101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland: An Unauthorized Look At The Little Touches And Inside Jokes

by Kevin Yee, Jason Schultz

You have probably heard a few "interesting facts" about Disneyland over the years. Perhaps you've heard that Walt Disney kept an apartment on Main Street? Or that there is a secret, members-only club in New Orleans Square? It's all true... but these are only two of the interesting facts pointed out in "101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland." Many of the stories here deal with more obscure, yet equally interesting, histories of Disneyland. In fact, the majority of the material comes straight from interviews with the Imagineers who helped to build, maintain, and revitalize Disneyland. The book pays special attention to the inside jokes and hidden references to Disneyland's past, as these samples Do you know which play on words pays tribute to a former Mexican restaurant at a certain site? Do you know how Tarzan's Treehouse honors its predecessor in two different ways? Do you know what is so unusual about the decorations atop "It's a Small World"? Do you know why one palm tree in Adventureland is special? Do you know what the sign says at the bottom of Splash Mountain's big drop? Do you know which pumpkin is an homage to a Disneyland official? It's a certainty that you haven't heard all these stories before. Although there are 101 such highlighted stories, each comes with a fuller description and is followed by a second story that is thematically related, so this volume really offers 202 Things you haven't heard about Disneyland before. You will find these facts delightful and unforgettable once you've heard them!

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

140 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2005

About the author

Kevin Yee worked for 15 years at Disneyland in a variety of roles (restaurant management, entertainment) and has written regularly about Disney theme parks since 1997 on Web sites, magazine articles, and blogs. He has written over two dozen books about Disney. He lives in Central Florida, and he visits the Disney parks dozens of times per year with his family.

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not been to Disneyland in a really long time. Maybe if I was there recently, I could visualize the things talked about in the book better. Some of the things talked about in the book were referring to an older version of Disneyland that I'm not familiar with.

I only highlighted about 40 of the 101 facts in the book as being interesting to me. Next time I go to Disneyland, I want to look for some of these things.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read Mouse Tails if you want to know back stage and trivia. It is a more entertaining read.

[Bree · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because I love Disneyland and Mouse Tales is one of my favorite books. This book comprised all the lame facts that no one cares about. Example: That window over the general store on main street is dedicated for Bertha Marie, because she built it.
Lame. Stick with Mouse Tales.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written by a former Disneyland employee (aka "Cast Member") but that didn't come through in the book. This was the quickest, most readable of the Disneyland books I read, and will leave you with an admirable wealth of useless knowledge about the rides and vision of Disneyland.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might not have found this book as interesting if it had been about WDW, but since I've only been to Disneyland once, there were many details of which I have no knowledge and therefore found fascinating. I wish it went more in depth in the descriptions and had more pictures.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. I like others that are similar, better. Besides, after a few conflicting facts with this book compared to others, I tend to think the others are more correct, but still a good read with a lot of correct facts.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Yee is a rare objective insider with precise writing

[Ronda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't find many of the facts interesting.

[Tenille · Rating 3 out of 5]

ALot of them I did know... but only because I'm a Disney Nerd!!

[Melanie Mcdaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little tidbits. Refreshing my memory before our up upcoming DL trip.