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At over 800 pages (2005 edition), this does provide excellent and pretty exhaustive coverage of Disneyworld Orlando. It seems a bit daunting at first, but so is Disneyworld if you're not prepared! There is a huge amount of information about hotels, particularly the Disney ones - even down to room plans and dimensions and the best room numbers to request: if you're considering staying in a Disney resort, it is certainly worth investing in a copy of this book before booking. Travelling times to each park from Disney and local hotels are listed, by car and Disney transport. There is also extensive coverage (over the top in my opinion) of the Disney restaurants, including tips for booking, ratings for value, service, etc. etc. And that's before you get to the parks - each attraction is described in detail and rated for various age groups, and there are plans for touring each park, one for adults, one for families, etc. which are supposed to help you get the most out of Disney with minimal queuing, though aren't so necessary if you go out of season. A particularly useful feature is a calendar showing how busy each park is likely each day through the year - so you can look up each day of your holiday, find out which park is quietest and how crowded it is likely to be on a scale of 1-10. I would say this alone makes the guidebook a worthwhile investment to plan your visits for minimum stress. Although the guide only claims to cover Disney, there are also comprehensive listings and ratings for attractions at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, and a few other attractions are also covered in less detail. Seaworld gets only a couple of pages, and Busch Gardens is barely mentioned (there is a separate Unofficial Guide which covers these and other Florida attractions). There is a listing of local golf courses, and some brief information about shopping opportunities etc. The guide is unbelievably detailed on the subject of Disneyworld, and surprisingly readable and amusing, sprinkled with quotes from readers and witty asides. As the authors are independent of Disney, they are not afraid to be critical when appropriate. There are many more or less useful tips, from the best time to arrive at each park, which roads to take, how to get sought-after character breakfast reservations, even a chapter on preventing tantrums. It is worth noting that this is written for a mainly US readership. For example, there is very little about villas, which are popular accommodation for UK visitors. The ratings for attractions should be treated with a handful of salt (3 stars for teens to see Winnie the Pooh and 2 stars for teens to see Barney the purple dinosaur? The representative sample of teenagers I consulted would sooner chew off his own foot.) As you'd expect, there is a shortage of information about booking from the UK, and about the Disney tickets only available in the UK, and not much to help with the cultural and practical differences. I would recommend that UK visitors, especially first-timers, use this book in conjunction with the Brit's Guide by Simon Veness - when you think how much you're spending on your holiday, it's well worth investing in both (and doing some online research too).
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