Hello

Thank you for visiting Samland.

Samland started as something of a lark some 3 1/2 years ago. I had just finished serving on the Pasadena Center Operating Committee board as kind of my professional hobby and was there during the $150 million dollar expansion. I am proud of that project and when it was completed it was time to move on and find something else. Since I was deep into planning documents at the time, I wanted to write about something a bit lighter. I really love Disneyland and the topic was familiar. I thought it would be a fun fun research project and it turned out to be the case. The stories that I wrote about were things that were of interest to me. I have been astonished that anybody else would also find these tidbits of interest. I am still astonished.

One day, while planning for a trip to Walt Disney World, I was reading the Unofficial Guide and found a tip to use a disable FastPass machine at the Haunted Mansion for a freebie. You know what I am talking about. When the trick did not work, I wrote to Len Testa, co-author, and let him know. His reply was less about the FastPass machine but about an urban planner interested in Walt Disney World. We talked. He got me on the WDW Today podcast. That highlighted this blog. And, as they say the rest is history:

- The Disney Design side bars in The Color Companion to Walt Disney World.
- An essay entitled "The Evolution of Entertainment Retail" in Planning Los Angeles
- An essay entitled "Walt Disney's EPCOT and the Heart of Our Cities" in Four Decades of Magic
- Walt and the Promise of Progress City
- The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream
- I got in the index of Beth Dunlop's excellent Building a Dream
- Talks at The Walt Disney Family Museum, WDI, Disney Creative, USC, American Planning Association, many Disneyana clubs (love you guys), WDW leadership teams, and many others.
- The MiceChat weekly column called Samland
- The occasional lunch with Bob Gurr.
- The friendship of so many.
- Other stuff

I got to write books. I get to write books. For the geeky me, this has been a very cool thing. And some of you have bought the them. That is even cooler. I am in the midst of writing another one that will be out in the Fall of 2014 and I hope to continue writing books.

Therefore, this site, Samland's Disney Adventures will be on hiatus. To find out if the status changes I suggest you join The Disneyland Story page and that is where I will post the latest updates. As for MiceChat, it won't be every week but when there is something to say.

Thank you
Sam Gennawey