Book Update

New research material has arrived at Imaginerding Headquarters!

Included are five travel guides, which are great for researching changes in the parks.

• Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2006 & 2007
• The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2005
• Fodor's Walt Disney World with Kids 2007
• Birnbaum's Walt Disney World Dining Guide 2008
• The Best Of Disney by Neil Sinyard

Geek-End Update, Saturday, January 30, 2010

• Foxxfur at Passport2Dreams posts a photo of 1973 Columbia Harbour House. Ready for another obsessive-compulsive look at the Magic Kingdom? I am!!!
• Daveland heads to the Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom for some great photos! He also posts some great shots from inside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.
• Maxime at Designing Disney posts on the origins of Disneyland Park.
• Disney On Parole shares Ducktales Promotional Tour 1987.
• Michael at Progress City, USA links to another fantastic 1981 Magic Kingdom video.
• Princess Fee at DF'82 has a queue graphic from Tokyo Disneyland that is out of this world!
• DisneyShawn is starting a new series on Fantasyland! First up is Cinderella's Castle.
• Ryan, Editor-in-Chief at the Main Street Gazette post a seriously detailed look at Sunset Ranch Market. 
• Vintage Disneyland Tickets has scans of some amazing 1970 and 1980 corporate brochures and letters. 
• Jack Spence shares a detailed look at the Murals in Cinderella's Castle.

Restaurantosaurus Book Update 04

Our final look at some of the books that we found at Restaurantosaurus has some real winners. Previous Restaurantosaurus book updates can be found here, here and here.Let's look at some of the titles:

• David Iridiumfield
• First Year Primer of Literary Kritosaurus
• A Confederacy of Darwins
• Beak House
• Allosaurus in Wonderland
• Desire Under the Cycad
  
• Desire Under the Stratum
• East of Edmonton
• Camelotia
• Cretaceous Park
  

That is all we found in this series. There were so many other books located throughout Restaurantosaurus--unfortunately, they were real! I laugh every time I read a Confederacy of Darwins.

My other favorites are: East of Edmonton, 1984 B.C., Count Dracopelta, Buried Treasure Island, Atlas Coposaurus Shrugged, The Lizard of Oz, Driving Miss Daspletosaurus, and The Asteroid Also Rises.

Updates!

• A few Disneyland Lines and Disneyland Newsreel publications!
  

• A Happy Anniversary card created for Walt Disney Productions by RKO
  

Walt Disney's First Lady of Imagineering: Harriet Burns by Pam Burns-Clair and Don Peri

• http://www.imagineerharriet.com/harriet/index.htm

Geek-End Update, Saturday, January 23, 2010

• Parka Blogs reviews Pixarpedia.
• Daveland treats us to more of his Florida visit (and some shots of books). Check out these amazing photos of Disneyland's Haunted mansion!
  
• Jack Spence begins an in-depth look at Spaceship Earth.
• AJ at the Disney Food Blog interviews the artist responsible for the artwork of D23 and the Food & Wine Celebration. Also, eyeballs at Disney?
  
• Samland looks at an awesome place at Disneyland--the Tiki Room Lanai!
• Michael Crawford at Progress City, USA posts about the future of Fantasyland.
• Cub Reporter Tony C at the Main Street Gazette looks at one of the hotels that never was.
• Princess Fee at DF'82 posts some photos of Disneyland Paris' toilettes and Fantasyland restrooms.
• Donnie at I'm a Blogger Dottie...A Rebel posts a mystery, sort of, about Walt's Desk.
• Daniel at The Ghibli Blog shares news (and the new covers) on four Miyazaki releases in March! (Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo Tiny little fish. Shes a little fish from the deep blue sea, Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo! She's a little girl. Shes a little girl with a round tummy.)

Jeff Kober at MousePlanet shares his personal experience with taking his children to Walt Disney World. Two of his kids are autistic and Jeff recounts how each visit is as special as it can be challenging. Jeff offers some fantastic advice and tips for people visiting the parks with children that have special needs.

I encourage you to share it with friends and family.

