This October, Walt Disney World will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Not only is the “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” being celebrated with updates around the resort, but to further commemorate this milestone, Walt Disney World: A Portrait of the First Half Century, a special Disney Editions Deluxe hardcover book, will be released just before the festivities are set to begin at the Florida park.
This book, written by Kevin M. Kern, Tim O’Day, and Steven Vagnin, is described as a “must-have” as it “paints a robust portrait of the Walt Disney World Resort, across half a century, through diverse and vibrant voices and mostly unseen Disney theme park concept art and photographs.”
While there is no preview of the book cover yet online, there is a thorough description of what the book entails:
Walt Disney”s vision for “the Florida Project” begins with Disneyland and the 1964-1965 New York World”s Fair. After an imaginative and expansive design, a unique land acquisition process, and an innovative construction period, the Walt Disney World Resort celebrated its Grand Opening on October 1, 1971. It featured a theme park dubbed the Magic Kingdom and three recreational resorts: Disney”s Contemporary Resort, Disney”s Polynesian Village, and Disney”s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
As Walt Disney World consistently grew and further evolved through the five decades that followed, certain themes reverberated: an appreciation for nostalgia, a joy for fantasy, a hunger for discovery, and an unending hope for a better tomorrow. Inspirational and memorable theme parks, water parks, sports arenas, recreational water sports, world-class golf courses, vast shopping villages, and a transportation network unlike any other in the world resulted in fun, festive, and familiar characters, traditions, spectacles, merchandise, and so much more. The resort has come to represent the pulse of American leisure and has served as a backdrop for life”s milestones both big and small, public and private.
As Disney World gears up to honor its fifth anniversary through an unprecedented celebration kicking off in Fall 2021, Walt Disney World: A Portrait of the First Half Century serves as a treasure trove for vacationers, students of hospitality, artists, and all Disney collectors.
Walt Disney World: A Portrait of the First Half Century is available to preorder now on Amazon and will be released on September 28, 2021.
Check out our latest information on Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebrations: