Review: The Complete Walt Disney World 2012, Continued

By Dave Shute

This is the second page of this review; for the first page, click here.

RECOMMENDED FOR FIRST TIME AND FREQUENT VISITORS

For the record, I recommend that first time visitors don’t get guidebooks.

While there are several, including The Complete Walt Disney World 2012, on my recommended books page, I advise against buying them, for the simple reason that a lot of the fun of the first time visit to Walt Disney World cones from the surprises of the rides themselves.

The wonder of “What Happens Next?” and subsequent surprise and gratified high expectations are a key part of a first visit.

There can only be one first time, and it is at its best when accompanied by wonder and curiosity, not “I know what will happen to me on this ride.”

The problem with guidebooks is that it’s hard to not read their material on the attractions before visiting. The wonderful Mike Neal and Disney photos of The Complete Walt Disney World 2012 make it doubly hard to skip this material; they are simply too darn seductive.

For repeat visitors, however, guidebooks are another story, and make up part of the fun of recollecting prior trips and getting ready for future ones.  It’s for these purposes that The Complete Walt Disney World 2012 really shines. 

For example, the level of detail is astonishing, and even the most well-informed Disney World fans likely will learn something fun–a new fact a new connection among ideas, or a piquant observation. For example,

• I hadn’t thought about Mary Blair’s role in The Three Caballeros until Neal pointed it out on p. 124. (Blair, by the way, gets her due in this book, which she does not in most other guidebooks.)
• Nor had I thought about the connection between Rock ‘N Roller Coaster and the Peoplemover (159)
• “Tom Sawyer would be bored to death on [Tom Sawyer Island.]” (53) Really? I’m not so sure–I think Tom Sawyer could entertain himself most of the day with an apple core and a rock–but it’s an interesting perspective and fun to think about.

The level of detail, great photos wonderfully reproduced, and sprightly observations make this book well worth having.  I had a few issues with errors (not many of them, but important ones) in last year’s edition–enough for me to not recommend that version for first-timers.  Those errors are all corrected in this year’s version (and Julie Neal was kind enough to email me with thanks for pointing them out), so I can unreservedly recommend it.

SOME MINOR ISSUES

Frequent readers of this site know I’m an expert on errors, typos, and ambiguities, committing them at least four times a week, so I do notice a few issues in The Complete Walt Disney World 2012:

• The Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade is not at “3p daily.” (81)  On the busiest days of the year it shows at 12 and 3.30p
• On 162, “palette” should be “pallet” 
• For the latter half of last year, and as far into 2012 as Disney World has released calendars (other than for a rehab break) Fantasmic has been on almost every night, no longer “only a few times a week.” (163)
• Five value resorts, not three (269)
• I can’t think of any six-story tall suites or villas at the BoardWalk (279)
• The boats at the Grand Floridian go to the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian, not to the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness (285)
• Old Key West one bedroom villas now sleep 5, and two bedrooms 9, not 4 and 8 (287)
• The head matter stars (5) and text stars (4)  are inconsistent in the material on the Candlelight Processional (325)
• The moderates–with the Cabins at Fort Wilderness added to the category, and, among the “traditional” moderates, three with queens and one with full beds–are hard to succinctly but accurately describe. In Julie Neal’s introduction to the moderates, I think that readers would be better served with one more “most” added, so that it reads “most come with two queen beds.” (269.)

However, with the possible exception of the last point, these are nits.  All in, this book is a rather astonishing achievement, and one that belongs in every Disney World library.

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