chelledun's Full Review: The Cheapskate's Guide to Walt Disney World: Time-...
Although Disney World can be one of the most expensive places to vacation, it can also be a fairly good deal. The Cheapskate’s Guide to Walt Disney World will help you navigate through the best deals and see the “World” without going over budget.
Information Included
This book covers similar information as other guidebooks do, but with a particular focus on less expensive options in each category.
General Information - This guidebook contains a general section discussing the lay of the land and discusses the Disney “seasons” with relation to crowds and weather. I suppose this may be helpful to some, but if you already have your trip date set it can be depressing to read the author’s claims that they would never visit at that time because it is too crowded. It’s good to know what you are up against, but I’ve visited at some very crowded times and still enjoyed my visit very much.
Resorts - All the resorts are mentioned, but the authors spend most of their time discussing the Value and Moderate resorts. There is a great discussion of amenities at each resort as well as an explanations of the reasons for staying on property. Some other guidebooks skim over the Value resorts, but this one does a good job of differentiating between the similar resorts to help the reader make a decision.
Websites - I am familiar with most of the Disney websites for savings and information and this book does quite a thorough job of listing the best ones. There are websites which offer discount codes and offer discounted tickets. Also listed are a variety of websites which provide constantly updated park, resort, and dining information as well as message boards for questions. All of my favorites are included, so I was happy with this section.
Park Information - The book features a short summary of each park and its attractions. This includes Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom as well as the ‘minor’ attractions such as water parks and Downtown Disney. The park discussions are organized into ‘neighborhoods’, so rides, shops, and restaurants in similar areas are grouped together. The descriptions of attractions are adequate, but not as thorough as those offered by other guidebooks. The restaurant information
Touring Plans - Several touring plans are included in the back of the book, both general and for those with children. I am not a fan of using textbook touring plans, because I think it is better to make a plan based on individual interests in your group. However, it is useful to look at the plans in figuring out when to ride certain attractions to avoid crowds.
The Good
The emphasis on discount websites is great. I sometimes take for granted that all people who visit Disney are aware of the discount codes available for AAA members and sometimes even the general public, but I think most people are probably not. Checking out a few of the websites listed in this book can save you up to $100 a night, depending on the season and the type of resort you stay at. I think no one should book a Disney vacation without checking for discount codes online, and this book provides a comprehensive list of sites to visit.
This book focuses solely on Disney World, unlike many other guidebooks that try to squeeze in Sea World, Universal Studios, etc. As a result, the size is more compact than other books. I think when guide books try to be too inclusive they end up shortchanging all the attractions, and many people who visit Disney and stay on property don’t end up spending the time or money to visit those other parks. If you aren’t visiting outside attractions, it is a plus not to have to drag around information about them in a heavy guidebook.
Cheapskate’s Guide was pretty current, which is tough to do with Disney. Some of the newer attractions were included, and those coming soon were mentioned. I particularly liked the “rumors” section at the end dealing with potential additions to the parks. The author admits most of these are unlikely to be true, but its fun to speculate and most guidebooks don’t include a section like this.
The price for this book is definitely right. It retails for $12.95, in keeping with the budget theme. Other Disney guide books usually cost more, I have paid up to $25.00 for some of the more expensive ones. This book is a small investment, and will probably more than pay for itself with the moneymaking tips.
The Not So Good
The writing style of this guide book is not as professional as some of the other books I have read, which may be a pro or con depending what you are looking for. One thing that got to me after a while was the overuse of exclamation points. Seriously, there is at least one in most paragraphs and sometimes there are back to back sentences ending with explanation marks. We are all excited about Disney, but lets not get carried away.
One thing I didn’t really care for was a tip in the hotel section. The authors suggested that visitors find out which conventions would be at which hotels during their visit, and call and tell a “white lie” that they were with the convention. I don’t really like the idea that the book would recommend a lie to get a discount rate. Furthermore, I think this is risky because it seems like it might come up again at check-in. To me it doesn’t seem worth blatantly lying to get a cheaper hotel rate.
Some might be disappointed with the limited discussion of some of the more expensive restaurants at the parks or the resorts. I know this is the cheap guide, but I think a discussion of the cheapest things to order at expensive restaurants would have been a nice addition.
Overall…
I was pretty impressed with The Cheapskate’s Guide to Walt Disney World. If you are going for an inexpensive trip, this could really act as your primary guide and it may not even be necessary to purchase another book. The money-saving tips are great, and the coverage is pretty up-to-date. The book isn’t perfect but it definitely offers a great value for the price.
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