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Title: The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2009 (Unofficial Guides)
ISBN: 0470285702
Author:
Bob Sehlinger
Len Testa
Publicate Date: 2008-09-02
Publish: 2008-09-02
List Price: $19.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.99
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.21
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.59
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| Customer Review: |
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1: "....And STILL CHAMPION!!!......"
We've gone to "The World" for 3 years now in a row, this year will be #4, our 5th total. I've purchased this book for 6. In fact, I've purchased just about every 'help' book on WDW there is out there! Sehlinger & Testa put out the best, hands down....period. They're un-biased, independent, honest, and fair. As a single parent of two boys, I just don't have the time to spend the absolute hours/days it would take to gather the info and do the research these folks do for me with teams of 'professionals' gathered by the authors! If you've never been to "The World" or never tried to plan to go there before, we who have can tell ya just how much and often 'Disney' changes just about anything you can think of. The 'Guide' even gives us a web-page where we can check for up-dates and changes 'Disney' makes. They provide the research to help you plan your day(s) in each park, in-depth info for each attraction, dining, lodging (on and off property), when to go...., just about anything you may need to plan your visit to see "The Mouse". You can't do any better nor find anything to help plan your vacation more thoroughly than using this book to get you started......'The Best Out There' and "....Still Champion!!!"...PERIOD!
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2: You will either love it or hate it
I have both the 2008 and 2009 Unofficial Guide, and honestly, my summary is that this is a good, necessary companion to the Birnbaum guide, but it is poorly executed as a stand-alone. I find myself vascillating between loving it and wanting to throw it off a freeway overpass.
First, the good. It is certainly a very indepth guide. It is updated with reasonable amounts of materials between the editions. It treats most subjects much more thoroughly than Birnbaums. The off-property hotels, for example, are excellent compared to Brinbaums. The tour plans are also a neat idea, and I look forward to trying them. The letters from customers are also a nice touch (adding customer insights, tips etc) but are a tad over-done.
Now, the bad. This book screams for a good technical editor. The information is fairly inaccessible, given the number of pages, the poor organization and the hideous indexing. (Honestly, in any book about Disney, should anything be indexed under "Disney's XYZ"? I wanted to kick my dog when I tried to index some attraction and the index said "See Disney's ) I research for a living and have a doctorate, and the amount of work you have to go through to find every last scrap of information in this guide about a given subject is really inexcusable. The information is in there, and thorough, but dear me you really have to flog the thing to get it out. I find myself constantly referring to a Birnbaums guide just to get myself oriented and try and get the full context of what it is I need to extract from the Unofficial Guide's multiple sections.
A final complaint that I have, that some people might consider a benefit rather than a detriment, is that this book has a bunch of non-disney stuff in it. While it is a nice touch to make people aware of what else there is to do and get them "off property," I personally consider it cluttering up the book with unneeded information. The title is U.G. to WALT DISNEY WORLD 2009, not Universal Studios, not Gatorworld etc etc. Honestly, for people who want to know what there is to do off property, let them buy a book about stuff off property a la "Unofficial Guide to Everything But Disney." Don't junk up a guide that is supposed to be about Disney with non-Disney stuff. It is just more stuff to slog through in an already bloated, unorganzied reference work. (Again, I readily concede some will consider this non-Disney information a benefit, but the book isn't "Disney and Stuff.")
I like the book, it has great information, but it is poorly executed and really could benefit from serious editing/reogranization. As it stands now, most people will probably benefit from having the Birnbaums guide as a kind of concise Concordance to the Unofficial Guide's sprawl and bloat.
P.S. I ordered from Amazon online on a Friday with standard shipping and had it on Monday.
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3: A great resource
This venerable Walt Disney World guidebook covers all the bases... and then goes further. It has a no-nonsense, cynical tone that is refreshing and sometimes funny. Anyone planning a visit to Disney will benefit from it.
Sound strange coming from a competitor? Well, it shouldn't. Though I am the author of The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World, the two books approach Disney from different perspectives. Whereas mine is a standard-size book with lots of color photos and factual detail; this one is a huge tome with tons of fieldwork and opinion.
The 844-page book goes into exhaustive detail, especially about topics outside the theme parks. A full 171 pages are devoted to Accommodations, including layout maps of the different Disney resorts, maps showing where non-Disney hotels are located, how to shop online for lodging, and a list of recommended websites that are good resources for this topic. There is even a list of 33 questions to ask the owner or rental company of a vacation home you may want to rent.
