It seems like only yesterday that we told our 7-year-old daughter that we were finally “going to Disney World.” The memory of her screeching and her excitement are with me to this day. We had saved up for a long time to be able to do this trip, and we had a wonderful time when we went. I learned a lot about the best way to plan a Disney vacation and quickly realized that having an affordable Disney family vacation requires a lot of research. And I also learned that a Disney savings guide was essential if she wanted to save any kind of money on this trip.
However, it can be a challenge to choose the best Disney travel guide, because there are so many! They all look promising, with colorful images of happy families having the time of their lives. But which ones will really help you save money on your Disney vacation? This article will review some of the most popular ones and provide my thoughts on what each one has to offer.
For starters, there’s Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World, the classic Disney-approved travel guide. This was the first guide I bought for our initial trip and it was a helpful start to my planning. With great pictures, some nice maps to help the Disney newbie get to grips with the layout of the parks, and reviews of the top rides and attractions, it’s a great start to learning all about Disney World. However, it doesn’t provide much information on how to save money: Since it’s the “official” Disney vacation guide, there isn’t much discussion of non-Disney dining or lodging options. So while this is a great guide to get you started, especially for your first visit, it wouldn’t be my first choice for a good Disney savings guide.
Probably the best known of the many Disney World vacation guides is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It is also arguably the most comprehensive guide, at over 800 pages. There is a lot of information in this travel guide as the author thoroughly covers just about every potential aspect of a trip to the Orlando area in great detail. And it’s unbiased, too, which is appreciated by many who want to know more than just the Disney perspective. The author does an admirable job of providing many options for saving money, and it can be a very useful option for a Disney savings guide. However, with all the details in this book, keep in mind that it will not be a small guide that you want to take to the parks with you.
The travel guide that I have found most helpful 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 cast member, and I appreciate the “insider” information that has been very helpful in planning an affordable Disney vacation. The author shares a wealth of cost-saving tips and ideas that can potentially save the Disney vacationer hundreds of dollars. This book provides money-saving strategies that make it a great choice for a Disney savings guide. Now, if an e-book is new to you, let me tell you that I love the flexibility an e-book offers: being able to download it right away, read it, and then print only what I need/want to take to the parks with me for reference.
While there are probably hundreds of Walt Disney World travel guides out there, if having an affordable Disney vacation is important to you, then the Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide is my recommendation for a truly excellent Disney savings guide. Well-organized, easy to use, lifetime access to the author’s website for the latest Disney updates, and literally hundreds of money-saving tips and strategies, make this guide, in my opinion, a must-have for saving money. on your Disney vacation. .