Between Books - Universal vs. Disney: The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Park's Greatest Rivalry

 

I have a general philosophy about a Disney vacation.  Why leave property?  I take long vacations where I spend nearly all of my time if not all under the Disney umbrella.  But during my last trip I did discover that I could have some fun without being in the Disney zone at all times.  So I am beginning to ask myself if there might be things in the entrainment industry outside of Disney that I would consider sampling.  But would I ever consider visiting Disney's biggest theme park rival?

Universal vs. Disney: The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Parks' Great Rivalry by Sam Gennawey details the foundation and expansion of Disney's theme park rival.  Universal's introduction to entertainment actually goes back to December 3, 1913, when Carl Laemmle opened his film studio to the public allowing them to see movies being made.  In 1915, Laemmle expanded his lot Universal Studio even further and began to stage a fake disaster for those who took the studio tour.  In 1958, Music Corporation of America (MCA) would purchase the Universal Studio lot and the studio tour would grow under the leadership of Lew Wasserman and his associates such as Jay Stein.  The MCA team would regularly work to create attractions that could attract locals and repeat business whie making the best commercial possible.  However, MCA saw their tour as an attraction that complimented not competed with Disneyland.  With the expansion of Disney into Florida in the 1970's, the Universal team looked to build a production studio and studio tour that could again complement Disney theme parks.  However, with the naming of Michael Eisner as Disney CEO, Disney announced their own movie theme park, which would become Disney-MGM Studios with attractions that seemed to duplicate Universal's plans for a Florida park.   With Disney's own announced park, the Universal team began a quest to build a park to challenge Disney with partners like Steven Spielberg.  The quest would not be easy as MCA changed hands through corporate sales.  Gennewey discusses Universal's failures, delays and eventual success in building a theme park that could rival Disney with Universal Orlando. 

I really enjoy Sam Gennawey books, and his books always come across as serious history to me.  His use of footnotes and extensive research makes it clear that his books are a step beyond the typical book directed for Disney fans but are also books that could be used by academic historians.  Universal vs. Disney is the kind of book that could be used in a theme park history course, and probably will be in the future.  And it has the tone of an academic monograph.  His writing is clear and easy to understand.  My chief criticism of his writing is that his chapters tend to stop abruptly.  I really wish he had provided a summary paragraph that captures the tone or theme of his chapters.   It would provide the reader both a review, but a sense of closure and likely foreshadowing of what is to come. 

One of the things that I really hoped for was a discussion of the Universal Orlando contract licensing Marvel characters.  As a Marvel Disney fan this contract fascinates me since you can see Captain America at the competition and not on Disney property.  Gennawey does give over five pages to the discussion of Marvel, but the majority of this information is about attraction development especially The Amazing Spider-Man: A Web Slinging 3-D Ride and not contracts.  And the Disney purchase of Marvel and the limitations in place for Disney's use of Marvel properties is not detailed.  I would have liked to see mention of the Avengers themed monorail for example.  I assume that this conversation was limited by two things.  First, Universal vs. Disney really is a book about the Universal theme parks.  And honestly that felt like a good choice to me so Gennawey did not have to repeat material from books including his own The Disneyland Story.  Since my knowledge of Universal and MCA history is quite small the book felt new and fresh to me.  Second. I doubt that the details that I want about the Universal/Marvel contract are really available for public review.     

As I mentioned, there is not as much Disney history as I expected.  Disney's presence is always there throughout the book, but Disney is a supporting actor not the co-star of the book.  Disneyland and Walt Disney World is discussed as a complimentary and different type of attraction; a theme park not a studio tour.  And until Eisner's arrival at Disney, Universal was really not attempting to promote themselves as the same type of experience as what Disney offered.  But Eisner really did serve as a catalyst for two entertainment companies.  While his leadership was taking Disney to new places, the image of him as a villain was taking Universal into the theme park industry with the hope of challenging Disney and embarrassing Eisner personally.  Eventually the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would finally reach a level of theming beyond Disney's high standards, forcing Disney to go to new places years after Eisner was no longer with Disney. 

