Customer Reviews

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2007

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My husband, son, and I just got back from Disney World a few weeks ago. We planned the trip in just a month's time, and WDW guides were very helpful!

The first two guides we bought were the Birnbaum's 2006 Official Guide and the Birnbaum's 2006 guide for kids. Because these are official books, no drawbacks or negatives are discussed. However, at 273 pages, there's a lot of great basic information on WDW.

For example, this particular guide features lots of colorful pictures on its glossy pages, as well as descriptions. It's an excellent guide for first timers who don't know what to expect and want to pore over the book in anticipation!

In addition to describing attractions, shows, restaurants, and hotels, the Birnbaum Guide to WDW provides several charts--such as the Walt Disney Resort Finder. A picture of each resort is displayed, as well as information on location, setting/theme, what types of people favor a particular resort (e.g. honeymooners, families, conventioneers, etc.), amenities, and more.

The Disney Dining Plan is also described, as is Disney's Magical Express Service. There are directions to getting to the parks from the Orlando International Airport (MCO), the average temperatures and rainfall for every month, park hours, admission prices, new attractions, most/least crowded times and so on.

I found the maps to be especially helpful, and tore them out to use when we went to each of the parks. The WDW Birnbaum guide is a great book for first timers, but I would also get the The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007 as well--especially if you're the type that counts pennies and enjoys strategizing. However, the Birnbaum guide is replete with solid information, great pictures, helpful maps, and feel-good enthusiasm. It's a great primer for getting into the Disney spirit!

Edit 6/07: There's a new book you may enjoy: The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World by Julie Neal. Unlike the Unofficial Guide, it has hundreds of color photographs. It was just published in April of 2007, and a second edition of that book will be published at the end of 2007.

I picked this up because I've already booked a trip to Walt Disney World, to stay at one of their hotels. I wanted information about park strategies, ride restrictions, and restaurants, so I thought I'd get a guide.

This book offers a LOT of great suggestions on when to plan a trip. That didn't help me, though, since I've already booked. They have nice details about the sizes of rooms at all of the resorts, but not a lot of maps. And, I suppose since they are the "official" guide, they don't offer much in the way of comparison or preference. I'd have liked to see more about what they think is better, with some actual downsides, which of course they don't provide.

There are a few suggested park itineraries, and they do have information on each and every attraction at all of the parks. But, again, other than picking "Birnbaum's Best" they don't say too much about preference. I didn't find the schedule too helpful.

I really would have liked to see more information on the restaurants, again mentioning both great and bad things, plus a little more of the menus. I understand that the menus can change seasonally, or otherwise, but it would still help more to know if there's anything my little ones will eat at any given place. There are web forums and chat sites that offer this kind of information, so why not in the official book? Again, they have a "best" section at the end of the dining guide, but it's just along the lines of "best burger", "best ice cream", "best romantic dinner", but nothing too specific.

I could see this book being very useful if you are still in the very early "we'll go soon, but don't know when, where or how" part of a trip to the World, but if you have some idea of what you're doing already, it's not going to give you much new information. I have heard (though haven't read yet) that the Unofficial Guide gives much more unbiased - and slightly snarky - info, and that may have been more what I was looking for. I will be checking it out very soon.

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World is all you'll need to plan the perfect Walt Disney World vacation!
This book tells you everything you need to know from A - Z. After reading it, you'll feel like you just got back from Walt Disney World.
Birnbaum's Walt Disney World is perfect for first time visitors or for returning vacationers. It will help you pick a hotel, decide which rides to ride, where to eat and when to go. This book is a priceless vacation tool.
You will find because Walt Disney World is always changing that some of the information is outdated, just make sure you get the most recent edition. For instance, if you're going in 2008, get the 2008 edition instead of this 2007 edition.
This is a fabulous book!

There are lots of Disney guides out there and it's overwhelming! I read many reviews before selecting this guide. I am SOOOO glad we had it! Although we planned our trip to WDW at the last minute and didn't have a chance to use any of the planning ahead tips, there were still MANY other tips that helped us! Especially the restaurant guides...we were on a tight budget with lots of kids and it helped us choose the best budget friendly choices. Like eating at the Mexican Cantina at Epcot about 30 minutes before the Illuminations show began was AWESOME! Front row seats for a very crowded attraction at an affordable price :) I spent a lot of time reading Disney Forum advice from WDW die hards, but having this guide in hand each day helped us navigate the parks and decide how best to spend our time!

