On October 1, 1982, The Walt Disney Company opened its EPCOT Center to the world, heralding changes that would take the Disney property in Florida from a mere theme park to a world-class resort destination. Authors Steve Alcorn and David Green were there, as employees of Disney's WED Imagineering. "Building a Better Mouse" tells the tale of the "hundreds of mostly young, mostly bright and all embarrassingly idealistic people" who worked on Epcot, and gives a unique insider's perspective on what it was like to be in the trenches as a Disney Imagineer in the early 1980s, from pixie dusting - when new employees are indoctrinated into all things Disney - through the craziness of the engineering design process, right up until the last frantic dash to opening day. It is a breathtaking, breezy, E-ticket ride of a book, required reading for both hard-core Disneyphiles and people interested in the business side of themed entertainment. This 40th Anniversary Edition features new cover artwork, and is now also available in hardcover. About halfway through reading Building a Better Mouse, I realized that I would never look at any theme park attraction the same. If you are a fan of Imagineering, theme parks or Disney, then you will love this title. —2719 Hyperion Building A Better Mouse is a fascinating look at an amazing time in Disney history; especially one written by an insider who loves the magic as much as most enthusiasts. There's nothing else like it that looks into the development of a single attraction or the life that Imagineers lived during the heyday of building a theme park. If you are a fan of Imagineering, theme parks or Disney, then you will love this title. —ImagiNERDing Building A Better Mouse showcases the pros and cons of having a bunch of young, imaginative engineers all in one spot. While perhaps naive, this group went to great lengths to see their dreams for this theme park come true. Building A Better Mouse understands that the common reader wants to know some of the processes behind these detailed attractions and explains them in ways that are easy to understand. —WanderingInDisney The entire book is written in an engaging way and you really start to feel for these people and their plight. I anticipated a dry book and found a delightful quick read. The book is a detailed description of the struggle to make, The American Adventure. This is my favorite show at Walt Disney World and I will never look at it the same way again. You also get a look at most of the other pavilions within EPCOT. Great book and I recommend it to fans of Epcot history, Imagineers, something different but still Disney, and electronic geeks. —SamLandDisney How This Book Was Written After Steve Alcorn and David Green finished working for WED Enterprises, both began working on books about their experiences. David, influenced heavily by Hunter S. Thompson's works and Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff," wanted to tell a gonzo story about the behind-the-scenes insanity that was EPCOT Center. Steve, with an eye to the future, wanted to record for posterity one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th Century.   When David went to work for Steve at Linn Electronics in 1984, they decided to merge their approaches. "Building A Better Mouse" was born, and they worked on it for over a year. Then Linn Electronics went out of business, David went back to college for a second degree, and the book was shelved for nearly 20 years.   In 2007, for EPCOT Center's 25th anniversary, Steve finished the book as a surprise for David.   Along with the recorded transcripts from Glenn Birket, this book was almost entirely written during or shortly after EPCOT was built. No names have been changed, though some may have been obscured. The experiences described herein do not belong to any one person. Some are David's, some are Steve's, and some belong to persons unattributed. Unless otherwise identified, the "I" used here may be a composite, and should not be taken to be any one individual. Steve Alcorn Steve Alcorn is an entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, author and teacher best known for his involvement in the theme park industry. After an early career in the personal computer and music businesses, in 1982 he joined Walt Disney Imagineering (then known as WED Enterprises) as a consultant, where he worked on the electronic systems for EPCOT Center. During his two years with Imagineering he designed show control systems for The American Adventure, wrote the operating system used in the parkwide monitoring system, and became Imagineering's first Systems Engineer. In 1986 he founded Alcorn McBride Inc. The company's show control, audio, video, and lighting equipment is used in most major theme park attractions around the world. Mr. Alcorn is the author of a dozen novels and non-fiction books. Through Writing Academy he has taught more than 40,000 students how to structure their writing. He also teaches a survey class in Theme Park Engin