The Disney Interviews: Volume I

by Lou Mongello

The Disney Interviews is a collection of one-on-one conversations with Imagineers, artists, actors, musicians, magic-makers, and Mousketeers who worked for and with Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company in the creation of the Disney parks, movies, television series, and legacy, or were instrumental in helping to preserve his legacy and history, Julie Andrews - Star of Mary Poppins, personally hired by Walt Disney- Marty Sklar - Former creative leader of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), and Walt Disney’s “right hand man” as writer of personal materials for Walt Disney for use in publications, television and special films, including the film showcasing Walt’s vision for Walt Disney World and Epcot- George McGinniss - Last Imagineer personally hired by Walt Disney, and show designer for attractions including Space Mountain in Disneyland and Walt Disney World- Lonnie Burr - Member of the Original Mickey Mouse Club- Alice Davis - Designer and creator of costumes for animated figures for attractions including it’s a small world, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. - Dave Smith - Founder of the Disney Archives- Al Konetzni - Artist, marketing executive, and character merchandising “idea man”- Bill “Sully” Sullivan - Went from ticket-taker to Operations Supervisor at Disneyland, as well as director of Epcot Center - operations, and VP of Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World- Richard M. Sherman - Academy Award-winning composer and songwriter of more than 200 songs for 27 films and two dozen television productions, including Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Winnie the Pooh, and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, as well as a series of top ten hits and theme park attractions including Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room, and the iconic song “it's a small world”- And more!This book is a compilation of just some of the interviews conducted by Lou Mongello since he started podcasting in early 2005 for his WDW Radio show (WDWRadio.com). Lou carefully selected these interviews to be included in this book, not only because they were some of his personal favorites, or true Disney Legends, but also because each of them personally knew and worked for or with Walt Disney. They all share individual stories of how Walt influenced their lives, through his trust, guidance, and friendship. The hope is that you can imagine those conversations taking place in your mind’s eye, just as Lou did as they were recounting them to him. In typical Disney fashion, every one of the individuals in this book completely over delivered, and far exceeded expectations, as their emotion, joy, and the passion truly comes through in these conversations. About the Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion for Disney. He is the author of multiple books and audio tours about the Disney Parks, and is the host of WDWRadio.com, an award-winning podcast, live video and community about the Disney Parks, Marvel, and Star Wars. He is a speaker who also provides mentoring and consulting to individuals and organizations looking to build their businesses and brands by sharing the magic of Disney, as well as social media, podcasting, live video, and community.

337 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to rate this book higher than I have. The content is amazing, but the lack of editing and proofreading has made sections completely unintelligible. The Alice Davis section is almost unreadable. It's as if they turned on auto captions for the podcast episode and just assumed everything went perfectly. "Snow White and the seven dwarfs" became "snow white and the seven doors." "Here, he" became "Harry." It was so distracting I had a hard time just enjoying the words of these Disney legends.

[Nicole]

Happy New Years Eve everyone! It’s just me here still behind and catching up on reviews for the week. I’ll address all things goal and of the year related once I’m caught up haha. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe new year!⁣⁣
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For Christmas my husband got me The Disney Interviews by @loumongello . We will often listen to his podcast together so my husband thought this book would be perfect for me when we heard it was being released. Fun facts: The pot in the picture was personally made for me by my mother in law for my Beauty and the Beast themed bridal shower. My husband and I had a Disney themed wedding since we had way too many people to invite to accomplish a Disney World destination wedding. We brought the Disney to us. ⁣We even went to Disney for our honeymoon and babymoon. Guess it’s a good thing we are Disney Vacation Club members. ⁣
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The Disney Interviews is the first installment where Lou takes interviews from his podcast with important members of Disney’s history. In this book we have people like the legendary Julie Andrews, the great costume designer Alice Davis, and composer/songwriter Richard Sherman to name a few.⁣⁣
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❤️Review❤️⁣⁣
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These interviews were so much fun to read. I really enjoyed getting to see their love for Disney come through the pages. They clearly loved what they did and it even transcended into their retired lives. To be a Disney cast member was definitely something special to each of them. I also loved getting to hear each of their personal experiences with Walt. You wouldn’t think a busy man like himself that he would have time to make these personal relationships with his employees, but he definitely made them feel like family. It made me really wish that I was inspired sooner to work for the company than to become a teacher hahaha. Guess I’ll just settle for continuing to bring my family there year after year. Overall if you are a Disney but like me, then I think you’ll really like this one!⁣⁣
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What’s your favorite thing about the Disney company?⁣⁣
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#disneyreads #nonfictionreading #reading #winterreads #bookreview #bookstagram #reads #booklover #learningsomethingnew #disneylover

