Fodor's Walt Disney World: With Universal, Seaworld, and the Best of Central Florida

By Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.

Book Overview

California is one of America's most popular vacation destinations---its diversity draws every type of traveler, from foodies to families. Fodor's full-color California guide covers all corners of the state, from the northern coast to Wine Country and from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park. -COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: Fodor's California is the market leader in guidebooks to California, outperforming Lonely Planet, Frommer's, and DK Eyewitness guides. -EXPANDED COVERAGE: Travelers can road trip with ease with a new chapter dedicated to California's quintessential drives. From advice on how many days to stay at each destination to must-see stops along the way, this is an essential trip-planning tool. The Highway 1 illustrated feature gives an overview of the famed coastal route, plus additional regional breakdowns. New hotels and restaurants are also included throughout, with a special focus on San Francisco and the nearby wine country. -ILLUSTRATED FEATURES: In-depth features detail popular attractions such as San Diego's Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, as well as Cable Cars and Chinatown in San Francisco. A must-have for wine buffs is the "Wine Tasting in Napa and Sonoma" feature, which suggests a tasting itinerary, teaches the proper wine tasting technique, and describes how grapes are grown, harvested, and pressed. -INDISPENSABLE TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS: More than 90 colorful maps guide travelers around the state, plus a pull-out map provides an overview in addition to San Francisco and Los Angeles detail maps. Top Attractions and Top Experiences help readers choose activities based on their interests, while Best Bets for dining and lodging in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco help them find the next great meal or hotel. For outdoorsy types, dedicated national parks chapters include planning tips and highlights. -DISCERNING RECOMMENDATIONS: Fodor's California offers savvy advice and recommendations from local writers to help travelers make the most of their time. Fodor's Choice designates our best picks, from hotels to nightlife. -INCLUDES: San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Palm Springs, Yosemite National Park, Big Sur, Napa and Sonoma, Monterey Bay, Lake Tahoe, Mendocino, and more. -PULLOUT MAP: A handy take-along map provides added value, giving travelers essential information about top attractions and nearby dining so they can travel with confidence. -ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307929442
• ISBN13: 9780307929440
• Release Date: October 2012
• Publisher: Fodor's Travel Publications
• Length: 596 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Solid, but not the best

As you might expect from the title, the bulk of the material in this book is focused on the various theme parks in the Orlando area. In addition, you will find all the standard Fodor's material covering restaurants, hotels, and general information about visiting the area. The information provided is useful and accurate. Fodor's updates it once a year and subject to constant little changes in the real world, they do a good job of keeping it current. Still, if you're interested in anything like the Disney Dining Plan that can change at any time it always pays to go to Disney's web site and check for the most current information available. The theme parks are covered pretty comprehensively. The strategies offered for avoiding long lines at the theme parks are helpful. The book also gives descriptions and ratings of every ride and attraction at each park. The descriptions are almost too detailed (if you want any surprises) and their ratings are sometimes a bit generous. Still, the material is helpful in deciding which rides to make sure you see and what can be skipped if time is short. All in all, this is an above average guide. It does, however, suffer in comparison to The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2009 (Unofficial Guides), which is the ultimate help in planning a trip to Orlando. The Unofficial Guide is hundreds of pages longer and every bit of it is crammed with useful information with the hotel and dining coverage proving especially weak here compared to it. Still, Some travelers are actually put off by the sheer volume of information in the Unofficial Guide and this might be a choice that would be less intimidating and more easily digested if you prefer to invest a bit less time in the planning stage of your trip.

Solid Guidebook to make the most of your trip

The 2005 edition adds another 50 pages of info over the previous edition. Hotels, restaurants and admission prices can change rapidly in the area, so it's worthwhile to have the most recent guidebook. I live in the area and count on the Fodor's to give the detail essential to a successful excursion with our visitors. There is soooo much to see at Disney and around the area that you will miss a lot if you don't have a good guidebook like this. I like the "Strategies" highlights that give the best times to visit certain attractions and the "Need a Break" inserts that clue you into quick, but satisfying snack places. They also mark in the margin "Fodor's Choice" to help you find some of the best activities.

An excellent travel guide

As is fitting for a guide on Orlando, the bulk of this book is focused on the various theme parks. In addition, all the standard Fodor's material is here covering restaurants and hotels.The information is very useful and accurate. The strategies offered for avoiding long lines at the theme parks are spot-on. The book also gives descriptions and ratings of every ride and attraction at each park. The descriptions are almost too detailed (if you want any surprises) and their ratings are sometimes a bit generous. Still, the material is quite helpful in deciding which rides to make sure you see and what can be skipped if time is short.All in all this is an excellent book that was extremely helpful to me on my trips to Orlando. The writing is clear and concise, the information is organized logically, and the information is accurate and useful.

An essential travel tool

As is fitting for a guide on Orlando, the bulk of this book is focused on the various theme parks. In addition, all the standard Fodor's material is here covering restaurants and hotels.For the most part I found the material to be very useful and accurate. The strategies they give you for avoiding long lines for rise at the theme parks are spot-on. The book also gives descriptions and ratings of every ride and attraction at each park. The descriptions are almost too detailed (if you want any surprises) and their ratings are sometimes too generous. Still, the material is often helpful in deciding which rides to make sure you see and what can be skipped if time is short.All in all this is an excellent book that was extremely helpful to me on my trips to Orlando. The writing is clear and concise, the information is organized logically, and the information is accurate and useful. You won't find a better guide to the Orlando area and its theme parks.

Get to know Orlando/WDW

I bought this book and thoroughly enjoyed every page! The information is excellent, and will assist you with everything you need to know about Orlando, and Walt Disney World. The tips are very helpful, and will provide the opportunity to make the most out of your stay. Orlando, and Walt Disney World need such publications to help travelers navigate the area and attractions! If you are planning a vacation to Orlando, or Walt Disney World-I highly recommend this book as part of your luggage.