Book Review: The Vault of Walt

THE VAULT OF WALT

Unofficial, Unauthorized, Uncensored Disney Stories Never Told

By Jim Korkis

459 pages

$19.95

AyefourPublishing.com

For many of us who are Disney trivia geeks, Jim could be considered the Dean of the Disney History School. If you ever have a chance to hear him on Lou Mongello’s show or other podcasts, you will see how infectious his energy is and his passion for the park’s little details is second to none. So it was with great anticipation I awaited his first book.

I think the best way to approach this book is to think of it this way. Let’s say you are reading a conventional book about some aspect of Disney. Jim’s book is the side companion that fills in the gaps between the paragraphs and adds texture to what you are reading. He has tried very hard to find the stuff that nobody else had found. His access to information is legendary.

So who is this Jim Korkis character anyway? For the past 30 years, he has written many articles on the subject of Disney. He grew up in Glendale and became friends with many of the original Imagineers and executives. As a teenager he would write down the names of the people in the movie credits, look up their number in the phone book, and then give them a call. It worked. He worked in Orlando for a while and even worked for the Disney Institute and other jobs around the resort.

But Jim may be best known as Wade Sampson who wrote a weekly column for Mouseplanet. Once the book came out he was able to discard the disguise.

Jim claims that, “None of the stories in this section appear in any of those other sources, except, on very rare occasion, in a brief sentence or two.” As a person who has read many books on the subject, he is right. There are lots of new things to discover within these pages.

Now my typical book review would highlight some of the key points or new observations. But there is just no way to carve out what those are in this book as everything is a highlight. There are just too many stories. We do learn that he is not a fan of The Aristocats but has learned to enjoy the movie because of the way it was developed and because of a woman who claimed it was her favorite movie. His attitude is that somebody out there likes something and you should not prejudge.

Jim is also on a mission. As a frequent guest on the Lou Mongello podcast, he feels that as time passes many of the stories about Disney are getting lost and the next generation of Cast Members will be missing out. He wants to make sure that somebody has documented this stuff.

For the uber-Disney geek, I could not recommend this book more highly. It is a quick read with dozens of short essays. I think a real positive is the exposure to some of the more obscure things that came out of Disney, which will make you want to hunt these movies down or to visit that particular part of the parks. A great holiday gift for somebody on your list who just loves Disney background stories.

I received this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.