Which book do you think is best?

[connorsmom]

Which book do you recommend I buy in regards to planning our trip with our 2 year old? The Passporter or The Unofficial Guide to Disney with kids? Been to Disney many times, just never with my son.

Thanks!

 

[Annette_VA]

BUMP!

I've been wondering this myself

 

[HaleyB]

I'd get both, but if I could only get one it would be The Unofficial Guide to WDW.

 

[BrerMama]

If you can only afford one, I'd go with the Unofficial guide. However, I adore my Passporter and would never plan a trip without one. Unofficial has more info re: avoiding crowds and planning for children. Passporter is essential for me to be organized on the trip and I won't have a good trip if I'm not organized.

 

[connorsmom]

Thanks so much for the advice. Maybe I will spring for both now, but I will definitely get the Unofficial guide.

 

[breammom]

I bought both at overstock.com for around twenty dollars.

 

[StinkerbellsMom]

I bought both three books for this trip since my girls are older and enjoy reading ... Birnbaums WDW For Kids By Kids, Passporter and the Birnbaum Book and I paid less than $30 for all three! I LOVE my Birnbaum books but honestly, am not as thrilled as I had hoped to be with the Passporter. I am pretty organized about my trip planning and I do like that it has pockets, etc. but I just felt like I paid out money for everything that I do normally! LOL Its a great book, dont get me wrong, I just think that had I really LOOKED at it before buying it, I would have seen that it is basically all I do anyway but thicker! LOL I have been reading it daily, along with my Birnbaum Books (which I ADORE!!!!), and I feel that I am READY FOR ACTION thanks to all the planning and tips I got from all of these. My girls LOVE their book and read it from daily as well! So basically, if you have a bookstore nearby that you can browse through them before buying, then do so, you may find that one has more or less than you wanted. I wish I had done it ... but do not regret my choice to buy all three (this time).

 

[Atotty]

For our first trip I read at least 15 diff guidebooks (thanks to Interlibrary loan) and found out all I needed was a good forum board, Deb's site (allearsnet.com) and Tourguidemike.com. My Passporter is good for reference in the hotel room and I like the pockets. The maps are much better this year, too, but if you can only get one...TGM is it.

Tourguide Mike's info is so great; it really made our trip last time. I cannot say enough about how wonderful this was for us. We didn't wait in any line longer than 15 mins...and that one time was for Dumbos. He has tons of pictures and tips on where to sit for all the rides/shows/parades, etc. More than last year. He has best AM and PM to go to each park and best rides/shows to see in each park broken down by AM, PM, Afternoon, any time, etc.

I'm using TGM for our trip this year, too, and have noticed that he is keeping everything updated very well...he even dates the pages when the info changes so you can tell if it's up to date.

WDW changes so often that by the time a guidebook hits the shelves, some of the info is outdated. Passporter is the most up to date guidebook out there because they wait to put out the 2004 edition in 2004...not late 2003 like the others. But I've already had to download Passporter updates for changes WDW has made since it went to press.


BTW---You def don't need to read both the Idiot's Guide and the Dummies Guide to WDW....they are the same word for word in many places. My dh didn't believe me til I had him hold a book and follow along while I read from the other.

 

[Sumac]

I cast my vote for the Passporter. I love the pockets - they really help keep everything organized. The most up-to-date information can be found on the web - either here or allearsnet.com

 

[nowellsl]

I have both - they each contain at least some information that's not in the other. If I had to chose I would pick the unofficial guide!

 

[Lollipop Mom]

I second the recommendation for tourguidemike! We kept wait times to under 15 minutes for our trip from 12/28 to 1/3 as well (and that is saying something for a week when at least one park closed to capacity at least once a day the entire week!). The info is current and up to date and the touring suggestions are easily done w/ kids. I'm sure the unofficial guide touring plans work well too (it's not like there is only one single way to avoid long lines!) but they have you bypassing things more often than tourguidemike does. I don't know about your little guy but my little guys (one of whom is a Connor as well! ) didn't like hearing "no, not now honey, we'll come back to it later"

As for books, my top 2 favorites were Walt Disney World With Kids by Kim Wiley and The Unofficial Guide.


(totally off topic but I had to show DH your user name b/c he is still insistent that no one else spells Connor with an O. He wanted it with an E. Since I had to do the pushing to get him out, I won that discussion! )