Between Books - Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering

This book is safe!

There’s no controversy on the page. No one really fights internally. And you are left with questions about how an overfilled work schedule impacts families. Honestly, it’s just a safe read that gives one insight into the development of Disney theme parks, especially in Asia.

Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering by Bob Weis outlines the former Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) President’s career. The book opens with brief chapters on Weis’ family, school days, and college which includes his decision to move from drama into architecture. Having been an expert popcorn salesman at Disneyland, Weis hoped to translate his passion for theme parks and design education into a position at WDI’s predecessor WED, a journey that was not immediate. Eventually, he would be recruited onto the Tokyo Disneyland Team, which was mean and lean with most Imagineers focussed on EPCOT. This put the young Weis in a position to manage international projects and gain valuable experience in leading artistic teams. The success he found would lead to decades of projects around the world like Epcot enhancements, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Tokyo DisneySea. He would also leave Disney for several years and lead his own design firm, allowing him to experience placemaking outside of Disney parks until he was asked to return. And he sat at a key seat as he watched a Disney project that was never to be in Disney’s America. With his decades of global and team experience, Weis was asked in 2016 to become the President of WDI and would lead the team till his retirement through the difficult moment of COVID-19, while trying to maintain the artistic standards taught to him by past leaders like Marty Sklar.

So, this book is really safe. I feel part of this is due to this being an official Disney Editions book, a press that would not seek to stir controversy in corporate history. So, even when critical Weis remains kind. And I’m sure many Disney fans were hoping that he would critique Bob Chapek, a relationship fans believed led to Weis’ retirement. I also believe that Weis and his personality are not seeking to be critical of those he worked with just out of discretion. So when noting difficult personalities that he may have worked with during his decades, he also includes a positive that they brought to the working environment.

I did find the book’s organization at times to be much more a loose set of essays than an interwoven story. Some chapters are only two pages long and may give more of a feeling than details of projects. I’d say if you were looking for detailed history, you will find it here in chapters on topics like Disney’s America and all that went wrong or the development of Hollywood’s Studios, typically in longer chapters. But at times I wondered if some of these quick hits would have done better in combination chapters.

Weis to be fair was really really busy. Disney literally sent him throughout the world. And while one gets the sense that he loved his work and the travel it provided, you also get hints of the cost…family. There are relationships hinted to in partners and children, that Weis tells us enough to know they cherished them but may have also had strain. As he points out in Tokyo, his partner at the time was often left alone while Weis started his day in the dark and ended it in the dark. Honestly, I think there is a lot that can be said about the cost of work-life balance, and I would have loved to hear more from a successful manager and leader about what he has learned even when his relationships have been strained.

Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering by Bob Weis is a collection of essays about leading in Imagineering, especially with projects that American fans may not have experienced…and didn’t with Disney’s America. I think that Disney parks fans will find this to be an essential read for those who want to dig deeper into the parks globally, but non or casual fans may not find it as engaging. 

 

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Between Books - The Disney Interviews: Volume I

 

 

The Walt’s People series has really created a gold standard for interview/oral history volumes on our Disney bookshelves.  These books create a benchmark that even experienced authors and interviews may struggle to maintain.  So, while the idea of an experienced interviewer moving audio interviews into a text format may seem like a no-brainer, sadly it can still go wrong. 

The Disney Interviews: Volume I by Lou Mongello transcribes interviews from the popular WDW Radio podcast into book format.  Each chapter consists of a brief introduction by the author about the context of the interview and some thoughts about the event.  The bulk of the chapter is a transcription of the interview.  Those included are a wide range of Disney celebrities including the well-known Julie Andrews, Alice Davis, Marty Sklar, and Richard Sherman.  But it also includes figures like Al Konetzni and Ralph Kent that may not be on every Disney fan’s radar.

