In the Shadow of the Matterhorn

Intimate Stories About Life, Love, and Laughter at Disneyland

By: David Walter Smith

Narrated by: Al Kessel

Disneyland - as you remember it, and as you've never seen it before... In the Shadow of the Matterhorn author, - and former cast member - David Smith, takes you inside the Magic Kingdom for a completely different kind of VIP tour. Never-before-published stories about working inside the park, growing up down the street, and the profound effect that Disneyland has had on so many people, are all part of this moving and revealing book.

©2012 David W. Smith (P)2013 David W. Smith

Stories As Old As Time(In the 80's)

As a CM (Cast Member) from 197? to !98? It was a refreshing book to hear stories about working at Disneyland, but as others may have been offended by the stories the author telling about looking for girls,get over with it, that was a period of time before social media now takes over most of our time.
I found it a wonderful spin on a CM who worked on the attractions, while this CM worked in areas not associated with attractions, I do have my own stories and friends who now are coming into 45 years of being the best friends a person can have and I credit to Disneyland for doing that, working there you do make friends fast and in crazy times,it's a blessing to lean onto each other and when the day or night is over, one can just go to a coffee shop nearby and just vent or amp up one's mind to drive home.
I really enjoy the author's story of just being the the shadow of this Magic Kingdom and somehow in it's own way, he started to work there and soon had adventures that I'm sure didn't make it into this book.
It's a blast to hear stories that I too remember, the canoe races, the grad nights and just the little things that made a day even better because you were connecting with something greater than you imaged and took it to a level that you were a blessing to be there.
A beautiful story of being there, before the Dark Times( the elevated prices, super-sized crowded condition,upteen baby carriages in front of attractions and of course Star Wars(cue the Imperial March theme).

A man's experience and insight

There are a lot of details about the inner workings of the specific areas in Disneyland where the author worked. Humorous tidbits and insights a-plenty on cast members, visitors and the magical nature of Disney's dream land along with how the author attributes much of his later life to those experiences keep the book light and pleasant. The narrator is good and adds a touch of life to the author's words.
This brought back fond memories of the fun I had visiting Disneyland and I hope to be able to travel to the magic kingdom once again.

Review

This book is not bad, but not exactly what I had expected either. The narrative could have been a little more lively and exciting, especially for a book about Disneyland, but it was original material mostly. For that I can forgive some of it's blandness. 2.5 stars overall. Unfortunately the ratings above don't allow you to cut the stars in half.

Too much of a personal memoir

There was just not enough Disneyland in this book. The author should have just gift-wrapped the manuscript and given it to his wife on their anniversary. Also, the performance was mundane, at best. Looks like it's time to wrote a book about my Club 33 experience and the time that Disneyland security thought that my wrapped birthday gift might be a bomb.

Creepy

He talks as much about checking out girls as he does Disneyland. I really wanted to like this book but just found the author kinda creepy.