Theme Park Fandom argues that serious study of theme parks and their adult fans has much to tell us about contemporary transmediality and convergence, themed and immersive spaces, and audience relationships with places of meaning. Considering the duopoly of Disney and Universal in Orlando, the book explores a range of theme park experiences including planning trips, meeting characters, eating and drinking, engaging in practices such as cosplay and re-enactment, and memorializing lost attractions. Highlighting key themes such as immersion, materiality, cultural distinctions, and self-identity, the book argues that theme parks are a crucial site for the exploration of transmediality and the development of paratexts. Proposing the key concepts of spatial transmedia and haptic fandom, the book offers analysis of the intersections between fandom, media texts, and merchandise, as well as fans' own affective and physical responses to visiting the parks.

50 years ago, Walt Disney utterly transformed the concept of outdoor entertainment venues. Using his innate talent for combining disparate skills and personalities, he assembled a creative team that blended imagination with engineering and called them 'Imagineers'. Kurtti introduces a core group of the originators of Disneyland and the other Disney parks. He explores their individual relationships with Walt and each other, their creative breakthroughs and failure, their rivalries and professional politics. Lavishly illustrated with rare never-before-seen photos.

This book offers a media ethnography of the digital culture, conventions, and urban spaces associated with fandoms, arguing that fandom is an area of productive, creative, and subversive value.

Monsieur Mouse After the success of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and sister parks, it seemed like a no-brainer: build a new Disney theme park near Paris, where millions of Europeans could come see Mickey. Soon, however, Disney was at risk of losing not just its money but its infallible magic as well. The story of Disneyland Paris starts from the very beginning, with Walt's original Disney theme park in California, the park that started it all. Havel then reviews how one park became many, as Disney built more theme parks in Florida, Tokyo, and then Paris. We go on a journey to see how Disneyland Paris got built, how the French reacted to it, the many ways in which it differs from the parks that came before it, and the troubles that very nearly led to its closure. Havel also explores the park's legacy and how it affected the Disney theme parks that came after it, and then speculates what the future might hold for Disneyland Paris.

Everybody climb on board! The Sesame Street Fun Bus is headed to the fun park. This bus features fun flaps with rides that go "zoom, " water rides that splash, and fireworks that go "boom." Full-color illustrations.

"The discipline of fan studies is famously undisciplined. But that doesn't mean it isn't structured. A Fan Studies Primer: Methods, Research, Ethics will be the first comprehensive primer for classroom use that shows students how to do fan studies, in practical terms. The expansion of fan studies as an academic field and the growing visibility of fandom and fan activities in popular culture have led to more instructors using students' fandom in the classroom, and teaching fan studies as a disciplinary focus. Teaching fandom and fan studies means drawing from a multidisciplinary spectrum of methodologies and foci. Yet, as fan studies itself is often a "moving target," it is imperative to have a volume that approaches the various contributions, methodologies, ethics, and lacunae of the field in a classroom setting. With contributions from many of the biggest names in fan studies, co-editors Paul Booth and Rebecca Williams pull together case studies that demonstrate the wide array of methodologies available to fan studies scholars, such as auto/ethnography, immersion, interviews, online data mining, historiography, and textual analysis. They also probe the ethical questions that are unique to fan studies work and that continue to crop up as the field develops, such as use of online fan content for research, interview methods, consent, and privacy. Both experienced scholars and new students alike will find a useful overview of the diverse research topics in fan studies, whether it's Harry Potter, superheroes, or celebrities, as well as a catalog of conscientious and effective techniques for those who want to join in"--

Like the famed theme park attraction and brand-new feature film that this volume examines, The Making of Disney’s Jungle Cruise takes readers on a unique and fascinating journey. It’s an odyssey through the history and legacy of one of the most original ideas ever to come out of Walt Disney’s fertile mind, first planned for the opening of his revolutionary new theme park in 1955. This book travels from the debut of what was called the Jungle River Cruise on Disneyland’s opening day, through the arrival at long last of the thrilling feature film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.On Disneyland’s opening day of July 17, 1955, the park’s first guests boarded authentically styled riverboats to take the first Jungle Cruises. This unique riverboat-themed attraction in Adventureland takes visitors on a short journey down expertly simulated versions of the most prominent tropical rivers of the world, including the Amazon and the Nile, to witness wild animals, exotic sights, and thrills only a handful of intrepid real-world explorers had experienced in the past. A hilarious (and “punny”) Jungle Cruise skipper narrates all the sights and action from beginning to end. This Jungle Cruise experience would ultimately be woven into three other Disney parks, where the ride was likewise an opening-day attraction—simulating comedic high-adventure cruises through rivers in the continents of South America, Africa, and Asia. Fast-forward decades and, at long last, production on the movie commenced. The project was influenced by director Jaume Collet-Serra’s love of The African Queen, Indiana Jones films, and Romancing the Stone, among others, and built on the foundation of key elements of the theme park attraction. From the re-creation of the Amazon River to the film’s hilarious take on famous skipper puns and the reams of Easter eggs for longtime fans, the Jungle Cruise movie captures the same excitement and joy as the theme park attraction, and

This expansive, must-have coffee table book 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. 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 in October 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. 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. Searching for that perfect gift for the Disney theme park fan in your life? Explore more archival-quality books from Disney Editions: Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks The Disney Monorail: Imagineering a Highway in the Sky Walt Disney's Ultimate Inventor: The Genius of Ub Iwerks One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe Marc Davis in His Own Words: Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks Yesterday's Tomorrow: Disney's Magical Mid-Century Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic Poster Art of the Disney Parks

A strategy guide to the Nintendo DS video game "Moshi Monsters, Moshling Theme Park."