This volume shows how difficult it can be to create a book, even when you have strong material.  In short, this book needs an editor desperately.  There are numerous text errors that create both reading discomfort and factual errors.  It makes one wonder if a simple transcription program was used to move the words into text, and then perhaps not carefully reviewed.  There are numerous grammatical errors.  But factual errors also frequent the book.  I was wondering who Dick Nunez was as he seemed to have had an impact on Tom Nabbe’s career.  I eventually figured out it was Dick Nunis.  But I was taken out of my experience as I pieced this puzzle together.  There are even factual errors in the introductions.  For example, in the Al Konetzni interview readers are directed to the full podcast episode 511, which is the Bill Sullivan interview. 

The Mongello interviews are comforting to hear.  They may be fancentric, but they really are like sitting down with an old friend when you hear them.  I really was looking forward to revisiting these interviews in a new way.  Sadly, instead I found The Disney Interviews: Volume I to be distracting and periodically frustrating to read.  I borrowed a Kindle edition and would really like to see this material edited and updated to provide what should be a fine reading experience. 

 

 

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Between Books - Designing Disney's Theme Parks

I have heard a lot about Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance edited by Karal Ann Marling over the years.  Honestly, I've often understood it to be next to John Hench's Designing Disney as a classic of the field.  So when I found a used copy of Designing Disney's Theme Parks I knew it had to find it a spot in the Between Library.

Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance edited by Karal Ann Marling serves as a companion to an exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in the 1990s.  As such, the book is focused heavy on design.  The text includes articles on Imagineers as artists by Marty Sklar, design, Disneyland and culture and setting.  The essays are surrounded by the many images including design sketches, model pictures and images of the park in action.  Overall the general theme stresses the importance of understanding design in Disney Theme Parks and learning from them in other projects.

Honestly, I do not believe that Designing Disney's Theme Parks will be a go to book for me.  The book does a good job of discussing design.  But a lot has changed since the 1990s.  The images includes many that at publication date would have likely been new to the reader, but today they have been published in numerous other books.  But the difference between this volume and more recent is accessibility.  This text really speaks to designers, and converses to them as professionals.  Other offerings have a more general audience, speaking to many different fields.  Additionally, I had hoped that a major theme of Designing Disney's Theme Parks would be movement.  Honestly this is touched on but not empathized to the level I had expected from other commentators.  Perhaps that fact this is a collection hindered the ability for it to maintain the consistent theme.

Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance edited by Karal Ann Marling is an important Between Book.  It served as a predecessor for many of the design books that we have now, using pictures to help tell the Disney story.  Hard-core Disney history fans need this volume.  However, more casual readers may want to seek out a less technical book.

Between Books - On the Disney Beat

On the Disney Beat: Over 30 years of Chronicling the People and Places in Walt’s World by Chuck Schmidt collects the author’s recollections of covering Disney as both a newspaper reporter and blogger.  Schmidt provides an overview of his journalistic career starting as a copy boy at the Staten Island Advance, a position on the bottom of the ladder which would eventually lead to positions as reporter and editor.  Serving as Sunday news editor, Schmidt decided to write travel features on Walt Disney World.  These articles would kick off meaningful relationships with Disney Legends including Charlie Ridgeway and Marty Sklar and executives such as Jay Rasulo.  On the Disney Beat is a result of these relationships and interactions with chapters including profiles and interviews of these and other Disney personalities such as Tony Baxter and Bob Gurr along with descriptions of press events that he attended.  The book also contains images of some of the items given to Schmidt at press events. 

For me that piece that I found the most interesting was the press events.  I had read about these events from the Disney side in Charlie Ridgeway’s memoir.  But here Schmidt takes us into these events on the side of the participant.  It becomes clear fast that these events took great care to pamper the attendees.  And it becomes equally clear that these events created a great amount of good will.  Schmidt takes us beyond the design of these publicity events to an understanding of their effectiveness.  We also get to know Ridgeway and his spirit through one who interacted with him, and with effectiveness of his personality shines outward.  

The other “star” of the book for me is Marty Sklar.  Sklar along with being a featured personality in the book also wrote the “Forward”.  Through Schmidt the reader gets to experience a growing relationship and friendship with the Disney Legend.  And it is clear that Schmidt has great respect for Sklar.  The Legend’s personality feels generous and fun-loving as the reader dives into the Sklar focused chapters.  

