Between Books - Earbook 2012: One Fan's Review in Pictures

The Unofficial Walt Disney World Earbook 2012: One Fan’s Review in Pictures by Kevin Yee is a pictorial chronicle of events at the Walt Disney World Resort during 2012. The book contains month by month chapters that provide visual representations of major events that occurred in the resort. Events covered include a multiple page spread remembering Snow White’s Scary Adventures which closed in May and the short-lived first version of Habit Heroes which was closed shortly after opening during to guest complaints. The book closes with an appendix that provides information about selected prices for accommodations and tickets during 2012, and prices for one day in June across the resort.

Honestly, I did not know what I expected. But I did not expect what I got, this text really is a yearbook for Walt Disney World. It is very photo based with a minimum of text. And it is relatively short, one can scan through this small book in less than 30 minutes. The pictures really are a star. And for someone who did not visit the resort in 2012 it serves as a visual resource to the events I did not take part in. The chapters vary by length with Snow White’s Scary Adventures in May receiving a five page spread, while the entire month of March only got 3 pages. But the length is likely determined by events which occurred. I wonder how the chapters will land for 2013 with Limited Time Magic. And I am guessing some events will not even make the pages of the 2013 edition. It is short on commentary. And I would have liked additional commentary for events like the closing of Habit Heroes’ first incarnation beyond saying it was criticized in the press. But again, one gets the sense this is intended to be a factual record not a editorial on the park. One thing that I really stands out in this book, especially being a self-published project, is the Index. So many small publishers/author published books lack an index. Earbook 2012 has an extensive and useful one.

Earbook 2012 may not be a book for everyone. Some guests who visited the park in 2012 may wish to pick this up as a scrapbook of a year they visited the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney history fans may want to consider this as a reference with the pictures and price snapshots. And the other Earbooks when examined together could help tell the story of the changing resort. For me living in Betweenland, Kevin Yee gave me a glimpse of Walt Disney World from a year I never experienced in the park.

Between Books - Epcot: The First Thirty Years

For three decades the Epcot theme park has been educating and entertaining guests at the Walt Disney World Resort.  Jeff Lange and Kevin Yee provide readers a visual tour of Epcot’s past and current attractions in Epcot: The First Thirty Years, An Unofficial Retrospective.  The authors walk readers through chapters on Future World, World Showcase, Entertainment, Events and Tribute Displays that are largely outside of the park.  Pages typically contain at least five photos with some text providing background to the attraction or area being featured.  The text is followed by a historical timeline of the park that ends with the 30^th anniversary event which occurred near publication. 

My chief complaint of Disney history books offered by smaller publishers are the photos.  The pictures provided in texts by smaller publishing houses tend to be black and white and lack clarity.  The pictures in Epcot: The First Thirty Years are all color and clear.  And there are 500 of them!  Many of them are of attractions that my Between Book library lacks visual references of.  The strength of the books is truly the pictures.  Every page overflows with pictures of varying sizes, though no one picture ever dominates an entire page.  For me a real highlight was the pages dedicated to the extinct World of Motion attraction.  I am big fan of Marc Davis’ work and seeing pages of photos of this attraction helped me understand how the World of Motion fits within Davis’ portfolio.  Davis’ humor pops off the page.  And the authors provide pictures of the train scene from Davis’ unbuilt Western River Expedition and adapted from World of Motion. 

If I could change anything, I would provide captions for the photos.  There are a number of photos on each page, but no caption specific to each picture.  Although the book text provides a good summary of the attractions that the pictures represent, there is no description of the photo contents themselves.  I am someone who did not visit Epcot during its first two decades, or as I have been told missed all the good stuff.  So though the text may let me know what attraction or area the picture goes with, I lack context to know what some of the specific items are.          

