Disneyland on the Mountain: Walt, the Environmentalists, and the Ski Resort That Never Was

There are some lives that have been examined and analyzed to such an extent that there just doesn’t seem anything left to showcase. At face value for many history and film lovers, that is the present state of Walt Disney’s life. What more is there to talk about? Well, thanks to Greg Glasgow and Katryn Mayer’s masterful new book, Disneyland on the Mountain, a new, rarely explored chapter of the great man’s life comes into sharp relief. His last creative struggle, and ultimately, one of his most painful failures. It’s a side of Disney that many casual lovers of his empire and content don’t often see.

Showcased vividly in this wonderful new book, the reader witnesses a turning point in Walt Disney’s life. The great animation mogul had shiftily turned his attention from princesses and glass slippers toward the more costly avenues of television, conservation, and construction. Suffering from the looming specter of ill health, he works tirelessly on creating a massive new mountain resort. A project that would ultimately end in a personal defeat for the filmmaker as he entered the twilight of his life.

Told with compelling detail and impressive interviews from participants, the book transports the reader into the drama that unfolded high in the mountains of Southern California, when the dream world of Disney clashed against the growing reality of conservation protections. What follows is an engrossing drama, one in which the reader is confronted with a surprising decision: Who do we root for? One of the creators of our collective childhood or the untouched nature of our world?