Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

[cherrynegra]

Hey Everyone!! Wasn't sure where to post this, but since it's a novel set in WDW, I figured this was as good a place as any. For all of you out there who have fantasies of living in WDW, I highly recommend this sci-fi novel by Cory Doctorow titled "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom."

It's about a group of people who live in WDW and each group runs and maintains attractions in the park. The main character lives in the Haunted Mansion and tries to maintain the attraction to the original specs set by Walt Disney. Trouble comes when a group of people from the Disney park in Shanghai take over the Hall of Presidents and begin to mess with the AMs in the Hall of Presidents and soon have their eyes set on taking over the Haunted Mansion. But they have one obstacle standing in their way. Jules, the main character in the book who will do anything to prevent them from changing HM.

Will the traditionalist win out or will the folks with new technology take over HM and the entire park?? You have to read it to find out. I highly recommend this book. Scarily has some scenarios played out now with old attractions being torn down to make way for new ones.

 

[TnkrBelPixiDust]

Cherrynegra.. thanks for the info about the book... you think i will be able to get it at the local Barnes & Nobles or Borders or is one that im going to have to get online!?? It sounds like a good book... and im sure a dream for most of us WDWMagic folk lol...

 

[d0peychik]

you can also download it here

http://www.craphound.com/down/download.php

 

[ISTCrew20]

Yea, I had read it online, and I thought it was alright. It was too "sci-fi" for me, and the language was over the top.

 

[barnum42]

Cherry, Dopey - Thank you!

 

[nicholas]

Awesome! Thanks for the link. I had looked for this book at Barnes and Noble and few days ago and hadn't found anything. All this time I thought it was by E.L. Doctorow and was very excited to read it as I love his work. Is this author related by any chance?

 

[cherrynegra]

No, I don't think he's related to E. L. Doctorow. But you can read his biography here. http://www.craphound.com/bio.html He's from Canada and he's obsessed with garbage and Disney. Below is a blurb from his website. Needless to say, he has a very interesting spin on Disney.

There are certain recurring themes in my work; garbage and Disney appear in almost everything I write. I'm obsessed with both. Throughout my life, I've been exposed to people who are doing novel things with trash: my buddy Darren, who clears CDN$100K/yr pulling discarded computer parts out of dumpsters; my neighbour Roger Wood who make breathtaking assemblage sculptures out of crap he finds at yard-sales and flea-markets; my friend Murray, a handyman who makes everything from wheelbarrows to sheds out of scraps. . . The list goes on and on. I live in a humongous warehouse, and it's full to the brim with crap from yard-sales and thrifts.

Disney's a little harder to explain. My grandparents are snow-birds, spending their winters in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and I grew up spending Christmas breaks with them. Those trips always included a pilgrimage to Walt Disney World (because what the hell else are you going to do when your grandkids come to stay with you at your seniors-only retirement condo?). The Disney organization fascinates me: internally, the theme-parks operate like socialist utopias, while externally, Disney is known as a rights-grabbing litigious bully.

 

[TnkrBelPixiDust]

D0peychik thanks for the link.. im going to download it ASAP.. hope it lives up to my expectations!!

 

[FigmentJedi]

Here's another neat novel:
Waking Walt
Waking Walt is a spellbinding take on one of America’s most enduring urban legends. Could it be true; Walt Disney was never cremated and buried at Forest Lawn as the official story goes?__


Imagine that, for nearly 40 years, the great entertainment genius has been in cryonic suspension, waiting to return when a cure for his lung cancer is found. Now, an experimental drug being tested looks like the answer. The waiting is almost over.

Then, disaster strikes! In a déjà vu nightmare for The Disney Company, a ruthless corporate raider launches a takeover attempt, planning to sell off the company’s assets to the highest bidders. And this time there are no white knights in Disney’s corner.

But the Circle is still there, the small group of confidants who helped Walt escape death and who have been guarding him and his secret ever since. Even though they’re all old men now, they’re not about to let Walt’s company be torn apart without a fight. And they know just who can lead them.

However, as they scurry to wake him, the Circle discovers there are powerful forces that want the dead to stay dead. But they don’t know Walt Disney!

 

[TnkrBelPixiDust]

When I was a kid I really believed that Walt was cryogenically frozen!!! Its cool to know that people actually write books about disney this way. Im so used to seeing "Ultimate WDW planning guides" and stuff like that!

 

[xfkirsten]

I read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom last year and really loved it!! It was really neat to see the Magic Kingdom and sci-fi mixed together like that.

-Kirsten

 

[aimster]

Man this is fanfic on the highest level... published.