Another enjoyable account is how Schmidt came to learn of a shared connection with Rasulo.  This connection leads to an interview with the executive.  And one has to wonder if you could still setup an interview so easily with a high level company executive today.

On the Disney Beat is clear and easy to read.  It does provide a variety of topics with Schmidt’s passion for Disney being the heart of the book.  Personally, I would suggest picking up a Kindle copy just to save a few dollars.  And for me it is the kind of book that would be easy to read on a phone since one can easily drop in and out of chapters due to the variety. 

Chuck Schmidt in On the Disney Beat gives us a look into Disney publicity events as a participant.  And he details how he became a friendly with a number of Disney personalities.  In many ways readers will either be jealous of the adventure or follow along vicariously through Schmidt as he interacts with many of our heroes.  

Review Copy Provided by Theme Park Press  

Between Books - One Little Spark!

I have used “Mickey’s Ten Commandments” crafted by Marty Sklar quite a few times in my professional career.  It is ten concepts that one can easily apply to a number of creative endeavors, and even if you make widgets you are creating something.  So needless to say a book describing Mickey’s Ten Commandments by their originator had my attention, and my money.

One Little Spark!:Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering by Marty Sklar is really two books with one title.  The first book is a summary and explanation of “Mickey’s Ten Commandments”.   Sklar gives each commandment a chapter in which he explains its meaning, provides an good example (which he gives a Mousecar) and a bad example (to which he gives a fictional Goof award) and sprinkles in his own expertise.   All of the examples come from Disney Theme Parks, including those things he believes failed the principles.  The second book is Sklar distilling the wisdom of 75 current and former Imagineers on the skills needed to be an Imagineer including passion, a love of learning and curiosity. 

I do not really want to say this.  But I really wish this was two separate books instead of one.  The content is like Epcot, two very different things pushed together.  Yes, Sklar has proven to be a master of this concept.  But here it really does not play well for me.  It basically does not feel like a mashup that fits together.  Maybe it does not have a transition that works for me since really the whole book could be seen as an Imagineering toolbox.  Or it could be the two very different presentations.  But I found myself obsessing about “Mickey’s Ten Commandments” while not showing interest in the road to Imagineering.  Maybe it is my stage of life, being an professional not bright eyed youngster.  Also I really did not enjoy the block quotes used in the road to Imagineering segment.  I really would have preferred more Sklar and less everyone else. 

If anything I will say that Sklar is honest.  And despite being a Disney Editions book he does not pull punches.  There are attractions which he gives a Goof award to which will shock you.  And despite some of these are classic attractions beloved by millions, he has good points about how they have failed to follow Imagineering’s creative principles.  And one must remember that Sklar was a key developer in some of the “failed” attractions. 

One Little Spark!:Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering is a book I will reference throughout the next few years.  And Sklar has given me more background to support my professional use of his principles.  But honestly I would have preferred two smaller books, using more of Sklar’s voice, to quench my thirst on this creative topic.    

Between Books - Marc Davis: Walt Disney's Renaissance Man

As I have become more and more familiar with those that make the magic, the late Marc Davis has become my favorite Imagineer.  His ability to mix fun with interesting designs continues to help The Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Haunted Mansion.  I have often said on my list of literary wants is a volume that captures all of his interests from animation to the theme parks and beyond.  And now we can finally say that title exists.

Marc Davis: Walt Disney's Renaissance Man provides an artistic biography of Davis' life.  The artist's journey is documented by numerous authors, including some who knew the man, including John Canemaker, Andreas Deja, Pete Doctor, Marty Sklar and Marc Davis (yes, I said Marc Davis).  Each author takes up an aspect of his career from his own early animal studies, Davis the art teacher, animation, Imagineering, Davis' fine art and more.  Davis' own chapter is an excerpt from an unpublished book in which he discusses anatomy and motion.  Author Mindy Johnson provides a chapter that will delight Disney fans, "The Divine Miss Alice", which provides a biography of Davis' widow Alice who is a legend in her own right.  The entire volume is wonderfully illustrated with Davis' work, much of it coming from the Alice Davis Collection.

