A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Disney A to Z

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (10)

By Jim Korkis

• Disney A-Z: The Official Encyclopedia (2016)  by Dave Smith

I can’t believe you don’t already have a copy of this valuable reference in your library, but you may perhaps be dragging your feet to purchase the latest edition that is 864 pages long with over 7,000 entries. Editions came out in 1996, 1998, 2006, 2015 (exclusive limited Sam’s Warehouse club edition), and 2016.

I’ve known the author of Disney A to Z, Disney Chief Archivist Emeritus David R. Smith, for decades. I did a lengthy interview with him on March 16, 2005 at Walt Disney World where among other things we talked about this book.

“Well, the first version of the book Disney A to Z came out in 1996 and, at that time, Hyperion, which was publishing the Disney books, said this is a great reference book and we should keep updating it every two years. So two years later, in 1998, we did the updated version of Disney A to Z, so I expected when 2000 came along, they’d be ready for the next edition. Well, they’ve been dragging their feet.

“What I did though in 1998, the minute that I shipped off the manuscript for the updated version to the publisher, I started putting onto my computer all of the new material that would then go into the next edition. You know what’s happening with the company all the time: we’ve got new movies coming out, we’ve got attractions opening at the park, we’ve got attractions closing at the park, we’ve got songs winning Oscars and all that sort of thing.

“All this type of information as it crosses my desk, I just type it into the computer right there! So, I’m up to date as of Friday and it’s Disney Editions now that publishes the Disney books. If they say we’re ready to do your new edition of Disney A to Z, the next morning I will ship off the computer disc and they’ll be all ready to go!

“Well, as you know, so many of the questions you get over and over again so you find that maybe 95% of the questions you can answer without doing any research whatsoever and then the other 5%, some of them take a lot of research to try to find the answers.

“That’s the reason I wrote Disney A-Z: The Official Encyclopedia so that I would have all that information at my fingertips rather than going through different file folders. Primarily, we utilized most frequently three huge file folders. One listed all the films and material about them. Another had a listing of all the theme park attractions and when they opened and closed. The third was a listing of people who had worked at Disney.

“We would keep getting requests that somebody’s great aunt had said they worked at the studio and they wanted to know when or just to check. Things happen quickly at Disney and without warning and one of the challenges I have being based in California is getting accurate opening and closing dates for things at Walt Disney World. Fortunately, cast members have been a huge help in that area.

“There was no money to pay for photos, so I took my own camera out and took pictures for that first edition because since I was on salary, they didn’t have to pay me anything additional.”

The WDW material is not as complete as the Disneyland material, but it is still valuable and authoritative. Even with the publication of this latest volume, Dave continues to constantly update and add entries online here.

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Thanks, Jim! You can see my copy of one of the older editions here:

And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, More Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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