Editorial Review :

The Definitive Disney Handbook

On the heels of capturing eight national book awards, the best-selling Complete Walt Disney World series returns with The Complete Walt Disney World 2010. Now with more than 500 full-color photographs, this show-and-tell extravaganza rates and reviews nearly 700 attractions, restaurants, shops and hotels and offers hundreds of helpful tips.

New attraction coverage includes the refurbished Space Mountain, the revamped Hall of Presidents and the all-new American Idol Experience. As for planning your trip, illustrated articles make it easy to choose the right theme-park tickets, understand the Disney Dining Plan and save a lot of time and money. Young families in particular will find the book helpful, as the abundance of photos give children a way to read it with their parents. Eye-catching images show attractions, hotels, restaurants and more.

Award-Winning Advice

The only independent Disney guide ever honored by the Walt Disney Company, The Complete Walt Disney World is the winner of Disney's iParenting Media Award for Outstanding Family Product. Other honors include Travel Guide of the Year and Nonfiction Book of the Year.

Ten Features Found Only in The Complete Walt Disney World 2010:

1. What's New Learn everything that's new or different at Disney with a handy summary right at the front of the book.
2. Plan Perfect Theme Park Days New Planning Your Day sections let you learn the best days of the week to visit each park, the best rides for your unique children, and how long the lines will probably be at each attraction for every hour of the day.
3. Character Locators Love Tinker Bell? Cinderella? The Mad Hatter? These lists show exactly where to meet dozens of Disney stars at every theme park.
4. Become the Ultimate Disney World Gamer Insider tips help you rack up incredible scores at Disney's ride-through shooting arcades, including the new 3-D Toy Story Mania.
5. Lions, Tigers, Giraffes... Oh My! All-new Animal Kingdom wildlife guides feature fab photos and fascinating facts. Habitat maps make it easy to spot your favorite exotic creatures.
6. Dude Looks Like a Lady Interesting backstories, histories, science secrets, Fun Finds, Fun Facts (Tinker Bell is sometimes a man?) and Hidden Mickeys help make every attraction interesting for everyone in your group.
7. New Photo-Filled Shopping Guides See unique souvenirs sold at each theme park, know what they cost and where to find them. Learn which stores offer the best items for you.
8. Totally Awesome Water Park Tips Learn how to catch major air on Disney's water slides and win its downhill races. Helpful details about every pool, river and slide let you decide which ones are too wild--or mild--for your family.
9. See Your Room Before You Book It Don't just read about the Disney resort hotels, see what they look like! Over a hundred new hotel photos include landscapes, swimming pools and best of all, rooms. Expanded reviews include pool features such as slides and waterfalls and children's activities such as pirate-themed scavenger hunts. Comprehensive specs include when each hotel was last renovated and how far it is from each theme park. Learn about the three new Disney Vacation Club timeshares as well as non-Disney hotels such as the huge new Hilton next door and the rebuilt Holiday Inn at Downtown Disney.
10. Who Ya Gonna Call? Conveniently located on the book's last page, an expanded Walt Disney World telephone directory lists over 90 rarely published numbers, including those for medical and dental emergencies, Lost and Found, even Special Occasion Cakes.

Authors Julie and Mike Neal have been to Walt Disney World more than 1,400 times, and visit weekly. They live on Sanibel Island, Fla.

Customer Review :

Accurate, detailed, clear... and fun to read

I was born and raised here in Central Florida, so I've been to Walt Disney World more than a few times, and can tell a good travel guide from a bad one. This book is the best one of all. The advice is very helpful, the information is way more up to date and it is written in a clean and well organized way. Covers it all, does it well. A bonus: In my experience, children love to look through it with you.

-- John, Orlando

Rating :

Always the best Disney guide

This book always has a lot of good stuff in it, but this 2010 edition is better than ever. I will be using it a lot, not just for my family but for all the relatives who always seem to "drop in." A common thing here in Orlando! The descriptions of the rides and shows start off with a very handy list of specifications, such as the length of the ride and how scary it is for children. My sister says she wished she had looked at it before she took my niece on the Tower of Terror! I also liked the list of character locations they include for each theme park. So handy, especially when you have a child who MUST meet Lilo! Now I know where she is! Well to sum up you should know I have bought many Disney World guides over the years, but there isn't anything that compares to this new Complete Guide for helping you have fun and enjoy your visit. Better than ever this year, with new stuff like photos of the rooms at the Disney resorts and a great guide to the animals at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Rating :

The best of the Disney World guides - bar none!

