Poster Art of the Disney Parks by Daniel Handke and Vanessa Hunt

I really enjoyed this book, which is mostly various posters designed for Disney theme parks since 1955. The vast majority of the posters are for Magic Kingdom-style parks (a few from Epcot and DHS sneak in)--the chapters are by MK land and then Disney's California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea. There was a fair amount of information on the parks, the poster design process, and the printing techniques. I learned a lot--but the book made me eager to return to a Disney theme park!

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2012 by Bob Sehlinger

This book is similar to the Walt Disney World title--indeed, many of the anecdotes are repeated from the Florida version of the book. At times the advice of the authors seems overbearing (for example, they recommend dressing everyone in matching shirts--which definitely works for some families--but it's presented as a best method). There's also a one-size fits all quality to the books, despite the fact that they give multiple touring plans for Disneyland and rate each attraction for each different age groups. I found the attraction, restaurant, and hotel descriptions more helpful than the touring advice (although I definitely plan on using the touring plans!). Overall a thorough and amusing guide book.

Four Decades of Magic: Celebrating the First Forty Years of Disney World by Chad Emerson

This book contains a collection of essays about the history of Walt Disney World. It took me several months to read because I read it intermittently, an essay at a time. Some of the essays were really excellent and clarified and informed me about bits of Disney history with which I was not previously familiar. Other essays seemed to retrod familiar ground. Overall it was an entertaining collection.

Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America by Stephen Fjellman

This book analyzes the cultural work that Walt Disney World does. Why does it appeal to so many people? How does it work with nostalgia? I found the book very entertaining, because I both love Disney and recognize that it works by obscuring relevant things (like history for example). Fjellman describes it as post-modern in the way that different parts of history and geography flow from one part to the other (but modernist in its portrayal of the future--which generally has more to do with the past in Disney). The book is dated (published in 1992)--so lots of the things in it have long since closed, but it was a fascinating read, and made me eager to visit Disney again despite myself.