Product Description

The definitive Disney handbook
The only photo-driven guidebook to the No. 1 vacation destination, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is a must-buy for anyone planning a trip to Walt Disney World. Filled with over 400 photographs and packed with more factual information than any other Disney guide, the colorful book includes in-depth information on attractions, activities, restaurants and resorts that you just cannot find anywhere else.

Completely revised and updated
Though it does have all the latest Disney news, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is more than just an annual update. The new edition adds a eight-page What's New summary right up front, as well as incisive articles on saving time and saving money. New At a Glance summaries make it easy to find what you need in each theme park chapter, while attraction articles now include hour-by-hour wait times as well as lists of Fun Finds, Fun Facts and Hidden Mickeys. Insider tips appear at the bottom of nearly every page.

Winner of four national book awards
In the past year alone the book has been honored with four national awards. It won the coveted Nonfiction Book of the Year award at the 2008 Writer's Digest ISPBA and was named Travel Guide of the Year at the 2008 NIEA. It won Best Southeast Nonfiction (Silver Medal) at the 2008 IPBA and was named one of three finalists for Best Travel Guide at the USA Book News 2008 NBBA. The Walt Disney World Moms Panel praises the book for its "fabulous behind-the-scenes info about the parks."

With photographs on nearly every single page, The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is printed in full-color on gloss paper.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374626 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
A thorough overview. Also makes a nice souvenir. --Boston Globe

Should leave fans of Mickey smiling from ear to ear. --Chicago Tribune

The most visually stunning and deeply researched Disney guidebook on the market --Orlando Sentinel

About the Author
Julie and Mike Neal, and their daughter Micaela, made over 700 visits to Walt Disney World in the five years it took to create this book. The family has a home in Celebration, the Disney-built town next door. The authors and their books have appeared on National Public Radio, the Travel Channel and many Florida television stations.

From the Authors
We first came to Walt Disney World as tourists and were instantly infatuated. Now, with a home right next door, we visit Disney nearly every week and have come to know the place like few others can. Putting this book together it seems like we memorized every firework blast, every ride twist and turn, every single snippet of prerecorded speech. (Oh, can we be dull at parties!)

Seriously, we wrote this book to share the best of that information with you, to give you exactly what you need to experience all the joy and wonder a Disney vacation can bring. We understand the time, effort and expense it takes to come here, so we want you to know about every possible way to have a good time once you arrive.

Customer Reviews

Comparing the Disney World travel guides
Looking for a guide to Walt Disney World? I think I can help. My family, along with two other families, recently spent a week at Disney, and we took five different travel books with us. We thought it would be fun to compare how useful the books were as we planned our trip and as we spent our days at the parks.

This review is the result of our efforts, with book rated from 1 star (awful) to 5 stars (great).

Before I start, you should know that our little reviewing group consisted of three couples, all in their early thirties. Between us we have three little girls, one little boy, a teenage girl, and a pair of grandparents that went along too.

We rated the books based on six criteria:

1. Helpfulness as a Trip Planner
Does the book offer tips on saving money or time? Does it help you get through the Orlando airport? Does it recommend hotels and restaurants to reserve and back up its reasons well? Does it have good advice about the Disney dining plan and which restaurants to eat at?

2. Helpfulness While at Disney World.
Is it worthwhile to take the guide with you? Does it help with last minute decisions? Is it fun to read as you wait for a restaurant table, or in a line for a ride or show?

3. Organization.
No matter how good a particular piece information is, if you can't find it, it doesn't do you any good. This is especially true in travel guides, when you often need a particular piece of information RIGHT NOW!

4. Current information.
Though all of these guides have "2009" in their title, are they really up-to-date? To find out, we picked out three things we know are new at Disney World for this year: The American Idol Experience show, the new promotion where guests get in free on their birthday, and the new room decor at the BoardWalk resort, where we stayed, and checked to see which books knew about them.

5. Addresses family needs
Since so many Disney World visitors are families, how does each book reflect that? Are there specific planning tips for families? Is there advice about which rides are too scary for little ones?

So, on to the reviews!

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2009 2 stars
Once published by travel guru Steve Birnbaum, today Birnbaum's Walt Disney World is an objective travel guide in name only. Now written and published by the Disney company, it offers nothing but cheers for everything Walt Disney World has to offer. Worse, a lazy attitude permeates everything, as if this is something Disney is forced to do but would really just forget about. As you would expect, there's precious little about saving money (except for a recommendation to "save" by buying the extra-cost Disney Disney Plan) and no quality ratings for attractions, restaurants or resorts beyond an occasional "Birnbaum's Best" logo. Chapter titles are confusing: restaurants are under "Good Meals Great Times;" water parks within "Everything Else in the World." The book was 1-for-3 on our accuracy test. It knew the American Idol show existed but had no information about it. Its room description for the Boardwalk Resort was two years out of date. It did not mention the birthday promotion. On the plus side, the book's relative few pages makes it the easiest of the Disney guides to scan through, and there are many illustrations of Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters.