I grew up in Orlando and was a Disney Cast Member for more than two years, so I know Disney, and I've read every guide book there is. I can tell you that this is by far the best book out there for planning a trip to WDW, whether you are a first timer, a family, or traveling with a flock of teenagers.

This book is brilliantly illustrated with photographs of nearly every attraction. The authors have thought of every key detail needed to create an easy to use guide book. Color coded borders at the top of every page make finding the section you're looking for simple. The book itself isn't too bulky and will easily stash away in any backpack. Average wait times are listed for every attraction, by the hour.

The reviews are honestly written (Country Bear Jamboree is "way past its prime"), comprehensive, and packed with trivia. I was blown away with the number of "fun facts" that I didn't even know. Hidden Mickeys are detailed throughout the book as well.

If there's any point of criticism, it's that the book occasionally reveals its authors' ages. Two full pages are devoted to the Hall of Presidents, the stereotypical Disney snooze fest. The movie in Epcot's France Pavilion gets four stars - I challenge you to find anyone under the age of 30 who would agree. But these are the most minor of infractions.

Every Disney World visitor who reads this book cover to cover will have a fantastic trip!

Rating :

Quite a good guide but some omissions

I have traveled to WDW often and have always bought the "official" guide. I bought this based on online reviews and overall am very happy with the guide's information. I felt this book gave more detailed info on the specific changes the parks are undergoing or will be undergoing this year. The "official" guide seems to omit this completely. The pictures are nice but not totally necessary for the repeat traveler. I would have liked more info on the restaurants and the dinner shows. How about a small chapter on Non-Disney attractions? I still felt I needed the info the "official" guide gave me but find that the information in this guide on the wait times and popularity of the attractions at each park will be invaluable for planning my days.

Rating :

So glad we have this for our Easter trip!

We're headed down to Disney World this Easter so I bought this book. So glad I did! It is PER-FECT!!! It has exactly this information I was hoping it would have about Springtime at Disney. For example, it has photos and descriptions of the special Easter events, like the Trail Maids at Magic Kingdom. It has OUTSTANDING tips on how to use Disney's Fastpass system, and hour-by-hour wait times for every ride and show... things that are very important to us since we will be there during a very busy period. And it has the best hotel room information I have ever seen! I've learned Disney Resort rooms can be tough to come by during the spring, so you really need to know what the differences are. This book lays it all out, with details and especially photographs that make what would be a headache of a chore relatively easy.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9781400042449
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Newjack, an absorbing book about roads and their power to change the world.

Roads bind our world—metaphorically and literally—transforming landscapes and the lives of the people who inhabit them. Roads have unparalleled power to impact communities, unite worlds and sunder them, and reveal the hopes and fears of those who travel them.

With his marvelous eye for detail and his contagious enthusiasm, Ted Conover explores six of these key byways worldwide. In Peru, he traces the journey of a load of rare mahogany over the Andes to its origin, an untracked part of the Amazon basin soon to be traversed by a new east-west route across South America. In East Africa, he visits truckers whose travels have been linked to the worldwide spread of AIDS. In the West Bank, he monitors highway checkpoints with Israeli soldiers and then passes through them with Palestinians, witnessing the injustices and danger borne by both sides. He shuffles down a frozen riverbed with teenagers escaping their Himalayan valley to see how a new road will affect the now-isolated Indian region of Ladakh. From the passenger seat of a new Hyundai piling up the miles, he describes the exuberant upsurge in car culture as highways proliferate across China. And from inside an ambulance, he offers an apocalyptic but precise vision of Lagos, Nigeria, where congestion and chaos on freeways signal the rise of the global megacity.

A spirited, urgent book that reveals the costs and benefits of being connected—how, from ancient Rome to the present, roads have played a crucial role in human life, advancing civilization even as they set it back.

Customer Review :

maps?

Since it's really difficult (or impossible) to read maps on a Kindle, the Kindle edition for a book like this is just too expensive.

Rating :

Well written and thought provoking

I downloaded this to my Kindle after reading a positive review in The New Yorker.
Each of the pieces in this book have a different feel, all presented a different view on a subject I had read about many times before - the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, the spread of AIDS and corruption in Africa, the emerging middle-class in China, the interminable violence on the West Bank and so on, but these stories give a much more intimate, personal feel to those stories, an opportunity to feel it up close - to give you a sense of personal experience.
The piece on the West Bank is one of the best pieces of reporting I have read in years.

Highly recommended.

