Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2010 (Unofficial Guides)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Several friends recommended older versions of this book, but I was going to pass on it since I'd been to DL a few times in my life. I bought it anyway and I am forever grateful. The difference between frustration and joy at DisneyLand can be a fine line when traveling with kids, and this book kept us firmly on the joy side the whole way.

The descriptions of how each ride might be received by various age kids was great. Having a reasonable idea of what rides my 8 and 11 year olds would like before getting there saved us lots of time, and you cannot spend too much time in lines for rides you wont like at DisneyLand and enjoy the day. Lines can vary from 5 min to over an hour throughout the day, and optimizing your trip (while it sounds mechanical) makes it much more fun. The MouseWait iPhone app was also priceless in this regard, often more accurate than Disney's own line length estimates(!)

If for no other reason, the tips on getting selected for Jedi Academy was worth the price alone. Extra bonus for the Universal Studios section which again saved us lots of time even though our first attempt at Universal was turned back by a power outage at the park.

Is this the best guide? It didn't tell us where to find a gallon of milk, but that's about it as far as we were concerned. It was well worth it for us.

The fine Unofficial series by the Sehlinger organization begins to let us down in this volume. It's still essential but at the rate these parks change these days they need to put more attention into culling obsolete bits and making sure their indexes are complete and up to date. For example, unless you know the excellent "Turtle Talk with Crush" is part of the Disney Animation Building, you'll never find it; it's not in the index. They could probably condense some of their philosophical boilerplate, too; we're probably quicker learners than they think we are, ten years into the new millennium.

We found this book to be the most helpful of several on Disneyland (DL), including the Official Guide.

It is far more comprehensive, and contains much more than the short official versions of DL rides and attractions. It rates each ride by age group, so you know what is most attractive and least, depending in your party's composition, and does not hesitate to reprint dissenting opinions they've received from their readers when helpful, which really impressed me about their honesty and openness.

The main gripe about this book is that it tells the truth. DL can be very busy and simply wondering about and "exploring" will likely reduce greatly the number of rides you can get to. That's not the author's fault. We followed a version of their plan modified to our needs and covered far more of DL in 6 hours with three toddlers than I ever expected we could.

The book contains a lot of advice geared toward those with very young children, which was very helpful. A couple hours skimming this on the plane provided a great deal of insight that made our 3.5 year old son's first trip to Disney a memorable, happy experience, when it could have been anything but.

This is the best guide book on Disneyland hands down. We have also bought other good guides eg Birnbaums but I would vote the Unofficial guide as the best one. The reason we like it so much is we have a 3 yr old & the guide was invalueable with its ratings of the rides and description. That way we could tell our son a bit about the ride and make a call as to whether or not he would be scared or enjoy it. We didn't follow the plans but got great ideas from them. There were also so many tips on all the details that are handy to know in advance eg stroller rental & also the hotel & restaurant ratings & descriptions were very handy as well. I would definitely recommend this book.

My wife, three year old daughter and I just visited Disneyland for the first time and found this guide to be incredibly valuable during pre-planning and while we were in the park. It's very comprehensive but easy to get through with a the right amount of content dedicated to a particular topic.

We found the chapter covering the age appropriateness or 'scary factor' associated with each ride to be very useful and the section regarding accommodations helped us decide where to stay. We didn't utilize their itineraries because we were just playing it by ear, but we leveraged it as a loose guide especially in regards to where to start. If I had to levy a negative agains the guide it would be that we disagreed with some the ratings given to certain rides but then again that's a matter of personal taste.

I don't do reviews very often if ever, but felt compelled on this one because there aren't with the new version and I'm super happy with it.

I am a self professed Disney fanactic as is my family, we have vistited both parks on both coast multiple times, with that said when visiting WDW I have bought numerous Unoffical guides over the years. Quite simply they are the Bible they are the very best concerning WDW I'd say indepsensible and in fact have made me a Disney expert.
But the unoffical gude for DL is well sadly lacking in some areas almost as if all the enthusiasm is put into WDW with little left for the original park. For example the WDW guide gives visitors alot of information about nearby gas stations and grocery stores which are essential for budget minded visitors, the DL guide does not. If you read many of the reader post in the WDW guide you will see that many rent a room brin,g a cooler or get a fridge and "stock up" to save money for the parks. They need to tell people where to get a gallon of milk or where the nearest Costco is etc. In short alot of the detail in the other book is missing. Parking is confusing at DL now, that should be addressed.
On the plus side this book like DL park has something the WDW doesn't (or at least as of 08) a brief comparison of the "twin parks" DL and Magic Kingdom. It decribes the over all feel of the two and compares alot of the rides that both share which I find interesting since I regualry visit both parks to me this is the best part of the book.

We have hit Disneyland at various times and seasons, and use the Unofficial Guide each time. With five kids in tow, it is a necessity! We avoid the long lines, and still get to see everything! There are some great hints about resting and eating when the kids look like they're getting winded or grumpy. I love the way the author drills parents not to try to "get their money's worth" and push their kids to the breaking point. You can still enjoy every second and not feel like a drill sergeant. However, we only do one day: 8am-8pm. Anymore than that is overkill, IMHO.

Most of all, I was impressed by the analysis of the rides. We use to make the classic mistake of starting in one "land" and working our way around from it to the next adjacent to minimize walking, but the author says you will pay for this by standing in longer lines. To help, he has organized tours that include some attractions that allow you to rest and relax for a while at certain points along the way, like the Lincoln Theatre.

One thing I did have correctly scoped out that he recommends is to take the monorail to the Hotel at meal time and eat in the restaurant there [another rest point] instead of waiting in a long line for inferior food inside the park. Another [although I don't remember it in the book] was to park across the street from the Hotel, cross the street [there is a traffic light], and take the monorail into Tomorrowland. You can't do this exactly any more because that parking lot is now Californialand.

Without this guide, we would typically go on only about six to eight rides in a day; with it, we were able to fit in 24! And some of them for a second time. So it is worth its weight even if you use it only once.

I have been to Disneyland many times in the past, so when a friend recommended this book I thought it might be a waste of money for me. It ended up being quite informative and entertaining! While most of it didn't really help me plan my trip as I had been so many times before, I think this book would be a definite MUST HAVE for someone who has never been to Disneyland before, or even someone who has only been once or twice and it has been awhile! Great book!

I bought the first version for WDW back in the early 1990s and had a chance to go to Disneyland this year. It's a pleasure to see that it is still the same great amazing guide that it was then - even considering how much the parks have grown and changed in the past decade alone.

You buy this book to save yourself time mostly - though there are great tips for saving money too. Use the guides to get around the park quickly and efficiently, avoid time sinks, avoid lining up for rides at the worst possible times, and making efficient use of all the parks have to offer. The book is best utilized well in advance of the trip to help with the planning process. It's called the unofficial guide for a reason - the authors will give you tips that those associated with Disney won't or can't.

I used this in conjunction with the advice given on [...] - one saved me money and the other made the disneyland experience pleasant rather than tedious and boring. I give the book as gifts to anyone planning a Disneyland or Disneyworld vacation.