Walt’s Disneyland: A Walk in the Park with Walt Disney by Marcy Carriker Smothers, a book review
Walt’s Disneyland is a new book written by Marcy Carriker Smothers, author of Eat Like Walt. The Walt’s Disneyland book takes us on a trip to envision what Disneyland was like when Walt Disney was alive and visited the park regularly. When the review copy arrived, I was very excited and recorded the review video before cracking the spine. It’s also interesting that D23 published a glossy paperback instead of a hardcover book.
Check out my video preview of the book!
Walt Disney Book Preview Video
The book follows Walt as he dreams about a family park, begins the planning and construction of Disneyland, and, ultimately, spends ten years in his Magic Kingdom. Marcy shares the story of Walt and Disneyland through fourteen chapters, including: Before Disneyland; Outside Disneyland; all of the lands; Last Day at Disneyland; and Happily Ever After. She also includes a list of Dreamers and Doers, who knew Walt personally, Disneylandmarks, and endnotes (I love when an author includes notes, a bibliography, or an index).
I wrote this book in Walt’s folksy style. With simplicity in mind, I combined quotes culled from hundreds of sources, including the Walt Disney Archives, Walt Disney Archives Photo Library, Imagineering Resource Center, Walt Disney Imagineering Photo Collection, museums, books, newspaper articles, magazines, souvenir guides, vintage television shows, documentaries, and interviews. Everyone in this book knew Walt; it was important to me to only use first-person accounts. And just as Walt was on a first-name basis, I kept titles and role descriptions to a minimum. —Marcy Carriker Smothers
Did you ever get the chance to see Walt Disney at Disneyland?
Is this the kind of Disneyland history book that you’re interested in?