Rating :

NPR audio review of this book by Maureen Corrigan

I am passing this along for your listening pleasure:

[..]

She is generally positive and does mention specifically the male dominated nature of transportation.

She reviews the variety of international aspects of human mobility which the author discusses at length.


Rating :

It's Hard To Build Without Destroying

We love roads, and we come to hate them. "Anyone," writes Conover in his opening paragraph, "who has benefited from a better road--a shorter route, a smoother and safer drive--can testify to the importance of good roads. But when humans strive, we also err, and it is hard to build without destroying."

That contradiction, that tension underlies the book. A road from Peru's Altiplano into the jungle allows access to valuable mahogany trees, but also threatens primitive people and an established ecology. In East Africa, a road that is a clear economic boon to many has also helped the spread of AIDS, via truckers and prostitutes along its length. Roads are integral to development, and development can look disastrous.

There is nothing armchair about Conover's reporting. He clearly has a library and has read widely, but each of the six chapters is written from inside a culture, whether the author is zipping along the new highways of China or riding inside an ambulance through the teeming, chaotic city of Lagos, Nigeria. It's a book full of people, and the conflicts are inevitable. Why, a friend asks the author, would he go to Lagos, a city which Conover admits has "few museums, not too many antiquities, only a handful of public spaces or buildings of note, and stunningly little natural beauty. It does, however, have a reputation for crime, and lots of lots of people." Because people are interesting, Conover says, and "So is crime."

So are the politics of Israel and Palestine--and the chapter on the roads of the West Bank is the best piece of journalism I've ever read about that conflict. Conover explores the Israeli checkpoints in the company of both Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers who try to control them. It's degrading to both sides. The soldiers are looking for guns, explosives and suicide bombers, and most Palestinians are simply trying to get to work, or get home. Israel's management of the West Bank often comes down to restricting the travel of the Palestinians, and when Conover is in line with them as they move on foot toward a pair of turnstiles, "an exercise in gradual compression," the reader gets a visceral feel for their frustration and humiliation.

The soldiers don't like it either. "Innocent civilians...are inevitably damaged by the army's work in the territories," Conover writes. He spends weeks with an Israeli commander and his men, who not only run the checkpoints but sometimes tear up Palestinian houses in search of arms. It's bad for the families, the commander says, "But what's not plain until the fifteenth time is that it's bad for you."

Six fascinating travels interspersed with engaging personal essays: a great book.



Rating :

Ideal Travel Companion

Ted Conover is the ideal travel companion. He seems equally comfortable standing in a swanky apartment in the Upper East Side, and tramping through the rain forest of Peru. In this book he takes us to places we'd otherwise never see: One day we're riding a mahogany raft down the Mother of God River in Peru, another day we're being herded through a dusty check-point in Ramallah. We get to know people we'd never otherwise meet: an African truck driver, teenagers from a remote Himalayan village, and an ambulance crew in Lagos, Nigeria. Roads connect these people. So does Conover's unerring eye for detail, and his pitch-perfect ear for language. This book is more than just an adventure: it's an invitation to understand each other and to know the world in which we live.

Rating :

1. ISBN13: 9781587710735
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Customer Review :

great planner!

This book is a great all-in-one Disney planner! Compact, colorful, organized and on and on. I have used another book in the past and while it served its purpose, this one exceeds it.

Rating :

Absolutely the best available Walt Disney World Guidebook

Being a regular Walt Disney World (WDW) traveler, I have learned the value of planning each trip. The 2010 Passporter guidebook enables any traveler to WDW to plan as extensively as either they wish or their experience level dictates. The book is very helpful for the rookie (which we all were at one time) as well as the ultra experienced WDW visitor.

There are a number of items in the book that enable the traveler to plan and track every aspect of their upcoming vacation. The various charts, graphs, and reviews of everything at WDW enable you to have a central place to file and locate all of your information. The pass pockets in the back of the book are invaluable while traveling to keep track of park hours, Extra Magic Hours, Advanced Dining Reservations, etc. I could go on about everything in the book but those things have been covered in other reviews.

The things that impress me most about the whole Passporter package are:
1 - the book which is as up to date and accurate as any annually published guidebook can be
2 - the Passporter website which provides updates to everything in the book as they occur, you don't have to wait for the next issue
3 - the Passporter online community which is second to none for information from experienced travelers to WDW without the condescension which is so prevalent in some other forums
4 - the Passporter Club which provides tons of information for all levels of travelers as well as interactive books and worksheets that allow you to really get down to the "nitty gritty" of travel planning
5 - this is probably the most important thing, the authors have a large group of contributors and reviewers but they, themselves, make numerous trips each and every year to stay current. They know their subject matter inside and out.

