Is the unofficial guide to WDW with kids as good as the normal one? I am leaving soon and need to know whether it is worth my while to go to the bookstore that is further away to get the one that is just the plain unofficial guide. My kids are 12 and 10. Is this geared for familes with preschoolers?


Please help!

The unofficial guide is well, well worth the money and aggravation. The official guides (Birnbaum) are probably the least useful on the market, although they have very nice pictures and are helpful to hand to less literate members of the party (ie. DH, children). The unofficial guide will save you money and aggravation, and is worth every penny (and ounce of gas). For one thing, they will tell you what Disney is actually doing, rather than the official party line.

Lots of people love the unofficial guide.....I do not b/c IMO it makes, going to WDW sound like as much fun as a root canal. That is my feeling from it, as I said, others like it.

I like Birnbaum. That one may be a cheerleader, but I want someone to describe things so that it sounds like fun, not work!

Do the others have touring plans?

Actually, I didn't phrase my question clearly. Do you think it matters if your unofficial guide is the one with kids or without kids? If I get the one for kids will it leave out stuff that my husband and I might enjoy?

Do you really think the Unofficial ones take away the fun?

I should be loading my car. But, I'm worried.

I used the UnOfficial Guide when we went to Disney - (I have no input on the kids one as I have no kids).

I don't think it takes the fun out of disney - I think it just looks at the parks in a practical way - giving you a lot of information on lines, waits, best modes of transports, touring plans. It is more detailed oriented and focused around the practical matters.

I actually thought some of its suggestions allowed us to have more fun - because we avoided lines and stayed realistic about our expectations of what we could do/see in a day. For example, they recommended going back to the hotel mid-day to rest/swim/etc and back to the park in the evening. I thought this resting period was critical in keeping our sanity and not getting overly annoyed at the crowds, lines, you encounter when spending ALL day at a park.

I just got the biggest one I could find, and yes, it is less joyful in tone, but did it ever save me money. Unless it is a very busy day, I wouldn't follow the touring plans to a "T", but the instructions for the big three at the Magic Kingdom were priceless. DH and DS were able to ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder by 10:30, leaving us the rest of the day to meander aimlessly and get fastpasses for other stuff.

Thank you so much! Well, I'm off to pick up the unofficial guide -- did you guys take it with you to the parks? what kind of bag/purse did you carry?

I made photocopies of the touring guides and relevant sections for each park. We only visited one park a day - so we brought the relevant section to whatever park we were visiting. The book is pretty big - so I didnt want to lug it around all day.

I carried a slightly bigger pocketbook than I normally do to carry water, camera, map of park, etc. But again, I don't have kids.

We just brought a beach bag with the guide and other good stuff, and I left my purse locked in the trunk. I was wearing shorts with pockets for my magicard, etc.

We tore out the touring plans and put it in our pockets or a small purse. The book itself is quite hefty!

Hmm. Sounds like I should buy the pocket guide version.

We tear out pages in the back
when we go with our 3 kids because
we buy a new copy every time
we go. They're published yearly,
someone said twice yearly, because so many things change.

Although it may be too late for you, I hope others (and you too if you have time) search the site:

www.DISboards.com

There is more information there
about literally every aspect of
Disney than you can imagine.
It can be overwhelming at first
but we learn more than we need
to know by reading those
forums. If someone has thought about
it, its been discussed.
And discussed ofen.

Have a great time.