Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney's Magic Kingdoms (Disney Editions Deluxe)

Like many fans of the Disney theme parks, I have been looking forward to Marty Sklar's book. I was fortunate to be at his house with David Price the day he got the transcript back from his daughter Leslie Ann Sklar. My memories of that day include taking in all the wonderful stuff on the walls and on his massive desk, delicious cookies, and his showing off the book of materials that he compiled back in 1967 for Roy Disney about Walt's EPCOT (described in detail in the book). He even was kind enough to make a photo copy of the memo for the plaque above the tunnels at Disneyland with Walt's handwritten changes. Very special.Marty (I called him Mr. Sklar at first, don't do it) is an excellent writer and editor. With a number of Disney related books being edited by the Company's legal department in exchange for the rights to publish, I was not looking for a book with a bite. If you want to get an unblemished look at Disney read Rolly Crump's book. However, I was mistaken. More on that later.Marty described his early role at Disney as "chief ghostwriter." He cut his teeth trying to take Walt's thoughts and to organize them for print. One of his pride and joys were the seven pages of notes he took during a meeting with Walt as he described the EPCOT concept. Those notes would be used to write the script for the EPCOT film. I have read those notes and it is the clearest look into Walt's mind in regards to that project. No wonder Harrison "Buzz" Price (Walt's feasibility study guy) told me that the concept was viable.The book is filled with extensive quotes from Walt Disney and others. For example, one day Walt was telling his team why everything is a Walt Disney production. He said, "Look, I don't want people to say `that's a Bill Walsh production for Disney,' or `that's a John Hench design for Disneyland.' I've spent my whole life building the image of entertainment and product by Walt Disney. Now Walt Disney is a thing, an image, an expectation by our fans. It's all Walt Disney - we all think alike in the ultimate pattern. I'm not Walt Disney anymore." It took a special kind of person to work for a guy like that and to thrive in that environment. Marty tells dozens of stories of those who were successful and a few of those who could not handle it.Any long time reader of Samland knows how much I admire Harrison "Buzz" Price. It is evident that Marty is also fond of Buzz and pays him the proper tribute throughout the book. Now you will know why it was Marty who was responsible for Buzz's window on Main Street. He told David Price, Buzz's son, that day we met with the promise we would not mention it to anyone. Fortunately, Buzz's incredible wife Annie was told before she passed away.It was Buzz who got to what made Disneyland unique as a business. "Walt said that his park was to be a work in progress. Unlike existing enterprises of this kind, it was never to be finished. This idea of constant reinvestment was a new concept. Walt recognized the fickleness of audiences and the challenges of always providing something new."Walt and Roy Disney have unfairly been slandered by those who claim they were Anti-Semitic. Marty also does a convincing job providing evidence to dispute those claims and I hope that this is a subject that would just go away now.Like any company, Walt Disney Production/The Walt Disney Company and WED Enterprises, had their share of internal battles and politics. Although I expected Marty to steer clear of these episodes to paint a blissful picture of creative people working as one, he doesn't. Now don't expect a tell all book but Marty does provide some insights that are illuminating. During Walt's lifetime, the studio was one thing and WED was something else. During all that time Roy Disney only visited WED once and his two lieutenants, Card Walker and Donn Tatum had never been there.In general, the book primarily celebrates those individuals, and there were many, that made the parks what they are today. However, there are a couple of people who are singled out whose contributions were not so positive according to Marty.Dick Nunis was in charge of operations at the park while Marty was in charge of the creative side. Nunis wanted to consolidate the creative and operations side of the parks into one division and would try and do so on numerous occasions. The two men butted heads on many occasions.Another person who gets a wag of the finger is Paul Pressler. Those who have been long time fans of Al Lutz know of "the Paul Pressler phenomenon" as Marty describes it. Here is what Marty said, "When I think of Paul Pressler today, what comes to mind is this expression: `You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time.' In retrospect, he certainly fooled Disney management a lot of the time." I would go on but you will just have to buy the book.A third person who gets the evil eye was Peter Rumble of the Disney Development Company. Eisner put the real estate people in charge of Imagineering and Marty outlines why this was not a good thing.During the research for Walt and the Promise of Progress City, I claimed that Disney had a lot more stuff that had never been revealed and the project was much further along than Disney has ever wanted to admit. That is what Buzz Price told me. According to Marty, "To this day, to my knowledge, the body of material compiled by the research team for Walt's Epcot Community has never been available to the public or to researchers." Hello to anybody from Disney who may be reading this. Please let me look.The story of Epcot the theme park has been told frequently. One day Marty and John Hench pushed together two models for two separate projects and viola! Disney's third theme park was born. The book reveals that it was much more complicated. In fact, at one point Marty and John wanted to put the entrance right at the middle between Future World and the World Showcase but they were overruled by Card Walker. The entrance had to be in front of Future World. Card said, "When our guests enter and exit through Future World, our corporate sponsors bet two shots at them - coming in, and going out."For those interested in Disney's parks in Japan and France, you find this book of great interest. Marty was right there for both projects and his insights are revealing. Ever wonder why Disney chose the northern city of Paris instead of the sunny coast in Spain? Marty walks through their business reasoning.Marty misses DisneyQuest and is in awe of Tokyo DisneySea. He gets freaked out at Hong Kong Disneyland for its resemblance to the Anaheim park. If it weren't for the humidity and the giant mountain in the background, he feels right at home.Finally, Marty likes lists. And that is how the book ends. Here he presents Mickey's Ten Commandments. Those ten will have grown into forty by the time you are done. What is more revealing are his choices for the top ten most significant written communications that he developed. Here are scans of corporate documents, scripts, and memos. One of my favorites is the 2006 memo to explain "The Disney Difference: Rides Versus Attractions/Adventures/Experiences."The book features photos and scans of important documents.For anyone interested in the history of Imagineering or the Disney theme parks, this is a must have book.

