Between Books - The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Third Edition

 

Susan Veness’ The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World book has long been a standard here at Between Disney. But a lot has changed at Walt Disney World, and here at Between Disney, since the first edition was reviewed in 2011. And it was just a few years ago, in my mind, that I reviewed the Second Edition. And boom, there arrived at my doorstep a Third Edition in 2020…during a time when I was slowly working through Between Books. Slowly, I have been picking up on reviews again and this new edition is really the best place for me to kick off a new era of Between Book reviews.

The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Third Edition by Susan Veness follows the same general plan as the earlier editions. Veness walks readers through the four Walt Disney World Resort parks land by land. As she takes this walk she drops fun facts and behind-the-scenes information that for many, okay readers like me, will find delightful and help to expand the park experience. The book is text-driven, with little to no pictures except for a map that highlights some facts about each park.

Overall, the facts are interesting and delightful. I have read a lot of Disney books, yet I felt like I experienced many new to me facts. The text was well-written and engaging. But for some reason, I did find that it took me a bit to get into the text. This may be due to the fact there was content I had read before in this format. But as I got further into the text, my attention was increasingly grabbed instead of diminished. I worried that new sections such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would spoil me but instead I felt the sections prepared me and helped grab my interest. I felt like the surprises I have kept from myself were not revealed.

It could be the lack of images and photos that may have been my initial barrier to all in. As I read a section I often attempted to mentally picture the layout of the area. I assume the lack of images is tied to copyright issues. And while this text can be used to prepare a traveler, it may even be better in the park as a guide to help fill time in lines, as visitors play a game to find the secret the text points out. For this purpose, the book is light enough to fit in a small backpack but even better would be a Kindle edition on a cell phone.

I did note in the past I would like a section about Downtown Disney/Disney Springs. Content about Disney Springs and the water parks would be fun, but the editions are all consistent in creating boundaries around the theme parks.

As expected from a revised edition, content is often the same. The France section of the World Showcase that I discussed in the Second Edition remains unchanged but has shifted to page 129 to align with the new and removed content in this edition. This fact just leads me to suggest that new readers really should consider the newest edition for the most updated content with the key details found in earlier editions. This is underscored by the growth in each volume as the original had 242 pages, the Second 255 pages, and the Third 286 pages. This text is like the park is expanding. Get the newest fellow readers!

The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World is a go-to book for me. It is fun. It is well written. And it has a lot of facts. It has the power to prepare someone for a trip, especially if they want to sound knowledgeable on Disney secrets. Also, it could provide park fun, as family members waiting for their next attraction seek out the secrets provided for each section. I will continue to recommend The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World for those who want to read up on park secrets before they visit the Walt Disney World Resort.

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

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Between Books - Hollow World

Honestly Detective Charlie Walker may be having the worst Walt Disney World vacation ever!  Sure his entire family loves the resort, but when your family is kidnapped from the Magic Kingdom Park as they sit right next to you, well it is sure to kick off a bummer of a trip!  Will Charlie be able to save his family and his love of Disney Parks?

Hollow World by Nick Pobursky offers the fictional story of Detroit Detective Charlie Walker.  Walker is an intelligent and hard-working officer who  made a local splash a few years earlier when he caught a local serial killer.  Walker who has Sherlock Holmes like deduction skills does have one retreat from the stress of his detective work, regularly visiting the Walt Disney World Resort with his wife and two daughters.  While on his latest trip things go painfully wrong as Walker's family is kidnapped within the confines of Tomorrowland!  The kidnapper is a genius, organized mad man who has established an elaborate challenge for Charlie, with the prize being his own family.   Charlie must defeat the villain's puzzle set up within Walt Disney World.  And the consequences of failure may be beyond the lives of Charlie's family.

