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56 of 56 found the following review helpful:
 Security and cameras see everything! Mar 31, 2005
By James McDonald
Oh! This book is a keepsake.
Whether you are a big Disneyland fan or just not a swooner for Disneyland, you will find something in this book you'll enjoy reading. You see although many wonderful, magical things have happened inside Disneyland, several naughty things have happened too. This book will expose the employee that liked to take his pants off and run around the elevator in the Haunted Mansion (page 87). The submarine worker who stripped down to his underwear to save a mermaid. The worker that used to hide under the Haunted Mansion track to put his hand under women's skirts. The overweight man stuck in Injun's Joe's cave. The rats that used to jump around Tom Sawyer island. The kitty cats that hide in the forestry waiting for Disneyland to close. The obese woman stuck in the railcar. Her husband had too push her out with his feet to get her out (page 121).
The lovers did what on the Inner Space ride? Security was waiting for them at the end of the ride.
Did you know that New orleans Square had a jail . It was not an attraction, but the real thing. That was where security took the unruly guests the park.
Security used to be in every dark corner and entrance/exit. Now they have cameras in trees, in the walls and on the rides. You can see one on the Splash Mountain ride hidden in a little house with a roof. Security can even be dressed like a guest waiting in line in front or back of you.
Also you will learn how the creator of Mickey Mouse's voice and cartoonist, Walt Disney had this idea of creating a new modern amusement park that almost was built in Burbank. You will see just what was on those acres of land before the bulldozers took over. With only one year to build the castle and Disneyland, Opening Day, July 17, 1955 had many embarassing bloppers especially on live television as Art Linkletter recalls. Even Walt Disney got caught in an embarassing moment.
Every story is accurate and true as told by former cast memebers. Author, David Koenig painstakingly contacted over 200 employees, went through libraries, examining 650 Superior Court cases against Disneyland and still even more eye-blurring research just to get the facts ma'am for what turns out to be a very entertaining and funny coffee table book. It sits nicely on your bed table too.
Second book: "More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage At Disneyland.
Third Book: "Mouse Under Glass: Secrets Of Disney Animation And Theme Parks"
Special 50th Anniversary Edition: "Mouse Tales: A Behind-The Ears Look At Disneyland: Golden Anniversary Special Edition" with Audio CD. (Hardcover).
39 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Great source of �behind the scenes� information Jul 28, 2000
By R. Mohr
This book gives the reader information about what it must be like to work at the Disneyland Park. It gives information about the building of the park, the people who work there and some of the things that Disney Company does to try to maintain the feeling of magic for its customers. I enjoyed reading about the many things that happen every day and night at Disneyland that help to make the customer experience better. One example is the army of workers that come out at night to make sure that everything is clean and safe for the next day's customers. I think that it would be fascinating to watch what happens at night at Disneyland or Walt Disney World but I doubt that I will ever have that opportunity. This book shows that Disneyland is like all other parks in that there are the unglamorous and even dangerous areas. I think that the author might have gone into more detail on some of the more gruesome accidental deaths than I would have liked. However, I appreciated that the author presented this information in a factual way and did not betray the reader's trust by getting on a soapbox to preach and draw unsubstantiated conclusions based on these isolated incidents as other authors have. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how Disney runs their parks and makes those parks so popular. This book is an easy and quick read and gives the reader a lot of information is a fairly short amount of time.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Mostly ejoyable and amusing. Finished it in a day. Oct 08, 1999
I bought this book with some reservations since I saw both positive and negative reviews from former "alleged" cast-members. Thankfully, I discovered that Mr.Koenig DID document his sources so one can make a judgement as to what is likely truth and what is possibly fiction. Apparently, he did pull a good amount of his information from microfiches of local newspapers in addition to cast and ex-cast interviews. In a nutshell, the book shows that Disneyland, despite its magical mystique, is still a very human place with gemstones and lumps of coal. The one chapter that lost my interest was "Lawsuit Land" which, after going through several other stories of how guests can be so careless or thoughtless, began to be redundant. Overall, the book was an enjoyable and easy read. It's a collection of interesting notes and stories of the park, its founder, its cast and its guests; not an intellectual dissertation of Disney's impact on culture. There's a laugh here and there; some awe at peoples' kindness or stupidity; and interesting snippets of the park's growing pains. It certainly left me with a better appreciation of what troubles the cast-members have to go through, and an understanding of how to be a more gracious guest on my next trip to the kingdom.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Interesting Dec 30, 2001
By A. Massey
I picked up this book because I wanted to research Disneyland even further. I currently work there. The book covers the history, the attractions, the workers, guests, future plans, and lawsuits the park has had. What I found to be the most interesting were the tales of guests getting out of hand. I could definitley relate to some of the experiences. Another wonderful chapter are the stories about rides. You'll find out which rides are the most dangerous, the most costly, and have the most unhappy workers. You'll find out which ride gave some lucky tourists "the dirty version". A revealing chapter is also written about the characters. You'll read about the bodily harm they endure on a weekly basis. The most touching part of the book talks about the day that Walt died. The only thing I would have changed is the fact that Eisner is not discussed much at all. I've been wanting to know more about him. This book was written very fairly and accurately. I would recommend this book to anybody curious about Disneyland.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Five Ears Up! Oct 15, 1999
By Ian D Jones (iandjones@aol.com)
Interesting, engaging, funny, and at times, very sad. An eye-opening look at what goes on behind the scenes at the "Happiest Place on Earth". A must buy for Disney fanatics, or trivia buffs!! (In short, it covers what's right, and what's wrong with the park, as well as a peek backstage.)
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based on 86 reviews
