Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World for Grown-Ups

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This compact format of the "Unofficial Guide" is handy to carry compared to its larger counterpart "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2000; Bob Sehlinger" but the information is basically the same. Tips to help with the Kids for are cut, as are some of the more lengthy reviews of hotels/attractions/restaurants.

This book aims and hits the mark with helpful hints for the Grown-up (are we ever grown-up?) visitor. However, to keep the book more compact there is a great deal of rich material left out that is useful for the first time visitor. The information is provided in a well-organized format that most will find useful. Common questions are answered, and the book provides resource lists, Web sites, and e-mail addresses.

Timesavers are included regarding attractions that are more along the adult taste, but who is to say that the author knows everyone's taste. One of the "Don't Bother" items for the Magic Kingdom is Mickey's ToonTown. For the more whimsical adult this can be a fun place and a hot spot to meet characters unclose and personal. After all what would a trip to WDW be without that old standard photo of you and "the Mouse" himself.

Where this book shines is pointing you towards the more "adult" attractions and events. With so much to do and experience at WDW a good guide is extremely helpful.

Using the planning tips in this and other guides hundreds of dollars can be saved. The How to Cut Costs section offers many ways to save money both in the planning stages as well as during the visit. While money may be no object to some, most people would rather with a little knowledge save some cash to happily spend it on all the souvenirs we must bring back to those not heading for the "World".

Overall as a handy guide easy to carry I would recommend this book for the "adult" traveler. Another handy to carry guide is "PassPorter Walt Disney World: The unique travel guide, planner, organizer, journal, and keepsake!" For serious planning a meatier guidebook is needed. I have found that the "Unofficial" guides offer the off the cuff, straight shooting opinions and have relied on them for years.

If this is your first trip to WDW then buy the more comprehensive guide and if you want a handy to carry reference then The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World for Grown-Ups is a great choice. If you are a repeat visitor you should be able to skip the larger version and go straight for the Grown-Ups guide. As WDW evolves so do the attractions but the goal is the same, HAVE FUN!

A better title for this book would be "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World for the Wealthy and Jaded Retiree".

I'm a very big fan of the Unofficial Guide to Disney World and I thought this "add-on" guide would be a good investment but I am rather disappointed. The author seems to think that all "grown-ups" have an unlimited budget for their trip and actually says "It will cost you $300 or more (more than $500 for the deluxe savannah view) but that's not out of line." in reference to the Lodge at Animal Kingdom. I just about fell out of my chair!

Since this add-on Guide doesn't feature a reference year on the cover as its big brother does I didn't realize I was buying a guide book over 2 years out of date (published in 2003 and the original Unofficial Guide admits that they're out of date when they go to press) apparently there is a new edition coming out though.

Everything this guide recommends seems to have more to do with spending lots of money and avoiding children at all costs than enjoying the parks. Its recommended visiting times seem highly out of sync with the original Guide's attendance calendars And the author seems to feel that no adult could possibly enjoy some of the sillier and kitschier attraction and souvenirs.

It also has very little for the younger "grown-up" most of its reviews and comments seem aimed at the retiree.

This is a very jaded look at Disney through the eyes of someone who obviously had more money than your average Disney vacationer. I got much more useful information out of the original Unofficial Guide.

Out of all the Disney books I have, this is the smallest and shortest. It's a paperback size with only 167 actual pages. Of course, that's because it has a very narrow focus. The book really expects that you already have access to one or more "full" books about Disney and are now hoping to get specific information on grown up activities. I therefore was expecting this book NOT to redundantly cover all the basics - but to focus on the specifics for adults.

The book begins by advising adults to go in late April / early May. The weather's warm enough to swim, it's relatively quiet, and the gardens are in full bloom. Dress casually unless you must have a formal dinner, and pack light. Bring ear plugs just in case, and an easy to carry water bottle. Comfortable shoes are a must! All of these things are exactly what every other book says. Every book tries to get you go to when it's less crowded and to be sensible while you're there.