I usually do not read this type of book, mystery thriller.  So I was a little wary that this book would fall flat with me.  However, Pobursky provided two hooks that pulled me into the story.  First, and most obvious, is the setting of the Walt Disney World Resort which drew me in as a Disney Parks fan.  Second, though I am not a first-class detective, Charlie is a family man who loves Walt Disney World.  So I can relate to him.  And his problem of saving his family is one that does provide plenty of tension for me.  Though I will admit compared to Charlie I would be completely useless.  So knowing that I would be lost in this scenario and completely overwhelmed, the story effectively had weight for me.  Luckily for the story, Charlie Walker is a smarter man than I (or at least more logical).

Along with Charlie there are a number of interesting characters that help the story move along.  The villain, Spencer Holloway, is precise, intelligent, creepy and immoral.  The lives of others mean nothing to him and you really believe he will kill the entire Walker family from the youngest daughter to Charlie himself.  Henchman Jeremy is a complicated story of compliance and naughtiness.  And Team X-Ray whose interference in the Walker's life changes Holloway's game, is full of interesting characters who I can see carrying a story of their own.  So again, despite not typically reading this type of book, I found it very interesting and enjoyable.

Pobursky succeeds at bringing realism to the story.  For Disney fans stuck in their hotel rooms, Stacy makes the story.  And of course that simple fact provides authenticity to the story since you can see the television loop in your head.  And for the action, I spent a good thirty minutes Googling the very real Microtech knives.  And the security situation at the gates of Disney's Hollywood Studio will ring true and a little scary.  The book jacket states that the book is R-Rated Fiction, and I can see how this statement could scare away some readers.  But again, I would say do not let this pull you away from the story.  The R-Rated situations are similar to those found in thrillers and action-adventures.  And they strike realistic to the story.  And unlike other Disney based fiction stories, Pobursky does not provide a fictitious history of the parks to support his stories.  Instead the resort serves as a real place with a real history in which the story is occurring.

So, do I recommend this book?  Yes, this is such a no-brainer for me.  I read the print book and believe it is a great vacation read.  It was bigger than a paperback novel, but still fit nicely in my book bag.  I read it over my Thanksgiving break, which could explain why I pictured Holloway as the Duke of Weselton from Frozen.   I had received a review copy, but if I had not I would have instantly purchased the Kindle version for myself, because its only $3.99.  I so often see books that publishers offer in both a print and electronic format where the electronic format is only a few dollars less than the print edition.  But here Bamboo Forest Publishing proves yet again they are concerned with getting their author's work into the hands of the Disney fan instead of gouging pocketbooks.  Seriously at that price, even if you are just meh on this read, you have lost virtually nothing.   

Hollow World by Nick Pobursky is an action story that draws the reader into the story set within Walt Disney World.  The reader is tense as one wonders if Walker or his family survives, since it is clear that not everyone will make it through Pobursky's tale unharmed.  Hollow World is a fun read that will likely appeal to action-adventure fans (even those with limited knowledge of the Walt Disney World Resort) and Disney fans alike.  Honestly, I would really enjoy a sequel involving these characters, even if it was set outside my favorite parks.  I wonder if the Walker's have never gone to Universal, I mean I have not but maybe the Walkers could! 

Post-Credit Scene:  As a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) I am always looking for Easter Eggs and Post-Credit scenes.  I chuckled as Pobursky gives his reader a post-credit scene, okay its "Acknowledgement", that tips a figurative hat to the MCU.  And you have to read the "About the Author" section which has a trademarked chuckle or two, and a promise familiar to James Bond and MCU fans. 


Review Copy Provided by Publisher 

Mousey Movies - The Rocketeer

I saw The Rocketeer when it originally was released in the theater and years before I became Between Disney.  I have remembered this superhero movie, starring Billy Campbell about a pilot who uncovers an experimental jet pack in 1938 which leads to a conflict with Nazis and mobsters, as a typical superhero action movie.  And it was something that I never watched again since 1991.  I did not hate it, I did not love it.  Today The Rocketeer is considered by many as a cult classic.  A recent viewing of this film has confirmed my personal opinion that it is a fun movie but not ground breaking.  What I did not remember was how Mousey of a movie that it is:

·        Joe Johnston:  The Rocketeer was Johnston’s second directorial assignment, with his debut being a Mousey Movie in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which has left its own mark on Disney parks.  Johnston originally started in movies as a designer for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and art director for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, films which provide the story background for Star Tours: The Adventure Continues.  In 2011, Johnston returned to the House of Mouse directing blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger.      

