Step behind the magic and into the madness of building Disney's most ambitious theme park. It's 1982, and hundreds of young, idealistic engineers have been recruited to create EPCOT Center — Walt Disney's greatest dream. Over three frantic years, they'll transform 27,000 acres of Central Florida swampland into a $1.2 billion showcase of innovation and imagination. But between the pixie-dusting and opening day, something happens: impossible deadlines, last-minute redesigns, hydraulic nightmares, and the constant challenge of making the truly impossible actually work. This is the story of those who lived it — told with humor, honesty, and heart. Inside you'll discover: • What it was really like to be a Disney Imagineer in the early 1980s • The frantic rush to opening day and why American Adventure almost didn't make it • Behind-the-scenes stories of EPCOT's most complex attractions • The pixie-dusting process that turns engineers into true believers • Why nearly everyone was laid off after opening day • Personal accounts from the front lines of themed entertainment history Co-authored by two Imagineers who were there, Building A Better Mouse is part memoir, part technical history, and entirely entertaining. It's a breathtaking, breezy, E-ticket ride of a book — required reading for Disney enthusiasts, theme park professionals, and anyone fascinated by what happens when ambition meets reality. "A fascinating glimpse into the creative chaos of building a theme park." — Theme Park Insider About the Authors: Steve Alcorn later founded Alcorn McBride Inc., whose technology powers attractions in theme parks worldwide. He is a USA Today bestselling author of 27 books and has helped over 100,000 students learn to write through Writing Academy. David Green went on to become president of Visual Terrain, a leading lighting design firm, and holds nine U.S. patents. 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 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. If you've ever looked at a great attraction and wondered how it got there, this is the book for that question. Steve Alcorn is a USA Today bestselling a