2005 Unofficial Guide

[Eander3]

When does the 2005 edition come out???

 

[lentesta]

Mid-September to early October, I think. Thanks for asking.

Len

 

[danny1649]

My favorite guide book

 

[KathyTX]

And, just look at that!

You got the OFFICIAL answer, right from the source!!!

 

[Eander3]

Obviously I can't second guess the above post, but I called Borders tonight and they thought it might be in about August 15??? I hope so!!!

 

[lentesta]

I'd be surprised, Eander3, as we just finished writing the Guide the first week of July. Bob was projecting mid- to late-September last week.

Amazon.com is showing a shipping date of October 1 for my order, and that's faster than I'll be able to get a copy from Wiley.

If Borders gets them in sooner, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Let me know what you hear.

Thanks!

Len

 

[lentesta]

And FWIW, we've already started work on 2006. Some of the projects in the pipeline will take months to complete. Look for previews to be posted to the website.

Thanks again for reading the Guide!

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[rlduvall]

Just wanted to say that the Unofficial Guide (for any vacation destination) is my favorite travel book. I love it when you have one for the place I am visiting, i.e. WDW, DL, Branson, Smoky Mountains. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

[bytheblood]

I found the Unofficial Guide to be very cynical. I almost felt like the writers hate WDW. Everything has the same info.....go right when the park opens, go right before the park closes, large confusing layout. Ugh!!!

 

[lentesta]

Hi bytheblood.

For the record, we love Walt Disney World. As I have a tattoo of the Disney corporate logo on my leg (really), I always get a chuckle out of the "hate WDW" lines. Perhaps next year I'll ask Bob to scan my leg into the book. (Would that mean I'd have to shave it first?)

I looooooovvvvveeee Walt Disney World. I love it so much that I want it to be filled with the world's best attractions and restaurants every single day. A lot of the time (e.g., Splash Mountain, Boma) Disney actually does this, for which they've earned our sincere admiration.

But sometimes they don't.

Our allegiance is to our readers. If a restaurant isn't worth your money, or a ride isn't worth your time, we say so. This rubs some folks the wrong way, we know. For them, other guidebooks may be appropriate. We'll continue to call 'em like we see 'em, including the 2005 edition.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[eeyore kelly]

I just wanted to say that I Love the "Unoffical Guide." We are planning our first trip to WDW, and the guide helped us make some decisions on resturants (Sci-Fi Diner for one). I went through the book with a highlighter and paperclips to mark some info. I think I went through half a box of paper clips. LOL My thanks goes out to the entire team who helpedwith the book.

 

[Madi100]

Originally posted by lentesta
Hi bytheblood.

For the record, we love Walt Disney World. As I have a tattoo of the Disney corporate logo on my leg (really), I always get a chuckle out of the "hate WDW" lines. Perhaps next year I'll ask Bob to scan my leg into the book. (Would that mean I'd have to shave it first?)

I looooooovvvvveeee Walt Disney World. I love it so much that I want it to be filled with the world's best attractions and restaurants every single day. A lot of the time (e.g., Splash Mountain, Boma) Disney actually does this, for which they've earned our sincere admiration.

But sometimes they don't.

Our allegiance is to our readers. If a restaurant isn't worth your money, or a ride isn't worth your time, we say so. This rubs some folks the wrong way, we know. For them, other guidebooks may be appropriate. We'll continue to call 'em like we see 'em, including the 2005 edition.

Sincerley,

Len

Len, just out of curiousity, how many people does it take before you say that something isn't worth your time? If you read the boards you are bound to find someone who hates Chef Mickeys (ME!!) In the next post, you'll find someone who loves it. So, who gets the vote? And, do you have "new" people ride the rides and eat at the restaurants? This will be our 4th trip coming up. There are things that we don't need to see because they don't appeal to us. We loved them the first time, but a few things we don't mind missing. Just curious as to how it works.

 

[lentesta]

Hi Madi100,

It's a bit different for restaurants and attractions. And I don't work on the restaurant reviews (we've got culinary professionals), so this is just my understanding of how that part works.

We have several team members visiting the WDW restaurants throughout the year. And we get literally thousands of guest responses back per year on the restaurants, too. We try to spot trends, both positive and negative, in both the meals themselves and the surveys throughout the year.

I believe for the 2005 edition, a restaurant with a reader satisfaction swing of more than 10% either way got special attention in the form of more-than-usual visits. Obviously, restaurants undergoing chef, menu or theme changes also get looked at more closely than usual.

For restaurants, I think there are very few examples where our ranking differs significantly from reader satisfaction. In fact, I can't think of any at the moment. For those restaurants we don't recommend (Cap'n Jacks, I think, is on), way more than half of our readers probably also agree. While it's possible to have a decent meal there, the odds aren't in favor of it.

For attractions, it's the subjective opinion of the reviewers. I'm pretty sure Bob does the actual writing of the reviews, but he's solicited input from probably a dozen researchers on any particular attraction. For Mickey's PhilharMagic, for example (four stars, not to be missed), I know my team alone sat through the film between one and two dozen times.

Besides forming our own opinions, we also observe how other guests, particularly young children, do on an attraction. Roughly one-third to one-half of the kids we watched in Goofy's Country Dancin' Jamboree, for example, were frightened by the loud music, lights, and characters. A signifcant number end up leaving early. That also goes into the review. (And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I've seen that show enough times to be Sarah Jo's understudy.)

Hope this helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

Len

 

[Madi100]

Originally posted by lentesta
Hi Madi100,

It's a bit different for restaurants and attractions. And I don't work on the restaurant reviews (we've got culinary professionals), so this is just my understanding of how that part works.