The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 5 stars
Outstanding organization and a wealth of color photos makes it easy to find particular information in The Complete Walt Disney World. Chapters are color coded, and subjects are grouped together well. For example, a Planning Your Trip chapter has a subsection on the Disney Dining Plan that clearly spells out the pluses and minuses of that add-on, and individual articles titled Saving Money (with 30 numbered tips), another called Saving Time. Restaurant reviews include good insight on character meals. Resort descriptions have more details than the other guides, though the authors provide little opinion beyond a star rating. Theme park information is superb. Attraction reviews, which can go on for multiple pages for major headliners like The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, include "Fear Factors" as well as "Fun Finds," are practical for families and fun for Disney fans. There's a touring plan for each park that we found helpful. The Complete Guide was 3-for-3 in our accuracy test. The only downer: Except for hotel listings, the Complete Walt Disney World focuses exclusively on Walt Disney World. There's no mention of Universal Studios, Sea World, or even the Orlando airport.

Frommer's Walt Disney World and Orlando 2009 3 stars
Frommers is well written, well organized and in many ways thorough, but the author doesn't seem that familiar with Walt Disney World. The book has no tips on saving time or money, and its hotel and restaurant opinions aren't backed up with a lot of facts. Attraction descriptions are short paragraphs with no specifications and few tips. The book offers little take-along value, and hardly any specific information for families. Vague family information. There are no photos or illustrations. The book scored 0 for 3 on our accuracy test. It didn't know about the American Idol show, our new room decor, or Disney's birthday promotion.

Fodor's Walt Disney World 2009: plus Universal Orlando and SeaWorld 2 star
Like a weaker version of the Frommers guide, the Fodors one is less organized and offers even less planning advice. Its ride and show descriptions seem to be edited versions of those in the Unofficial Guide, which this company also publishes. Like Frommers, the book scored 0 for 3 on our accuracy test.

The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2009 4 stars
Is there an editor in the house? Packed with advice and information, the 848-page Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is like your grandmother's attic: there's a lot of good stuff in there but so much junk to shift through! Actually it depends on the subject. If you have hours to dig through it, this massive tome can be a great planning tool. Page after page is devoted to subjects such as saving time or saving money. Incredibly detailed resort information includes which rooms, by number, offer the best views. Attraction summaries have details such as ratings by age group, but the authors comments are often so cynical they have value only if you find them funny. The Unofficial Guide scored 2 out of 3 on our accuracy test. It didn't know about Disney's birthday promotion. The book includes various Touring Plans, which offer step-by-step guidance for a day, or two, at each of the theme parks. These looked useful, but our group had too many individual interests to follow them. In short, this is a good book for those who aren't really fans of the Disney company, but want to take months to plan out a visit to its mecca.

So that's it! We determined that the Unofficial Guide and the Complete Guide are the best two books out there. As for which is the best for you, I think if you like Disney (or want a book that includes photography) you will like the Complete Guide best, but if you are headed there reluctantly (like, say, only to keep your kids happy), or also want information about SeaWorld or Universal, you will find the Unofficial Guide more to your liking. But either is a good choice.

The Best of the Disney Guides
I have bought so many Disney World guides I have lost count. But I know one thing: this one is the best. Though it has less words than the brick like Unofficial Guide. I have found the Complete Guide to be better organized, more accurate, and therefore much more helpful.

I can see why they called it "Complete." There are plenty of photos, very helpful ride specifications (more on those in a moment), and a lot of interesting, fun, and helpful information on the theme parks, resorts, restaurants, sports and recreation options, etc.

Fortunately, it is organized and written well, so finding what you need is always pretty easy.

About those ride descriptions. This is an area where the Complete guide really excels. Though the ride descriptions, which sometimes go on for a few pages, can get a little long winded for the non-Disney fan (my husband grew tired of me punching him with all the history tidbits for Its a Small World), each one begins with a little collection of spec, which includes the length of the ride, how old it is and the scariness for children. (Don not underestimate how scary it is! I wish I read the section on Voyage of the Little Mermaid before we took our 3-year-old!) Each ride description also has a little box that shows the average wait time for each hour of the day, so say, it is 1 p.m. you can easily decide what to do.

Another unique thing about this book is that the ride descriptions have lists of "fun finds" and "hidden Mickeys," which I have discovered that reading and making plans to look for as you do wait in line is a great way to keep children excited and happy.

The resort articles are much like the ride descriptions. Each opens with an exhaustive list of specs, including not just regular things like room rates, but also such helpful stuff as how far each resort is from each theme park. Then the regular writing includes such things like swimming pool details. Again, very Complete!