First and foremost what strikes a reader is the art.  The book has over sized pages which show off a master artist and draftsman's efforts.  A common theme amongst the authors is Davis' flawless representation of movement, and his personal sketches of football games and dancers shows that clear ability to visually communicate movement with static pictures.  The inclusion of early drawings, including those done on Butcher paper are exciting, as one feels they are uncovering Davis' early works.  And the included Disney Theme Park images will delight.  My personal favorites include concept art for the Western River Expedition which show that Davis planned a ride full of puns.  But the concept art for the Haunted Mansion art gallery found on pages 138 and 139 made me wish the page was even bigger so the crease did not have to interfere with my view of the masterpiece. Speaking of masterpieces, the book provides something that Disney fans are not used to, numerous samples of Davis' fine art.  These pieces, be it a tree study or a spirit house from his Papua New Guinea trips show Davis' ability to work in numerous formats and styles.

The chapter text, usually 3 to 5 pages long, present Davis' well-rounded life.  My favorite chapters show a teacher, a man at play, and a husband.  "Marc as Teacher" by Bob Kurtz presents Davis the instructor.  One really can see the ease at which Davis could quickly form an image with expert lines.  And you get insight to his teaching style.  For me a highlight is seeing something I thought no longer exists, photographs of some of his chalkboards.  "Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands" shows a man looking to learn more about his world and his art.  But his sketches, including a canoe mishap allow us to see a man with a sense of humor.  And of course, his art from his trips is spectacular.  And along with his whimsy, the accompanying text shows that even in his later years he still had a vivid imagination.  Finally, "The Divine Miss Alice" gives us a biography of Alice Davis.  I have personally gotten so used to hearing Alice Davis talk about Marc Davis that it was refreshing to see her own work highlighted.  Additionally, the images help document a true romance.

Marc Davis: Walt Disney's Renaissance Man is a book I have wanted on my Between Book shelf for awhile, well before it even existed.  This volume is a must have for Marc Davis fans, Disney animation historians and Disney Parks enthusiasts.  In one volume Davis fans can reference his entire art career and see why Walt Disney considered Davis his Renaissance Man. 

 


Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Between Books - Hatch! Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer

I have read several books that attempt to give you insight into the mind of an Imagineer.  But honestly many of those books gloss over the skills of theme park design and creativity without giving the reader the tools to use those skills in their professional and non-work life.  You often think to yourself, yes I want to be creative, but how do I go beyond the nugget that has been presented to skills building.  C. McNair Wilson bucks in trend in Hatch!, a book that provides a formula for successful brainstorming and a blueprint on making this formula work!

Hatch!: Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer by C. McNair Wilson showcases Mr. Wilson's expertise in brainstorming that has proven to be successful during his time as an Imagineer, private consultant (including for Disney), and within numerous stage productions.  The book is broken into two halves.  In the first portion, Wilson presents his "7 Agreements of Brainstorming", the principles that he shares with groups when he leads a brainstorming endeavor.  The second half focuses on the nuts and bolts of brainstorming from creating your own sand box to brainstorm within, setting up brainstorming teams and the ever terrifying doodling!  The author has illustrated the volume with doodles of his own, which reinforce his lessons, and inspirational quotes.

I feel like C. McNair Wilson has freed me!  That may be overstatement, but it is a fun one.  I work within a field where I brainstorm solutions to problems all the time.  And recently I even gave a professional presentation where I used Marty Sklar's "Mickey's Ten Commandments" to urge my fellow professionals to quit seeing ourselves as bland and dull writers of vanilla passages but instead as creatives who are artists when fulfilling external regulations.  I feel like Hatch! has further provided me tools to continue screaming this fact.  So for me, when reading through the "7 Agreements of Brainstorming" it was the liberating principles that stuck out to me.  For example, "Agreement No. 6: Wild Ideas" with the mental picture of putting doughnuts on the moon really hit home with me, especially after he showed it was possible to find ways to get doughnuts on the moon!  It helped show me that in brainstorming it is not just that no idea is a bad idea, but it was the fact that a wild idea may either be a good idea or provide the seed of a great idea.  For me, the six first principles that Wilson provides are about creativity and having the freedom to be creative when brainstorming.  Though he still provides space for critical thinking.  But even in this phase of planning, Wilson's formula provides plenty of space for creative thoughts.