·        Terry O’Quinn:  O’Quinn plays Howard Hughes, the real life billionaire and aviator.  In The Rocketeer, Hughes is the inventor of the X-3 jet pack in the film.  Both the actor and the role are Mousey.  O’Quinn would later go onto star in ABC’s Lost as John Locke beginning in 2004.  But Hughes also has a hidden Disney history.  He designed the Hughes H-4 Hercules or the “Spruce Goose”, a plane made out of wood.  As noted in Jack Lindquist’s In Service to the Mouse, Disney purchased the Spruce Goose in 1988 as an attraction for a proposed Port Disney park in Long Beach.  When plans for this new park were halted, Disney liquidated its ownership of the aircraft.     

·        Timothy Dalton:  Dalton plays actor Neville Sinclair, a man with a secret interest in the jet pack and an eye for Cliff Secord’s (Campbell) lady.  When I saw this the first time, the Dalton casting had my attention with my third favorite James Bond at that time (Connery, Moore, Dalton and then Lazenby) as a bad guy.  In 2010, Dalton would yet again portray an actor for Disney as Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3.  Personally though Sinclair did his own stunts, Mr. Prickelpants appears to be both a better student and artist. 

·         Millie:  To many actress Margo Martindale may be best known as the family friend of serial killer Dexter Morgan.  But to me she will forever be Grandma Ruby in Hannah Montana: The Movie!  In The Rocketeer, she plays Millie who runs the Bull Dog Café frequented by the Secord and his fellow airfield co-workers. 

·         Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  There are several references to The Rocketeer in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  The most prominent is Peevy’s Polar Pipeline named after Secord’s friend and mechanic A. “Peevy” Peabody played by Alan Arkin.  Decorations for this snack stand include a replica Rocketeer jet pack. 

I love superheros and superhero movies.  And The Rocketeer is worth the watch, especially if you are a Disney fan as this film is rich with Mouseyness and could help deepen a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.      

Between Books - The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World

The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom by Susan Veness provides context, history and interesting facts to the parks of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida. The book serves as a tour of the parks, leading readers systemically through the lands of the four parks. Along with attraction and entertainment information, Veness provides readers with an easy to understand historical timeline for each park. Some text is bolded in the book to provide easy reference when casually scanning or using the text as a guidebook. Along with attraction descriptions there are also additional call outs called “Fascinating Fact” which calls attention to specific behind the scenes or interesting details and “Imagine That” which discusses in more depth the philosophy of Walt Disney Imagineering when developing projects.

This book provides an all in one overview of the Florida parks. So instead of needing multiple books on Walt Disney World, like with the Imagineering guides, one can sit down with one text and get a behind the scenes look at the entire resort. The text is easy to read, and a read most will probably find enjoyable. The Imagineering guides, do serve as a point of comparison with the most striking the difference between the two being images. The Imagineering guides are full of images and concept art. The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World is image free. Like the Imagineering Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, my viewpoint of this book has also changed from a guide to more of a historical testament of what was with the removal of Mickey’s Toontown Fair and the growth of Fantasyland. It really is amazing how quickly a book representing itself as a guide can move from timely to historical with the rate of change within the Disney parks! Veness notes she wants to help her readers see the details of the parks and attractions. In that goal she succeeds as she helps those of us often moving too fast to see what is in front of us to look behind our first glance to the remarkable details Imagineers have built into the parks. The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World is a nice all in one view of the parks of the Walt Disney World resort and a good starting point for growing a Disney obsession living Between Disney.


For more from the Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World series see Between Books - The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Planner: A Complete Organizer, Journal and Keepsake for Your Unforgettable Vacation  and Between Books - The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney Trivia.