Well you can tell I really like this book. But perhaps the main point I want to make is if you want to have a good time at Disney, you need to buy some book and plan out your trip. The place is gigantic, everything is expensive, and tensions can rise quickly when you "just try to wing it." Both the Complete and Unofficial Guides understand this point and offer lots of helpful advice. Unofficial might have more ways to save money (at least its chapter is thicker), but this one has more ways to save time, including outstanding ways to take advantage of the free Fast Passes. Regardless, neither actually costs you any money, because you will easily make it up by getting the most out of the thousands you have already spent to go there.

So to sum up, whether it is your first time at Disney, or, like me, you have been there many times, the Complete guide is a good buy.

Manage your most precious asset--TIME--with the best FASTPASS guide
The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is my favorite guide to Disney's Florida theme parks. As a Disney "guest" my most precious asset is time. Time is everything--I trade time and effort for money, so my money is time, too. The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 is 363 pages of facts and tips--and photos. Want to see what Walt Disney World is like? Want to maximize your investment in your Disney Experience?

My first Walt Disney World visit was in 1986--one day at Epcot (then E.P.C.O.T. Center). I had no plan, didn't really know what was in the place. When The Complete Walt Disney 2009 arrived in my mailbox I had held several Annual Passports to Walt Disney World and had spent up to two weeks at a time there. Julie and Mike Neal have spent more time in the Walt Disney World theme parks than I--and I didn't have time for the water parks and other activities. I knew a lot about the place and how to have fun--I almost don't need to get the current guide maps. Almost. Things are always changing there. "Disneyland will never be complete..." (Walt Disney)

That made me the wrong person to conduct a field test of Julie and Mike Neal's handy little guide. Ben, a sergeant in my National Guard unit, asked me for help planning his Walt Disney World vacation in April 2009--along with three other soldiers and all their families. I gave Ben a copy of The Complete Walt Disney World 2009 - that and Ben's experience in planning and executing military operations were all he had. Okay, if he had a question, I'd answer it--but nearly all of Ben's four-day vacation plans at Orlando's premier theme park came out of the Neal's book. There were comments from the others that Ben ran the vacation like a military operation (except that it was fun), but he and his party managed to do every Walt Disney World attraction in the four major theme parks but four: Space Mountain and the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom; Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show at the Disney Hollywood Studios: and Expedition Everest at the Disney Animal Kingdom. The first two were closed for maintenance and the last was experiencing technical difficulties when Ben and company showed up with FastPasses in hand. Ben just ran out of time for the automotive adventure. Ben took a much larger group than I ever did--I usually tour solo, except for taking my sister and nephew on one three-day adventure. I think this proves the utility of the Neal's Complete Walt Disney World as a planning resource.
Physically the book is laid out well. There is an overall map of the resort (pages 4 and 5), a table of contents (page 3), an introduction (page 7), practical information (page 25) and "What's New" from the 2008 edition (page 13), an appendix with background information, an index (useful for finding things not included in the table of contents), and a phone directory on page 336--conveinently located in the back. I find the bibliography (page 330) very useful for additional background information--and to confirm the many back stories (background) floating around Disney theme parks.
A suggestion--one page of web site addresses following the Practical Information section: all the web addresses in one place. http://disney.go.com/home/html/index.html?flash=false is the official Disney website and a good start. There might not be a lot of web sites, but putting them all in one location will help the planning process.

The Neal's FastPass guide starting on Page 36 is the best in the guidebook industry. There are also tips on when to pick up FastPasses in each theme park chapter--a schedule that permits maximizing your Walt Disney World fun. I have better things to do than wait in line--and when Mickey saves my place, its great! There are other line-beating techniques: Single Riders, Extra Magic Hours, Child Swap, guided tours.

The organization of The Complete Walt Disney World includes color-coded page edges for quick location of the sections on each park:
Red--Magic Kingdom (40--FastPass 42--map 46)
Orange--Epcot (114 - FastPass 116--map 118)
Yellow--Disney Hollywood Studios (158--FastPass 160--map 164)
Light green - Disney's Animal Kingdom (204 - FastPass 206 - map 212)
Aqua (fitting) - Water parks (254)
Violet--Sports and Recreation (274)
Purple--Accommodations (282) (Shades of Green, the military MWR facility on Walt Disney World is on page 305)
Dark green--Special events scheduled for 2009 (314)
Black--Practical Information (25)
Gray--appendix (324), bibliography (330) and index (332)
Not only is the book a great planning resource, there are sidebars giving background information and interesting back stories on attractions in each park. Ben took his book into the park so that he could make changes when necessary. In the Army a plan is a starting point for making changes (FRAGO) because no plan survives reality! The Hidden Mickeys, the back stories and the interesting facts are a nice way to pass time--almost as good as having your own personal tour guide! The planning guide works. Julie and Mike Neal know their stuff. The photos show what Walt Disney World is like and help tell the story.
The most precious asset is time. The Complete Walt Disney Guide 2009 is a great way to get the most Disney Experience fun out of your investment in time.