Disney's Land cover art

Disney's Land

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
Compare plans

Disney's Land

Written by: Richard Snow
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $29.74

Buy Now for $29.74

A propulsive and “entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) history chronicling the conception and creation of the iconic Disneyland theme park, as told like never before by popular historian Richard Snow.

One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a park where people “could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow White in a world still powered by steam and fire for a day or a week or (if the visitor is slightly mad) forever.” Despite his wealth and fame, exactly no one wanted Disney to build such a park. Not his brother Roy, who ran the company’s finances; not the bankers; and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, were a generally despised business, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial ruin.

But Walt persevered, initially financing the park against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Disney assembled a talented team of engineers, architects, artists, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring yet soothing wonderland of a park. The catch was that they had only a year and a day in which to build it.

On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its gates…and the first day was a disaster. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. But the curious masses kept coming, and the rest is entertainment history. Eight hundred million visitors have flocked to the park since then. In Disney’s Land, “Snow brings a historian’s eye and a child’s delight, not to mention superb writing, to the telling of this fascinating narrative” (Ken Burns) that “will entertain Disneyphiles and readers of popular American history” (Publishers Weekly). Americas Architecture Management & Leadership United States Business
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most Relevant
This book held my interest from beginning to end. I learned so much, and enjoyed every minute I listened not it.

Gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
am a Disney guy and though some of the stories I had heard before fit the most part it was a wonderful read. The narrator did a great job what a great book

I

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Why does Disney celebrate colonialism and genocide and why does everyone allow it?
I get that this was the 50’s and people were ignorant and uneducated. But it’s absolutely disgusting to hear about “Indians, scalping, redskins etc” There’s also zero recognition by the author or publisher. It’s the same as using the N word.
Indigenous people (Native American is an offensive term) have suffered through so much and most people are completely oblivious to white washed history.
Disneyland was built on stolen land.

I wanted to listen to a book about the history and magic of Disneyland but I couldn’t finish it.

So inappropriate

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book felt like such a missed opportunity. The author would go on long detours at his leisure, often without really connecting them back to the narrative. The book was probably 20 to 30% longer than it needed to be for the stories it was telling. At points, it felt like he was flipping through a thesaurus and choosing the biggest words possible, which really distracted from the narrative of a place that is known for bringing so many people together (if he was writing this review, he would probably describe himself as a grandiloquent sesquipedalian). There was some good research, but as someone who has read a lot of history books, I really didn’t enjoy this one much.

A missed opportunity - I tried so hard to enjoy this!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.