Birnbaum's Walt Disney World: The Official Guide (Serial) [Paperback]

Stephen Birnbaum (Editor), Tom Passavant (Editor), Jill Safro (Editor), Deanna Caron (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Serial | Publication Date: November 1997

The only guide with the latest up-to-date information and insiders' tips from Disney--and the only one to feature Disney characters and Walt Disney World photos--this indispensable reference covers all there is to see and do in every corner of the attraction. 4-color throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cinderella's Castle, Epcot Center, Mickey Mouse, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and lines, lines, lines. A vacation at Walt Disney World shouldn't be spent waiting to enjoy the attractions you traveled so far and spent so much to visit. With that thought in mind, Birnbaum's editors have traveled, toured, and tested every attraction and worked with the folks behind the scenes to compile Walt Disney World 1998 to help you get the biggest possible bang out of your vacation buck. This colorful guide, which is liberally illustrated with photographs and full-color renderings of Disney notables, begins with the logical "Getting Ready to Go" advice (hotels, transportation, when to go), moves swiftly into lengthy descriptions of each of the major theme parks--Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom--and then gives the scoop on other sights and activities in the Orlando area.

The most useful information is found in the "Hot Tip" boxes sprinkled throughout the text--sit on the right side of the tram when going through MGM's Catastrophe Canyon if you want to stay dry, for example--and in the descriptions of the rides. Notes at the end of the write-ups call out height requirements or special considerations for those who are pregnant or who have heart conditions (Splash Mountain's "five-story drop into an aqueous briar patch" comes to mind). The guide predicts which attractions are busiest and when, and offers suggestions on where to go when the lines do, indeed, get too long. People who don't have the time to map out itineraries can follow the one- to six-day routes provided by the folks at Birnbaum's. Be warned, though: the plans are ambitious and assume that you will have plenty of energy to make the rounds from morning 'til close. If your true quest is not to see and do everything, but to find and photograph Pooh, Ariel, or Captain Hook, look for the colored boxes that point out the best places to find your favorite characters. Whatever your Disney fantasy, Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 1998 is sure to have you singing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" by the end of your trip. --Heidi Robinson

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books (Adult Trd Pap) (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786882786
• ISBN-13: 978-0786882786
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good guide to planning your vacation, April 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Birnbaum's Walt Disney World: The Official Guide (Serial) (Paperback)

Your initial reaction to Birnbaum's Guide to Walt Disney World may be, "This is more than I ever wanted to know about the place!" While the book is dense (in the sense of being information-filled, not in the sense of being a Herman Melville novel), it is also an easy-to-use and comprehensive guide to the Walt Disney World experience.

Do not attempt to absorb all the information in one sitting, the night before you leave for Florida. Rather, you will find it most useful as a planning guide which you consult well in advance of your trip. In fact, if you are unsure about the bare bones (when to go and how to get there), this book should become your immediate companion. Among its many useful tips is the name and location of a motel which is five minutes from the Main Gate, with rooms at $23-47 per night.

Birnbaum's guide is organized in color-coded sections, starting with "Getting Ready to Go" and "Transportation and Accommodations." There is a thorough guide to each of the three parks, and a brief preview of the new Animal Kingdom. Birnbaum then devotes a chapter to "Everything Else in the World," with information on the Disney Institute, Downtown Disney (an ever-growing part of the WDW experience), and the various water parks which add to the family-fun experience. The "Sports" chapter lists opportunities for tennis, golf, fishing, horseback riding, etc. The final section ("Good Meals, Great Times") is an extremely useful list of what might otherwise be a bewildering quantity of eating establishments. Restaurants are organized alphabetically by area, with price guidelines to help you avoid any nasty surprises.

While any book of this nature will have some inaccuracies (price changes, time changes, etc.), we found them to be minimal. In fact, we were surprised by the frequency with which we referred to this guide during the duration of our stay.

The book does have a few disadvantages. Its size makes it portable only in the sense that it fits in a capacious purse or back-pack (fortunately, I have the former). And its dismissal of vacation packages in a four-paragraph aside is neglecting an area which we felt was very important.

Birnbaum's logic (that there are too many packages to allow for thorough coverage)is a bit specious - there are nearly two hundred eating and drinking locations in Walt Disney World, but the guidebook gave at least minimal information on all of them. In our experience (four vacations at WDW to date), the right package can make the difference between an affordable vacation and a credit card nightmare. Also, more emphasis should have been placed on the eating plans available as part of packages, since the food is one of the most expensive parts of a Walt Disney World vacation.

In spite of these caveats, I would certainly recommend that you buy this guidebook. If you are a devoted "book person," it goes against your grain to highlight passages or dog-ear pages - but these activities are mandatory to getting the maximum use out of this book.

Used carefully, and with a willingness to improvise in minor matters, Birnbaum's Guide to Walt Disney World will allow you to maximize the pleasure of your visit, while minimizing its cost.

What more could a guidebook provide?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Birnbaum is not ideal., April 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Birnbaum's Walt Disney World: The Official Guide (Serial) (Paperback)

Working for Disney, I can tell you first hand that this guide to WDW was out of date the second it was published. WDW changes so frequently that prices and attractions listed in Birnbaum are already out of date. Also, a very scary fact about reading this "guide" is that a lot of the people who are at WDW read the same book you read, so those insider facts are no longer insider facts. For example, everyone goes to WDW when Birnbaum says the lines are shortest, hence the lines are not short. I believe this is one of the reasons Birnbaum is out of date when it hits the stands. The book does offer good descriptions of the parks and resorts with great pictures, but I wouldn't suggest hanging on to every word like it is scripture.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource for those who want a great trip!, July 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Birnbaum's Walt Disney World: The Official Guide (Serial) (Paperback)

I can honestley say that this guide is a must for those who are not familiar with the World, and those who have maps in their head. Although my family knew much about WDW, we still found the guide great for quick reference, and detailed information about some attractions, which can often help you decide whether or not you'd be interested.

There is an entire cavalcade of tips, and there are lots of information for those obsessed with Walt Disney World.

I would defineltely reccomend this book to anyone planning to spend a good deal of time at the parks, as it can be very useful.