Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

[Mrlounge]

Just finished reading the story Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow. Apparently the guy is a diseyphile and i was wondering about some of the things that went on in the book. Has anyone read it? Here is the summary:

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.

Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....

It was just a pretty cool story, wondering if anyone read it?

 

[Enderikari]

I have, and its..... good, not great. Science Fiction has always been kind of a forte of mine, and it was a good story, but, not enough Disney for Disney Philes and too much Disney for the average Sci-fi reader, leaving ni kind of a good story limbo. Also, I don't know if this was good or bad, but it the twists involving his relationship were really hard-hitting to me, I don't quite know why.

But I will divide up the best and worst -

Best (Disney-Related) - Shows amount of whuffie (respect) associated with working Haunted Mansion.

Worst (Disney-Related) - Disney declining to assist guests because of low-whuffie count. Also, apparently Disney didn't add anything new in over 25 years, besides introduction of mind-flashing.

Best (Sci-Fi-Related) - Semi-plausible future in terms of heads-up displays that travel with you, and cash-less society (Far-flung but thought out)

Worst (Sci-fi related) - The non-plausible description of how the whuffie revolution happened, world governments do not change because of some crazy college students

Best (Story) - Good at showing the lead character going farther and farther i his attempt to save his favorite attraction and favorite land.

Worst (Story) - Beginning and end prominentely focused on MC unforunate happening, but the middle only concentrate on how it affects his HUD

 

[got2lovedisney]

I printed it but now I have no idea where I put it...does anyone have the link so I can reprint and read?

 

[Hurricane]

I read it a number of years ago, it was entertaining, had a lot of detail i can appreciated as a disneyholic (not a disneyfile, we go to meetings!) I would recomend reading it but wouldn't recomend printing it, but thats just me. The idea of whuffie is interesting, but I wouldn't classify it as an alternate future novel.

 

[pisco]

I printed it but now I have no idea where I put it...does anyone have the link so I can reprint and read?

Here ya go.

http://craphound.com/down/

 

[Cosmo]

i read it about 3 years ago...as others have said: "good, not great". i thought it was entertaining. It annoyed the daylights out of me that at one point he refers to cinderella castle as sleeping beauty castle. couldn't get over that one...still ticked!

 

[waltdisny]

Worst (Sci-fi related) - The non-plausible description of how the whuffie revolution happened, world governments do not change because of some crazy college students

Oh yeah? Tell that to the Chinese.:animwink:

 

[disneyfamily]

I read it 2 years ago, I thought it was amusing. I didn't care for everyone smoking crack in it though. Also for some reason I pictured Nick Nolte as the older guy the main character is friends with. :veryconfu

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It was okay. Actually a couple of months ago I posted a similar thread about the book.

 

[he-guy]

It was decent, I think a lot of books about Disney that are actually fiction are claimed to be more toward fact, and it was nice to see the futuristic fantasy version of the magic kingdom. I think anyone who is a fan of the Liberty Square or Adventureland area of the park (especially HM fans) would enjoy reading the book

 

[cherrynegra]

I actually loved that book. I thought his depiction of a society in the future that lived in MK and the battles happening between those who had taken over the Hall of Presidents and Haunted Mansion was ingenious.

It has a lot of similarities, I thought, to the present situation of those who I would call "traditionalists" who fight any great change in Disney attractions and those who are willing to give up a little Disney history to make room for newer attractions.