Walt Disney World for Teens and Tweens
Walt Disney World for Teens and Tweens by Tim Brooks, is a book I recently picked up for our latest trip to WDW. I’m actually typing this review after we just got back from that trip. The family and I have been down to WDW many times so I usually don’t really get guides like this anymore,
but a friend recommended it and I gave it a shot and we’re gladwe did. We were able to pick up a number of new ways to do things and a lot of good information. However, if you’re a WDW planning novice or justhitting that tween age group with the kids, then this book is a goldmine on its own, or a great companion guide to one of the other WDW guides that you might already have.
Tim starts his book with an introduction about what to do at the 365, 180, and 60 day out periods. He then dives in and explains how fast passes work and then the workings of the still new, in my eyes, the Magicbands. He then moves on to what for us takes a lot of mom and dad brain power, keeping the kids occupied during the down time getting to the parks, hanging around the resorts and waiting in line. He then finishes the prepping for your trip with sections on meet and greets with the characters, souvenir ins and outs and taking pictures at WDW. These section, though admittedly a small section of the book, contain some great information that would take you a number of trips to pick up on your own.
The next part of Tim’s book is an attraction-by-attraction run through with height restrictions, descriptions, and what’s exclusive to his book, each attraction has an Educational Slant section. This touches on an issue that comes up whenever we took the kids out of school to go to Disney, how to justify it to their teachers as a somewhat educational trip. Tim helps you out with each attraction so much, that you can actually develop your learning plan before even going. Here are a couple perfect examples of this:
For Splash Mountain, “What causes the boat to go from 40 miles per hour in only 50 feet? What era does Song of the South take place in? How would the story have been different if the actors were people instead of animals?”
For Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: “What are G forces? How does rapid acceleration cause higher G forces? How many G forces can the human body handle? What happens to the body when you can no longer handle the G forces pushing on it?
The next section of Tim’s book deals with dining. How hard can that be you ask? It depends on how much time you have on your hands. Between counter services and table services and the Dining Plan, Tim takes us through it step by step. Then you get to visit each restaurant on property one by one in his book. He lets us know the price, location, and type of meals with a description of each restaurant. This section is so valuable if you go through it before getting to the parks. This came in handy for us as we read through it on the drive down to Disney. We were able to figure out the restaurants that we would really like to go to and the ones we wanted to stay away from. A definite time saver and an item for the keeping the kids busy on the drive as I mentioned above.
The last section is about the resorts and is the only issue I have with the book. Don’t get me wrong, this is a section that lists all of the WDW hotels with a good descriptions, time estimates to get to parks, and some really detailed room size information. This is A great way to start your search for the right hotel for you. My issue is this should have been put up in front of the book for the early planning part of the trip. Again, not a big issue at all. Here is an excerpt:
For the Pop Century:
“…five main pods in the resort. The 50’s and the 80’s are the largest pods with three buildings, while the 90’s pod, at one building is the smallest…rooms are the same size as the rooms in the All-Star resorts-260 square feet-and are themed by decade. Guests check-in at Classic Hall which is also where the Everything Pop food court is located. Like the other Value resorts there in no Table servce…”
Tim Brooks has designed a book that will be a big help in planning your next trip to Walt Disney World. He has determined a niche and by tailoring his book towards Teens and Tweens (and parents) he has given us a great tool that will help pre-trip planning by getting the whole family involved. And then it can also be used as a supplement when you’re in the parks. Good Job Tim!
For those interested in more information about this book, I found the below link for Amazon.
Walt Disney World for Teens and Tweens
