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Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Yale University Press
Category: EBooks
List Price: $19.00
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $9.01 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 30997
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.06875924
ASIN: B0016ODGAU
Publication Date: June 10, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Joined together in an 'economic development marriage', Walt Disney World and Orlando, Florida, have become the world's most popular tourist destination. This intriguing book traces the evolution of the relationship between the Disney Co. and the surrounding community since it began in the 1960s. Like most close relationships, the Disney-Orlando union has involved conflict and compromise. Richard Foglesong shows that this evolving relationship validates the adage: whom you marry affects what you may become. Foglesong explains how Orlando leaders seduced the Disney Co. with big road projects, how the Disney Co. shielded its property from government regulation, and how the company has used the governmental powers it acquired. In short, Disney World has become a "Vatican with Mouse ears", the author declares. In a balanced and thorough analysis of the Disney-Orlando story, Foglesong offers a critical account of how Disney has used - and also abused - its governmental immunities from the beginning of Disney World to the present under chairman Michael Eisner. Orlando's experience with its biggest local employer raises broad questions about urban development policy. Can local leaders resist the demands of global corporations? Do privatisation and deregulation offer a viable strategy for economic development? And is it possible to escape the weight of previous economic development decisions that seem to lock in, for example, more tourism and low wages, while locking out other opportunities?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Intriguing October 3, 2008
What is the politics/relationship between the Disney Co. and the Orlando community?
Find out how community leaders in Orlando persuade the Disney Corp. with city projects so that they will thrive their business there. It's interesting how the Disney Corp. was protected from government regulation and more.
 Zzzzzzzzz...... August 14, 2008
I'll admit, I'm only half way through the book. However, to this point, I barely understood what I've been reading. I applaud the author for his obvious intense research, but seriously, how many names can one person possibly remember? There is so much trivial and confusing jargon in here, it's making for a very long 200 page read.
 A Fair and Exposing Look at the Walt Disney World Company November 17, 2007
I bought this book a number of months ago and really enjoyed reading it. Although the person who recommended it to me said it was very anti-Disney, I found that Foglesong had a good balance between the views of the different stakeholders. It is certainly an educational book, and would recommend for anyone interested in Walt Disney World history. This is not a book about how wonderful Disney is or how to plan your Walt Disney World vacation...so be prepared for a bit more than Pixie Dust.
Muckraking journalism... by an academic May 1, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Richard Foglesong is one hell of an investigative reporter. I know, I know - he's not a journalist, he's a college professor. But he writes like a journalist and reports like a journalist, and "Married To The Mouse" is a terrifically entertaining and penetrating look at the relationship between Disney and Orlando.Unfortunately - and this only a minor point, really - Foglesong is also an academic. I say "unfortunately" because the academic portions of this book are far-and-away the least interesting. They are filled with urban planning buzzwords and jargon. They try to tie together in neat academic theories what were really power struggles between a big business and a comparatively small county government.
Foglesong is at his best when he tells us how things happened. How did Orlando build those roads that lured Disney to town? How did Disney get that crazy charter that makes the company an autonomous government? How did they abuse that charter to get perks that no other private business could dream of? How did Orlando and Orange County and Osceola County shirk their responsibilities to their taxpayers in failing to more forcefully confront Disney's abuses? These stories are told through detailed interviews and narrative-style writing that makes the tales engaging reads. It is in the best tradition of muckraking journalism. Understand one thing: I like Disney World. I've been there many times. It's a fun place. I like Disney movies. I generally root for the Mouse. But I also despise abuses by large corporations. Disney is guilty of more than its share, and "Married To The Mouse" is the best account I've read of how and why that happened.
not an expose May 15, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and all the intricacies it points out about the Disney Conglomerate. Sometimes a little tangled and overdetailed, it examines the business aspects of the Disney Corporation. Not at all an expose of actual park practices, this book deals with the big business of urban planning, politics, and scuffle over Orlando public funding. Well written for a complicated topic.
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