I do think that the $30 price could be an obstacle for some readers.  For me, someone who is not a rabid Epcot fan, it seems like a big bite from the wallet.  I have debated with myself if I would pay $30 for Epcot: The First Thirty Years, I have come to the decision that I could see scenarios where I could do it.  First I would consider paying because of the high number of photos that I do not have in other books.  Second the retrospective of World of Motion which was a real highlight for me personally and worth the money.  In fact I assume it is the picture quality that has most impacted the price of the book.  I did pass my copy over to a friend who is a rabid Epcot fan and asked him if he would pay the $30 price tag.  He stated absolutely.  There are two alternatives for those that think the price too high.  Instead of color pictures, for half the price one can purchase a Black and White version of the book.  If I had to choose between the options of color versus black and white, I would pay for the color to have the full experience.  Another color option at third of the price is a Kindle version.  I think this is a good option, especially for those who typically read in this format.  Though for me I still like feeling the paper in my hands.     

Jeff Lange and Kevin Yee’s Epcot: The First Thirty Years, An Unofficial Retrospective will delight Epcot fans, putting pictures of their favorite attractions in their hands.  For the Disney history fan, the book will provide visual references of Epcot’s past.  Overall, it is fitting tribute to thirty years of Disney history by two fans.   

Review Copy Provided by Authors

Between Books - Mouse Trap

What is it like to be a Disneyland Resort cast member?  Kevin Yee describes his own experience as a cast member working primarily in New Orleans Square restaurants, especially Café Orleans, in Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member.  Yee spent parts of a 15 year period as a cast member rising to the position of Lead at Café Orleans and later serving in the Entertainment Art department, which provided signs and decorations for special events within the park.

Yee’s text is very straight forward.  He describes how he was hired, onboarded, evaluated, worked and eventually left the Disneyland Resort.  He provides detail to the backstage areas of the Disneyland Park that guests never see, including wardrobe, break areas, business areas and other hidden support departments.  Yee also describes life as a cast member from special events, shopping, and the details of the scheduling and wardrobe processes during his days as a cast member.  He also gives a detailed examination of how some of these logistics have changed, to the best of his knowledge, after his 2002 departure from Disney employment.  He does additionally give some details about the social life of cast members such as dating and social activities.

Mouse Trap is heavy on logistics.  Yee is highly detailed about cast member functions such as wardrobe.  Actually, it is kind of fascinating to read his account of how wardrobe changes occurred in his tenure and why guests now see so many dressed cast members standing at the bus stops or walking off stage as they go home.  Yee provides a ton of information about how one worked as a cast member, and for me I found it very interesting.  He does address briefly and not in great detail the social aspects of being a cast member, including pranks.  However, he may not go into the depth that some readers may want.  If one is looking for a tell all memoir that names names and only reports the less ethical activities of cast members, this is not that book.  Instead Yee respects the privacy and names of those he worked with.  For a memoir in that vein readers may wish to pick up a book like Cast Member Confidential.  No Mouse Trap does not rip the cover off the seedy life of working for Disneyland, instead it provides a clear picture of how being an employee of the park functioned during Yee’s years.

Before I recently went on vacation, I really wanted to read a Disneyland Resort cast memoir.  When searching for a title I kept coming back again and again to Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member.  Kevin Yee paints a picture of the reality of being a Disneyland cast member.  The book is highly detailed and clear.  Those who wish to understand the daily reality of working at the Disney parks will likely be pleased with Mouse Trap.       

Between Books - Walt Disney World Hidden History: Remnants of Former Attractions & Other Tributes

Walt Disney World Hidden History: Remnants of Former Attractions & Other Tributes by Kevin Yee shows readers the Easter eggs found in the Walt Disney World Resort that honor retired attractions and those that influenced the attractions within the resort.  He takes readers on a tour of the four parks within the resort and even examines tributes in Downtown Disney and the resort hotels.  Most examinations of tributes are less than a page long and many are accompanied by black and white photographs.  Yee also provides a list of those honored with Main Street U.S.A. windows and a list of opening and closing dates for active and closed attractions.  The book finishes with a few pages of non-Disney tributes found within the Universal Orlando Resort.

