Mouse Extra

This interesting and unsual guidebook comes from Original Press in Lakeland, Florida and is written by Aronda Parks (get it, “around the parks”). Ms Parks is joined in this effort by a 20+ member team of Memories Experts. These experts are quoted throughout the book on every topic, attraction, hotel, and restaurant. And at over 380 double-columned pages, there is plenty of quotes and information to go around.

This guide does do somethings better than others in the field. For one, it is an excellent source on shopping in the “World.” A whole chapter is dedicated to the subject. In fact, it may well be the best guidebook for shoppers. Many travel guides on WDW treat the subject as an afterthought with just a few blurbs at the end of a parks’ description. Not so here. Whats even better is that shops from resorts are described for that growing population of guests who tour the resorts themselves.

This book also does a fine job on the subject of planning. Various worksheets are provided to help plan out your park touring, your dining options, your hotel, etc. There is also plenty of information on booking your vacation which is suprisingly not a strong point for many of these guides. Plus, the restrooms for each park are listed- now thats helping out your readers.

Of course, the book is far from perfect. The overall quality of the product is not up to the level of say, the Unofficial Guide or Birnbaum’s. Its also difficult to find, with the best place being ebay or the book’s (useful) website. Although the quality is subpar, I do like the spiral binding a lot. The pictures are also subpar, but the idea of placing pictures of sample room cards and Rider Switch passes is useful to the novice visitor. My book is a little behind the times with nary a mention of the new Italian eatery or the not-so recent changes to Mexico. Still, it is my understanding that a Winter 2008 edition is on the way. Plus, the aforementioned website keeps you up-to-date.

The book also has many unique features that will appeal to Disney enthusiasts. For starters, there is an entire chapter dedicated to collecting Disneyana. I would like to have seen more information directed at the popular park items like pins, autographs, photo passes and animation cells, but its a nice overview. There is also a chapter deidcated to theming your vacation. Various topics ranging from holiday touring to backstage events to even more obscure ideas are covered. I may not want to take a shoppers’ paradise vacation, but this chapter can help you create some interesting diversions.

The authors also have come up with their own acronyms, VABS and C-Melts. This section helps you avoid vacation burnout and meltdowns from your little ones, two very common problems encountered at Walt Disney World. The book is especially thorough at pointing out the many ways to keep the little ones entertained not only at the parks but also the non-park offerings.

Now for my favorite part of the book- the “Imagineering for a Day” chapter. Each member of the “team” throws out an idea on how to improve each park and Disney World in general. These imagineering suggestions run the gamut from changing the hand grips at Splash Mountain to what new countries should be represented in World Showcase ( as a side note, I disagree with the expert). I would love to see this expanded in future editions to include the top readers’ suggestions. But, like the book itself, this section is both unique and charming.

Today’s merchandise review is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra