Best Disney World travel book?

[mavbrimuss]

Hi, any thoughts on a really good Disney ideas/tips book? I've looked on Barnes and Noble and there are so many to choose from. The Disboards are great, but I'm looking for something to refer back to that is written down and might have some color photos. Thanks!

 

[cbeeindisney]

I always liked the Birnbaum's and the Little Black Book of Walt Disney World: The Essential Guide to All the Magic for an information-type book- to help with planning, packing, and destinations-

I also really enjoyed The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World by Susan Veness to give you a little bit of factoid, background information from rides to lands, and Mousejunkies for something a little bit different. I thought they were good reads!

 

[the_green_machine]

Here's a vote for "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World". Although there aren't any pictures, the information available from cover to cover in this one is hard to beat.

 

[ty93850]

as far a a book for just pure info. The unofficial Guide for me is the best. They make a new one every year. It will take you through places to eat sleep and each of the parks in Disney and out of Disney including sea world universal as far a pics in a book will have to differ to other disers

 

[Butterbunkins]

The Unofficial Guide is a good one as is the Birnbaum book. We always get new ones every time we have a trip coming up. They aren’t telling me anything new at this point, but I still enjoy reading them!

 

[Hootch]

a few of the guide books. Some are better than others depending on you want them for.

Unofficial Guide - comprehensive information. I used this to pick out my rental car company a few trips ago and still refer to it for travel times around WDW. They have generic touring plans in the book. You will not get many pictures with this. They sell a companion book that is only worth the pictures.

Passporter is more of a planners guide if you want to carry it with you. It has pages to write out plans and pockets to keep receipts, tickets, etc. The fold out maps are detailed but, to me, superfluous since I can have a map on the internet while planning and a park map when touring.

One thing good about Passporter is they outline updates throughout the year. Many of these books are sent to the printer in the Fall. Disney changes things throughout the year and you can easily find those changes.

The Complete Guide is currently my favorite. It has a lot detail on the things to see in the parks that you might miss and a lot of pictures. This is supposed to be coming out in an electronic format but it is past the original date. I'm waiting for that version.

I saw a new planning book by the Hidden Magic people (I think) at B&N. I had only a little time to browse through it. There is another series on the B&N site called Funatics. There are several books covering different areas. Each is $14-$18 dollars which seems a bit expensive.

 

[consumermonkey]

Another vote here for Unofficial Guide. At 850+ pages it seems hard to get through, but I find it really easy to read. Just bought the colour companion as well and that is good too for those wanting something a lot less wordy.

For my first trip in 2009, I bought a few guides (passporter, brit guide to name two) but always returned to the unofficial guide.

 

[ZoZo]

Another vote for the Unofficial Guide - hands down my favorite guide book for WDW. They have tons of info about everything, plus reviews of things like restaurants (very helpful!). They also have a companion web site.

One thing I wanted to suggest is to check out some guide books from your local library. That way, you'll have access to lots of information from different sources, and you can decide if you want to buy a guide book for yourself.

 

[Qltrgrl2]

Unofficial Guide gets my vote. I also like the format of Birnbaum, but UG is more comprehensive so for information it is hard to beat.

 

[alice99]

The Unofficial Guide is a good one as is the Birnbaum book. We always get new ones every time we have a trip coming up. They aren’t telling me anything new at this point, but I still enjoy reading them!

HaHa! Us too..... I love reading the books while anticipating my next trip.

Same with the Disboards..... I always show up here around dining reservation time and a few weeks before my trip.

I also like Birnbaum and Unofficial guide.

 

[karly05]

One more vote for "Unofficial Guide" - it's grown to "War and Peace" proportions, but always a fun and detailed read. I love the fact that they include a lot of user comments about rides, restaurants, etc. Plus, if you buy the UG, you get a discount on subscribing to their Touring Plans website.

I still like Birnbaum's Official Guide for a colorful introduction to the basics, too.

 

[the_green_machine]

One more vote for "Unofficial Guide" - it's grown to "War and Peace" proportions, but always a fun and detailed read. I love the fact that they include a lot of user comments about rides, restaurants, etc. Plus, if you buy the UG, you get a discount on subscribing to their Touring Plans website.

More to this point....They also (UG/Touring Plans) have a great app called "Lines" and although its free, used in conjunction with a supscription to TP the app is a great tool to have in the parks with maps, "live" wait times etc....

 

[chellt]

Hi, any thoughts on a really good Disney ideas/tips book? I've looked on Barnes and Noble and there are so many to choose from. The Disboards are great, but I'm looking for something to refer back to that is written down and might have some color photos. Thanks!

To be honest, the DisBoards are just as informational! I also wanted something to carry and refer to when planning our first trip last summer. I picked up the purse sized one at Target's Dollar Spot. It was great to have while traveling. I went and looked at the others, but really didn't need to spend the $$$, due to the DIS.

 

[corgi_monster]

I like the Unofficial Guide because it is long and doesn't have too many pictures. It takes a while to go through and read it page by page, but that just builds the excitement for me.

 

[DisneyaHolic23]

I, too, am a huge fan of the guidebook. I have purchased pretty much every book available on Disney World for years, and have several different versions of the Unofficial Guide, Birmbaum's and Passporter - love them all. While I LOVE disboards, I also like having an actual guidebook to read between trips. I even keep a few on my kindle, to enjoy when out-and-about. (Can you tell I am addicted .)

One of the things I noticed a few years ago is that most of the guidebooks do a great job on the "regular" stuff, but don't go into depth on things like special events, sporting events, holidays, etc. Plus, I love pictures. So, after 30+ trips from Seattle to Disney World in the past ten years, my husband and I decided to write a guidebook that had the "regular stuff" as well as all the detailed information and pictures I crave.

Someone here mentioned our book - it is brand new - so I just felt I had to write. We are FUNatic’s Guides. The book started out as one book, but with the thousands of pictures and descriptions of EVERYTHING, it quickly grew to seven books. Two of the books focus on the four parks; one is resorts, tours, golf and special events; one is water parks, Downtown Disney, and sporting events; and a smaller, interesting book is fun facts and Hidden Mickeys. We also have two books in which we pulled all of the appropriate information from the other books to focus the topics – one is about all the dining and drinking establishments throughout Disney World, and the other is about the rides, attractions, and shows in all four parks. A couple of the books are also available on Kindle.

Frankly, we worried a bit about the cost of the books - the problem is that when you start small, one simply doesn't get the great publishing discounts that bigger books do. We worked really hard to keep prices as low as we could.

If you want to try us out, send me a PM and I would LOVE to send you a discount code. Since we are new to the publishing industry and this is our first book, we would love any (and all) feedback we can get from this community - I have spent years here on the disboards, and never go on a trip without spending hours here researching.

 

[Starclassic]

My favorites are the Unofficial Guide, Birnbaum's, and PassPorter.

 

[thepwa]

Hi, any thoughts on a really good Disney ideas/tips book? I've looked on Barnes and Noble and there are so many to choose from. The Disboards are great, but I'm looking for something to refer back to that is written down and might have some color photos. Thanks!

Unofficial Guide is the best in my opinion. Birnbaums is more like Disney propoganda. Passporter is fun and interactive and I would get on for my daughter but it never really gave me any more information than I could get from the Unofficial Guide.

 

[Tank]

If you haven't already purchased a book I would suggest looking at your local library. Most libraries now have a website that you can order books from and they email you when they arrive at your local branch. That way you can check them all out and purchase the one you like best. The library system here in Pittsburgh is massive and they have all the current (2012) Disney books.