There are lots of guidebooks and other WDW travel information sources out there and I do use some of them but my primary resource is Passporter. Although I don't travel to WDW every single year, I do get a new passporter every year.

Ken Brown



Rating :

Excellent tWDW travel planner

I just received my 2010 Passporter and I love it!! It is a wonderful guidebook and planning tool which I would recommend to anyone planning a trip to Walt Disney World. The colorful pages, maps, pockets, and more make this planner amazing. On our trip a few months ago to WDW I purchased a rather pricey watch. When it recently stopped working I was able to pull out my 2009 Passporter and easily locate the receipt. Thank you Passporter!!

Rating :

Passporter's Guide books are the best!

I have traveled to Disney several times in the last 10 years. At first, I used several of the other guidebooks out there, but they always seemed to be missing something, then in 2006 I discovered Passporters. I've never looked back! I now own Passporters for Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Cruise Lines.
I personally own the deluxe versions of the books because I love the leather binder, the ease of adding and removing pages and updating the book every year. I use the book for planning our trips, and have purchased books for family and friends who are traveling with us or are planning their own trips! I find they make wonderful Christmas presents!
One feature I really enjoy with the deluxe is the ability to remove unneeded pages from the book for the actual trip, leaving a slimmed-down version to carry to the parks.
It is by far the best guidebook I have found for Disney. It is clear that the books are written by people who know and love Disney.

Rating :

Best Disney Book

As a kid we visted Disney every year, and last year and this year I am bringing my daughter there, this is by far the best book I have seen out there! Yes it is a little expensive, but it is so worth the extra money!

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780307279460
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

Not quite a trail journal

This is my first Bill Bryson book and I must say it will most certainly not be my last. Having hiked the last 100miles of the AT last year I thought I might like to read some of the more popular books about the trail. This is hardly a trail journal as Bryson goes into many different aspects of hiking, National Parks, forest degradation, and people. The book is absolutely hilarious and a page turner. I am a slow reader but I polished this off in 3 days! I will definitely look forward to other books by him.

Rating :

Two Not So Experienced Guys Tackle the Applachain Trail: Fun Book, 2nd Half less so w/o one of the Participants

A very pleasant book about two regular guys, not trail experts, planning to walk the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) but not completely as it turns out, in large sections with large step offs here and there. Not to be confused with an expert hikers view of what it is like on the trail but essentially two amateurs. The tell tale sign was when Bryson buys camping equipment and when he purchases a $300 backpack he is stunned to find out that the straps cost extra along with the $25 rain pack cover. I still had to buy pedals (& shoes). The author is accompanied by an out of shape friend but surprisinghly durable, hard luck friend named Katz and their interactions along the trail set the style of the book. Well meaning, and surprisingly earnest adventurers tackle the greater portion of the AT. The tale is fraught with humor with their less than stellar encounters, although successful in overall travel, hiking through a good portion of the southern trail, middlke area and an attempt to finish a section in Maine. Roughly 800 plus miles out of 2,000 by books end. The humor and sarcasm about certain places and people along the way is entertaining as well as great detail in describing the trail, it's history and the attarctive features along the way. Very good descriptions of the various small towns they encounter, camping sites with very good descriptins of shelters and assorted motels, cabins and bunk houses along the way they periodically utilize for showers, food and recovery. One bunk house was described by an earlier arriving patron as Stalog 17. But the amusing aspect is the interaction between the two and quite a number of folk along the way, the knowledgeable, the well meaning and the off the wall. Again, not for the hard corps hiker looking for the ultimate guide but if they are looking for an amusing, descriptive of semi-amateurs trail experience, they will enjoy the book. The book loses something in the second half when there is a significant break and Katz goes home. The author proceeds much later with day hikes with a leapfrog effect using his car until he moves further north. Theook picks up at the end as Katz returns and the humor and likeable interaction picks up for the last 100 plus miles in Maine that does not pan out well. If you are looking for a serious book on the trail, this is not really it, but it does provide an very appreciative taste of life on the AT, and a fun adventure that the less skilled wilderness folk can appreciate.

Rating :

Flawed, But a Step Up From The Lost Continent

Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is work about Bryson hiking portions of the Appalachian Trail. I picked this up after having it recommended to me by several others, and having found a kernel of something to like in Bryson's The Lost Continent.

