Books for kids...

[CraigerK]

For Christmas, I got our DD7 and DD5 Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2012 "For Kids" for Christmas. DD7 has already read through the whole thing, and started her "planning sheet", complete with a list of attractions by park... She keeps quoting her favorite part, "did you know WDW has over 300 attractions!"

It's a great book (her review), the only thing that bothers me is the use of Disney definition of "Dark Ride" as any indoor ride, makes her timid of many things that she shouldn't be.

She wants to read more about the rides (and I'm looking for something that won't scare her about riding the bigger ones.) Does anyone have any familiarity with any other kid-friendly planning books?

Thanks,

-Craig

 

[PollyannaMom]

That's the same one I had for DS at that age, but I think there are videos of many of the rides on YouTube if she wants more details. Also, explain that "dark" in that book just means "not out in the Florida sunshine".

 

[indimom]

I second YouTube as a way to preview the rides she is worried about (just make sure you preview the videos first, no need to scare her with a ride breakdown or crying kid or whatnot ).
I was thinking you could explain a dark ride as being "dark like a movie theatre." It's a ride that moves, and the lights are kept dim like in a movie theatre. If she's normally frightened of the dark, a tiny keychain light or similar may make her feel better. Just remind her not to make a nuisance of it by shining it up or at other guests.

If your daughter isn't normally timid, I think she'll be pleasantly surprised by how tame most of the rides are. The only rides that even remotely disturbed our daughter at that age were Tower of Terror (more the cue than the ride) and Dinosaur (it is sooo loud). And, just a word of warning, I forgot to warn our son about the gangster in the Great Movie Ride and that threw him for a loop at age 5.

For another book option, I got my kids the Guide to the Magic for Kids. It has information on the attractions, parks and lands, but also includes places for autographs, hidden mickeys to search for, photos of the different lands to search for, and a travel journal that lets them detail their trip. You can fill out which rides you did, whether or not you liked them, etc. etc. My kids filled out the entire book and really enjoyed it (although they quit carrying it to the parks after one day, it's pretty big).

Hope this helps!