Welcome to the first in a weekly column here at Doctor Disney! Each week I will feature a review from the Disney library – anything from biographies to guidebooks, to artbooks and everything in between. With so many books out there about Walt Disney, his films, the theme parks, their history, engineering, designs, ideas, and much more, there is never a dull moment!
I recently (and guiltily) checked out a copy of The Dark Side of Disney by Leonard Kinsey. Although written in 2011, this is not the first time I’ve heard of this book. Considering myself somewhat of a Disney purist, I hesitated to even open it until now. What did I find?
I will preface this by saying that not everyone will enjoy The Dark Side of Disney. The language and content is not everyone’s cup of tea and is definitely not something you should be reading to your child. That being said, I decided to take this book with a grain of salt and found it to be highly entertaining.
Leonard Kinsey is a Disney fan. His idea was to write an unconventional guidebook for the unconventional fan, for example, one who likes to party hard, get in without paying, mooch at the Pecos Bill topping bar and perhaps venture down into the Utilidors without getting caught.
The book is divided into four chapters, which are roughly summed up here:
1. Buying discount tickets, avoiding scams, creating scams, and finding ways to cheat the theme park prices, including sneaking past the front gate.
2. Finding promiscuity and some illegal substances outside of the resort, along with the best places to drink and how Disney’s cameras catch everything that happens on dark rides.
3. Abusing and manipulating the amenities such as the GAC (Guest Assistance Card), FastPass, refillable mugs, and much more, inside both the parks and resort hotels.
4. Kinsey’s firsthand account of the Utilidors, as well as some interviews with two other Disney urban explorers.
Although Kinsey states he does not endorse nor condone the behavior in The Dark Side of Disney, he often details step by step how to cheat the Disney system. My jaw literally dropped at some of his “tips” and the fact that they made it into a book that can still be purchased today.
The interesting thing is that this book was published in 2011, and it makes me wonder if Disney did not change some of their policies in response to Kinsey’s detailed scams. For example, Kinsey explains how to abuse the old GAC (now the Disability Access Service, or DAS) and even misuse those old paper FastPasses.
But how did he get away with putting it all in a book? In an interview on Theme Park University about The Dark Side of Disney, Kinsey states:
[…] I decided to self-publish. There were already other books out there, like “Mouse Tales” and “Cast Member Confidential” that were
semi-scandalous non-fiction looks at the parks and Disney hadn’t taken any legal action against them. According to my research, it created a legal precedent, meaning that Disney couldn’t just pick on my book while ignoring those others.
A pretty daring move, eh?
Reviews on Amazon.com give this book a 3.7 out of 5 stars with 270 reviews, which is actually really good considering it shows a non-filtered, non-magical Disney in a somewhat negative light. Also, 270 Amazon reviews on an obscure, non-traditional Disney book is pretty incredible.
It would be interesting to see Kinsey challenge himself to revise a new edition on many of the tricks and scams that he has covered, especially since many policies have changed in the short three years since this book has hit the shelves.
Overall, most of the tips and stories made me either cringe or laugh. When read in a serious light, this book is more for the desperate cheapskate or the daring troublemaker. Overall for me, it was entertainment at its finest.
If you don’t mind reading about Disney with a bit of off-color language, shady scams, promiscuous Disney College Program stories, and a few tips that will get you caught by Disney Security faster than you can say “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” then check out The Dark Side of Disney by Leonard Kinsey.
You may find yourself laughing, crying, or perhaps …taking notes?
Callie’s Grade: 3.5/5
Great review and thanks for the shout out!
Thanks for the great review, Callie!
Disney absolutely has updated many of their policies due to the tips revealed in the book. In fact, I’ve heard reports of Managers buying the book for their CMs, so they can better spot scams! As a result, I do update the book a few times a year – the most recent revision was in February 2014, and includes new info about Magic Bands, DAS, using the Dark Net to get drugs shipped to your Resort, and a few other minor changes.