The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003 [Paperback]

Bob Sehlinger (Author)

Book Description

Series: Unofficial Guides | Publication Date: August 15, 2002

The Unofficial Guides? are the "Consumer Reports" of travel guides, offering candid evaluations of their destinations' attractions, hotels, restaurants, shopping, nightlife, sports, and more, all rated and ranked by a team of unbiased inspectors so even the most compulsive planners can be sure they're spending their time and money wisely. Each guide addresses the needs of everyone from families to business travelers, with handy charts that demonstrate how each place stacks up against the competition. Plus, all the details are pulled out so they're extremely easy to scan.

This annually updated blockbuster is everyone's favorite insider guide to the ins and outs of Orlando, one of the most-visited destinations in the U.S. Our team of anonymous inspectors has checked out every inch of the Disney parks, and they've been completely honest and objective in their evaluations of every ride, show, hotel, and restaurant. With the Unofficial Guide in hand, readers know they're maximizing their time, enjoying all the fun, and getting their money's worth.

The Unofficial Guide? to Walt Disney World? also includes:

• Every attraction rated and ranked for each age group, based on interviews and surveys of more than 18,000 families
• When to go and how to avoid the crowds: The best times of year and the best days of the week
• Field-tested touring itineraries for each park, including Sea World and Universal's Islands of Adventure -- for families, couples, honeymooners, and singles
• All the area hotels rated and ranked for value and quality of rooms, plus reviews of all the Disney restaurants
• How to find and meet the Disney characters

Other Unofficial Guides? to Disney and the rest of the central Florida parks include The Unofficial Guide? to Walt Disney World? for Grown-Ups, The Unofficial Guide? to Walt Disney World? with Kids, Mini Mickey, Inside Disney: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney World? and the Man Behind the Mouse, and Beyond Disney: The Unofficial Guide to Universal, Sea World, and the Best of Central Florida.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In their "Declaration of Independence," the authors and researchers of this guide swear their allegiance to you, the consumer. "If a restaurant serves bad food, or a gift item is overpriced, or a certain ride isn't worth the wait, we can say so, and in the process we hope to make your visit more fun, efficient, and economical." And because they've found that "spontaneity and self-discovery work about as well at Walt Disney World as they do on your tax return," The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is packed full of essential advice for anyone braving the frontiers of the mother of all theme parks.

To help you decide what's most important for you and your family to see, this newly updated 1999 edition describes each attraction in detail and ranks them for different age groups based on interviews with more than 9,000 families. The book also covers when to go, the pros and cons of lodging outside "the World," hotel and restaurant ratings, field-tested itineraries, tips and warnings, planning strategies, and how to meet Disney characters. Humorous writing accompanied by cartoonist Tami Knight's satiric insights make this guide fun to read. Parks covered include the Magic Kingdom; Epcot; Disney's Animal Kingdom; The Disney-MGM Studios; Universal Studios Florida; Sea World; area water-theme parks; and a section called "Beyond the Parks," which delves into other various Disney offerings like golf (mini and maxi), a speedway, and Discovery Island. --Kathryn True --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“…Indispensable…” (Leicester Mercury, 18 June 2005)

“….the unofficial guide to the mother of all theme parks tells it exactly as it is…” (Economist, 5 March 2005) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (August 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764566040
• ISBN-13: 978-0764566042
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (255 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,964,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob Sehlinger, a Lowell Thomas Award winning journalist, is best known as the creator and producer of the Unofficial Guide Series published by Wiley Publishing Inc. and sold worldwide.

He is credited with being the first to apply research techniques from the fields of operations research and statistics to travel guides. Among other projects, he was able to develop mathematical models that could save theme park patrons more than three hours of standing in queue in a single day.

Sehlinger and his research team (pictured) have had numerous adventures and developed some unusual methodologies. Here's a sampling from research for The Unofficial Guide To Walt Disney World:

"We've slept in every Disney resort multiple times and more than 80 Orlando-area properties. Only once did we wake up covered in bugs. (It was a non-Disney hotel.)"

"We test hotel room soundproofing using a sophisticated digital sound meter and a copy of The Who's Greatest Hits."

"The first time we did Orlando spa reviews, one of our researchers had an eyebrow burned off during a waxing that went horribly awry."

"We once logged more than 700 miles in one week on buses to test Disney's transportation system, and never left Disney property. The bus drivers got so used to us being on board that one forgot we were there and took us back to the bus garage when his shift ended."

"We test pillow fluffiness using a measurement process we invented. We intended to use a fake human head as part of the test, but worried about getting it through airport security. We settled on a gallon jug of water, which is about the same size and weight as an average adult's noggin."

"When we test counter-service restaurants, we order at least one of everything on the menu, and break up in to small teams to sample each thing. We've tried every counter-service food item in every American Disney theme park."

"Our crowd prediction models take in to account everything from the day of week and time of year, to the vacation schedules of the fifty largest school districts east of the Mississippi, to weather phenomena including temperature, rainfall and humidity."

Bob Sehlinger is founder and co-owner of Keen Communications, a book publishing company that includes Menasha Ridge Press in Birmingham, Alabama; Clerisy Press in Cincinatti, Ohio; and Wilderness Press in Berkeley, California. The author of twenty-seven books, Sehlinger is a past president of the Publishers Association of the South, and has served at the invitation of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Information Service on educational missions for publishers in Hungary, Romania, and Russia.

