Now that I�ve got that out of the way�

There are people who�ve taken a pleasant, once-in-a-lifetime family vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort and have the impression that the place is and has always been a utopia. That is thanks to the fortuitous combination of good design by Disney, the hard work of tens of thousands of Disney cast members, moderate crowds, generally pleasant weather, the rest of their party being in a good mood and well behaved, and a certain mindset.

Realityland is not meant for those people. They would have their memories marred by this thorough compilation of the trials and tribulations of the Walt Disney World Resort (WDW). They are better off remaining blissfully unaware of the great plans that never made it to fruition; the great programs, facilities, and policies that have been changed or removed; all of the struggles, disputes, and trial & error that brought about what is there now; and all of the gripes, crimes, accidents, and tragedies somehow connected to WDW. (It is, after all, essentially world-famous city with tens of thousands of people in it on any given day.)

This book was clearly written for the same people who�ve bought Koenig�s earlier books on Disney � Disney cast members and alums who are satisfied to see their stories told, at least in part; Disney and theme park enthusiasts who hunger to know more � good, bad, or ugly - about one of their favorite hang-outs; travel, tourism, and hospitality industry types who want fact separated from fiction; and investors who are considering buying or selling their shares of Disney stock and want some more insight.

Another group may be interested: people who love to hate Disney, or at least WDW, as this book goes into the various missteps, stumbles, bumps, and scrapes encountered along the way developing and operating the World�s Greatest Resort. Koenig points out just about every bruise, every scar, every bloodstain. At any rate, you don�t have to be a Disney nerd to find this book interesting. Social critics and scholars may also find this book useful.

Once you read Realityland, you�ll marvel that the Resort has been so successful for so long without being sold off or bought out. We know how it turns out � WDW becomes huge with four major theme parks, many hotels, two major water parks and more, and makes a pile of money and hundreds of millions of people happy. But the book takes you back in time to the mid-1960s, before a location was picked for the project that would become WDW, and takes you through the entire history of the Resort up until recent times. Along the way, there were times when things looked bleak, and through Koenig�s work, you can feel what the people involved were feeling. If you�ve read all of the other books on WDW, this book will still fill in plenty of holes.

We think of the Walt Disney Company as a huge corporation now, but there was a time when it was basically a struggling film studio, a single theme park, and the design team WED, an organization that had been organized around the personality of a man who had passed away. That was the company that had the massive assignment of turning central Florida swampland into the Vacation Kingdom, with the eventual goal of realizing Walt�s dream of building an experimental prototype community that he hoped would help change the world for the better.

As you�ve probably guessed by now, Realityland is not an �official� Disney book. That�s a good thing. Koenig, the author of three previous books on Disney and columnist for unofficial Disney-focused site MousePlanet.com, brings us the �other side� of the story you�ll find in Disney-endorsed publications and Travel Channel shows.

Even though it is an unofficial peek under Disney�s bed, it�s not a hatched job or tragic incident-driven. The book is not written with a salacious or melodramatic tone, despite the inclusion of a laundry list of deaths at WDW. There are larger questions examined in the book, such as whether or not the Walt Disney Company has unjustly left some of Walt Disney�s biggest dreams unfulfilled. It is no accident that the book is being released on the 25th Anniversary of EPCOT Center, a park that has arguably changed beyond recognition, and wasn�t Walt�s EPCOT to begin with. Koenig contrasts the intentions of Walt Disney, who saw his projects as a means to ends of grand vision, with the actions of his successors, who have increasingly demonstrated that they are in the entertainment, tourism, and merchandising businesses � nothing more.

Koenig puts everything on the table to show how WDW and the company behind it has changed over the years from a dynamic trendsetter that would risk everything on the visions of a genius as he moved from animation to theme parks to urban planning - to an international powerhouse conglomerate aggressively entrenched in a few core businesses and focused on maximizing profits for the short-term. He shows that while Walt Disney Productions was, at one time, a very different kind of company, its successor, the Walt Disney Company, has become more and more like other large companies. He leaves it up to the reader to decide if that is good or bad; to decide if the WDW of today as been subjected to a greed-driven loss or diminishing of yesterday�s qualities, or has simply made necessary adaptations and concessions to today�s world. It is quite possible that an old-school Disney enthusiast could read the same passages as a Wall Street investor, with the former getting depressed and the latter getting excited - and both thinking Koenig is on their side.

For that and many other reasons, Realityland is a must-read.

There�s no fluff in this book. It�s never dry or boring. I literally laughed out loud twice. It has some pictures (black and white) that you�re not likely to see elsewhere. Koenig has a straightforward, almost newslike style and his skill as a writer has grown since the original Mouse Tales. Just when I found myself thinking he�d some missed some major topics, he went on to cover almost all of them.

There were still some topics that seemed to fit in with the subject matter of the book that weren�t covered, or at least not covered with enough depth: The Disney Cruise Line and bundling cruises with WDW visits; the contrasts in operations between the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort, and the contrasts between the surrounding communities; the development/construction of certain pavilions and attractions (others were covered in some depth). Although Koenig covers the battle between Universal Studios and the Disney-MGM projects, he does not address the construction of Universal�s Islands of Adventure and the proximity in timing of the construction of Disney�s Animal Kingdom. Koenig doesn�t go in to the Disneyland Hotel situation � why it was owned by another company, how Disney acquired it, and so forth � probably because that is covered elsewhere and has more relevance to the Disneyland Resort instead of WDW. But that is why WDW would be Disney�s first time getting into the hotel operations business, a process you�ll read about inside.

We also get some descriptions of what work was/is like for character performers and what life was like for cast members brought in temporarily from other countries, but not a lot about the work days and lifestyles of other cast members. Since the introduction describes a local cast member hangout, I was expecting more of that. After all, there are plenty of rumors about the culture of cast member dorms floating around Disney enthusiast circles. There was a follow-up to Mouse Tales, so I suppose there can be a follow up to Realityland!

Realityland: True Life Adventures at Walt Disney World by David Koenig
Hardcover
334 pages
6.25" x 9.25"
Bonaventure Press
ISBN 978-0964060-52-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007903089
US$27.95
�2007 David Koenig