Between Books - Walt Disney World Hidden History: Remnants of Former Attractions & Other Tributes

Walt Disney World Hidden History: Remnants of Former Attractions & Other Tributes by Kevin Yee shows readers the Easter eggs found in the Walt Disney World Resort that honor retired attractions and those that influenced the attractions within the resort.  He takes readers on a tour of the four parks within the resort and even examines tributes in Downtown Disney and the resort hotels.  Most examinations of tributes are less than a page long and many are accompanied by black and white photographs.  Yee also provides a list of those honored with Main Street U.S.A. windows and a list of opening and closing dates for active and closed attractions.  The book finishes with a few pages of non-Disney tributes found within the Universal Orlando Resort.

I have read similar books in the Imagineering Guide series and The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World.  So I was a little amazed to read some new material that I was not familiar with including tributes to Walt Disney and Frank Wells in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, the role toasters had to play with Dinosaur, and even some nods to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride within the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh beyond the two that I have read about several times.  I really did not expect to see anything that I would have classified as new, but these were just a few examples of me being proven wrong.  Additionally, unlike those other books Yee provides readers details that match closely to the parks we have today, with no references to the defunct Mickey’s Toontown Fair which can be found in other similar books.  But if I was to ask for improvement I would have two requests.  First, I would love more content.  This text is around 200 pages with several pages having only a half page of content.  Second, I would like to see color and clearer pictures.  The addition of pictures is a very nice touch.  However, a few of the pictures do not do justice to the content Yee provides due to clarity.  Overall, Walt Disney World Hidden History is easy to read and shows sometimes there is something new under the sun.