Book Review: “Planet Explorers Walt Disney World” by Laura Schaefer

I reviewed the iPad (iBooks) version of Laura Schaefer’s Planet Explorers Walt Disney World 2012: A Travel Guide for Kids. It can be downloaded for $3.99 from the Planet Explorer’s website.

Even though this book is written TO kids, it is a valuable guide FOR adults. I love the way Laura brings detail to the helpful advice and tips she offers for visiting all of the Disney Parks. She gives details in a short concise manner that is never boring… just what kids (and many adults!) need.

The “what’s cool about it” tips at the beginning of each section give informative and helpful insights to each park. (Do you know where to sit to get soaked on Splash Mountain?)

She offers great suggestions of things to do in each area of the parks along with fun facts and side notes (“Did you hear?”) which are great for trivia buffs as well as adds a bit of fun to enjoying a few ‘secrets’ of the parks.

Of course, character sightings are tops on all kids’ lists and there are helpful tips of when and where to watch for those characters each child wants to hug.

There is a great ‘rating’ system for the rides – scary, dark, awesome, thrilling, and wet…. These give a helpful heads up, especially for smaller children.

Laura sneaks in links for more ‘history of’ or details on the ‘how this works’ throughout the book. The links keep the reading material neat and clean and gives a great option for more information for those who are more interested in the details.

Food always seems to be a ‘big deal’ to families and this book offers a quick list of food ideas for snacks, meals, desserts, etc in each area of the parks – no long lists of restaurants to wade thru when in a hurry. She does offer a complete listing of eateries in the back section of the book.

There are special sections in the book for entertainment activities including tips for watching each of the parades and special ‘behind the scenes’ tours that are available.

Reviews and information are included on the water parks, Downtown Disney and WDW Resort hotels.

Other helpful information included are definitions of various “Disney” terms (what is ‘protein spill’ ?), links to interesting facts on the Disney Imagineers, a Monorail Map and a fun quiz at the end of the book along with more valuable travel tips.

Laura has managed to put together an extremely helpful, yet entertaining, guide to WDW in a small easy to read format. No matter how many larger guide books you have on WDW I think this smaller version is a ‘must’ for your library….. especially the version you can download to your phone or iPad and take along with you.

Did you know Echo Lake was originally planned to be an ear in a giant hidden Mickey????