Before becoming involved in writing and publishing, Sehlinger was CEO of SAGE, inc., a wilderness arts teaching and expeditional company that produced courses in kayaking, rock climbing, survival, and backpacking (among others) for high schools and universities in a 7-state area. During this period Sehlinger served as president of the Eastern Professional River Outfitters Association. Sehlinger makes his home in Birmingham, Alabama where he continues to be an avid river runner and mountain biker.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

156 of 159 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This comprehensive guide helped me save hundreds of dollars!, February 9, 2003

By 

debvh (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003 (Paperback)

For some families a trip to Walt Disney World is an annual ritual, for others it is a one-time rite of passage. For all who go, it is a big-ticket vacation destination with seemingly limitless choices of lodging, attractions, dining, and entertainment. This encyclopedic guide provides you with all the information you need to make the most of your time and money. Their recommendations are based on their own staff's experience as well as surveys of Disney vacationers and Unofficial Guide readers.

I wish I could give more than five stars to the vacation planning chapters of the book. Monthly attendance data plus subjective pros and cons of visiting during each season helped us decide when to go; detailed reviews of hotels within and outside the "World" helped us decide where to stay; an outline of all the available ticketing options helped us determine what sort of park admission to buy. All in all we saved hundreds of dollars - and planned a more suitable vacation for our family - as compared to following the advice of friends and co-workers.

The chapters pertaining to each park rate four to five stars. Each ride, show, or attraction is described in detail and given a star rating for each of several age groups. Careful attention is paid to factors affecting how long you will wait in line. The author provides touring plans designed to get you to as many of the "best" attractions as possible with the least amount of waiting in line; 1-day and 2-day touring plans for families with and without young children are provided for the Magic Kingdom. Occasionally the reviews are a bit idiosyncratic but on the whole they let you know what not to miss - and what to pass up with no regrets. The guide also includes chapters on Universal Orlando and Sea World.

The chapters reviewing Disney dining deserve four stars. Again, the coverage is vast and detailed, with reviews not only of restaurants in and out of the "World" but even of counter-service (i.e., fast food) within the "World." You will either shake your head and roll your eyes at the hints for landing a breakfast reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table, or you will rush to synchronize your clocks with Disney reservation center time and start warming up your dialing fingers. I agree with other reviewers that the restaurant reviews are overly harsh and discount the extent to which a sit-down meal in some Disney restaurants can be an attraction unto itself. There is also no index to table-service restaurants in each park.

This guide contains far more information than any one traveler is going to need, and at least some of it will seem like common sense - but one person's common sense is another's startling revelation. As with any guidebook some information will be out of date; some specific issues noted by prior reviewers have been corrected in the 2003 edition. If you are a true believer in Disney magic you might not like the blunt tone of the author's remarks. However, if you are a Disney skeptic, a novice, or simply a vacationer trying to get the most out of a big-deal vacation, the Unofficial Guide is an excellent resource.

101 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real World Disney Planning, December 15, 2000

By 

R. J. Vaules "disneydig.com" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2001 (Unofficial Guides) (Paperback)

If you are going to Walt Disney Word and looking for the book to cut through the publicity machine that Disney is, you will want this book. Its tone, can be skeptical (some say cynical), and not always the Disney "cheerleading" guide that some purists insist only be written about Disney properties. Please know that there are no pretty pictures of the Disney parks in this book. It is a "battle" guide that does not pull punches. The author(s) are traffic gurus and are looking to get you through the park, not standing in lines.

If you are an "easy going", "take things as they come" type of person, then this book is not going to be your cup of tea. If you are looking to get the most from your dollar by avoiding lines, bad food, and brutally honest opinions, then this book will do you well.

If you have kids, this will show you the way to limit stress, and keep everyone happy with planning tips and schedules appropriate to age groups and interests. It is okay to get the Birnbaum book for the kids. Let them see the pictures and read the descriptions of the park, but if you want to be serious about minimizing the stresses of a family vacation, use this book.

I have used editions of this book for the last 10 years, and I will always by a copy of this book when planning my future vacations. I have saved time and money, and always find this book to improve the quality of my trip. My three tips for YOU to make your WDW vacation the best; 1. Stay onsite and use the Disney transportation system; 2. Take an afternoon break from the parks and get off your feet; 3. Use Fast Pass - Make Fast Pass your friend...

89 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference, take it with a grain of salt, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2000 (Paperback)

This is a great book, we used it for our two recent trips to Disney and most of what was written turned out to be true. Now we are planning another trip in 2000 with our 1 year old and friends and their kids, and we're sending them a copy of this book (they've never been). We've been reading the section about traveling with kids and know now already which attractions to avoid and which ones to head to; based on honest advice that you won't find in any "official" guide.

However, you do have to keep in mind that this is someone's opinion and not necessarily fact (but it is the opinion of someone who has traveled to Disney World far more times than the average American). They print actual reader comments, usually pitting contrasting comments side by side, as a reminder that their advice is just that, advice and not fact. We went to a few attractions despite the written reviews, i.e. Alien Encounter, and found the reviews to be accurate insofar as the experience, however, our opinion of how good or not-so-good the attraction was differed from what was written.

A good reference, highly recommended.