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| The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 (Complete Guide to Walt Disney World) | 
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| Authors: Julie Neal, Mike Neal
Publisher: Coconut Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.70
You Save: $12.25 (49%)
New (20) Used (9) from $12.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 10851
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0970959699
Dewey Decimal Number: 917
EAN: 9780970959690
ASIN: 0970959699
Publication Date: December 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Should leave fans of Mickey smiling from ear to ear. -- Chicago Tribune
A thorough overview, with inside tips, facts and quizzes. With more than 400 color photos, it also makes a nice souvenir. -- Boston Globe
May be the most colorful, visually stunning and deeply researched guidebook on the market. A warm, loving portrait of Disney World, for people who want to love Disney World. -- Orlando Sentinel
Endless tips and trivia. -- Knoxville News-Sentinel
There are dozens of guides to Disney World, but I like this one by a husband-and-wife team who visited Disney World more than 700 times. They're not affiliated with Disney, but received much inside access by the company to provide very detailed descriptions of each ride, show and attraction. Among the gems are fun facts, suggested itineraries and little things to look for. -- Florida Times Union
Offers an in-depth history of the attractions and the parks themselves... and the most in-depth run-down of the two Disney water parks. -- Budget Travel
Book Description
The best-looking Disney World guidebook, The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 is also the most interesting. Its spectacular photography grabs your eye, then its fantastic wealth of information keeps you glued to its pages. Every aspect of Disney World becomes easy to understand, as color-coded chapters lay out everything one subject at a time, and gorgeous full-color images bring it all to life. Packed with details you just can't find anywhere else, every chapter is so helpful you'll find yourself sticking post-it notes everywhere.
The Planning Your Trip chapter offers a seven-step process to organizing your vacation, then a gold mine of practical information. As for theme parks, each ride or show gets its own article, many of which run several pages. Water parks are covered the same way, which makes the book the only real guide to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Even diversions such as parasailing, stock-car driving and surfing lessons are fully described and illustrated.
A new restaurant chapter is a collection of 88 reviews. The accounts are descriptive and honest, and include useful details such as which character meals can usually take walk-ins. The accommodations chapter covers each Disney resort with a photo-packed article as well as a comprehensive At a Glance sidebar. The combination gives you a nice overview of each complex, but also makes it easy to scan them all by price, amenities, location, or other criteria.
Supplemental Material
Like the most complete DVD set, the book is packed with bonus features. The best are the background articles on Disney's theme park attractions. For example, three side stories describe the history, science and set design of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Other columns cover the histories of Space Mountain and It's a Small World. An animal guide describes the odd behaviors you can witness at Animal Kingdom, from the forearm-licking of the park's kangaroos to the stick-sharing rituals of its exotic birds. Breezy feature articles cover the wacky histories of the Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella fairy tales.
The result is a hugely entertaining book, but one that doesn't flinch from the frustrating realities of a Disney trip. It acknowledges the long lines, the challenge of getting key restaurant reservations, the cluelessness you have on how to get a front-row seat to the High School Musical street show... and provides the magical solutions. Tip bars run across the bottom of most pages.
Fitting the visual beauty of its subject, The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World 2008 is printed on gloss paper in full color. The book is fully updated, with the latest park and resort information and current prices and policies.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 54 more reviews...
 Beauty more than skin deep November 30, 2007
24 out of 24 found this review helpful
Of course this book looks great, it has crisp and clear color photos on nearly every page. But that's not what makes it so great. It's also really, really useful! We just had a great Disney vacation and the INFORMATION in this book made all the difference! My husband spotted the description (and the photo) of the new icicle treatment at the Magic Kingdom castle for the holidays and said "Let's go see it!" Our teenager used the wildlife guide to learn all about the animals at the Animal Kingdom, which made that day at least twice as much fun. The attraction information is tremendous. I spent every spare minute buried in the restaurant reviews so we found some great places to eat. I loved that the reviews are HONEST -- the good and the bad. We bought the Unofficial book too, but this is the one that got filled with post it notes! Very well organized, too.
Even better than last year December 16, 2007
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
If you liked the first edition of this guide, you will love the second! We had the opportunity to spend last week at Walt Disney World and found this 2008 edition at the Orlando airport. It was a lifesaver! We learned how to see the High School Musical show from the front row (it's easy to do if you have this book), which my kids are still talking about! I was excited to see a number of changes that made the guide even better. The restaurants reviews go into lots of depth and all the detailed information about the resorts is extremely useful. We go down to Disney at least twice a year and this guide is a wonderful tool for picking out exactly where to go and what to do. 5 stars at least!
Definitely My Favorite WDW Guide January 24, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I've become a big fan of Julie and Mike Neal's Complete Walt Disney World. First of all, Walt Disney World is a visual experience, so - naturally - I want a visual guide. The Complete Walt Disney World 2008 is just that. With its full color interior that is packed with photos, when you first receive it, you'll spend a good bit of time just flipping through and perusing the photos.
