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| The Disney Mountains / Imagineering at Its Peak : 4 of 5 | |
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1.24.2008
7:12 AM | Link |
 I've been a fan of Jason Surrell's amazing Disney books for a few years now, starting with his wonderful in-depth coverage of the Haunted Mansion, so I always put anything new he writes on my Christmas list (which is how I received this book!). His latest work is about the well-known Disney "mountain range" of attractions that combine awesome thrills with Disney quality and theming. Of course, every page is filled with wonderful artwork from every stage of attraction development, but while there's a lot of great information here, this is actually a pretty quick read (the text is in a much bigger font than his past books!). Of course, the Matterhorn is covered first, and I enjoyed the quotes from Imagineers like Harriet Burns and Bob Gurr. It definitely gave me an appreciation for the trail-blazing efforts of these original Imagineers - it seems impossible that these people from so many varied disciplines could actually create the first roller coaster of this kind, and I still ride it every year to this day! The coverage of Space Mountain is really nice, especially comparing the size and differences between the Walt Disney World and Disneyland versions, and the story of the development of Splash Mountain is also incredible (and I'm once again thankful for the talents of Tony Baxter and his creative ideas!). There is little coverage about Mount Prometheus in Tokyo DisneySea, but I would have loved to read more about the design of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was my favorite ride during my trip to Japan in 2003. The largest portion of the book is devoted to Expedition Everest, which certainly deserves praise, and definitely instills admiration for Joe Rhode, one of the most detail-oriented Imagineers working today. I loved reading about the queue theming (almost more than the ride itself!), since I had no idea that many of the structures were actually built by Tibetan craftsmen! The Disney Mountains definitely deserves to be in any theme park fan's library, so don't miss it!
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