Mistakes were made.  If Universal had the proposed Knight Rider/A-Team stunt show they hoped for, it would have had me through the gates years ago.  Sadly the show would never be.  And perhaps it was mistake on my part never visiting a Universal theme park.   Universal vs. Disney has shown me a history of a theme park that started four decades before Disneyland opened.  And I can truly say that I know understand how Disney both positively and negatively influenced the development of a non-Disney park.  

 

Review Copy Provided by Keen Communications

Between Books - The Disneyland Story

I loved Sam Gennawey's Walt and the Promise of Progress City.  So I was pretty excited about the idea of him writing a Disneyland history.  When I got my hands on The Disneyland Story, it looked small from the outside and thought it would take me less than 10 days to plow through this text.  Instead, it took me around 3 weeks (maybe more) because this exhaustive book is not one that a reader can or should blow through quickly.

The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream by Sam Gennawey is as promised an exhaustive history of the Disneyland resort including origins, evolution, trends and important figures.  Gennawey argues that Walt Disney had three children; Diane, Sharon and Disneyland.  And like all children, Disneyland grew up!  And it is the progress of the resort from a dream of a small park across the street from the Disney studio lot to a vibrant two parks, three hotels and a shopping district that it is today that Gennawey captures.  Gennawey discusses not just the pieces of Disneyland that made it from concept to implementation, but the stalled and failed plans like WESTCOT. And most of all, what Gennawey captures is a fluid changing park that was constantly on the move as it grew from infant hood to adulthood. 

The Disneyland Story is a strong historical monograph.  It is well researched, cited and structured and demonstrates the maturity that Disney history has reached.  This book would feel comfortable sitting within a history classroom or in the history section of the library.  It is not a guidebook, though it is connected to The Unofficial Guide.  It is a serious and thoughtful history down to its thesis that Walt Disney had three children with one being a theme park.  And as a work of history, it easily could be used as a guide in teaching a course on the history of Disneyland or the life of Walt Disney.  And I expect that it will be used to help support future Disney historical projects, even if it is only to examine the large bibliography. 

The writing itself is clear, but dense.  The book's size is misleading, as every page is packed with type.  And because of its density I would not call it a easy vacation read.  This is a book, an essential Between Book, for serious fans and researchers of the Disneyland Resort.   I found that my reading pace slowed as I took in the entire story of the park, and that pace was due to the amount of information presented to me.  But though it was a slow read, Gennawey's writing was quite clear and did not hinder the large amount of information bombarding me.   

If anything, based on my own academic background, I wish that Gennawey had reminded us more frequently of his thesis of Walt Disney's three children.  I can see how after Walt Disney's death that the thesis may have weakened due to a lack of involvement by the creator.  However, children, including Disney's own, do lose parents and continue to mature and grow as they reach reach middle age and beyond.

Yes, if you are familiar with Disney history there are plently of facts that you already know.  However, there are more you do not.  I found myself amused over some of the little things, such as the compensation that Art Linkletter received for hosting opening day.  And I am sure he was well compensated for years after (like a decade).  Additionally, having all of Disneyland history in one volume really underlines the vast amount of change that has occurred within Disneyland.  Disneyland really is a living organism and it is far from a monument.  It changes constantly, which makes it difficult to complain about future changes.  Additionally, Gennawey provides a history of something often neglected, the story of the Park's relationship with the city of Anaheim itself.  The addition of Walt's Park greatly changed the sleepy rural community into the metropolitan area it is today.   

If you have a Between Books library, you will need a copy of The Disneyland Story.  It is the most affordable and complete Disneyland history currently available.  Basically if you read books about Disney history, well you need this volume. 



