Aaron Goldberg - The Wonders of Walt Disney World

Aaron H. Goldberg

Quaker Scribe Publishing
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Copyright 2018 by Aaron H. Goldberg

Cover design by Rob Yeo Design

Interior design and typesetting by Just Your Type.biz

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author.

The book is not authorized, sponsored, or endorsed by the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries. It is an unofficial and unauthorized book and not a Disney product. Mentions of names and places associated with Disney and its affiliated businesses are not intended in any way to infringe on any existing copyrights or registered trademarks of the Walt Disney Company but are used in context for educational and journalistic purposes.

The author and publisher are not affiliated with or representatives of the specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book. The opinions and statements expressed in this book are solely those of the people quoted and do not reflect the opinions and policies of the specific companies mentioned.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor the publisher assumes responsibility for errors or omissions.

Published by Quaker Scribe Publishing

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

First printing 2017

ISBN: 0692968954

ISBN 978-0-692-96895-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017961261

Visit the author on the web: www.aaronhgoldberg.com

Follow Aaron Goldberg on Twitter at @aaronhgoldberg

Anyone and everyone interested in Walt Disney World. If youre planning a trip and youve already purchased one of those really popular guidebooks, this book is a great companion and complement toward your planning and preparation to conquer and enjoy all Walt Disney World has to offer.

If youre not in need of a guidebook and are a seasoned veteran of the parks, youll enjoy this book as well, as there are quite a few lesser-known stories and details. Even the most well-versed Disney devotee will find entertaining and interesting stories about the most magical place on Earth.

All too often when we visit WDW (me included), we cant help but rush off to our first attraction, passing some very interesting and little-known backstories and remarkable details.

The Wonders of Walt Disney World is going to guide you from park to park, resort to resort, across the entire Disney property, and point out the hundreds of magical details, secrets, and stories that Disney weaves throughout their parks.

What this book is and is not. I hesitate to put one label on this book. Is it a guidebook? Yes, sort of, as Ive included ratings from TripAdvisor.com for rides, resorts, and restaurants.

Is it an interesting and informative resource about Walt Disney World? Without a doubt. Is it a book with tips, trivia, and secret stories? Absolutely. But let me explain a little further. The guidebooks for Walt Disney World arent the most enjoyable reads, yet they do their job very well. They help you plan and organize months ahead of time and are densely packed with details about weather, statistics on wait times, and day-to-day plans to make the most of your time.

The Wonders of Walt Disney World is loaded with details too, primarily in-depth details you wont find in the conventional guides I just described. So there wont be plans for days one through seven during your week-long excursion at WDW, and I wont be crunching numbers to give you a statistical analysis about when to ride the Haunted Mansion. These scenarios are very useful for some folks and not so much for others.

If you like to wing it and dont need to plan every minute of every day, this is the book for you. You are on vacation, after all, and theoretically should be somewhat stress free, without the underlying pressure to run from attraction to attraction.

For some folks, theres something to be said for spontaneity and self-guided discovery rather than a preplanned, week-long Disney boot-camp experience.

If youve never been to WDW, by the time you finish the book, you will have not only a great sense of where things are throughout the parks but a healthy background and appreciation for the attractions themselvesor at least a feel for whether you should include a specific attraction during your visit.

If youre a frequent visitor to the parks, this book will open up your eyes to the finer details that make your Disney experience that much richer.

The Wonders of Walt Disney World includes many of the subjects the traditional guidebook touches on. Youre going to find the list of attractions for each park, along with information about restaurants, height restrictions, shows, fireworks, parades, and mapsbasically a comprehensive tour of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disneys Hollywood Studios, Disneys Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, as well as the resort hotels and restaurants, but Im taking it one step further.

I aim to give you a backstory on the backstory as we work our way through each and every Disney park, visiting all the popular attractions, highlighting the secrets and magic that make WDW so special.

So I guess its part guidebook, part secret stories, and part informative history. It should definitely be part of your preparation to make your visit to Walt Disney World that much more enjoyable!

With all that said, wherever you are on the Disney horizon, I hope this book will be an enjoyable read. If you visit Walt Disney World weekly and feel as though you could author your own guidebook, feel free to skip the nuts-and-bolts guidebook aspect, which I purposely relegated to the end of each chapter.

If youre totally new to the Disney experience, before you start the chapter on Magic Kingdom, you may want to jump to the back of the book and check out the appendix, where you will find some details necessary for your trip, such as Fastpass+, Disneys Magical Express, Hidden Mickeys, the Photo Pass, and Disneys MagicBands.

OK, now that some of the fine print is out of the way, a few last words from me, your author/guide. As we travel through each park, there are lots and lots of details, facts, stories, and numbers. As someone who values and strives for absolute credibility and referenced material, here are a few words about where much of this information comes from.

Obviously, a good portion of it youll be able to observe for yourself when you actually get to the parks and start to look around. There are plenty of photos throughout the book when a comparison needs to be made or if something is really noteworthy.

Nearly all the facts pertaining to numbers, such as the height of something, how long something took to construct, and things of that nature came from WDW News, The Walt Disney Companys fact, information, and press-release website for the media and public. If I used something from a book, magazine, or journal, that is referenced where the quote or information is cited.

Additionally, I would like to give a very big thank-you to retired Imagineer Tom Morris for allowing me to ask him a few questions about the parks. More information about Toms background can be found in the appendix. I was also fortunate enough to speak briefly with Joe Rohde, senior vice president creative, Walt Disney Imagineering, and executive designer of Disneys Animal Kingdom, who was gracious enough to allow me to ask him a few things about Disneys Animal Kingdom.