The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World by Julie Neal, Mike Neal Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World
Book Review: TRULY THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO DISNEY WORLD
Summary: 5 Stars
Taking a trip to Disney World can be intimidating to say the least...There's so much to do, so much to see, how do you fit it all in? Guidebooks to Disney World have been around a long time but the Complete Walt Disney World guide is one of the best that I've ever read. It's authors, Julie and Mike Neal, didn't just decide to write a book about the world's most popular theme park, they totally immersed themselves into Disney World, visiting the part literally hundreds of times over the course of several years, sometimes spending an entire day on just one attraction to learn every detail, every nuance, that it has to offer. It's that attention to detail that sets their book apart from others.
The book details each of the theme parks: The Magic Kingdon, Epcot Center, Diney MGM Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and water parks. The basic planning section is among the most helpful that I've seen in any Disney Guide book. This isn't a place you go and just "wing it", at least if you have a limited amount of time to visit as most people do. You'll find all the info you need on planning your trip, choosing the best time of the year to visit, best package deals, where to stay, planning your days, as well as tips on using Disney's Fastpass system which can save you those long waits in line for the various attractions. Careful planning means you can see more of the park and get more bang for your buck. Want to book a wedding? Want to celebrate a birthday? That's all in the book, too.
The book next has details on each of the sections of the various parks including sample itineraries. Each attraction is well documented and includes a bit about each one's history, tidbits of Disney lore, average wait time, and length of the ride or show. Among the best things in the Complete Walt Disney World is the "fun finds." These are little things, almost like a scavenger hunt, that you can find in and around various attractions. These are things you would usually miss unless you were looking out for them. For example, the Haunted Mansion has FIFTY of these fun finds, among them, the gravestone of Mr. Toad in the pet cemetery.
Among my favorite parts of Disney World is the World Showcase. This whirlwind tour through eleven different countries, complete with authentic architecture, costumes, dining, and merchandise, is like taking an around the world trip all in one day. Each country is documented with notes on its entertainment, cuisine, and shopping.
If recreational activities are your thing then the book has you covered there as well. Whether you are into golf, tennis, diving, horseback riding, camping, fishing, etc., you will find all of the pertinent information you need to plan your activities. The book concludes with a look at all of the resorts both inside Disney World and nearby and includes a price ratings, notes on amenities, phone numbers, and addresses.
With over 400 color photos, the Complete Walt Disney World guide is the definitive guide to Disney world and the only book you'll ever need to plan your trip.
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON
Book Review: The Ultimate Disney World Guide!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Julie and Mike Neal have created the ultimate guide book to Walt Disney World. They live only a few hours away from the park and decided to put together a guide book to Disney World, a world wide pick of top vacation destinations!!
They have a true insiders look at Disney World, having spend 5 years touring and researching the park.
This book has all the major attractions, the what not too miss and the practical information you need when planning and taking a trip to Disney World. Information on travel, lodging (with many options!), the fast pass as well as a shopping and dining guide for each area with-in the park. There is a calendar chapter that details the special events that occur through the year, along with a history of the park and it's creator, architectural information and even a guide to the animals for the Animal Kingdom park. One of the final chapters is titled "DIVERSIONS" with information on the not so typical activities such as surfing lessons, para-sailing, stock car driving, biking, boating,horseback riding, dolphin encounters, carriage rides and a listing of specialty tours!!!
The index is extensive and at the very end they have even included a phone directory with numbers for everything from arranging a birthday party to foreign language assistance to "LOST AND FOUND", emergency numbers,even a weather information line as well as the numbers to each park.
It is amazing how much information is packed into this book, and the organization of it with a wonderful table of contents and the extensive index will make planning a trip a fun experience and take away all the "headaches" of vacation planning.
Book Review: Great book.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World
Great book. I have purchased many books for travel to wdw and this is right up there with the others.
Book Review: Must have before you go
Summary: 5 Stars
Only skimmed thru the book so far but the information looked at so far as been full of details, great pictures and helpful hints. Planning on visiting in Dec07 and only staying one week. This book along with personal choices will allow maximum useage of all that Disney World facilities and must sees.Book Review: SUPERcalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Neals are your typical family: Mom, Dad, and pre-teen daughter.