Review Copy Provided for Purposes of Review

Dreaming Disney - The Unofficial Guide’s Disney Dish with Jim Hill

Betweenlanders want to know more about Disney, we want the inside track on rumors and what could have been.  Let’s face it, living in Betweenland you are kinda out of the Disney loop.  Sure we can hear rumors and get news from the main Disney news outlets, but we want to know more than Cars Land is going to open June 15, 2012.  We want to know about the things that could have been, the things that never happened and the inside stories of how our favorite attractions were developed or became extinct.

Jim Hill lives that dream.  He knows people and has connections within Disney and the theme park industry that most Disney enthusiasts will never have access to.  Sometimes it is about who you know!  Additionally, it seems clear that sometimes Mr. Hill has lucked into seeing pieces of Disney history that many would not have noticed, but when seen through Mr. Hill’s eyes tell a story of what will or was to be. 

Len Testa, of WDW Today and Touring Plans, has partnered with Jim Hill to create “The Unofficial Guide’s Disney Dish with Jim Hill.”  The podcast is simple in production but rich in content.  The two Disney experts literally walk around the parks talking.  Testa throws out questions to which Hill responds and provides stories and details that often have not been heard before by Disney fans.  As they talk you hear the sounds of the background music and running attractions around them. 

In the first seven episodes they have toured all four parks of the Walt Disney World Resort; The Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Additionally the two have walked through the hotels of both the Epcot area and Magic Kingdom.  They have even toured Downtown Disney.

The content of all these podcasts is fascinating.  I have repeated so many of these stories to the Between Wife, she would probably like me to quit listening.  The story telling is engaging and often funny.  And both Hill and Testa know these theme parks in a way many of us could only dream of.  Every episode is an absolute must listen.  And when they are done, you feel like you know something new and something the off the street Disney fan is not in the loop about yet.   

The biggest question I have is the future.  The podcast releases on a very irregular schedule, with every release being a surprise that instantly goes to the top of my listening queue.  So every episode leaves the listener with the question of when will another episode drop and what will it be about.  I can foresee episodes on Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.  And there could be more episodes on hotels, it’s not like they have visited the values yet!  Perhaps, one way to keep this series going is more visits to the visited parks, especially after the completion of the New Fantasyland.  Another idea would be a visit to Disneyland for three or four episodes.  Yet another opportunity is clear in their episodes on the Universal Orlando Resort, which introduced this park to me a non-Universal fan.  As much as I don't want to admit it, Orlando offers more than one resort.  Most recently they have released episodes with Sam Gennawey with Testa, sharing his planning knowledge about design elements within the Magic Kingdom. 

Clearly there is still opportunity to share some great stories.  And I will be waiting out here in Betweenland to put myself in the loop.           

Between Books: Four Decades of Magic

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort.   Chad Denver Emerson celebrates this anniversary in Four Decades of Magic: Celebrating the First Forty Years of Disney World.  The book consists of over 25 essays on various aspects of Walt Disney World history.  These essays are written by respected Disney enthusiasts and historians such as Sam Gennawey, Jim Korkis, Lou Mongello, Michael Scopa and others.  The topics found in the collection are as diverse as the authors. Essays rank from topics including ghosts, parades, extinct attractions like Horizons, Discovery Island and even two separate essays on the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review.  This diversity makes for a rich and often surprising experience.

I love this book.  My copy sits on my book shelf filled with little flags to mark pages that I want to quickly reference.  Michael Scopa's essay "The Carousel of Progress: What Would Walt Think?" is one that tugs at my heartstrings and reminds us how far cast members will go to create a magical experience.  Mike Lee's "Thunder Mesa & the Western River Expedition: A Neverending Story" makes me hope that is really is true Imagineering does not throw any good idea away, and maybe someday this surefire Marc Davis classic can come into existence.  Overall, these essays brought me back to a park I love to share with family and take me away from cold Midwestern nights (and days) back to the warm Florida sun.  This book is a fitting tribute to 40 years of magic moments and I look forward to other offerings from Ayefour Publishing which cater to the Disney Dork!