Lesser-Known Disney Books

What's not to love about this book? In the mid-1990s, Disney build its own town in Florida, Celebration. (I had the chance to visit it a few times and it really did feel super clean and master-planned like one of the company's theme parks.) The Celebration Chronicles is all about this NYU professor's study of the town, its residents and their interactions with Disney. Completely fascinating.

After Disneyland was build in the '50s, a ton of tacky motels, souvenir shops and other detritus built up around the park. Walt saw this and said "next time, we're going to do it differently." This book details the secretive meetings and subterfuge that went into getting the 30,000+ acres of land purchased for Florida's Walt Disney World. An entertaining read and you'll be amazed how they pulled it all off...

Van Arsdale France was one of the first Disneyland employees and in charge of all training for the park. His simple memoir is a fascinating look at how Disneyland got started; it's packed with behind-the-scenes stories and recollections (and photos!) that you won't find anyplace else.

In this charming book, Disney Legend Charles Ridgway looks back on over forty years of working with the Mouse, from Disneyland to Walt Disney World to Disneyland Paris and beyond. There's so many interesting stories about outlandish publicity stunts, Disneyland flops, and celebrities at Disneyland that you'll be disappointed when you reach the end.

This book is a bit scholarly but completely held my attention. Written by an anthropologist, the author takes an analytical look at WDW and how and why Disney made the decisions it did to represent history, time, space, and corporate sponsorship the way they did.

This novel is a wonderful, original work by Cory Doctorow (best known as one of the founders of the huge blog BoingBoing). Set in the Walt Disney World of the future, it's ostensibly about a group that wants to make the Hall of Presidents completely virtual, and the lead character's efforts to prevent this... but there's so much more going on. A fun little novel for anyone, but especially entertaining for hardcore Disney theme park fans (like the author!).