Over the years, I have heard a lot of stories from Disney insiders that I’ve been lucky enough to interview. Like how Alice Davis once told me that she knew that Mary Blair must be dealing with some horrific personal problems. Given that  in the early 1970s  this Disney Legend’s acclaimed sense of color & style suddenly seemed to slip away.

“I looked at the environmental studies that (Blair) had done for Western River Expedition,” Davis remembered, “And I then told Marc that ‘Something must be wrong with Mary. Her colors have all gone to mud.’ “

I’ve also talked with folks like Gary Goddard who spent their formative years at Walt Disney Imagineering working on projects that almost got built. Like that proposed replacement for Fort Wilderness’ “Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue” that Gary designed. Which was going to be …

“ … dinner theatre on an epic scale. The set was going to be this full Western street. Where the stars would made their entrance by riding on stage aboard this full-sized stagecoach pulled by six horses,” Goddard explained. “And Card Walker just loved the concept for this show. He told me ‘This is exactly what we should be doing at Walt Disney World.’ “

But – all too often – all you ever get are the stories. Not any images that actually validate the tales that you’ve been told.  Which is what’s so terrific about “The Art of the Walt Disney World Resort” (Disney Editions, May 2009). Here – finally ! – thanks to Jeff Kurtti & the late Bruce Gordon, are the sketches & concept paintings that prove that so many of these stories that I’ve heard over the years are true.

Take – for example – that really-for-real hotel for that Dorothea Redmond designed for the Main Street U.S.A. area at WDW’s Magic Kingdom. For years now, I’ve been told that the real reason that the Town Square Exhibition Hall is so tall is because the building that was originally supposed to have been built there had to be large enough to prevent anyone standing on Main Street Street U.S.A. from seeing the Contemporary Resort Hotel off in the distance.

The Main Street Hotel would have indeed  been big enough to block out the Contemporary. And its beautiful turn-of-the-century interior would have made rooms at this WDW Resort highly sought after by Guests.
The history of the Walt Disney World Resort is loaded with great what-ifs like this. Like – would Treasure Island have been far more popular with WDW visitors if the Imagineers had actually gone ahead with their original plan?

Which was to load up the formerly-known-as-Raz-Island with elaborately themed recreations of scenes & settings from Disney’s 1950 live-action film, “Treasure Island.” Take – for example – Collin Campbell’s concept for Ben Gunn’s cave depicted below.I know, I know.

A couple of the ideas that were mentioned in today’s review (i.e. the epic scale western dinner theater show, a hotel near the entrance of the Magic Kingdom & Ben Gunn’s Cave) did eventually get built as part of the Euro Disney Resort. Which isn’t all that surprising. Given that WDI is the place where good ideas never die.

Which – given that Walt Disney Pictures is now readying that new 3D version of “A Christmas Carol” for release -- one wonders if Imagineering will now circle back on that idea it once had for a new attraction for Epcot’s UK pavilion. Which was to have been a ride-thru version of Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale.

The images featured in today’s article are just a handful of the great sketches & concept paintings that can be found in “The Art of the Walt Disney World Resort.” The only downside to this 160-page, oversized hardcover is that it’s currently only for sale at the Disney theme parks. But – then again – you were looking for an excuse to book another trip to Orlando, weren’t you? So go ahead. “The Art of the Walt Disney World Resort” is worth going out of your way for.  Way, way, WAY far out of your way for.