Beyond Disney: The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando ,SeaWorld and the Best of Central Florida (Unofficial Guides)

Description

Seven Great Features and Benefits offered ONLY by the Unofficial Guides:

• Practical tips on when to go and how to beat the crowds at 11 of Central Florida's best them parks
• Firsthand information on what's worthwhile and what's not at major attractions
• The inside scoop on where to go for the best roller coaster action
• Complete coverage of Universal Florida, including Islands of Adventure, CityWalk, and detailed restaurant reviews
• Comprehensive chapters on SeaWorld and Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, Gatorland, and the Holy Land Experience
• Comparisons of all area water parks
• The straight story on Orlando-area dinner theaters and nightlife
  

Reviews

Rating: 1 / 5
Date: 2010-05-22
Summary: "Not that great..."

with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opening, I thought a touring plan might be a good idea. The guide to Beyond Disney comes from the folks at The Unofficial Guide and Touring Plans. As I've said before, I have grown weary of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, but was willing to give Beyond Disney a shot. On the whole-I wish I had not bought this book.It had some good stuff, some bad stuff that wasn't their fault, and some meh stuff that is their problem.

Good things about this book. Firstly, it did have Touring Plans. They are not great, as the book was written in 2009, but they do have a few suggestions. What bugged me was that they redirected you to Touring [...] for a Disney Hollywood Studios plan, but they did not have something similar for Universal Orlando. If they had said that once The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens, an updated touring plan would be available on their site, I might have had a different reaction to the book. However, the touring plan for Universal Studios does include guidelines for shows that only start later on in the day-I appreciated this, as on my first trip I was having a hard time fitting in all the shows I wanted to see. The book did introduce me to a new food option, Orlando Take Out Express. The deliver to non-Disney hotels from many local restaurants. Their minimum is a $15 order, plus a $4.99 delivery fee. If I'm going to be carless at Universal again on August, I may check them out-Indian or Chinese food sounds tastier than many Universal options.

The Universal Orlando section is pretty slim, but I knew when I bought it it was not a guidebook dedicated to Universal alone.

They list a number of travel deal and hotel related websites, but they do not list Hotwire as a suggested site (although they did mention Priceline). I personally think this was a large error, as Hotwire is very user-friendly to use even if you're not a huge deal researcher, and it's fairly easy to get a decent hotel, such as the Hyatt MCO, for a decent amount. As I said above, it bugged me that for their "best days" to visit included a Touring Plans link for DHS, but not for Universal Orlando. I'm sure in 2009 Saturday was a good day to see Islands of Adventure, but I don't think it will be once the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens.

Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-05-03
Summary: "Not that useful"

It was not enough on Sea World and that was what I was looking for so this was not helpful

J

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-09
Summary: "Beyond Disney"

I thought the book was well written, easy to understand. I found a lot of useful information. We have been to wdw area but its been 18 years so much has changed, it was good information and a review of what stayed the same.

Rating: 1 / 5
Date: 2010-02-21
Summary: "No touring plans! A ripoff because you have to buy a second book!"

The Unofficial Guide to Disney is fantastic, and well known for its great "touring plans" which give detailed park information about how to attack DWD theme parks. This book is supposed to be a guide to everything else outside of Disney World (i.e., Sea World and Universal). Yet this book does not include Touring Plans for Universal, SeaWorld or Islands of Adventure. Amazingly, these Touring Plans are in the Walt Disney World book, but not here. That is, people who buy a book on how to tour Disney get Touring Plans for Universal/SeaWorld, but the folks who buy a book on Universal and SeaWorld do not - makes no sense!

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-01-30
Summary: "GREAT!!"

Bought this for vacation to get around orlando area without having to go to Disney since it was just me and my husband, was very informative, places to eat, hotels to stay etc.