• Raising a Lost Boy - And Girl - from Neverland @ MousePlanet
  

Book Update

I have two more books to add to my collection! These take my collection to 273 books about Disney.

• Mickey's Walt Disney World Adventure
  

• The Art of Ratatouille
  
  

Theme Parkeology: What's That?

On a research trip to Walt Disney World, the Imaginerding research scientists were led on a Fantastic Tour of Forgotten Walt Disney World by Foxxfur from Passport to Dreams and Peter Rabbit from Luau Cove Marina. Part of the tour looked at the buildings that remain the Saratoga Springs Resort from the Village Marketplace days. We headed through the side of the Artist's Palette and passed the Turf Club restaurant. We stepped outside onto the patio dining area and turned right to head down the cement walkway that led to the right of the building.

When we reached the bottom, we were faced with the following view:

Image taken with my camera phone.

Why would there be a grass rectangle bordered with cement? After we walked around it for a few moments and ruminated on the layout, we realized that it was the former pool for the Lake Buena Vista Clubhouse. It seemed that it might have been cheaper and easier to fill it in.

We took some more images. There is a set of benches in the area that look over the small grass area that would change the focus of the area. It created a place you could bring the kids and let them run around for a few minutes. You could also relax and enjoy the view of the Sassagoula, sort of.

The image below is taken as a 180 degree view from the picture above. You can see the area for the golf cart parking on the left and the snack shop on the right (blue awning). The level of the building you can see through the trees is underneath the Turf Club restaurant. It is an amazing ode to 1970s Walt Disney World: The Pro Shop. If you get the chance to visit, make sure to walk through the shop; you will be amazed at the large wood trim, metal casing and 1970s style.

The following is a satellite image of Saratoga Springs and the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. The dark ellipse shows the filled-in pool area.



This is a scan of a picture from page 119 of Walt Disney World, the First Decade. We believe that the pool was much larger than the filled-in rectangle we see today. There was also a set of locker rooms located behind the area. This pool was probably used by people playing golf and by the Villa residents located close by.

Any thoughts?

You can find more books about the history of Walt Disney Word by viewing my Walt Disney World History Bibliography. I have also reviewed Walt Disney World, the First Decade.

Looking for more 1970s Walt Disney World?

• The Golf Resort @ 2719 Hyperion by Foxxfur
• Discovery Island: The Early Years by George @ Imaginerding
• Lake Buena Vista Resort Community by George @ Imaginerding
• Chef Mickey's by George @ Imaginerding
• Disney Village Marketplace by Alison @ Walt Dated World
• The Walt Disney World Village by Foxxfur @ Widen Your World
• WDW Village tag by Foxxfur @ Passport 2 Dreams
  

The above image is borrowed from Alison's Walt Dated World page on the Lake Buena Vista Golf Club. The pool was much larger back in the day!

Geek-End Update, Saturday, January 16, 2009

• Around Disney (OC Register) posts a story about a sprawling backyard Disneyland train layout.
• Princess Fee at DF'82 shares a special window at Disneyland Paris.
• Disney Shawn discusses details with designer Joe Rohde.
• Michael Crawford at Progress City, USA has a very fascinating look at the short-lived STOLPort outside the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Plus, he links to an amazing 1983 EPCOT home video.
  
• Jack Spence helps us sit around Walt Disney World: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four,
• AJ at the Disney Food blog gives us a sneak preview of an upcoming event by way of a past event. Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!
• Didier Ghez at The Disney History blog reveals a story from Diane Disney Miller.
• Guess what? Daveland made it over to the East Coast! Check out his trip report for some great photos.
• Wade Sampson at MousePlanet looks at the history of the Mickey Mouse Revue.
• Samland reviews a great book about designing and building the American Adventure.
  
