Updated version of hard cover souvenir book.

The writing is academic, but it is not inaccessible. It will have wide disciplinary appeal within academia, as tourism studies cross into a variety of fields including history, American studies, fandom studies, performance studies and cultural studies. It will be invaluable to those working in the field of theme park scholarship and the study of Disney theme parks, theme parks in general and related areas like world's expositions and spaces of the consumer and lifestyle worlds. It will also be of interest to Disney fans, those who have visited any of the parks or are interested to know more about the parks and their cultural situation and context.

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.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.