Right now, my family is down in Orlando, Florida, enjoying the weather and soaking up some rays. Me on the other hand, I am at home, freezing cold in -25 degree Celsius temperatures. This year we were hoping to go to Orlando with them but with the price of tickets (some upwards of $1000CAD), we decided to leave it for another year. When
Mom Fuse contacted me about doing a review on some travel books from
Intrepid Travel, I thought this might be a great alternative. When I looked at Intrepid Travel’s website to choose a title I’d like to review, I was happily surprised that they had several Disney books to choose from. How perfect is that?
So thank you to
Mom Fuse and
Intrepid Travel, I had the chance to review their Walt Disney World Travel Book 2-pack, featuring
volumes 1 & 2. I have been to Walt Disney World twice before but I know I still have a lot of learn. Before receiving these books, I was sure that these books would be my solution. I figured…maybe when my family comes home, I’d be able to impress them with all my Disney knowledge. So, when the books arrived, I was excited to start studying (did I just say I was excited about studying?). When it comes to Disney, almost anything associated with it is fun. In addition, I figured I’d be able to pretend I was there by reading through these books.
The first thing that struck me about both of these books was how many questions each book had. Honestly, I had no clue there was that much to actually know about Disney. Volume 1 has 214 pages full of trivia questions and Volume 2 adds another 213 pages of trivia questions to the total (these number of pages includes the answers at the back of each chapter). The Volume 1 edition is divided into 6 different sections: All Around the ‘World’, The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Beyond the Parks. The second volume offers the same six categories but adds additional subcategories to make it easier to find questions based on what you are looking for. For example, if you look in the Table of Contents in Volume 2 for the Magic Kingdom, you can now direct yourself to questions on Mickey’s Toontown Fair or Tomorrowland, etc. I really think this change in the second volume is great! It definitely saves time searching.
Aside from the introduction in each book being almost the same, I was impressed by the diversity of questions from one volume to the next. When buying
almost the same book but one that is the first volume and one that is the second, I am always concerned about how different they will actually be. Luckily, this was an exception from most.
My favorite part of these books is of course the trivia questions. My next favorite part was all the ‘Did You Know?’ boxes found throughout the book. These boxes are found on every few pages and allow you to fill your brain with even more Disney facts! These ‘Did You Know?’ boxes managed to teach me quite a bit I didn’t know. For example, “Did you know? There are enough Disney character T-shirts sold in WDW [Walt Disney World] each year to put Mickey Mouse’s smiling face on every person in Chicago.” I found this one quite amusing. A lot of my family lives in Chicago and I have visited there before. This one gave me a visual image of everyone walking down the busy streets of Chicago wearing Mickey shirts…Quite amusing.
Another aspect I like about these books is that not only does it tell you the answer to each of your questions but it gives you an extremely detailed response. Therefore, not only do you know the answer to the question but you actually understand the answer too! That means, when you tell someone a fact you learned from this book and they ask you more about it, you will actually be able to tell them.
The final aspect I like about these books is something that makes finding what you are looking for in these books even easier. Both books have a great index section at the end of them so that you can really get specific with the information you are looking for. For example, say you are reading Volume 1 and you want to find more information about the Indian Jones stunt show. All you need to do is go to the back of the book, find the index, go to the letter ‘I’, and look up ‘Indiana Jones stunt show’. The book then tells you that there is information related to this attraction on pages 46 and 168. When I go to page 46, I found out that it was actually the answer to a question, #48 in the All Around the ‘World’ section. When I went to find the question, here is what it said:
“The largest moving sets in the world are found at which location?
a.) The Great Movie Ride
b.) Universe of Energy
c.) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
d.) Fantasmic”
Now you know, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is the largest moving set in the world!
As you can imagine, both of these books are a lot of fun! I have had a good time looking through them. These books are truly great for everyone in the whole family. They are perfect for having at home and flipping through in your spare time, leaving them on your coffee table as a conversation piece, or bringing them with you on a road trip. Both of these books give you endless hours of fun! I would highly suggest these books to anyone that loves Disney, who has been to Disney, who is going to Disney, or who dreams of visiting Disney!
Both of these books, as well as many other travel themed books can be purchased at The Intrepid Traveler Online Store.
Of course, I couldn’t talk about my trips to Disney and not provide you with a picture. The picture I have included above is of my boyfriend and me at the Animal Kingdom in front of the Tree of Life (February 2007).