The second half of the book is really the nuts and bolts of how to make the "7 Agreements of Brainstorming" work.  Throughout the book it becomes clear that Wilson respects doodling as a way to both foster thought and to express ideas.  But, I raise my hand and say, what about me who has little to no drawing skills?  What can I do?  I am happy to say that Wilson addresses this issue.  He provides suggestions on tools and how to practice one's doodling skills so one can have confidence in them.  Of course he also gives us a healthy reminder that we do not have to be perfect.  Honestly, as I read through this book I thought of a recent business situation where I lead a team through the critical thinking stage of brainstorming a problem without the help of Hatch!.  At one point I started doodling on our group notes.  This included simple doodles like happy and sad faces, and a burning house.  The funny thing is it helped us make a consensus decision for a recommendation, and when we presented it to others we included graphics as part of our presentation!  Though someone did have to ask me if one face was crying or just needed a shave!  So despite the fact I have no drawing skills at all, I had already seen the power of doodles.  (Recently I was faced with a project where I had to draw, an artistic friend gave the great advice of simple geometric shapes.  If you are worried about drawing it is a good place to start).

Disney fans will be interested in this book since the cover makes note of Wilson's Imagineering past.  And the Disney stories within it are enjoyable to the Disney history fan.  He recounts the day Michael Eisner asked a team to consider options for the parking lot across from Disneyland.  And one of my favorite examples was the evolution of an idea when Wilson suggested they build a hotel in a theme park (thank you, my few days there were very enjoyable).  And there are even stories of plans that never fully developed.  So overall a Disney fan will be pleased.  But one should keep in mind that included stories go well beyond Disney, with stories from his stage productions and even his 40th birthday party.

So despite the Disney connection, this really is a book for those interested in creative thinking and effective brainstorming.  As I have thought through the book I have found more application to how I support creative thinking at work than adding to knowledge of my Disney fandom.  So, one should realize this is a brainstorming book that anyone can use, with some Disney sprinkled in.  Hatch! really is a guidebook to creative thinking in group settings, not a history of the creation of Disneyland.

When it comes to the question of where to buy Hatch! there are several options.  At the author's website you can see all of the purchasing options, including one that helps support some good causes.  He has made available a PDF excerpt from the book that you can look through.  You can also read some of McNair Wilson's thoughts about Disney and non-Disney things, including his take on Saving Mr. Banks.  But being the selfish guy I am, I suggest purchasing the signed personalized copy.  My copy has a bit of whimsy to it since the author added his own personal touch.

Hatch!: Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer by C. McNair Wilson is a liberating book.  It allows the rational being to release themselves into a creative one by providing a simple set of seven agreements.  By following these steps one can make a good thing great, much like Imagineering does!  But even if you are not a Disney parks fan, you can still gain much by sharpening your brainstorming skills while having some fun. 



Review Copy Provided for Purposes of Review

Between Books - Dream It! Do It!

Disney fans have long anticipated the collection of legendary Imagineer Marty Sklar’s memories into a book. Sklar having a career that spanned the opening of Disneyland to retirement in 2009, has literally seen it all. And in many cases he was a participant. Yes, this is a book that Disney fans wanted and called for!

Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney Magic Kingdoms by Marty Sklar captures the legend’s Disney memories. Sklar’s memoir covers his pre-Disney life and his long and distinguished Disney career. He is not able to cover every aspect of his Disney years, but he does give significant time to parks development including Walt Disney World, Epcot, and Euro Disney (or Disneyland Paris). He gives an insider look at presentations and creative sessions that helped build the parks we love. And most excitedly for Disney fans some reminisces include Walt Disney, for who Sklar wrote. Along with his memories, Sklar also includes business insights with a selection of quotes from Imagineering’s Conference Room walls and Mickey’s Ten Commandments and its expansion.

