Disney World Planning Guide Book (Poll)

[shawnriv]

Hello Everyone,

My parents are heading to Disney this upcoming June and I am putting together a birthday package for my Mother (her birthday is in March). I am looking to include a Disney World Guide Book and torn between the Birnbaum's 2015 and The Unofficial Guide. Does anyone have any knowledge and recommendation between these two books? Below is the Amazon.com links and please feel free to place a vote on the poll attached to this post.

http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-201...8&qid=1424655298&sr=1-1&keywords=disney+world

http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Gu...8&qid=1424655298&sr=1-2&keywords=disney+world

Thank you!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

LOVE the Unofficial Guide. Looked at many different guides before our first trip and found this one the most helpful. Have even bought several updated versions for later trips. Also like and subscribe to their website.

 

[shawnriv]

LOVE the Unofficial Guide. Looked at many different guides before our first trip and found this one the most helpful. Have even bought several updated versions for later trips. Also like and subscribe to their website.

Thanks for the quick response! I've heard the Birnbaum's has coupons included in their book. Is there anything like that in The Unofficial Guide? If you don't mind me asking, what kind of information perks does the Unofficial Guide have that make it better?

 

[aidansmommy]

Unofficial Guide, for sure! There's even a color guide companion! Awesome!

 

[EmilyS90]

The Unofficial guide is great!

However, I did get the Birnbaum's guide for kids for DD and it was pretty neat.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

No, there are no coupons. But then the few that were in Birnbaum's weren't all that much anyway--nothing impressive (and I'm the coupon queen over here!). The Unofficial Guide is much, much more detailed. Lots of ratings for rides, restaurants, etc. The suggested touring plans are fun to go through. In my opinion Birnbaum's is more of an overview--like a summary, if you will. Where the Unofficial Guide has all the details. I love reading and researching and learning all I can before a trip anywhere. I liked the Unofficial Guide so much, I bought the Washington DC version before our trip there.

 

[Hootch]

The Unofficial Guide prides itself on providing efficient touring plans. In the book they will describe some of the steps they take to develop these plans. There are a few plans based on number of days, adult versus children, two days versus one day touring, etc. These are designed to be clipped out and taken into the park.

The biggest benefit or the UG is the breadth of information. There are detailed looks at onsite and offsite hotels (including Universal). There is information and survey data on rental car desks at the airport. There is time from onsite resorts to parks using your car and Disney transport. There is time between offsite hotels and the Disney parking lots/ The book is over 800 pages and covers most any question you may have.

Touring Plan, which produces the UG, has additional products. You can join the site for about $13 for a year. You can further modify their plans by eliminating attractions, for example, as a member of the site. (There is a 25%-30% discount if you have the book.) There is also an app that will provide you unique touring plans on the fly while in the parks in case your touring changes.

I have read their books and find them helpful. I have never joined their site or had the app. As a percent of a WDW vacation, it's pretty cheap and it is one of the better guides out there.

There are a couple of sites that might be helpful (besides this one). **************.net steps you through the planning process. Easywdw.com has touring plans, crowd calendars, restaurant reviews, etc. Both are free and are worth looking at. The two bloggers wrote their own guide which you will see on their websites.

 

[shawnriv]

One thing I did forget to mention was that their trip is all set in terms of dining and the resort. They already made their dining reservations and booked their resort. I am looking for something that would just make things a little easier for them. But it still sounds like The Unofficial Guide still might be a better option. Am I correct?

 

[ilm2000]

Bottom Line:
Birnbaums is a great picture book. It is fun to look through and gives some basic information. It gives the feeling of being written by Disney.

The Unofficial Guide is a lot of reading. It gives very detailed information and tells the good and bad aspects of how things can go on a Disney vacation. It adds a lot of humor, so it is an enjoyable read while being informational.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I bought the Unofficial Guide before our first family trip to Disney. The guide breaks down how crowds move in the parks. It talks about which rides are higher capacity and where crowds build more quickly. I felt like having that information was so helpful, even if I didn't use a touring plan. It also gave me ideas about where we wanted to eat, including quick service and snacks. There is a lot of information packed in that. They also have a color companion which is not as long.

 

[figment_jii]

In truth, I wouldn't recommend either as a single reference source. I'd opt for the Complete Walt Disney World Guide instead. It has lots of photos and information, with only minimal opinion. I've bought both the Birnbaum books and Unofficial Guide in the past. I find Birnbaums a little to "rah rah"-WDW (i.e., everything is rosy and wonderful), but I'm also not a fan of the Unofficial Guide. They intersperse a lot of their (the author's) opinions in the book and if I could consistently agree or disagree, it would be helpful. But I find that I agree with them about half of the time and disagree the other half with no rhyme or reason, so it's not really any help because it could go either way. When folks ask about reference sources, I recommend asking questions on the boards and buying multiple books (like Birnbaums, the Complete Guide, the Unofficial Guide) instead of relying on a single source. Then once they've gone, they can use a single resource in the future because they already have a sense of what they think of things.

 

[bumbershoot]

I get the latest Unofficial guide from the library, and I BUY the latest Passporter. (and with the passporter, I bought the deluxe edition with the ring binder, then just buy the refills when I need the newer version.)

 

[Micca]

I used to love Disney guide books, back in the 70s & 80s I'd buy them just for entertainment purposes. The UOG was always might favorite, but honestly there's now so many up-to-the-minute resources on-line, some of the info in books is outdated before it gets to the stores. I understand you want to give something to your mother for a birthday gift, so I voted UOG. You might also consider giving her a gift card for a really great pair of walking shoes so she can start breaking them in.

 

[shawnriv]

Thanks everyone for the amazing feedback. I ended up purchasing the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2015, a Mister Fan, and a Poncho.

Thanks again!

 

[bsiev1977]

The Unofficial Guide is more honest in its assessment of the rides and other attractions, as well as the quality of food as the different restaurants,