This is the second edition of Birnbaum's Walt Disney World we have purchased. After reading it I am glad we purchased this edition, as there are many new attractions since our last visit. I would highly recommend this guide to anyone planning a visit to Mickey's place. We also ordered the Unofficial Guide to Disney World 2007. This book goes deeper into detail about how to save money, the best times to ride certain rides, and how to plan your stay there.

My family just came back from our vacation at Walt Disney World (WDW) in mid-June, 2007. Birnbaum's WDW book made the vacation much more enjoyable.

CROWDS: When I was a child back in the 1960s, a family could simply show up at Disneyland, buy a book of tickets (e.g. "E-Ticket Rides"), and have a great day. Those times are gone. In a nation with a population of over 300 million people, plus a number of international vacationers, good vacation spots like WDW are going to be crowded during vacation times. You need to plan your vacation in advance to avoid frustrating long lines at attractions and restaurants. This book serves as an excellent guide so you can plan for such crowds and make decisions that will reduce the price of your vacation.

RESORTS: For example, there are several resorts to at WDW. This books lists the ups and downs of each, given your circumstances and preferences. If you have young children, you may want to stay at certain resorts, while if you do not have children, other resorts may be more appealing. The price of each resort will not tell you whether you will enjoy the stay.

EATING: Likewise, do the meal plan. You will save money. A little planning (i.e. reservations in advance) will get you into good table service restaurants at WDW. This book reviews the restaurants at each park, as well as the quick counter service restaurants. NOTE: if you get a room with a kitchen, you can save money by making breakfast in your room.

PARKS AND ATTRACTIONS: Again, this book makes good recommendations on what parks to visit on which days, based on past attendance. We found that Epcot was not as crowed as the Magic Kingdom in the late afternoons and evenings, as indicated in this book. It also makes recommendations on which attractions tend to have short lines, and when the lines are shortest. Certain attractions were consistently crowded, like Epcot's Soarin' ride, so we arrived early to get a Fast Pass. Use these for the popular rides! They cut down the wait time immensely.

Also, some rides are geared more for young children, others for older children an adults. Some rides are intense, others calm; some scary, others not scary. This book reviews each so you can determine which you want to visit.

Again, this book makes excellent recommendations for one day visits to each park, as well as half day visits.

There is a lot more covered in this book. I strongly recommend buying this book in advance of making reservations. You won't regret it.

You should also check out the WDW website for special attractions. For example, the WDW Disney-MGM Studios park had a Star Wars weekend during our visit which my sons liked.

I buy this book every year that we go to Disney. It is invaluable. You don't need any other book. It describes each attraction in detail and is very helpful in finding great spots to eat. We have gone as a married couple of 31 years, we have gone as a family with our own chidren and now with grandchildren. It covers all age groups. Don't leave home without it. I carry it with me in the parks.

This book is not only very informative, with the layout of the information makes it a quick reference guide. I would never go to Disney World without this book. A must have! Tip of the day: check out the "Hot Tip!" sections, expert advice that will surely enhance your Disney experience.

This book came highly recommended to me. I was happy that I purchased it. Each night I would read the section pertaining to the Disney theme park we planned to visit the next day and prepare for our day. The book really laid out which attractions would be popular and which ones had fastpasses. It was easy to understand and even had rip-out pages in the back that you could take with you. We followed the suggestions and it saved us a lot of time and on several occasions saved us from dissapointment allowing us to get into restaurants or attractions that filled up after we got there. Highly recommended for first-time or repeat visitors. This was our second visit but this time without kids. It not only has Disney information but also info about other attractions around Orlando (ex. Sea World and Universal Studios.) Some people might want to take in those sites while in Orlando.

I've been to Walt Disney World seven times since 1980, but I still purchase this highly informative book EVERY TIME we plan a trip! It's accuracy in describing the hotels, parks, rides, flow of visitors, etc., always assists in making our visits as fun filled and problem free for every visit! He not only highlights the "don't miss" attractions, but also tells you the ones you might want to miss depending on your travel time. He describes and rates the Disney hotels and restaurants - in both the park and hotels, so you can make some plans before leaving to eat where you want while you are in certain sections of the parks - typical of his convenient, complete, and well detailed review of the most visited vacation spot in all the world! A worthwhile investment!

One of Mickey's fans