditched in favor of the now infamous Ghost Host, whether a screaming man caught in a spider web once dwelt in the Mansion, and how technology exorcised the Hatbox Ghost.Only Ghost Stories, of CourseThere's more to the Mansion than mere mechanics. More than perhaps any other Disney attraction, the Haunted Mansion is powered by story: the scenes and spirits you witness from your Doom Buggy all play roles in the overall narrative of the Mansion, and if you don't know the story, you'll miss out on a lot of the fun, and a few of the scares, too.Baham clues you in about such things as why the Mansion is there, who built it, how it became haunted, and the dastardly deeds done by some of its residents in their corruptible, mortal states.A Taste of What's InsideFrom the comfort of your Doom Buggy you'll read: How Walt's boyhood experience with the haunted Sauer Castle may have inspired Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Insider accounts of the creative clashes between Disney Imagineers over whether the Mansion's haunts should be humorous or horrific An analysis of the ride, scene by scene, with insight into how the effects work, delightfully eerie trivia, and anecdotes from Mansion Imagineers and Cast Members The stories behind some of the Mansion's many denizens, including the Hatbox Ghost, the Knight, the Sea Captain, the Raven, the unhappy couple Constance and George, and the Ghost Host himself Extensive, exclusive commentary by Mansion designer Rolly Crump A summary of the most notable Mansion collectibles released by Disney over the years There's always room for one more, and this time you're it: come experience the Haunted Mansion with the "lights on" and learn its ghostly history, its sinister secrets, and why this Disney attraction continues to happily haunt fans young and old.Cory Doctorow [BoingBoing.net]: Baham is one of the most trusted, established experts on the Haunted Mansion, a trufan’s trufan.Guillermo del Toro [Award-winning film director, co-creator The Strain]: Having delved into Disney lore for decades and having been immersed in the Haunted Mansion world since age 3, I thought I knew pretty much everything there is about my favorite Disneyland ride ever. I was wrong. Prepare to be enchanted, bewildered and mesmerized by this beat-by-beat account of the Haunted Mansion’s creation. A haunted tour that is both scholarly and thrilling. An “E” ticket ride to the darkest, most glorious regions of Disney’s imagination!

    Book Specs Paper BackPublisher: Review & Herald Publishing AssociationPages: 107 Table of Contents

    That’s more than twice the number of employees at the Pentagon (23,000), one of the world’s largest office complexes. WDW is, in fact, the largest single-site employer in the United States. Disney’s effort to be “green” includes the production of more than 30 tons of fruit and vegetables per year, which are grown at the Land pavilion at Epcot. Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort is the only AAA five-diamond restaurant in Central Florida and has been recognized with an Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator as well. Approximately 1,100 audio-animatronic figures inhabit the Magic Kingdom alone, and about 2,000 populate the four theme parks in total. Typhoon Lagoon’s Crush n’ Gusher is the only water roller coaster in North America that has three unique and separate rides you can experience from one tower. The animals in Animal Kingdom’s Africa are “tucked in” every night in Disney’s Night Houses, each specifically designed by experts to suit the species it hosts.

    It's an intimate look into the creative worlds of Disney, Universal, and Six Flags Magic Mountain; a no-holds-barred memoir filled with wild characters and wilder concepts, complete with a step-by-step guide to how the magic is made!

    The book draws on the insights of a panel of Disney fanatics — The Mousejunkies — following dozens of personal vacations, trade shows and press trips in recent years. This second edition brings everything up to date with countless new tips, tricks, and tales.Mousejunkies provides tips and travel plans told through personal accounts – something that sets it apart from all the other guides.All of the most important topics are covered: When to go, where to stay, what to do and where to eat. But readers will also learn how to indulge in an all-day chicken wing and beer football orgy at Walt Disney World, how to extract your family from Fantasmic with your sanity intact, where to catch a mid-afternoon catnap in the theme park, and even how wrong a Disney cruise can go.Mousejunkies is more than one travel writer’s experiences at one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world. The Mousejunkies are a group of seemingly well-adjusted adults who have found themselves inexplicably drawn to Walt Disney World, again and again. Each has taken his or her own path, finding their way separately. When the smoke cleared, the group found itself back in reality, staring at one another over a pile of discarded annual passes and a useless collection of novelty hats.The stories - wry, humorous and told with an affection gained through years of Disney addiction - paint vivid portraits of a creatively engineered world, where unexpected surprises create lasting memories.The tips – valuable information designed to help readers get more out of their vacations – are told with a sly wink and the desire to share the secrets that make trips to central Florida more memorable.From touring plans to tongue-in-cheek reviews of the theme parks’ restrooms, Mousejunkies provides readers with useful information couched in obsessively-detailed narrative with a humorous touch.

    It is divided into six chapters. Chapter One covers the "World" in general; the next four chapters cover each of the theme parks; and the sixth and last focuses on the areas "Beyond the Parks" — the resort hotels, the monorail, Downtown Disney, and the water parks. Each chapter begins with multiple-choice questions, followed by the correct answers and additional fun facts about the subject.

