Terrible advice from one of the Disney guide books

[BriannaRuth]

I picked up a Disney guide book at the library just to see if it might have any tidbits of information I don't already know about. There's one book that I really like and it's great, but this is a different one. Not sure if I can post book names here. This is a 2024 edition of this book.

These are their "ONE DAY Disneyland Park" recommendations:

1. Go to Adventureland and do Jungle Cruise and Indy
2. Pirates and Pooh
3. Galaxy's Edge, "highlights include" Smugglers Run and ROTR
4. Backtrack to New Orleans Square and "pay a visit" to HM and Pirates "before breaking for a bite to eat" (Pirates twice? And eat what by this time, dinner?)
5. Check the schedule so you can be sure to watch the parade, then BTMRR
6. Fantasy Faire, then all the attractions in FL (including Matterhorn and Small World)
7. Runaway Railway and play in Toon Town if you have small kids
8. Keep an eye on the time and try to fit in an afternoon show
9. Disneyland Railroad, get off in Tomorrowland and do Nemo, Space, and Buzz before dinner
10. Note: If the park is open late, take the monorail to DTD and have dinner there!
11. Autotopia, Star Tours and/or AstroOrbiter
12. Hit anything you missed at Fantasyland
13. Fantasmic if it's open
14. Do Main Street, stopping for dessert and shopping, also Lincoln and fireworks
15. If there's time go back for seconds of your favorite attractions and shows


ONE DAY at DCA is slightly better. Not going to post the whole one day schedule, but I will say that it includes Redwood Creek, Mickey's PhilharMagic, ALL of Animation Studios including the meet and greet, and a suggestion of getting wine pairing tips or doing tastings at Golden Vine Winery!!

These one day planning tips helpfully include a dashed line near the page binding with a picture of a tiny pair of scissors so you can cut them out and take them with you!


Then there's this --

Saturday is the busiest day of the week, including in the summer (followed by Sundays)

I gained two things from this book -- learned never to buy this company's guidebooks for ANY destination I may visit in the future, and a good laugh.

 

[starlite_]

I find Disney Guidebooks really useless in general. The info changes so often that by the time someone actually goes to the parks the rules might have changed twice.

 

[Hubalorian]

I find Disney Guidebooks really useless in general. The info changes so often that by the time someone actually goes to the parks the rules might have changed twice.

The happened to my father in law, he didn’t pay attention to the publication date and started talking to me about the fast pass system referenced in the book for an upcoming trip.

 

[irlandaise]

I'm glad I'm not in the Disneyland guidebook writing business right now. It seems like no advice has been stable for long after the parks reopened in 2021.

 

[Iceman93]

I don't think the book's advice is that far off, honestly. If you have Genie+, all of those attractions in the timeframe listed are possible on an average day assuming one starts at rope drop and doesn't dawdle getting from place to place.

 

[maleficent55]

Don’t people know by now….WE ARE THE BOOK!!!

 

[BriannaRuth]

I don't think the book's advice is that far off, honestly. If you have Genie+, all of those attractions in the timeframe listed are possible on an average day assuming one starts at rope drop and doesn't dawdle getting from place to place.

You're right, If you are REALLY GOOD at doing G+, know ALL the ins and outs of that, and are going to pay for the LL at ROTR and the Mine Train, you might have a shot at doing a lot of this. That's not how they put it, though, and that's not what's suggested in this itinerary. I also don't think anyone who knows how to do that is this book's audience. And they're suggesting doing this with young kids, based on taking time to play at Toon Town and doing Fantasy Faire. There will be dawdling

I just think most who try this will end up disappointed.

Reminds me of the books that suggest an hour or so is great for the Louvre.

 

[BriannaRuth]

So just for grins, I put this plan into Touring Plans exactly as they have it on a Monday (since that's evidently one of the less busy days) in the summer, including the use of G+ and LL. But I left Pooh, HM, and Lincoln out since those will be closed, which saves at least an hour. I put Tiki Room in for a show because that's pretty quick and if you time it right, little to no wait. I put Counter Service for all the meals, no sit down. And I didn't add any breaks, which really isn't realistic if you have kids young enough for Toon Town.

Touring Plans said you'd be done after taking the railroad to Tomorrowland, so you're missing everything in Tomorrowland, including Space and Star Tours, not seeing F!, don't have time for shopping or dessert on Main Street, no fireworks unless you just happened to see them in the distance. And that was only allowing 15 minutes in the park at Toon Town. And you're certainly not going back to Fantasyland a second time or taking the monorail to DTD!

 

[MillauFr]

Doesn't everyone know that Monday is by far the worst day to visit DL by now?

 

[DLRExpert]

Do Not use Touring Plans for Disneyland.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Do Not use Touring Plans for Disneyland.

I've used it in the past (like on my first four or five trips) and found it worked very well. I didn't use it much on our last trip because I know the ins and outs much better than I used to from reading here obsessively, but it's interesting to see what they suggest. I've used their Lines app more than just their regular plans because it's more flexible. A lot of what they recommend seems to be pretty similar to what I see posted here.

Have you had a negative experience with it?

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

I bought a guidebook a year ago. But after following some YouTubers and SoCal Daily, I quickly abandoned the book. After our trip in March I told my husband what the book said we should have done and he laughed. I'm looking at it again right now and it's not as bad as the one you're looking at but I still wouldn't follow it.