I just got the "Disney Insider 2005 Yearbook" in the mail, and WOW! Lots of great stuff, especially for fans like us.
I wasn't sure about buying it at first, especially the pricey hardback edition ($49), but I am certainly glad I did. It is 179 pages of awesome stuff -- much from the Vault -- and it includes a DVD with stuff from DL's celebration and other stuff.
I had worried at first that it was just a collection of the "Disney Insider" e-mails; but it is NOT.
All divisions of the company are represented, including WDW parks, but I have to say that the picture of Hong Kong DL's castle, against a real mountain in the background was stunning. Also nice is so much of the historical DL pictures and stories, many I had not seen before.
This book is very much like Disney magazine was, back when it was really good. There are some things that preview new things coming for 2006 ("Pirates" and "Cars"), but this book is back to the kind of writing and truly nice "Insider" stuff for real fans that I used to like, without such a heavy dose of crass commercialism for whatever promotion is coming.
The Disneyland celebration memorial stuff includes the often "lost" but fondly-remembered "Adventure thru Inner Space" (1967-1985) which really reminds me of the 1964 World's Fair and the original visions that shaped EPCOT. You can see the threads of thinking.
There is also a long "Ask Dave" section, like the magazine used to have.
And it ends on a very, very nice touch: whole pages on voices and background people that were silenced this year, including Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell (Tigger) and John Fielder (Piglet). Others were Imagineer Fred Joerger (The Matterhorn, Main Street USA, Jungle Cruise), makeup artist Bob Schiffer (The Wizard of Oz (!), Tron, The gy D.A.), Buena Vista Pictures developer and president (1959-1980) Irving Ludwig, and former CEO (1976-1983) Card Walker.
So, I HIGHLY recommend it. And if you cannot afford the hard-back, there is a paperback edition available, without the DVD, for $24.95.
You can find it here: http://disney.go.com/inside/yearbook/
Paul
I wasn't sure about buying it at first, especially the pricey hardback edition ($49), but I am certainly glad I did. It is 179 pages of awesome stuff -- much from the Vault -- and it includes a DVD with stuff from DL's celebration and other stuff.
I had worried at first that it was just a collection of the "Disney Insider" e-mails; but it is NOT.
All divisions of the company are represented, including WDW parks, but I have to say that the picture of Hong Kong DL's castle, against a real mountain in the background was stunning. Also nice is so much of the historical DL pictures and stories, many I had not seen before.
This book is very much like Disney magazine was, back when it was really good. There are some things that preview new things coming for 2006 ("Pirates" and "Cars"), but this book is back to the kind of writing and truly nice "Insider" stuff for real fans that I used to like, without such a heavy dose of crass commercialism for whatever promotion is coming.
The Disneyland celebration memorial stuff includes the often "lost" but fondly-remembered "Adventure thru Inner Space" (1967-1985) which really reminds me of the 1964 World's Fair and the original visions that shaped EPCOT. You can see the threads of thinking.
There is also a long "Ask Dave" section, like the magazine used to have.
And it ends on a very, very nice touch: whole pages on voices and background people that were silenced this year, including Thurl Ravenscroft and Paul Winchell (Tigger) and John Fielder (Piglet). Others were Imagineer Fred Joerger (The Matterhorn, Main Street USA, Jungle Cruise), makeup artist Bob Schiffer (The Wizard of Oz (!), Tron, The gy D.A.), Buena Vista Pictures developer and president (1959-1980) Irving Ludwig, and former CEO (1976-1983) Card Walker.
So, I HIGHLY recommend it. And if you cannot afford the hard-back, there is a paperback edition available, without the DVD, for $24.95.
You can find it here: http://disney.go.com/inside/yearbook/
Paul