Bookworm Speaks!- Disney Magic: The Launching of a Dream

Bookworm Speaks!

Disney Magic

The Launching of a Dream

by John Hemingway

****

Acquired: Rudi Steele Travel

Series: Disney Editions Deluxe (1998)

Hardcover: 96 Pages

Language: English 

****

Note: Bookworm’s speciality is fiction, no surprises there. That is what he chooses to read most of the time but he also dives into the world of the factual. However It is difficult to review non-fiction. It follows a different set of rules and its hard to say how a story flows when dealing with facts. How do you review a textbook? Thankfully, many non-fiction books also use literally techniques in order to truly convey a story and that is something Bookworm can work with! So without further ado…

Disney Magic: The Launching of a Dream!

The Story: The dreammakers of Disney have done it again! Disney Magic celebrates the creation of a cruise ship different from all others. This keepsake volume reveals how the Disney Cruise Line creative team turned a dream, long held by Walt Disney, into reality. 

It documents the care, innovation, and originality that led to the birth of a remarkable ship. Discover why The Walt Disney Company decide to enter the cruise industry, what prompted the decision to design a fanciful, modern classic and how the ship’s storyline sets it apart from all others in the water today. 

Richly illustrated with more the 180 never-before-seen images, Disney Magic, includes preliminary exterior design sketches, photographs of the ship’s bow being towed up the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy for the “Float Together,” and a vintage shot of Walt Disney himself aboard the Italian luxury liner The Rex. The images provide a taste of the ship’s evolution, examining what went into designing and building not only its body, but the highly distinctive interiors. Be dazzled by insights into little know details of the Disney Magic.

The Review: When Bookworm was a kid, he and his family went on one of the inaugural voyages of the Disney Magic and it remains one of his most memorable experiences. 

In the age of the airline, it is easy to overlook the cruise liner as being little more than a novelty, used solely for vacationing. Many go out of their way to vilify the whole experience of cruising, saying its a ripoff or its unpleasant. Whether or not they are right or wrong, the fact remains that the cruise liners of yore were an essential part of the global transportation system. Those mighty ships proved an essential link between the continents, carrying passengers on tour or those seeking a better life, like what the Titanic could’ve been. While briefly, the book provides a snapshot of that bygone era, and set the stage for what the Disney Cruise Line would try to become, capture that lost age. 

What does well is the best kind of non-fiction, one that tells a story. The book is filled with personal anecdotes of then Disney Personnel that were involved in the project. There is plenty of technical stuff to be had but it is carefully balanced by the imagery and how the author presented them. We are not reading facts about the Disney Magic, we’re reading the story of how the Disney Magic Came to be. 

One of Bookworm’s favorite parts is the showcasing of concept artwork for the ship, particularly the futuristic SS Fantasia. It would have been interesting to see that one built. The Disney is regarded as modern classic and through the text, it shows. 

It goes into far more detail than just design work though. Nearly every detail of the ship’s, design, construction, and assembly is shown to the reader without getting too much into the nitty-gritty which would most likely bore all but nautical nerds. Even though the Disney Cruise Line has been in existence for over twenty years, reading this book make’s it all seem new again. 

Final Verdict: Disney Magic: The Launching of a Dream is an excellent addition to the collection of any Disney fan and/or fan of the high seas. It showcases a slice of history from a legendary company. It makes Bookworm want to go at sea once more. 

Five Anchors out of Five 

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