First, Bryson's condescension is toned way down from The Lost Continent to A Walk in the Woods. Bryson's atitude in the book is more congenial here; the near bitterness on display in The Lost Continent would have served this work rather badly. For that, Bryson hasn't lost any of his great wit, which makes his storytelling so entertaining when he's at his best.

Second, Bryson is extremely readable. A Walk in the Woods goes by quickly.

The downside is that it's almost two books squeezed into one. The first section, which is by far the best, finds Bryson and his friend Katz hiking southern sections of the AT. Afterward, they leave the trail, and Bryson comes back to hike other parts of the trail in short sections, sometimes only for a day. The final section has a reunion of Bryson and Katz, this time hiking the northernmost sections of the AT.

I don't hold it against Bryson that he didn't hike the whole thing. He hiked nearly 900 miles of it, which is certainly enough to describe the experience. However, the middle section has such a different tone and feel from the first and last sections, it almost reads like another writer took over that portion of the book. The effect is jarring and lends the book an unfortunate disjointed feel.

It's still a fun read, but if the middle section could have been like the first and last sections, it would really have been much better.

Rating :

Best adventure book I've ever read

Bryson has his own very specific style of writing, which I like a lot. Since I read first of his books, now I am addicted to them. I am buying one after another and all of them are very funny and interesting. I advice this book to anyone who like funny read and stories about nature and adventures.

Rating :

Not that great

As most have mentioned this book was kind of a let down for me. My reading experience of this book is comparable to Bryson's A.T. hiking experience. I skimmed through the really boring parts.
I bought this book hoping that it would be an account of his day to day experiences on the trail, but found myself reading historical information about the trail. I truly enjoyed reading the first quarter of the book, but it seemed that half way through the book Bryson attempted to fill the pages of this book with statistical info where there should have been personal experiences.

Just bought AWOL on the AT... hope it will be better.

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780060559717
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

I am still telling people about this book!!!

Loved reading about what the people of Gander did for all the air passengers who were diverted to their town on 9/11. I believe it was around 30 craft. They had to think fast and did. I can believe that Gander has had quite a few visitors to come see them afer reading this. I would love to be there to shake people's hands. Gander, you are special and infinitely precious.

Rating :

You'll want to visit Gander

A really nice book and a quick read. This book really makes you want to visit Gander, Newfoundland to meet the people for yourself. The way they all came together to help the people stranded in their town was beyond what anyone would have expected. It's great to have a quick, positive and thoughtful book to read.

Rating :

Feel Good Anecdotes

If I started reading a book about 9/11 and a few pages into it found that an American General, a CEO of an international clothing conglomerate, several members of the board of a wealthy charity, an NYPD detective and parents of a firefighter who is lost in the World Trade Center were stuck in a small Canadian town in the middle of Newfoundland (not to mention a long-lost native son) I would have put the book away with a chuckle and started a new one.

Nevertheless, this is not fiction and the events really happen.

Even though I really liked the book, and even recommended it to my beloved wife, there are several glaring omissions.

First and foremost for me: there is no map.
The author goes to great length to describe the geographical region as well as the Gander's street layout (which is supposed to be shaped like the head of a moose) - yet...no map?
I find this to be unbelievable.

Second, the writing seems more like a collection of articles than a finished book. That's fine and it didn't bother me that much but I thought I should mention it.

Third, it would be nice to have appendices with a chart of the flights, departure, landings at Gander International Airport, etc.

Fourth, I would have liked to see more pictures. Again, this does not take away from the book but would have been a nice addition. There are several pictures in the book but they are small and grainy (much like...a newspaper article).

Fifth, where is the tourist info for Newfoundland? Come on guys, capitalize on this book. I've been to your area (but not Gander), it is a beautiful, gorgeous part of the world and true to the book - some of the nicest people in the world live there.

However, I still this book high marks because I did thoroughly enjoyed it since it is about the people of Newfoundland and not about the big events happening around them. The only part which took away my personal enjoyment was the first bullet point I mentioned (and yes, I did google the town and found the map but I still can't "see" the moose head layout).


Rating :

Uplifting.

Uplifting, moving, sad & funny, and entertaining at the same time... Loved it.
The stories in this book prove that people can still be human and charitable, and selfless. The reaction of the people at Gander (and surrounding towns) towards the passengers stranded there during the 9/11 attacks is enough to restore one's faith in humanity. Yes, in spite of it all.

Rating :

The Day The Wor;d Came To Town

I liked the book but left me wanting to know more on how things worked out for the people. Yes, I would definately recommend this book.

Rating :

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