Customer Reviews

The Everything Travel Guide to the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios, and Greater Orlando: A Complete Guide to Best Hotels, Restaurants, Par (Everything (History & Travel))

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I purchased this book while planning my family trip to Orlando. I found it to be extremely helpful and is one of the few books available that covers Walt Disney World, Orlando and Seaworld at the same time. This book is ideal for first time visitors to the Orlando area, repeat visitors who have not been to Orlando in awhile and/or those who want to do a good bit of planning before their trip.

When my family first started planning our trip, we knew that there was no way for us to be able to see everything we wanted to in this visit. We wanted to make the most of our travel dollars and visit only places that the whole family can enjoy. This book was extremely useful in giving us information on accommodations, restaurants, parks and their must-see attractions. For each ride/attraction/show within the major theme parks, for instance, the author provides a star rating system based on the individual's age (e.g. 2-4 years, 5-10 years, and so on, including Senior Citizens) as well as information on the attraction itself. There are also "Helpful Hints" sprinkled throughout the book as well as "Travel Tips," "Hot Spots" and "Fast Facts." I found this extremely useful in helping us determine which theme parks would provide the optimum enjoyment for our family.

To give you an idea of how much this book covers, I have listed the chapters below:

1. Preparing for your Vacation
2. Choosing your Accommodations
3. Admission to the Disney Theme Parks
4. Orlando-Area Dining

5. Introduction to the Magic Kingdom
6. Exploring the Magic Kingdom
7. Kid-Oriented Areas of the Magic Kingdom
8. All About Epcot
9. The Disney-MGM Studios
10. Disney's Animal Kingdom
11. Disney's Water Parks
12. Disney Nightlife
13. A High Seas Adventure (Disney Cruise Lines)
14. The Universal Orlando Resort
15. The Universal Studios Florida Theme Park
16. Universal Escape's Islands of Adventure
17. Universal City Walk
18. SeaWorld and Discovery Cove
19. Exploring Greater Orlando
20. Planning Your Trip

In addition to this extensive list are maps, important phone numbers, an attraction selection worksheet and daily itinerary. In short, I would have to say that this book gives a lot of bang for the buck. It would recommend it to those with families who are planning to visit the Orlando area and plan to enjoy Walt Disney World as well as the other non-Disney theme parks.

I recently purchased this book along with a few others for my upcoming trip to Disney. It will be our first trip there as a family ( I have a 9 and a 2 year old). I found this book to be my least favorite by far. The information is generally vague and is repetitive (eg. "avoid carrying to much stuff......don't forget to bring your camera......wear a raincoat") by the time you read this 4-5 times you kind of get the point. My favorite book to date is The Unofficial Guide to WDW 2005 and also ranking in my top picks is Fodor's WDW & Universal Orlando with Kids 2005. These books get down to the specifics, if you want to eat breakfast with Cinderella in the Castle, the Unofficial Guide has the details to give you the best chance at securing a priority seating (I was able to get priority seating for two different days).
Some people might find that this book is enough, but for me I needed more.

although this book was already 10 years old when i bought it it was still very helpful for my trip to disney. of course a few things changed in florida fromt he time the book was published to the time i purchased it but it still had some very good pointers, not only for the disney universal area but just for new travelers in general. im pretty sure the book saved me a couple bucks down. definatley would recommend it (or atleast a newer version)

This book is way out of date. Many things hve changed in Disney since this was written. I recommend one of the Birmbaum guides instead (especially the Kids version).