Mouse Tales: A Behind-The-Ears Look at Disneyland

Rating:
Summary: Mostly ejoyable and amusing. Finished it in a day.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny light read
Review: I had a lot of fun reading this book. You have to take it for what it is and know that it is just some fun info on some behind the scene antics of the cast members. Also other facts but I would say that many of those I already knew so it was the other parts that kept me laughing.

If you love Disney like I do and would like some fun summer light reading , then pick up this book.

Rating:
Summary: Mouse Tales Creates Mixed Feelings
Review: Mouse Tales purports to be a behind-the-scenes look at Disneyland - uncensored, and unofficial. This approach has some very positive - and negative - benefits.

First, the book is very readable and well-written. I read it in a matter of hours. It definitely qualifies as a page turner if your're interested in Disneyland and its history.

The book offers some great inside stories, with dozens, if not hundreds, of interviews from current and former cast members (Disney-speak for employees). The author claims to have gone through records of every court case involving Disneyland. The result is basically gossip about what goes on inside the gates. Stories about unbearable guests, practical joker employees, tragic deaths on the rides, and even gang violence abound.

There's no denying that these stories are extremely entertaining and even informative. Disneyland has an image it has to market, and it defends that image vigorously. This "uncensored" look is refreshing in light of the official Disney histories that almost always gloss over serious difficulties in the park. For example, Disney histories will discuss the almost disastrous opening day, when twice as many people showed up and just about everything broke down. However, they ignore employees goofing off or the sad deaths that have resulted almost entirely from guests ignoring safety warnings.

Having said that, the book has a tabloid magazine feel that is practically unmatched. Reading it feels cheap, trashy, and gossipy. It feels like the author sacrificed any sense of balance or even accuracy for good old-fashioned scandalous-sounding tales. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the stories he tells are probably true. But they're told with no sense of balance or fairness. Some information seems to have come from only one cast member - who's to say if the cast member was accurate or even honest? The book lists notes in the back, yet there is not a single footnote in the text to cross-reference against sources.

I'm glad I read and own the book. But I'm still waiting for a detailed, several hundred page history of Disneyland written by a professional historian that accurately depicts both the ups and downs of the park. "Unofficial" and "uncensored" doesn't have to mean you're going through the National Enquirer.