Marty Sklar started his career with Disney in 1955, one month prior to the opening of Disneyland. He remained with the company until retiring in 2009, and is the only Disney employee to have participated in the design and opening of all 11 currently operating Disney theme parks (Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disney Studios Park). Though he started in marketing, he quickly found a home at WED Enterprises / Walt Disney Imagineering where he eventually ended up leading the organization for more than 30 years until his transition to "Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering" leading up to his retirement in 2009.This book is a "memoir" of the author's 50+ years working for Walt Disney Productions/The Walt Disney Company, and includes chapters about the development of all of the theme parks, as well as a chapter about the author's time at UCLA and his association with Coach John Wooden. It also includes "Mickey's Ten Commandments", a list of ten key principles for theme park design that have become legendary in their own right. The book also includes 3 additional lists of "Mickey's Ten (more) Commandments", focusing on leadership and followship. Because of the close working relationship the author had with Walt Disney, this book provides an intimate look at the impact of Walt's death on the company.The role that Marty Sklar has played in the success of the Walt Disney Company and Disney Theme Parks can't be understated. In his early days at WED, Marty wrote many of Walt Disney's speeches, presentations, and film scripts, including the script for the Epcot film (which was the last film Walt recorded before his death in December 1966). It was Marty Sklar who coined the famous definition of imagineering: "the blending of creative imagination and technical know-how." Later he was pivotal in the design and creation of Epcot and every other Disney theme park since.As a fan of Disney theme parks in general and Imagineering in specific, buying and reading this book was a no-brainer for me. Despite that, I was initially somewhat skeptical about this book, thinking that it wouldn't provide the level of detail and insight that I like most in books about Disney parks and Imagineering. I was worried it would be a white-washed memoir that would retell the stories found in the other books in my Disney/Imagineering library. I needn't have worried at all.After reading the introduction, I was hooked. While many memoirs like this tend to gloss over details and omit "unpleasant" or controversial stories, this isn't the case with this book at all. This book is a welcomed addition to my library, and one that I expect I will read and re-read again and again.If I have one minor quibble with the book it's the lack of an index, which would be helpful in finding stories about the many people that the author worked with during his time at Disney.I strongly recommend this book to any fan of Disney theme parks. You won't be disappointed!

The best book I have read in ages- it is very inspiring and not only takes you into Marty's life but also give you massive insights into what Walt was like too. If you are a Disney fan this is a must read it will inspire you and intrigue you leaving you wanting to go back to the parks to look at every detail all over again and also appreciate all of the hard work that went into creating the happiest place on earth in the first place!

Great insights into the world of imagineering. I'd described it as a "light" read, with plenty of fun stories from his days working for Disney.

nice book, full of history. a must read

wonderful

I am so thrilled that Marty Sklar wrote this book! He has such an amazing wealth of knowledge and so many stories to share about Walt and the history of the Disney company! I wish I could thank him personally for taking the time to put pen to paper.I learned so much from this book and will take that knowledge with me into the parks on my next visit. I certainly won't be referring to any of the 'attractions' as 'rides' again! :)Loved, loved the book and highly recommend it to any Disney fan or Disney historian!