Favorite guide book?

[Kion10]

What is your favorite guide book for touring Walt Disney World?

I think my favorite has to be The Complete Walt Disney World 2009. But i'd love some other recommendations!

 

[danny1649]

PassPorter and have used it on our last five trips. Danny

 

[mattsdragon]

Another Passporter fan here.

Am I the only one who thinks UG is a little negative in some of their opinions?

 

[mykidsrock76]

Not trying to hijack this thread... but I am curious as well. Also, we have a couple books from 2007, do we need to get 2009 books? Or are they pretty much the same? Thanks!

 

[KLL]

Another Passporter fan. I have used it for our last five trips.

 

[jb01]

You can't go wrong with Passporter

 

[kclyn]

The Passporter is the best. It has everything you need as far as a guidebook, plus worksheets for packing, planning, etc. And pockets to store small things - receipts, paper tickets, etc.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I like Passporter. I do know that book is updated quite a bit every year.

 

[MelanieC]

Hmm- I may have to check out Passporter. Can you tell me what makes it so special? I have never used it before.

 

[alternativepirate]

I think Birnbaum guide is really good. It has some fun info about the rides and good reviews about resturants and some good coupons.

I also have The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is really good. Lots of color photos and good info about wait times and info about how to plan your day. Inof about all the resorts.

 

[elemusing]

I am in the minority I know, but I don't like Passporter. The UG is our "Disney Bible." I have used their plans and info every trip since 1996. I HIGHLY recommend it. I wouldn't say you will need a new one every year, but as attractions are added, the touring plans do change a bit. If the last one you have is from 2 years ago, you might want to consider a new one for this year, but much of the info is the same.

I tried the Passporter and just couldn't get into it.

Good luck and enjoy the planning! IMHO, that is one of the best parts of a Disney trip!

 

[Danauk]

I enjoy the UG and love the Passporter, especially for its organisation. But for our next trip in the summer I decided not to buy a book. I am using Ridemax and then putting all the info, park plans, maps, dining menus etc onto my iphone.

 

[ColoradoLime]

I have the OCD planner gene in me so when I walked into the travel section of Barnes & Noble and saw The Passporter was on the shelf, I think it glowed a little while angels sung in my head. It's the best book ever. Not only do you get planning tips and advice, but their are kids ratings, fold out maps, sample touring guides, and the best of all are the pockets in the back of the book. There is one for each day of your trip and you can write your daily itinerary on each one and then keep whatever you need for the day inside the pockets. It's lightweight so traveling with it is great!

 

[Nimbusteach]

UG all the way. Has so much information and when you buy the book you get the website for "free"!

 

[G66]

The UG is our "Disney Bible."

UG rules, accept no substitutes!

 

[thorphin]

My wife and I spent a good 30 minutes sitting on the floor in front of the WDW books at Borders. We looked mostly at Birnbaum, Passporter, and UG.

In the end, we couldn't decide, so we purchased both Passporter and Birnbaum. UG was a distant third for us.

I think our Birnbaum purchase was more for tradition than anything. We've purchased one for every one of our trips since the early 80's. I don't really like it now that Birnbaum is dead - seems so watered down, generic, and unwilling to be very critical of anything (since it's produced by Disney).

For anyone relatively new to Disney, though, it has lots of pictures and isn't so information heavy that it is overwhelming.

The Unofficial Guide indeed looks to be a huge wealth of information about all sorts of things. However, the layout of the book is very bland and uniform, making it hard to flip through the book to find what you are looking for. The structure is not obvious at a glance. The book is also rather hefty (at least from our perspective, compared to Birnbaum). A significant portion of the UG is about traveling to WDW and hotels off-property, which is information we wouldn't use at all. In the end, we could see that UG was NOT going to a book that we could carry around with us in the parks and get a lot of use out of.

The Passporter, in our opinion is the best of the three. The book is DESIGNED, not just written. It is clear that you are meant to carry this around with you during your vacation. There's a spot for a pen, a hard protective cover that folds around the book, an elastic band that can hold your place, and a structure that makes it easy to flip to the section you need to find the information you are looking for. In addition, the book has some stickers and tabs that you can use to customize your Passporter, fold-out maps, and pockets at the back for keeping a log of your itinerary and storing loose items like receipts and times guides.

To be honest, we weren't sure about the pockets and whether we'd use them (especially because it means there is less room in the book for information). However, there's a better chance that we'll use them that the pages of non-relevant info in the UG.

There are lots of other little touches like highlighting textual changes since last year, providing a website of udpates that allows you to make edits to your book (most recent updates were posted about three days ago), and including lots of little maps of resorts, rooms, etc. The dining and attraction listings have reviews and lots of other related info in a handy charted layout that presents a lot of information for quick glance.

Everyone's different, though, and as you can tell, many people swear by their UGs, even though we ruled it out easily. My best suggestion would be to head to your local bookstore and spend some time comparing the different choices.

Happy planning!

 

[love2teach]

I like Birnbaum's Official Guide. I also like the Unofficial Guide to WDW. I've never used Passporter...

 

[JoshMom5]

I love the Passporter. It is one of the best souvenirs from our last trip. I have notes of all the attractions we saw each day. I was able to mark highlights for each day and the pockets are great for keeping receipts, ticket stubs and other trip highlights.

Reviewing that information gave me a great place to start for our next trip.

I also read the UG from cover to cover and there is tons of information in there also. It just doesn't have the keepsake feeling that Passporter does.

I agree with thorphin regarding DESIGN of Passporter.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

I swear by Unofficial Guide. I actually got my first copy last year, having already been a Disney regular. I love their restaurant profiles and find their ride descriptions humorous.

I have Passporter, as well, but I don't care for it as much. It's easier to carry along into the park (it's my bag book), and is easy to navigate through, but it's not nearly as informative. It's what I typically recommend to first-time guests, though.

 

[styron]

I think UG is entertaining to read. I take it with a grain of salt though because it's too commando for me.