Comments on: The Magic Of Disneyland and Walt Disney World by Valerie Childs 1979

By: Chrissy

Chrissy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:54:07 +0000

…what wonderful memories of a special book!!! The book seems so familiar to me…I am not sure if we might have had a copy or not. I do recall that, at the tender age of eight, I knew I wanted to be a Walt Disney World Ambassador…my mother kept my third grade essay about it for the longest time!!! You and I are two peas in a pod!!! One of my favorite Disney books, to this day, is “Walt Disney's Story Land”…it would captivate me for hours!!! Thanks for sharing such special memories!!!

By: Zanna

Zanna — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:49:52 +0000

Oh, George, I should've known you'd come to the rescue! I will have to look
that up since I love pre and original EPCOT. Thank you for the information!

By: George Taylor

George Taylor — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:44:13 +0000

The book that Beth is asking about is Walt Disney's Epcot Center by Richard Baird. There are three copies of it in print. One is before opening and has pictures of Pavilion models instead of actual shots. The one after opening has more area photographs of the Pavilions. There is also one that is half the size of the other two and was published a few years later. Make sure to get a copy of the 1982 or 1983 edition.

By: Zanna

Zanna — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:53:40 +0000

I'm glad this brought back memories! I don't remember specifically a book
about Epcot, but I'm sure it exists. I have a few of the paper back books
WDW would sell with pictures of all the parks, I'll be posting pictures from
them soon.

Thanks for your comment!

By: Holly

Holly — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:50:36 +0000

I *remember* that book!! Those pictures were worthy of staring, too. I love the balloons saved inside!! Your memories of looking at the pictures really brought back some memories of my own. By any chance, do you know of an Epcot book that was published around the same time (maybe a little after this one) about the conceptualization of Epcot? I'm pretty sure it came out before the park opened. It was my “other” favorite Disney book. Both are long gone now — and I'm thankful that you've made me remember them.

By: Zanna

Zanna — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:24:16 +0000

Ooh, I'm going to have to look for that in the book right now! I must've
avoided it because as a child, my parents dragged me to approximately 3,725
antique shops, so I grew an aversion to them. Feel free to post the link
when you add it to your site!

Thanks for the comment!

By: wdwprince

wdwprince — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:20:40 +0000

Hi Zanna,
I bought this book a few months back on Ebay and cheap! The only pic I'm fascinated with in this book is the one taken inside of the long gone antiques store in WDW. It's the only pic I've ever seen of it. I'll post it over on my site for those who want to see.

By: Daily Prince Report « WDWPRINCE

Daily Prince Report « WDWPRINCE — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:01:46 +0000

[...] More memories from Valerie Child’s The Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World… Cool pic from Tink's take off spot. I just like the pic! Courtesy bigfloridacountry. [...]

By: Zanna

Zanna — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:17:11 +0000

So very true. It was definitely easy to be dazzled by Disney, I'm just so
grateful my parents felt the same way and kept returning to the World!

Thank YOU for reading and commenting!

By: Zanna

Zanna — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:11:39 +0000

Beth, thank you for the kind words! I definitely agree on the 'copying' but
I think of it as 'inspiration' I was just saying the other day that that
is what's so great about Disney – almost everything's already been 'done'
but there is always more room for discussion!

That's such a wonderful story from your childhood too!

By: bethchoisez

bethchoisez — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:49:53 +0000

Zanna,
I love this story! I too was brought into the World of Disney by a book know as The Art of Animation. It told the story of how Disney made movies focusing in on Sleeping Beauty. My mom has pictures of me at two just looking through the book like I could read it. The beauty was I could read it because of the pictures the stories told not only in the book but on the screen.

I hope you subscribe to the theory that copying is the greatest form of flattery because I think I see a blog post coming!

Beth

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:46:49 +0000

What a beautiful book and what special memories! I think we often don't realize how important those “little” things that happen to us as children, become to us as adults…. So glad you still have the book to treasure! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.