I am going to call this a mixed review for me. Honestly, I found the text hard for me to get into. And this made me more frustrated as I read. I really wanted to be drawn into it. The sad thing is I cannot explain why it was hard for me to break into book, which also frustrates. In the end all I can say is it did not draw me in the way I wanted it to. Also, the book reprints several stories that many Disney fans have already read or heard elsewhere. So every page does not provide new content to mull over, with some being Sklar putting in his pages stories told by others about him or by him elsewhere. But on the flip side there is plenty of new content for a Disney fan to enjoy. And it is amazingly honest content. I am shocked about the characterizations made about other Disney figures such as Dick Nunis and Roy E. Disney in the pages of a Disney Editions offering. Honestly, it makes one wonder why Disney Legal blocked the Ward Kimball biography! And the honesty is refreshing and good.

As I said, this text gives Sklar’s very honest opinions. And with Sklar having been on the the creative side it should not be shocking that he felt tension with Dick Nunis in Operations. But what was shocking to me was how far Sklar’s editors let him go in painting of Nunis of well…a bully! A comment about how Nunis abandoned Ron Miller definitely caught my attention though it was only a small line. And Sklar definitely chooses Michael Eisner in the struggle between the CEO and Roy E. Disney. But Sklar’s insights into Disney’s lack of creative input will make one think.

One thing I am glad that Sklar weighed in on was the Walt/Roy comparisons with the Eisner/Frank Wells relationship. Sklar interacted with both pairs. And he argues the relationship was not the same. With the Walt and Roy O. Disney dynamic, Roy provided little to no feedback on creative issues. Roy did not attend story meetings. Roy stayed within his business sphere. For Eisner’s tenure however it was a frequent occurrence that Wells attended creative meetings and would provide creative input. So the comparison breaks down as Wells used his years in Hollywood to serve as a sounding board on matters beyond the business. In short with Eisner and Wells the lines were more fuzzy.
Dream It! Do It! by Marty Sklar is a Between Books must have for Disney fans. And it is for the insights, opinions and perceptive that this Disney Legend brings. However, this is a book you need for the content, not because you cannot put it down.

Between Books - The Imagineering Way

We can all agree that the artists of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) create magic.  But how does an idea move from idea to concept to final attraction?  The book The Imagineering Way by The Imagineers gathers the collected creative wisdom of WDI and attempts to show how non-Imagineers can use the same principles in their everyday work and creative lives.

The Imagineering Way consists of small essays written by a number of WDI staff.  These include well known Imagineers including Tony Baxter, Marty Sklar, John Hench and honorary Imagineer Richard Sherman.  But being in the public eye is not a key to selection of inclusion in the book as a number of lesser known Imagineers contribute to the book.  Contributors range across a number of WDI disciplines including story, lighting, artists, and engineers.  The essays range from a page in length to no more than five pages.  Some of the essays are not even really essays but doodles, quotes and poems.  The essays are grouped into five main topics including brainstorming, building a culture, creativity, and multi-tasking. 

I have wanted to read this book for several years, ever since I saw it lying on a shelf in a Downtown Disney store in Orlando.  I have contemplated picking it up several times and have pushed it off until my most recent vacation.  I probably built too much anticipation over the years as I found myself slightly disappointed.  I do not think the book falsely advertised what it was, but I do not believe I truly understood what it was.  I was expecting a cohesive creative manual for non-Imagineers.  Instead the book is a series of quick hits which are only loosely held together.  Once one understands the style of the book it is possible to mine nuggets of wisdom from the WDI team which can be used in your non-Imagineering life.  In fact, I believe this book is highly quotable, and I could see stealing quotes from this text in the future especially as tweets.  Additionally, readers should not expect this book to include detailed concept art or discussions of WDI disciplines.  The book focuses on the philosophy of creativity not the artistic skills needed to develop a final WDI project. 

The Imagineering Way attempts to connect the philosophy of Imagineering to the non-Imagineering community.  It offers the common man the ideas that help guide Imagineers and makes suggestions on how these principles can be used beyond the walls of WDI.