[Emily Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of you are a Disney fan, you read or hear stories from Julie Andrew, Richard Sherman, or Marty Sklar about working for Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company, but it’s rare to hear about their experiences in their own words and in such a relaxed and conversational format. Lou Mongello is a master interviewer. His interviews are conversations and are well researched and sincere. He even manages to maintain personal friendships with many Disney Legends which is a testament to his sincerity and passion for the art and work these men and women have contributed to the Walt Disney Company and brand.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book four stars for content. The interviews were very interesting. Mr. Mongello obviously does his research and gets good stories out of his guests.
However, I give this one star for editing. These were based on transcripts of podcasts. I think they played the tapes for Siri and let her translate. I think we all know how well that goes. Some were minor mistakes, some parts were completely unintelligible. What a shame to have a good book ruined because no one involved with its publication took the time to read it.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

My name is Karla and I’m a Disney addict. Now that we have that out of the way...I loved this book.
Reading interviews by the amazing Disney aficionado Lou Mongello with Disney legends like Julie Andrews, Alice Davis and Marty Sklar made this Disney nerd so happy. Behind the scenes and in depth accounts about Disney animation, theme parks, movies, merchandising and operations were like getting a glimpse directly through the Disney lens.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the way Lou Mongello conducts his interviews. The direction he takes in his questions really bring out interesting stories for the readers to enjoy.

These interviews were transcribed from audio recordings, and at times it can be difficult to read and understand. Other than that, it is very entertaining to get to hear the stories from the people who make Disney magic.

[LeeAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Lou Mongello. His podcast, WDW Radio, is the first place I started to learn about Walt Disney World and all the reasons I should visit. Lou's passion for the parks is like laughter - easily contagious! I loved the stories in this book. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this chapter's episode of Walt Disney magic. See ya real soon!

[Gemma Searle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so I enjoyed the book I found the interviews really interesting and I’m definitely going to give the podcast a try. My only issue was the bad editing there are parts when big sections repeat and sentences that don’t make sense if it hadn’t have been for that this would have got 5 starts. It really is a must for any big Disney fan

[Samantha Charette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Interviews, Awful Editing…

Let me start off by saying I LOVED learning about these Disney Legends. However, the editing (or lack thereof) in this book made it so difficult to read.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The interviews were good but the transcription from the audio is terrible. No one proofread before sending it to print when you’ve misspelled Disney Legends name’s wrong. Listen to the podcasts for free and don’t read this book.

[Kimberly Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book of interviews for any Disney fan. Needed a better editor with amount of errors but still a fun read even though I’ve listened to some of the audio interviews via his podcast. Fun read. Especially loved the Richard Sherman chapter.

[Corey Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I also found the general lack of editing to be a huge detractor and distraction. It felt as though this book was written using speech to text technology, and a lot of us know how unreliable Siri can be!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cool book filled with some great insider Disney stories!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The grammar is not the best which I kept getting caught up on but good read. Interesting to learn about the early days of Disney.

[MK Trotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a Disney fanatic and believe that Lou can do no wrong. This one is for the serious Disney fans—the ones who want to know more about the creation of Disneyland, song writers like Richard Sherman, and my favorite interview with Julie Andrews❤️