• Michael Barrier discusses the crow scene in Dumbo with Jim Korkis. Very interesting.
• Outside the Berm has some rejected Disneyland postcards.
• Meet the World takes us to the Lunching Pad at Disneyland for some Vintage Disneyland Remnants.
• Ryan, Editor-In-Chief of the Main Street Gazette points out a great detail connecting the animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Michael Crawford pointed us to a series of videos on YouTube by allmightypuff. Currently, there are 19 videos that have been uploaded and they center on Walt Disney World from 1981 and 1983. This is the rare home video collection that allows us to see EPCOT Center in 1983. It is probably the closest to a time machine we will see. I was really excited to see the three videos about the Walt Disney World Village--it is a look at how the Village used to be. Maybe we can see a return to this idyllic vision. This video of the Village is one of my favorites.

Restaurantosaurus Book Update 03

We continue our look at the books that we found at Restaurantosaurus at the Animal Kingdom. You can find the book updates we did for part 1 and part 2 from last week. We happened to catch more of these not so real titles on another shelf.

• Captains Cretaceous
  
• Dinos In Love
• A Dino for All Seasons
• 1984 B.C.

Once again, we point you to some of the smaller details that go into the parks. Keep your eyes open. You never know what you will find. For me, I am amazed that the Imagineers were able to pour so many details into Restaurantosaurus. Someone had to make the book covers, in addition to creating the titles. Wow.

For those interested in the smaller details, we believe the shot glasses were probably brought by some of the Grad students working at the Dino Institute. There are two from Utah and one from Niagara Falls, Charleston and New Mexico.

Book Update

Celebration - The Story of a Town by Michael Lassell

This is a glossy, photo-filled book about Celebration, the town that Disney planned and built during the 1990s. It looks like a fun read that goes into depth of the history of the town and the Disney Company's involvement with the planned community.

Geek-End Update, Saturday, January 09, 2010

• Didier at Disney History starts the New Year with a look at the top books of 2009. Don't forget his awesome Walt's People Series. He released Volume 8 in August.
• Shawn Slater at Disney Shawn takes a detailed look at the fascinating signage in Harambe.
• Hans at A Film LA posts about Walt's visit to Nordisk Film.
• Cub Reporter Tony C at the Main Street Gazette discusses the 25th Anniversary Castle!
• Vintage Disneyland Tickets has scanned a great article from the Saturday Evening Post.
• Ryan at the Main Street Gazette has a very interesting look at the watercraft of Kali River Rapids.
• TokyoMagic at Meet the World gives us a look and his thoughts on the new Mr. Lincoln show.
• New blog Designing Disney posts about the history of Thunder Mesa.
  

Restaurantosaurus Book Update Part 02

We shared a few of the selections of the titles we found on a shelf at Restaurantorous in last week's post. There were a few more books on the next side of the same shelf.

Just as a reminder, Restaurantosaurus is in theDinoland, USA section of the Animal Kingdom park. A majority of the books we found were yard sale finds or library discards. They all shared the same themes of dinosaurs (go figure) and science.

Enjoy...and don't try to find any of these titles at your local public library.


Here are the titles in question:

• Count Dracopelta
• The Ice Age Cometh
• Don Gone
• Buried Treasure Island
• Dinosaur Farm
• Atlas Coposaurus Shrugged
• The Lizard of Oz
  
• Gunga Dig
• Driving Miss Daspletosaurus

If the real titles the Imagineers allude to don't ring a bell, let me know and I can help!

Book Update

I had a nice surprise this week when my wife texted me that she had found two Christmas presents that she had hidden very well. I was very excited when I found out they were for me!

• Pixarpedia

• The Disney Song Encyclopedia

Geek-End Update, Saturday, January 2, 2010

• Samland starts a Design Series on Disney's Hollywood Studios.
• Jamie at the Only WD World Blog shares some images of Space Mountain with the lights on.
• Daveland takes us behind-the-scenes at Davelandblog to show us why and how his posts are created. Thank goodness for OCD!
• Michael Sporn posts some fantastic Mickey model sheets.
• Foxxfur at Passport2Dreams releases her Magic Kingdom Report Card for 2009.
• David at Vintage Disney posts about winter fun with Walt and Mickey. 
• John Frost at The Disney Blog prognosticates on the next year for Disney,