What makes them different from the rest of us is that they've been to the mind-boggling vacation paradise of Walt Disney World OVER 700 TIMES.
Obsessed? You bet! Who else would you want guiding you? Some 30-visit newbies? Uncle Marvin, who only goes to see the Tiki Birds and is in and out in 3 hours? Corporate shills? No way. Meet the experts. A family that actually spends time together in the park(s), just the way Unca Walt woulda wanted it.
It would have been very easy for someone so totally engrossed in the Mouse to write a humongous book that covered every trashcan, every carefully-trimmed plant, every lightbulb; thankfully, these are smart folks: Mom realizes that a guidebook is for people who have never been or haven't been enough times to Walt Disney World Resort (I can't find the little "trademark" symbol on my keyboard, here...if you work for Disney, please don't send me threatening letters; I tried!).
This family guidebook is just like the resort itself: easy to follow, well-thought-out, and packed with interesting things everywhere you look. It actually makes for repeated readings! Dig the factoids in the margins...nice touch. What I'd do is read it over (give yourself a couple of weeks), then let the family read it in the car or on the plane/train trip to Florida.
A trip to the theme parks and surrounding areas/hotels that make up WDW can intimidate the novice; figuring out how the FastPass (where's that "TM" thing?) system works or even what time the 3 O'clock Parade is (don't laugh - that's nowhere near as easy as it sounds) can drive even a PhD to distraction. There are other guidebooks out there; some are quite good, but I've yet to see anything like this one. Cram-packed but not confusing, and not overwhelming. You could hand this book to your 3rd grader (something you should try next time, by the way!) and she could not only get you around the parks herself, but find things YOU would have missed. (If she can get through a Harry Potter book, this should be no problem. Especially because it's about what will become her favorite place on Earth.)
Make no mistake: I was raised in Florida, just down the road. I have been to the Magic Kingdom over 30 times, myself. I have a huge shelf full of books about the Parks and their creators. I can recognize Imagineer Joe Rhode or Archivist Dave if they walk by me on the street. I know to "Boo" if someone invokes the name "Eisner". I even know what's behind the Haunted Mansion. I figured I could catch the Neals passing some little-known things by. You know, "Ha ha! They'll never have noticed that thing we found last time...!" You can't do it. They've been there ahead of you, and they DID notice. And they wrote it into their book.
Is the book too pricey? Not at all. Disney's very own tv ads will tell you in no uncertain terms you'll be laying out almost $2,000 for a week down there. You want to get the most out of that investment? Take $75. Spend the money for this book, and use the rest on a new memory card for your digital camera.
This is an unofficial guide, which is better, in my opinion, because you're more likely to get some straight advice. There ARE a couple guidebooks out there that look "unofficial", but seem to be blatant ads for Mickey T-Shirts and Goofy fudge bars.
Do I write nothing but glowing praise? Am I going to Paula Abdul my way through this review? I am not. The ONLY thing I can find fault in is a few of the photos.
Dad is an excellent photographer. However (and this is not his fault, I do believe), some of the photos taken on the attractions themselves are a little too revealing for their own good...for instance, in one, an Animatronic (trademark? Here, Boy..!) performer looks a little like a guest body on CSI.
All of the rides/attractions make use of lighting designed by Hollywood-level talent, which carefully suggests or conceals or directs your attention. A flash picture can reveal things you're not supposed to see under "show" conditions (a little like being in a club at closing time when they turn on the overhead lights and suddenly the atmosphere goes PFFFFT!)
So don't look at a VERY few of these pictures and get the impression that you're going to skip an attraction because it looks too "fake". When you're really there in person, you won't believe any of it was man-made, so well does the illusion work. Like I said, not your fault, Dad!
Summing up: A trip to Walt Disney World Resort (TM) is unlike anything else you'll ever do, but it IS like any other vacation trip in one sense: If you don't pay attention or go with a little foreknowledge, you could get disappointed or wind up paying more than you'd bargained for. Buy this book as cheap insurance.
Well done, Neals! Keep playing together. Hope to meet you at Cinderella's slipper sometime!