Walt Disney World Hidden History: Remnants of Former Attractions and Other Tributes by Kevin Yee, 226 pages
There's a term I've used before with respect to Disney-related books. That term is "self-exemplary" and, unfortunately, Kevin Yee's book is not. For a work that is supposed to be about paying close attention to detail, it's the details of the book where it fails. Before finishing, I found myself compelled to return to Amazon.com to look at the reviews others had written to see if they felt as I did. The answer was yes.
While the information presented about bits and pieces in the parks being repurposed, recycled or redecorated was interesting, the format detracted from it. There are no color images of one of the most colorful places on the planet. The black and white images are reproduced on standard book printing paper and not a higher quality paper better suited to the task. What results are small pictures with so little contrast that the item being pointed out by the accompanying text is, in several cases, impossible to view.
The other major formatting problem is the fact many pages are half-filled. There's a paragraph or two of text, a muddy picture and nothing else. The text then continues on the next page. Why? This could have been a much thinner volume and still possess the same total content. As a thinner volume, perhaps a higher quality paper could have been used. There were too many missed opportunities.
Kevin Yee should have known better. He's been to the parks many times and I've read and heard his material before I bought this. The parts about reusing molds for various audioanimatronic characters' faces in multiple places and props from a defunct attraction in a gift shop were enjoyable. However, that cannot justify the even the modest cost of the print edition.
And, that's where I believe the problem lies. The entries in the print edition feel very much like a collection of web pages from a website which were visited one-by-one and sent to a printer. Then, those printouts were bound for sale without any further effort. I suggest you not make any further effort to buy a copy.
-Jeff C.
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