I know that my personal favorite planning guide is the Unofficial Guide, but what is your favorite book to get for kids to get them excited/planning? The kids are 6 and 2 and are going in June.
I know it’s not a book, but as a kid (I was 11) when I was going on my first Disney trip I absolutely loved the planning dvds. I was pretty timid when it came to rides so I loved being able to see what rides did and to get a feel of the parks. We also had an unofficial guide that really helped me know where to sit so I wouldn’t get wet or be scared. It was invaluable knowing where the alien would come from on GMR (
) or if you sat on the left you might get wet on backlot tour, or confirming that the chicken exit really does exist at tower of terror.
It’s not really a planning guide, but I got my kids (5 and 2) some books based on a few of the rides and they love them. I feel like they’ll be extra excited for at least those rides when we get there.
Here’s the Haunted Mansion one. We also have its a small world and jungle cruise. I’m not sure if there are others.
Disney Parks Presents The Haunted Mansion https://www.amazon.com/dp/1368048986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KGVsEbYMXPGE7
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Really, for kids, I think it’s just as much being familiar with the stories/characters as anything about the park logistics themselves. We had the entire Disney’s Wonderful World of Reading series from when my oldest was a little. We also let them binge watch a ton of Disney+ leading up to the trip.
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Yes, toy story and princess classics are on all the time here.
We made a huge list for the kids to binge watch, focusing on attractions we were most likely to do. Was interesting to see what we missed that popped up while at Disney. My 10 year old twins were completely unfamiliar with Pocahontas, Bambi, and Chip & Dale.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Birnbaums-Disney-World-Birnbaum-Guides/dp/1368027598
I don’t have this book, but it’s been recommended by liners before and I think it looks pretty fab.
I have the Birnbaum book for kids and my daughter asks me to read it to her every day.
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I second the Birnbaum’s guide for kids. I also have pre-ordered the Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters for DD6. This will double as an autograph book.
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I bought The Berenstain Bears Visit Grizzlyland for my kids. It’s cute, has similar rides to WDW. Before we went to DL I bought the little man of Disneyland, I loved that one because you can “find” his house there.
I don’t remember doing specific books for my kids at that age for Disney. I just made sure they had seen some of the older movies so they’d have an idea of who characters were, at least parts of them (they were sooooo uninterested in Mary Poppins).
We bought The Who is Walt Disney and Where is Walt Disney World. My kids really liked some of the other books and when these came out I bought them before our last trip.
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Oh my DD loves the Who and Where books. I’ll have to grab those!