We have several team members visiting the WDW restaurants throughout the year. And we get literally thousands of guest responses back per year on the restaurants, too. We try to spot trends, both positive and negative, in both the meals themselves and the surveys throughout the year.

I believe for the 2005 edition, a restaurant with a reader satisfaction swing of more than 10% either way got special attention in the form of more-than-usual visits. Obviously, restaurants undergoing chef, menu or theme changes also get looked at more closely than usual.

For restaurants, I think there are very few examples where our ranking differs significantly from reader satisfaction. In fact, I can't think of any at the moment. For those restaurants we don't recommend (Cap'n Jacks, I think, is on), way more than half of our readers probably also agree. While it's possible to have a decent meal there, the odds aren't in favor of it.

For attractions, it's the subjective opinion of the reviewers. I'm pretty sure Bob does the actual writing of the reviews, but he's solicited input from probably a dozen researchers on any particular attraction. For Mickey's PhilharMagic, for example (four stars, not to be missed), I know my team alone sat through the film between one and two dozen times.

Besides forming our own opinions, we also observe how other guests, particularly young children, do on an attraction. Roughly one-third to one-half of the kids we watched in Goofy's Country Dancin' Jamboree, for example, were frightened by the loud music, lights, and characters. A signifcant number end up leaving early. That also goes into the review. (And for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I've seen that show enough times to be Sarah Jo's understudy.)

Hope this helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

Len

Thanks for your quick reply. It is very interesting to hear how it is all done. I know that I bought the Unofficial Guide on our first trip. I didn't enjoy it because I didn't want to hear the negative stuff. I wanted to hear why I would love everything. Disney does a great job of it. They should. Otherwise, they'd have to admit to some failure. It's just like our children. We can make excuses and find a way to make them sound like the most wonderful child on earth. Others can very easily point out what is "wrong" with out kids.

Now that I'm planning our 4th trip I think I can take the good and the bad. So, I'm seriously considering trying your book again. It does seem to be really popular around here.

And, I'm jealous! I would love to sit through Mickey's Philharmagic 2 dozen times. I absolutely love that attraction!

 

[lentesta]

I love PhilharMagic too. It's the best 3-D film in the parks, I think. The Lion King segment is really good. I went through the entire film one time without the glasses trying to figure out how they did the effect where the film goes wide-screen. That's some creative thinking! A couple of scenes could have been animated better (Arial's hair is just a big red blob. Could Pixar not help? , but overall it's a great show. Good song choices, too.

Sincerely,

Len


DD6 wanted me to add this->

 

[WANNABE@WDW]

I like to recommend the Unofficial Guide to Disney newbies because it isn't sugar coated. When friends and family come to me for WDW tips I share my Knowledge, but I love WDW and I tend to overlook some of Disney's faults. The Unofficial Guide gives unbiased information. I think it should be required reading for all 1st timers. Are ya'll looking for any extra researchers... then I could tell my DH that I am working and "have" to go to WDW.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

I totally agree with recommending it to newbies. This is the best guidebook out there for WDW. I have used it for many years now and I buy an updated version for every trip I take. If you want a guidebook that gives only pixie dust then the Birnbaum book is for you. It has good information but it sugar coats everything. I want to know REAL information. I spend a lot of money each time we go and I want to make sure my money is spent in the best way possible. I won't go without the Unofficial Guide. Thanks for the great work you do....wish I could be one of the employees, HA HA!

 

[ear_poppin]

I think the Unofficial Guide is great and I buy one every year and give the old one to someone I know who is going to WDW. As said above its not all sugar coated and Pixie dust for everything. Restaurants, attractions and hotels etc get a good and sometimes critical review.

Whislt some of the other guides have great photos to look it is the UG that I look at when I want detail and information.

Denise

 

[bytheblood]

Originally posted by lentesta
Hi bytheblood.

For the record, we love Walt Disney World. As I have a tattoo of the Disney corporate logo on my leg (really), I always get a chuckle out of the "hate WDW" lines. Perhaps next year I'll ask Bob to scan my leg into the book. (Would that mean I'd have to shave it first?)

I looooooovvvvveeee Walt Disney World. I love it so much that I want it to be filled with the world's best attractions and restaurants every single day. A lot of the time (e.g., Splash Mountain, Boma) Disney actually does this, for which they've earned our sincere admiration.

But sometimes they don't.

Our allegiance is to our readers. If a restaurant isn't worth your money, or a ride isn't worth your time, we say so. This rubs some folks the wrong way, we know. For them, other guidebooks may be appropriate. We'll continue to call 'em like we see 'em, including the 2005 edition.

Sincerely,

Len

Len,

You may love WDW, but the book is still VERY cynical. We all have our own opinions and I must be honest and say that I found the book to be helpful, however quite redundant when "The Guide's" opinions were made.

Nearly every resort had a large confusing layout. Nearly every major attraction should be visited right when the park opens or closes. If people who knew nothing about Disney took the information to heart, they would stay off property and feel that thet did not have the opportuntity to ride rides they wanted because you can't do everything first thing in the AM and very last in the PM. That to me is not very "pro Disney."

I have loaned the book to many others who shared the same opinion. And as you stated, you've heard the "they hate WDW" comments before, so I would have to say that there is a reason why you hear those comments.

For the record, I intend to purchase the 2005 edition when it comes out because I do appreciate the non-bias opinions that cannot be found in the Unofficial Guide.

 

[Gabrielle]

I love the Unofficial Guide. I think I've read every single word in it. I was at Borders just the other night looking for the new edition -- glad to hear it's coming out soon.

For the uninitiated, this is the book you read along with the Birnbaum book. Birnbaum is great for comprehensiveness and organization. The Unofficial is great for the straight scoop; tips; and humor.