I have read similar books in the Imagineering Guide series and The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World.  So I was a little amazed to read some new material that I was not familiar with including tributes to Walt Disney and Frank Wells in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, the role toasters had to play with Dinosaur, and even some nods to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride within the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh beyond the two that I have read about several times.  I really did not expect to see anything that I would have classified as new, but these were just a few examples of me being proven wrong.  Additionally, unlike those other books Yee provides readers details that match closely to the parks we have today, with no references to the defunct Mickey’s Toontown Fair which can be found in other similar books.  But if I was to ask for improvement I would have two requests.  First, I would love more content.  This text is around 200 pages with several pages having only a half page of content.  Second, I would like to see color and clearer pictures.  The addition of pictures is a very nice touch.  However, a few of the pictures do not do justice to the content Yee provides due to clarity.  Overall, Walt Disney World Hidden History is easy to read and shows sometimes there is something new under the sun. 

Between Books - Jason's Disneyland Almanac

The day I was born the Disneyland Park was open until 1 a.m.  Sadly as an adult visiting for the first time it was only open until midnight.

We have all dreamed about walk-on conditions when visiting a Disney park.  But I don’t think any of us can imagine December 14, 1961.  It was a bit nippy and rained some. But on that Thursday there were only 523 guests in Disneyland.  Let me say that again, 523!

On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney passed away.  On that day only 3,284 guests were present to enjoy his creation.

I know these facts thanks to Jason’s Disneyland Almanac by Jason Schultz and Kevin Yee.  Jason’s Disneyland Almanac collects the opening and closing times, temperature highs and lows, precipitation, and major openings, closings, events, and potential important guests to the Disneyland Resort from it’s opening in 1955 until 2010.  In fact the authors have gathered operating hours for the resort for all but 773 of 20,257 dates.  The real delight of this almanac is the attendance data for dates between July 18, 1955 to December 31, 1966, taken from Roy O. Disney’s Disneyland Attendance Summary.   This historical record provides us with data that Disney executives do not generally make available about the park today.

This book is about the numbers.  There is some narrative and background but not in great amounts. Really it is the numbers that tell readers the story of Disneyland. Especially interesting is the attendance data from the early years of Disneyland Park.  One will be shocked to see days with especially low attendance, closures due to weather and trends that don’t match current Touring Plans Crowd Calendars.  For example, look closely at the attendances for Christmas in early Disneyland and consider equivalents today. Also readers will be surprised to find regular park closures, could we even imagine the parks closing on a regular basis even during today’s “off season?”

I am a big baseball fan.   Amongst baseball fans there are sabermetricians, the fans who use statistics and numbers to dig deeper into the story of the game.  This book is for the Disney sabermetrician, a source that provides the raw data for the examination of park trends.   And even the non-numbers minded enthusiasts, like me, can see trends that help us to better understand the park today.

The data itself and the authors’ methodology in collecting it appears as solid as possible for someone without access to Disney archives and records.  They do admit that there could be errors and mistakes as much data such as closures and park times were gathered from primarily public or second sources. So they warn that errors could be present.  I chuckled as I found one related to my first trip to Disneyland; as the text states that Glow Fest closed on the day I arrived at the Disneyland Resort for the first time, when I know that in the week following the stated closure that I participated in the event twice.  I believe this is due to an extension of Glow Fest; an extension that I believe was not listed in documents that provided the original dates for this party.  Who would have guessed that it was going to be as popular as it was?

On February 19, 2001, Disney’s California Adventure (with the ‘s at the time) was open for two hours later than Disneyland Park.   Shocking? Not really, because an examination of page 262 of Jason’s Disneyland Almanac will help the story unfold.  Numbers sometimes provide their own narratives!



Review Copy Provided for Purposes of Review