I mentioned this upcoming book a few days ago. I did not know anything about it at the time. I must admit that having read the presentation below that David Koening sent me recently for the Disney History blog I am know really looking forward to devouring as soon as it is released.

[The making of “Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World” has been a long, arduous journey that began not long after the release of my first book, “Mouse Tales,” in 1994. My collection of wacky and outrageous anecdotes about Disneyland was so well received, that the public demanded a sequel, and my first thought was to produce a similar book about Disney World.

After a few trips to Central Florida, I quickly realized that this was going to take a lot longer than first imagined. For one thing, Disney had built Disney World over 2,000 miles away from my home in Southern California. Quite inconsiderate. At most, I’d be in Florida a couple of weeks each year. Second, Disney World isn’t just a theme park; it’s basically a city, with a story behind every element. And, third, never before had anyone written an in-depth history of the resort. As I began receiving access to higher- and higher-level insiders, I knew that I had the opportunity to do something special, and I committed to letting the project take as much time as it needed.

Along the way, I met up with the man personally charged with going undercover and secretly buying the land in Florida… The lawyer required to lived in a shack on property before real construction began, when it was truly a wilderness… The Imagineers who decided which rides to put in the theme parks and proposed dozens of ideas that didn’t make the cut… The people who ran the original Preview Center… The on-site executive who oversaw the chaotic construction of Disney’s first hotels… Security guards recruited to try to control the bedlam… The outsiders brought in to operate the hotels with “industry practices” in direct violation of the “Disney way”… Marketing folks who had to sell the amusements, participant affairs staffers who had to get someone else to pay for them, and the operations team who had to run them on a daily basis… Members of the “Wednesday Morning Club,” enlisted by a desperate Card Walker to turn Walt Disney’s City of Tomorrow into something lucrative and practical that they could pass off as an “EPCOT”… And Card Walker himself.

So here we are a dozen years after my first, fateful trip to Disney World. That’s 20-some flights to Florida. More than 100 interviews. Easily 200 hours digging for details in research libraries, universities, and courthouses. And a few extended interruptions, including two other books and two children.

Like my earlier works, there are plenty of crazy cast member stories, backstage secrets, details on attraction mishaps, and all of the other thrills that “Mouse Tales” lovers have been clamoring for. But, even more, it’s all woven together into a fascinating history of the resort, the company itself, and a group of unforgettable characters. The tales don’t just subscribe to a theme; they tell a story. And, best of all, I’ve finally written a book that doesn’t have the word “Mouse” in the title.

“Realityland” arrives in bookstores (both physical and electronic) on October 1, the 25th anniversary of Epcot, but advance copies will be available at the NFFC shows July 15 in Southern California and September 29 at Disney World.]