Customer Reviews

Hidden Walt Disney World, Orlando and Beyond

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In some ways, I found this book refreshing. The attraction descriptions were infromative and refreshing. I have read several WDW guide books, and I still learned new things about the attractions from this book. This is the only book I've ran accross that reports that Bear in the Blue House is at Disney/MGM. (Some people could care less about this, but as a mother of 2 under the age of three, I'm excited!)

This book does fall short when looking for specific details. Oppenheimer will tell you the phone number to make character meal reservations, but she won't warn you that in order to get a meal at Cinderella's table, you MUST call two months in advance. I tried one month in advance, and couldn't get any seating for the entire week! (This was just at Cinderella's Table, I did get reservations at the crystal Palace.) Also she doesn't give complete information as to which characters are at which locations.

I did like the fact that Oppenheimer will tell the reader whether or not adults not traveling with children will enjoy an attraction. Bear in the Blue House is too syrupy sweet for adults, but preschoolers love it. She also was nice enough to tell the reader that they may not fully understand Doug Live, if they are not familiar with the TV show. Why are Doug's friends blue and green? Because they're not real! Who knew?

Another thing that bothered me about the book was that the 'Where To Stay' section was at the back of the book. I found that puzzling, because the first thing people want to do is get hotel reservations. Also the dining section was at the back of the book. People are wondering where to dine when they're at the park, and having to flip to another section of the book is inconvienent and annoying.

The candidness of Oppenheimer was enjoyable, such as the biggest obsticle in the Buzz Ranger spin may be your co-pilot. Just as she was aiming for a target, her co-pilot would spin the ship and she lost her shot. I didn't know there were two light guns and one steering joy stick. I'll take this one with a child instead of my husband!

Use This guide as a supplement to another guide. The Unofficial Guide by Slessinger is loaded with details and touring strategies. WDW with Kids, by Kim Wright Wiley gives lots of advice with respect to kids. This guide has candid descriptions.

My fiance and I purchased this book as part of our honeymoon-planning "frenzy." We hoped to find some really interesting information about Orlando that would help us in that regard. Sadly for us (but fortunately for families with kids), this book was not aimed at a pair of adults at all. It was decidedly slanted toward those with little ones. There was some interesting information about little "behind the scenes" factoids, but this just wasn't the book for us.

I felt the book, although lagging at some parts, was over all a good read. I say if you are a Disney Nut, get it!