I especially enjoy the reader comments. These italicized quotes are a guilty pleasure for me; I like trying to picture the person behind the words. One mom describes choosing a Cinderella character meal at 1900 Park Fare instead of trying to book Cinderella's Royal Table at Cinderella Castle: "It wasn't easy to get, but I was able to get a reservation only about two months in advance instead of the 180-days-and-atomic-clock routine that the Royal Table requires. Maybe someday we'll do the Royal Table, but this time my daughter was delighted with the dinner at 1900 Park Fare."
Often the comments are blunt: "Lodging a complaint with Disney is like shouting at a brick." I've found in my own work how knowledgeable and passionate many Walt Disney World guests are; the comments in the Unofficial Guide reflect this.
I also look for the boxed sidebars from Disneyphile Jim Hill, called "Disney Dish with Jim Hill." These bits of trivia are always interesting, and sometimes very funny.
New for this edition is a small section with photos. These 16 color pages are right up front, before the table of contents. I especially liked the photo comparing a Disney hamburger with a regular McDonald's hamburger.
As for the book having some factual errors, I know firsthand that that criticism is unwarranted. Disney changes its ticket prices more than once a year, some restaurants change their menus quarterly, and Disney's shops can reinvent themselves almost at the drop of a pin.
Despite what all of us in the Disney community like to think about ourselves, no book, no web site, even no Disney executive is a perfect source of Disney World information. The place is just too big, complex and dynamic. Overall, the authors of the Unofficial Guide do a good job keeping their information updated.
If you go to Walt Disney World without a plan, you can easily waste precious time by not knowing what to do, or by doing the wrong things. Having good information can make the difference between having a fun, memorable vacation and having a tense one. The Unofficial Guide is chock full of reliable information. It's a proven tool.
Here's the chapter list:
Introduction
Part One: Planning Before You Leave Home
Part Two: Making the Most of Your Time and Money
Part Three: Accommodations
Part Four: Serenity Now! A Look at Disney-area Spas
Part Five: The Disney Cruise Line
Part Six: Walt Disney World with Kids
Part Seven: Special Tips for Special People
Part Eight: Arriving and Getting Around
Part Nine: Bare Necessities
Part Ten: Dining in and around Walt Disney World
Part Eleven: The Magic Kingdom
Part Twelve: Epcot
Part Thirteen: Animal Kingdom
Part Fourteen: Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney World
Part Fifteen: Disney's Hollywood Studios, Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld
Part Sixteen: The Water Parks
Part Seventeen: Beyond the Parks
Part Eighteen: Shopping in and out of Walt Disney World
Part Nineteen: Nightlife in and out of Walt Disney World
Appendix, Indexes, Touring Plans and Reader Surveys
List of Maps
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4: This is still the "must have" guide for Disney vacations
It is important to give respect to those that have identified some errors and ommissions in the "Unofficial Guides." The guide is not perfect, and one might expect perfection from a reference book. That being said, no Disney vacation is perfect either, although we all seek perfection from this expensive theme park trip!
What the Unofficial Guide does is break down, in a very user friendly way, how to understand a Disney vacation and make the most of it. The authors also make an 800+ page book fun to read and explore and that is no easy feat!
From understanding resort accomodations, meal plans, those attractions that might upset your stomach, travel, moving about the parks, shopping, attendence levels, health and safety, pets, etc etc etc., the Guide makes these complicated topics manageable.
We can look to Wikipedia for hard, real-time data (and the Guide should strive to have all their information fact checked.) But, Disney is expensive, complicated, and does involve lots of planning. The Guide is the best $13 you will ever spend towards your vacation. It's cheaper than your Coke and chicken strips lunch at a counter restaurant, but will save you untold amounts of confusion and frustration about bus routes, check-in policies, how to see characters, and so forth.
It is also important to note, that with the purchase of the book, you receieve access to the Unoffical Guide's crowd calendars (viewable on its website). It's a nice little perk to help with your long-range planning.
We have bought numerous travel books for our trips, but the Unoffical Guide is more than just a travel book, it is a How-to guide to getting the most from your Disney Vacation.
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5: A Must Have
This book is a must have for anyone considering a trip to Disney. It gives you the ins and outs of everything from rides, hotels, food, and prices. You will find it easy to read, and very accurate. Bring it with you on your trip and it will help you even more.
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