    Bruce Knecht, former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Proving Ground and Hooked, describes the creation of an outsized yacht in a sweeping narrative centered on the men and women who made it happen. DOUG VON ALLMEN, a self-made man who grew up in a landlocked state dreaming of the ocean, was poised to build a 187-foot yacht that would cost $40 million. Lady Linda would not be among the very largest of the burgeoning fleet of oceangoing palaces, but Von Allmen vowed that it would be the best one ever made in the United States. Nothing would be ordinary. The interior walls would be made from rare species of burl wood, the floors paved with onyx and exotic types of marble, the furniture custom made, and the art specially commissioned. But the 2008 economic crisis changed everything. Von Allmen’s lifestyle suddenly became unaffordable. Then it got worse: desperate to reverse his losses, he fell for an audacious Ponzi scheme. Would Von Allmen be able to complete Lady Linda? Would the shipyard and its one thousand employees survive the financial meltdown? The divide between the very rich and everyone else had never been greater, yet the livelihoods of the workers, some of them illegal immigrants, and the yacht owners were inextricably intertwined. In a sweeping, high-stakes narrative, the critically acclaimed author of The Proving Ground and Hooked weaves Von Allmen’s story together with those of the men and women who are building his yacht. As the pursuit of opulence collides with the reality of economic decline, everyone involved in the massive project is forced to rethink the meaning of the American Dream.

    All I have to do is tell him what I want and it's there! He's my Renaissance man." As such, Davis touched nearly every aspect of The Walt Disney Company during his tenure. He began as an animator, whose supporting work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi inspired Walt to promote him to full animator. In the ensuing years, Davis breathed life into a bevy of iconic Disney characters, including Cinderella, Alice (in Wonderland), Tinker Bell, Maleficent, and Cruella De Vil. Then, in 1962, Walt Disney transferred the versatile Davis to the Imagineering department to help plan and design attractions for Disneyland and the 1964 65 New York World's Fair. While at Imagineering, Davis conceived of designs for such classic attractions as Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion.As Davis had so many talents and hats, it is only fitting that this tribute be composed by a multitude of talented writers. Experts in fine art, animation, Imagineering, and filmmaking have come together to honor Davis's contributions to their realms. Each chapter is accompanied by a wealth of artwork, much of which was offered up by Alice Davis exclusively for this book. This volume is both the biography and the portfolio of a man who was, on any given day, animator, Imagineer, world traveler, philanthropist, husband, and teacher.

     Disneyland began as Walt Disney's dream on a park bench one Saturday afternoon. Today, Disneyland and Walt Disney are symbols of success and an example of entrepreneurial leadership around the world. In Jeff Barnes’ The Wisdom of Walt Disney, discover how Walt Disney took action to transform his dream of Disneyland into the concrete reality we still benefit from sixty years later. Disneyland’s story is one every student of success should know. Like a great Disneyland attraction, The Wisdom of Walt Disney takes its readers on a storytelling ride with many twists, turns, drops, and surprise endings. Reading this book will change the way you see and experience Disneyland. Instead of Disneyland being a place of escape, Disneyland and Walt Disney will become for you a model of success. Learn how Walt Disney and Disneyland can challenge you to live your dream, inspire you to take action, and teach you how to create your own magic so that every day for you is as fun as a day at Disneyland. Author's Note: If, for any reason, you are unsatisfied with "The Wisdom of Walt Disney," then please send a private message via Facebook (Jeff Barnes or The Wisdom of Walt Disney) or Twitter (@drdisneyland) and I will immediately refund your full purchase (hardcopy or kindle version) no questions asked. Even if Amazon's seven day return window has passed!

    From the minutiae of Future World to the farthest reaches of World Showcase this guide covers it all in intimate detail. No stone is left unturned, and no legacy tile left unmocked. With a little bit of wit and a whole lot of heart you'll be led through the splendorific sprawl of the most endearing monument to humanity that has ever been created. Highlights include: A history of each pavilion and the forces that shaped its existence - or the end thereof. Insight into the inner-workings of the park. What makes it tick and why things happen the way they do. A scene-by-scene analysis of Horizons, quite possibly the most beloved attraction in the company's history and all of the World Disney World resort.

    Birnbaum sheds light on where and when to catch their hysterical-and historical-antics.-Epcot's newly-expanded International Food and Wine Festival. Cheers!-Typhoon Lagoon's newest water park attraction: Miss Fortune Falls, a water-raft ride is for the whole family! -Disney Cruise Line weighs anchor a mere 50 miles from Walt Disney World, making a surf-and-turf vacation a tempting possibility for many a Disney guest. A special Birnbaum "bonus" chapter guides guests from possibility to reality, laying out all the details for pairing a Disney Cruise with a visit to Walt Disney World.