The book gives a lot of generic information on ticket prices, airline ideas, hotels. They do get into romantic hotels and restaurants, perhaps assuming that adults coming here are coming as couples. They talk about things to do at each theme park. However, most of what I read was generic. There were very few items that were aimed only at adults. In fact, the ones that were did so from the viewpoint of "xxx is far too childish for you to enjoy"

Now here's where this book really annoys me. The tone of much of the book is VERY snide. They make snide comments about noisy kids, about inane rides, about just about every aspect of going to Disney. One or two things I could let slide. We all have pet peeves. However, it's like they are going out of their way to say "We aren't with Disney, and we think they suck, they can't do anything about it, nyah nyah nyah." It gets REALLY redundant really quickly. The whole reason I got this book is because I *want* to go to Disney. I don't feel like reading nasty commentary about it the entire time. You know what, if they think Small Word is "brain damaging", they can just choose to go elsewhere. They don't have to dediate two paragraphs to bashing it.

Once they finish with the park reviews, they give a lot of time to the nighttime island and to shopping. Apparently adults like to drink and shop, but not do "Disney" things. Finally, the book discusses wine lists a bit, and hidden mickeys a fair amount.

I felt rather disappointed when I finished with this book. Most of it was generic and redundant to other Disney books. Very little of it was adult-specific - and when it was, it was apparently aiming to very "super-mature" adults who were incredibly wealthy. Many of the things they said to avoid, I would enjoy greatly. I realize it's hard to write something that aims to ALL adults. However, they didn't even seem to try. Either they were driving me away with their snideness, excluding me with their incredibly high price tag recommendations, or talking down to me.

Rent this at a library first to see if you find anything useful in it. For actual "cheap Disney" suggestions or reviews of hotels / restaurants / attractions you'll enjoy, it's far more useful to get an actual full book on Disney and go through it with your own interests in mind.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World for Grown-Ups is a decent idea but fails to provide much value. It's far too short to be a comprehensive guide, yet it fails to offer much content that is both unique and useful enough to justify its price. If you were to buy the The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 (Unofficial Guides), you will get a book that dwarfs this one in size and usefulness. Quite frankly, nearly all of the information presented here is available in the main volume but the reverse is certainly not true. This book can only scratch the surface compared to the full guide. Even though I love the Unofficial Guide series, I can't recommend this one.

Save the money. This book is seriously outdated. It makes mention of things that have not been part of the WDW experience for years. It is short on facts and useful information.

This book is not really worth buying. I hadn't been to Disney World in many years, and was planning my first trip as an adult (with my friends) and thought that this book would be useful as a supplement to the standard Unofficial Guide. If you just buy this guide for Adults, it is missing a lot of the robust information that is in the Unofficial Guide, so you don't get a lot of the advice and detail that you get in the standard book. Instead, this basically just has summaries of what is in the standard guide -- it doesn't even have any new, unique information. This was a waste of money.

I was a little disappointed after reading the 'Unofficial Guides to Disney' for years--going back about 12 years. I didn't realize it was by a different author. It doesn't include some of the less expensive options, hotels for example. It does have good info but it seems to assume grown-ups have a lot to spend and aren't as budget conscious as families. I wouldn't buy new editions of this as I would the original guide.

This book is part of the "Unofficial Guide" series of books, a spin-off from the main guide. I liked this guide and would recommend it highly to those planning to visit Disney without kids in tow. Having said that, I can't give it 5 stars because of some errors and omissions that I noted in even a casual reading. For example, I could not find a review of mention of Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney Wilderness Lodge. The restaurant section seemed like it was missing a number of fairly popular places. Maybe the author felt these places were not of interest to adults-only parties. Also, the only Disney hotels discussed are the high end hotels. Yes, adults probably don't want to stay at the budget end hotels that are packed with kids, but what about the mid-level Disney hotels, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans and others? Those are all missing from this book.

EXCELLENT book! Lots of useful information about accommodations and activities for older people. Well worth the money.

If you are planning to go to WDW the Unofficial Guide is the BEST, I mean BEST BY FAR. This isn't profit based info that would guide you to a WDW financial benefit It is concise, easy to bring with you & gives you many ideas to optimize your vacation to Walt Disney World.
The company works simply through personal reviews as well as tried and true experience. Many different types, "traveling with children" Traveling for the adult in WDW" all simply for you to make the most of your trip.
If you are planning to travel, there are guides for many different destinations, each for the benefit of you, not the profit of the venue.
Be sure to have a current copy, it's well worth the cost. Amazon sells it cost consciously, really a good deal.