A Few Questions

[MN96]

Thanks I'll have to stop by the library this week

Another suggestion regarding guidebooks is to check your local library (or libraries). The editions they have may be dated but it is worth taking a look at any you can get your hands on to see which you feel is worth buying in a newer edition. GusGus77 loved The Unofficial Guide but was bored by Birnbaum's while I recommend Birnbaum's and find The Unofficial Guide to be more like a plan of attack for the commando visitor. Everyone has their own opinion and every guide has their fans so you can buy all of them or try to figure out ahead of time which one is more your speed.

 

[Winnowill]

Two years ago, I used the Birnbaum guide for our trip, and it really didn't give me any information about HOW to go about. For instance, while it said that RSR was a must-do, it did NOT mention the fact that FPs ran out so quickly and that it would be good to get one early. So we missed out on it altogether because we did not want to wait 70 minutes for it on our one day at DCA (we didn't have hoppers). The Birnbaum guide gives no advice on when the best time is to ride various rides - which are best to get out of the way early, which can be done during parades, stuff like that. Even if you're not a commando, that is helpful information to have. It also had no information about how best to utilize the FP system, and, as a result, we waited way longer than we should have for a lot of things.

This year, I got the Unofficial Guide, having had a good experience with the WDW version last year. SO much more helpful. The ride descriptions include ratings based on age, icons indicating what types of people might be frightened by a certain ride, and useful information like that - the Birnbaum descriptions are good, but they lack that kind of advice.

 

[figment_jii]

I echo the recommendation to go to your local library and check out a few different books. Mostly, I've found that the Birnbaum book are nice for pictures and getting a feel for the parks, but aren't going to give you touring plans or a ton of advice. The Unofficial Guides have more advice, but I've found that I generally don't agree with most of the ride opinions (the book seems awfully heavy on opinion to me), so I've stopped buying them. Overall, I would check out a few books, scan through them, then come back to these boards and ask more questions. The boards are going to have the latest information, whereas the books are only as current as their date of publication, which means they quickly go out of date.