Books

Book Review: “One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe”

Denise

Hi everyone!

We received the book One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe to review. The book captures what it is like to work for Disney – shot over one (40 hour) day around the world, in a variety of capacities. That includes inside the Disney parks, at Disney Television Animation, at Golden Oak Ranch, and many other locations that are part of the Walt Disney Company. Some of the Cast Members profiled will be familar, and that includes Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company. The book will release on December 3rd, 2019 – along with a Disney+ feature length documentary with a 52-episode short-form series. Read below for my review!

One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe showcases Cast Members on one “ordinary” Thursday in 2019. The day began in Tokyo, and ends over 40 hours later at Aulani in Hawaii as photographers captured a look at about 80 Cast Members of the tens of thousands who make up the Walt Disney Company.

Upon opening the coffee table sized book, a beautiful shot of Cinderella heading to her coach is shown (as part of a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding). A few other large photos are shown, including animator Eric Goldberg drawing Mickey Mouse. He is featured later in the book.

The foreword is by Bob Iger, who calls the book “A celebration of the extraordinary people who work at Disney” – both famous and not.

Each Cast Member in the book is profiled and talks about their job. For example, the first profile is Stephanie Carroll, who is a ranch hand at Tri-Circle D Ranch at Walt Disney World (Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground). This two-page layout is mostly about her driving the six-pony team in the Magic Kingdom for Disney Fairytale Weddings. Thomas Self is an Attraction Machinist at Disneyland, and he is shown scuba-diving through the Jungle Cruise. Captain Fabian Dib from the Disney Cruise Line first joined the company 22 years ago when the Disney Magic ship was being built. And one of my favorite profiles is Cyril Soreau, who carves fruit and pumpkins at Disneyland Paris. He is very talented, we’ve seen him in person a number of times. He has been a full time sculptor of fruit and vegetables at Disneyland Paris for seven years. And another profile is of Natalie D. Mylniczenko, who is a veterinarian at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. There are a few fun photos with animals.

I like that One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe offers a lot on terrific park and Imagineering Cast Member profiles. But it isn’t only about the parks. Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family is featured, as are the aforementioned Eric Goldberg, Jon Favreau, actor Brie Larson and more. But for myself, anything having to do with Disney parks is most interesting and I was happy to see so many Cast Members from the various locations included.

When I first opened the book and saw Disney Fairytale Weddings featured, I thought One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe might feel like it was trying to sell Disney experiences around the globe. But by the end, I didn’t feel that way overall. What I mostly took away from the book is how huge the Walt Disney Company is. It’s not like I didn’t know that, but this puts it into a new perspective for me. If we didn’t receive this to review, we would have purchased it – it’s a unique book for fans of Disney. I would love to see a similar book focusing just on the parks and Imagineering.

From Disney:

On a Thursday in 2019, a small army of photographers and videographers scattered across the globe to capture what goes on beyond those tantalizing “Cast Members Only” doors – whether eavesdropping on historic endeavors or typical tasks. All the photos in this book were taken on that single Thursday, beginning early in Tokyo and following the sun around the world through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, Madrid, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and dozens of places throughout the United States. More than 40 hours after it began, the day ended as the sun set on the Aulani resort in Hawaii.
 
On that day, some 80 Cast Members agreed to open up their workshops, dressing rooms, kitchens, cubicles, TV studios, labs, locomotive engines – and some even more surprising and diverse work spaces. They also shared their stories: childhood dreams and chapters, career pivots and triumphs, workaday hurdles and joys. It was just a day in the life, as extraordinary as any other day at Disney. As any Cast Member can tell you, a Disney job is less a destination than a limitless journey. And for just One Day at Disney, we can all tag along for the ride.

Here is a trailer for the Disney+ docu-special.


One Day at Disney | Official Trailer | Disney+ | Streaming November 12
 
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