However, the guide also has a number of features that I think make it superior to other guides. In fact, it's actually superior to its own predecessor, the 2007 edition.
I took the 2007 edition with me on my last trip to Disney in order to give it a real, honest-to-goodness experience "out in the field." I realized that the information on the restaurants and lodging was a little light. However, this guide has COMPLETELY fixed this. It now has thorough descriptions of hotels and restaurants. In fact, one point I loved about the lodging guide was that it gives you mileage to all the parks. For instance, when looking at the description for Old Key West, I can see that it is 4 miles from The Magic Kingdom. Seems frivolous at first, but it's truly not. For those planning to jet to one of the parks for dining reservations, this information gives you a good idea of when you need to set out in order to make those reservations.
The lodging pages also now give you rates, restaurants and transportation details (i.e. can you take the boat from the Swan to MGM?). There's even a note of check in and check out times.
The guide also contains those things that make me prefer it to others such as the tickertapes at the bottom of the pages that give you little hints and tips. The "fun finds" section underneath the attraction descriptions that give you a list of "easter eggs" and trivia to look for as you experience the attraction and, of course, a listing of Hidden Mickeys near the rear of the book.
Overall, the book is what a Walt Disney World guide SHOULD be: fun. Plus, as I can attest to: it's small enough to fit into a pack so it won't be cumbersome while you're in the World.
Oh and by the way, for those of you who consider buying the souvenir books, you couldn't do any better than this book. While it is most definitely a guide, it is also a great way to remember some of the attractions and sights of Walt Disney World that other books overlook.
Definitely my favorite WDW guide in print.
Get More From Your Disney Visit January 2, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
It's vital to plan ahead before visiting Disney if you want to get the most from the parks. This book keeps you from standing in interminable lines, yet still see the top attractions. I liked the Daily Plans suggested in the book and easily swapped out some rides and shows to suit our guests' ages and interests.
We've visited the parks dozens of times but with this book I still found overlooked shows. Disney is huge and can be quite disorienting. Knowing ahead of time what you want to see makes the day less stressful. We used the Fast Pass to get on Expedition Everest and Soarin. We also used the Single Rider option several times. Even though our recent visit was during the jam-packed Christmas period, we minimized the time standing in lines and had great memories to take away with us.
For the shows and rides described in the guide, pay close attention to the summary at the end. It gives the average wait time, length of the ride, any accomodations for handicapped users, and advises on the Fear Factor. That is quite important, as some rides are too intense for young children (or sensible adults). I was terrified on Expedition Everest and wished I'd opted out after reading the Fear Factor on it.
I'll be getting lots of use from this book for ourselves and our visitors. I was glad to see added restaurant section that wasn't in the earlier guide. Food is pricey inside the parks, so the guide helps you make decisions on fast foods versus splurging on a fancy meal.
Super detailed restaurant reviews February 9, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book has such interesting and thorough information on all the Disney restaurants! I bought each of the three major guidebooks, and this one just blows the others away! Let me give you a specific example, by comparing the three main 2008 books. I'll use Tokyo Dining, where, thanks to this guide, my family and I had an especially good meal last week. The following quotes are the ENTIRE description of that restaurant from each book:
The Unofficial Guide 2008: "The pavilion's adjacent Tempura Kiku and Matsunoma Lounge will be replaced in August 2007 with a new dining spot emphasizing sushi."
Birnbaum's Official Guide 2008: "Tokyo Dining, which has replaced Tempura Kiku and Matsunoma Lounges, features sumptuous sushi and tempura temptations. Reservations are suggested."
The Complete Guide 2008: "A combination of good food, great atmosphere and absolutely mind-blowing service, this new Epcot treasure is exactly what a World Showcase restaurant is supposed to be -- a non-threatening way for you to fully experience the cuisine, and atmosphere, of a foreign culture. A mix of traditional Japanese entrees, the menu ($15-$28) includes a tender beef teriyaki and nice shrimp tempura. A separate sushi and sashimi menu ($4-$24) has 49 selections, highlighted by a "volcano" California roll that's sliced, stacked and coated with a creamy (and explosively hot) orange chili sauce. For dessert, the green tea pudding melts in your mouth. The sophisticated, peaceful decor has wonderful diffused lighting. Dark cherry tables sit on a tile floor. But what tops everything are the bows. The hostesses and servers bow to you as you enter the restaurant, as you sit down and every time one of them approaches your table. When you leave, the entire staff bows to you progressively, like a line of falling dominoes. A great place to dine for IllumiNations, the second-story restaurant overlooks the World Showcase Lagoon. Five tables sit right up against the glass. Lunch, dinner. 116 seats."
Now THAT is helpful! Every other restaurant is treated this same way. I rest my case. I can't believe some of the other comments that say it's not detailed enough. My guess is that those reviews are referring to the 2007 version.
By the way, this book would be worth it if you never read one word, for the hundreds of beautiful and unusual photographs. Every page will make you feel like you are right there in Disney World.
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