It seems like only yesterday that we let our then 7 year old daughter know that we were finally “going to Disney World”. The memory of her squeals and excitement are with me to this day. We had saved for a long time in order to be able to take this trip, and had a wonderful time when we went. I learned a great deal about the best way to plan a Disney vacation, and quickly realized that in order to have an affordable Disney family vacation, there was a lot of research involved. And I also learned that a Disney savings guide was essential if I wanted to save any kind of money on this trip at all.
The challenge though is in choosing the best Disney travel guide for your family, as there are so many out on the market. And each seems to be so promising, with all those colorful pictures of happy families enjoying their happy vacations. How do you know which will actually help you save money on your Disney vacation? This article will hopefully provide some help as I share reviews of a few of the most popular ones and offer some opinions on what each has to offer.
Let’s start with Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World. This is the classic, Disney-approved, travel guide that you see everywhere. I bought this for our first trip and found it to be quite helpful to start. It has great pictures, good maps to help you get comfortable with the layout of the parks, and some good guidelines for the rides and attractions. What it does not have is a lot of detailed information on how to save money: as the “official” Disney vacation guide, it does not discuss in any detail non-Disney options for food or lodging. With this in mind, while a nice little guide to start the planning process (especially if it is your first visit), it is not my first choice for a Disney savings guide.
Probably the most well-known of the many Disney World vacation guides is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It is also arguably the most comprehensive guide as well, at well over 800 pages. There is a lot of information in this travel guide, as the author thoroughly covers nearly every potential aspect to a trip to the Orlando area in extensive detail. And it is unbiased as well, which is appreciated by many who want to know more than the Disney perspective. The author does an admirable job of providing lots of options for saving money, and it can be a very helpful option for a Disney savings guide. With all the detail in this book however keep in mind that it will not be a little guide that you will want to take to the parks with you.
The travel guide that I have found to be the most useful in terms of saving money on a Disney vacation is the Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide. This is actually an e-book that was written by a former Disney castmember, and I have appreciated the “insider” information that has been very helpful in planning an affordable Disney vacation. The author shares a great deal of cost-savings tips and ideas that can potentially save the Disney vacationer hundreds of dollars. This book provides the money-saving strategies that make it an excellent choice for a Disney savings guide. Now if an e-book is a new concept for you, let me just say that I love the flexibility that an e-book offers: being able to download it immediately, reading through, and then printing out only what I need/want to take to the parks with me for reference.
There are a lot of Disney World travel guides available, and it can be difficult to know which is the best to choose. But in my opinion, if your goal is to save as much money as possible on your Disney vacation, then the Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide will be an excellent choice. It is well-organized, easy to use, has hundreds of cost-cutting ideas and strategies, and offers lifetime access to the author’s website for the most current Disney updates. It is definitely my recommendation for the best Disney savings guide.
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