How David Koenig got started (Podcast Show Notes) by MouseStation Crew

MouseStation 396 - How David Koenig got started

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Show run time 0:21:24

On today's show, David Koenig talks with Steven about how he got started writing about Disney.

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Feature: How David Koenig got started

David Koenig talks with Steven about how he got started writing about Disney.

David started writing about Disney back when he was in college at Cal State Fullerton in the early 1980s, during his last semester in fall 1984. Many of his friends were working at Disneyland when they all went on strike. After Disney hired scabs that were unDisneylike, David thought that someone should write about real life intruding on Disneyland and carry wacky cast stories forward. He interviewed friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, eventually interviewing about 250 people. He gathered enough stories to fill out a book, and Mouse Tales became the best-selling theme park book ever.

David was always a huge fan of Disneyland, growing up in Orange County in the shadow of the Matterhorn. His family would take an annual trip to Disneyland, and he would spend all week before going to plan how to use the ticket books. He never thought about writing about Disneyland until the strike. Afterward, he was asked to write more and more books, and now he just can't stop.

Mouse Tales was inspired by stories his friends told him, sort of an alternate history. It's now in its 18th printing. The success of that book inspired David to write More Mouse Tales. The book has 500 more stories. He then wrote Mouse Under Glass about animation, interviewing Imagineers, directors and producers. Finally, he wrote Realityland. Most of his source information comes from interviews, but he will find information from old employee manuals, blueprints, and even attraction log books.

David writes for MousePlanet. For his monthly column, he tries to collect recent odd news or even sometimes breaks news. He also shares thoughts from the interviews that he's done. David wishes that he had time to do it more often, and he actually does write more frequently when something is going on at Disneyland.

David Koenig's books:

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Twitter/Facebook poll questions

Here are the responses to some questions that Mark was asking on Twitter and Facebook in the last week. If you'd like to get in on answering these questions in the future, you can follow Mark on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.

Rumors say that the D23 Expo will not be held again until 2011. What are your thoughts on how that affects the value of D23 membership?

via Facebook:

Well I joined D23 late last year. If I'd known that they wouldn't be having an Expo this year I probably wouldn't have joined.
It doesn't effect me at all. I never would go to the expo since I would rather spend my travel money going to WDW during the normal time my family goes.
I think they totally TRASHED themselves with this one... And the fact that they haven't even announced their decision one way or the other yet is even worse. I have heard people say they are bummed that they renewed. Bad move, folks... Communication is vital in groups/clubs. They have got a friggin' TWITTER account for Walts sake! Send us a hint!!
Don't jump the gun - check tweets from http://twitter.com/stitchkingdom
There is no "new" info on those tweets, to be honest. We all know that they will make an announcement eventually... and we all know there will be another expo eventually... Did I miss something, Joe?
I agree. Sounds more like "no comment" and "I can't say until next week."
I think it would be a great move to move it to every other year...To me that would make them more special. That way there would be less repeating of the previous years news.
As cool as the expo sounds, I've felt lke the discount wasn't big enough to make a difference--they would have been better off making it exclusive to members.
Personally, I really dont see a value in joining D23 in the first place but I am willing to hear any reason as to why I should join. I love the magazine and get that at my local Disney Store, if not at the parks.
No value in joining another Disney Dodo like the Disney Club and Disney Magazine I join they folded like a bad poker hand.
Join the National Fantasy Fan Club for Disneyana Enthusiasts instead. Cheaper, they honor Disney Legends and have Disney speakers, and they meet yearly or twice a year.

via Twitter:

Bummer, since it looked like such fun last year. I was considering going. Affect on value? Minimal. Not all members went and not all there were members, I'm sure.
if that's true, I'm going to be incredibly disappointed, as I joined AFTER the first D23 Expo based on reports I heard of it
No Expo devalues D23. And it makes me sad, which is something they should really keep in mind. :)
Not having an Expo this year does take away from @DisneyD23's value, but that can be compensated with other benefits. On the other-hand, Disney should pick a new name for the Disney D23 Expo, since one didn't need to be a @DisneyD23 member to attend.
It is very disappointing! I joined (at the high price) because I'd heard how great it was and was planning to go.

via Email:

Now, I am not a D23 member but I can't help but wonder how many people joined D23 this year for the events and more specifically the D23 Expo? I would have to think if as rumored Disney doesn't hold the D23 Expo there will be many disappointed members and it wouldn't surprise me if membership goes down quite a bit next year.

Mark

Next week's question:

What was your age when you first went to a Disney theme park?

What do you think?

March of Dimes

MousePlanet readers and MouseStation listeners have helped Mark to raise over $15,000 for the March of Dimes over the last four years. This year, his goal is to raise another $5,000. But that's not all! This year, you can walk with Mark, either in person or virtually, by joining Team MousePlanet! Mike has already signed on to walk as well. You can go to Mark's fundraising page to sponsor him, Mike's fundraising page to sponsor him, or the Team MousePlanet page to join in and walk yourself! Help us to provide a better chance to prevent prematurity and to help those babies that are born prematurely, because new parents should take their babies home from the hospital, not to the cemetery.

Wrapping up

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Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.

Thank you for listening!

How David Koenig got started