Best museum travel guides according to redditors

There is a good book about the process called "Project Future."

It sounds more like a CIA operation than a theme park build. In fact, I believe Disney hired some former CIA operatives to facilitate the purchases. Worth a read.

Project Future on Amazon

Hello all! From April-June 2018, I traveled around the world to visit every Disney park. I documented my experience, and my book about the adventure was just published this week!

It’s called Around the Worlds in 80 Days: One Fan’s Journey to Conquer Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, and it’s available on Amazon now!

https://www.amazon.com/Around-Worlds-80-Days-Kingdoms/dp/1683902246

With a 5-day park hopper you will definitely see everything, so no worries there :)

If you really want to ride Radiator Spring Racers don't go in the FastPass line. I watched it grow almost to the length of a regular queue line. Instead go right to RSR, ride it, and then hit the FastPass a little later when the return time is in the evening: riding RSR at night is really cool as well. In fact, make sure you hang out in Cars Land and the parks at night and don't retire early, they take on a different feel at night and the atmosphere is great.

Grab a copy of The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland, it has a lot of interesting information you can read up on as you travel there. Picking up a Hidden Mickey book can help you scour every square inch of the park too.

And don't be afraid to swallow your pride and visit some attractions that might seem dumb :)

I have this book -- https://www.amazon.com/Carpe-Weekend-Trips-Adventures-Washington/dp/1484003969

If I recall a reditor's mom wrote it.

I like it.

There are a few towns in Mexico filled with foreigners. [San Miguel Allende] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Miguel_de_Allende) is the most famous but there are others. A google search is a good place to start or there are various [guidebooks] (http://www.amazon.com/Living-Abroad-Mexico-Julie-Doherty/dp/1612381790/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371240710&sr=8-2&keywords=moon+mexico) on the subject

Sounds like Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World might interest you. It gets into land acquisition, Florida real estate law, water rights, and other troubles they ran into. Not so much about construction and opening though.

Go on a hidden Mickey hunt!

Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615347770/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is this the book?

No. Obviously Cory and his publisher were OK with it, and Disney seems to be too.

But Disney ( The Copyright holder) is weird that way. They let that "Escape from Tomorrow" movie run too. I've seen lots of Disney themed books and stories, from Unofficial guides to Exposes that seem to cross the line, but if Disney doesn't take action, you can sell them.

Yet they'll sue a Daycare for using their Characters.

In my mind, Disney doesn't want to send a chilling effect through the Tourism industry- they'll let you talk about their parks and business practices all you want, just don't use their characters...

But again, this goes to the question of Fair Use as a defense. Cory could still be sued by Disney at anytime they decide "Down and Out" is no longer Fair Use. And so could Herbert's estate or publishers. Or Jodowrosky, or the creators of the documentary...

Anyone have the Hidden Mickeys Field Guide and can confirm legit or fan-made?

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Mickeys-Disney-World%C2%AEs-Secrets/dp/1937011291

They sell this book around the parks. It's the one we bought to help us find them.

Play Kingdom Hearts. Get some Disney scented candles and air freshners and make your room smell like different attractions/resorts. Watch the Walt Disney documentary on Netflix. Find memorabilia you like to collect be it artwork, funko pops, books. This book is a great behind the scenes look at Haunted Mansion:
The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion: Second Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683900405/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZdYACb8D9KSEY

>looking at a good neighbor hotel as it is cheaper and nicer then the cheapest options on site. Will there be issues getting to the park daily?

Potentially, yes. Many of the off-site hotels have shuttles, but they are either at a cost, or run very limited schedules or drop off zones. Depending on what you want to do, this can be an issue, or force you to rely more on private services (taxi/Uber/Lyft). Car rental is also an option, but will add parking expense, at both your hotel and at Disney.

>I also think I will pass on the daily meal plans as they are expensive, if I got a hotel that offered the plans for free would I end up paying more then a good neighbor with me buying food myself?

You cannot buy a Disney Dining Plan from an off-site resort. So if you stay off-site, the decision is made for you. DDP is a bit of a personal decision for those on site. In general, "free" dining isn't free, as you pay full rack rate at a Disney hotel to get it. It also works best for a specific dining style. It's not designed to save you money so much as it is designed for convenience. If you have multiple Disney kids (under 10) and like buffets, you can also come out ahead. If you have 10-13 year olds, you do pay for them as adults at such meals, and for many, that's not a good thing either out of pocket OR on DDP.

>I was also thinking of doing universal for a day.

Universal is very expensive as a one-day park, as if you want to do Harry Potter you will need the park hopper there. You might want to look at staying at a Universal hotel and spending two days.

I think something to be called out is that the main parking lot for Magic Kingdom is larger than Disneyland. The difference between on-site and off-site is much more pronounced at Disney World. At Disneyland, off-site hotels are walking distance of main gate, and often more convenient than the Disney properties. That is almost universally not true at WDW.

I suggest checking out wdwprepschool.com and yourfirstvisit.net, and/or buying/reading the excellent Easy Guide.

This book was written by a lady who lives in Loudoun. Might be up your alley.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1484003969?pc_redir=1410498272&robot_redir=1

Head to your local bookstore and pick up (I think it's just 10 bucks) the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2012, it should be mostly white with a thick red border near the bottom.

I'm 28 but I'm a bit obsessed with Disney from all the amazing memories I had as a kid, so when my (now fiance') and I went there with some friends and I proposed, I wanted to make the most of it. That book is AMAZING. Just the little interesting facts you can learn about the parks while finding out what to skip and what to miss (I really only read it for the Park-specific info and the restaraunts, the rest is sort of obvious) made a world of difference. I'm sure at times my "tour guide" comments were less interesting to everyone else than they were to me, but the connection the book gives you to the parks really enriches the experience.

It's the little things that you start to notice that just make the entire experience feel more magical. Dumb little things like how aside from the castle, the park is designed to keep you from being able to see the other "Lands" so you become more immersed in the one you in; or how the railings are painted green because your mind tunes them out that way, or even something really dumb like.. there is a trash can every 30 steps because Walt Disney sat at other theme parks and watched to see how far someone would walk before just dropping trash on the ground. Turns out, it was 30 steps.


Link to what the guide looks like - (http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Guide-Disney-World-Guides/dp/111801233X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344268835&sr=8-1&keywords=guide+to+walt+disney+world+2012)

If you want the original EPCOT concept, try Walt and the Promise of Progress City, and Project Future will go into detail on how they went about buying up all of the land:
http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Promise-Progress-City/dp/1941500269/

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Future-Inside-Behind-Creation/dp/0615347770/


If you'd like anecdotes on building EPCOT Center, "Building a Better Mouse" is an interesting read on the engineers' experience building An American Adventure.
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Better-Mouse-30th-Anniversary/dp/1479379476/

If you're really into the original EPCOT concept, Walt Disney and the Quest For Community is interesting but pricey: http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Quest-Community-Design-Environment/dp/0754619745/

A friend of mine wrote this book...it might have some of what you're looking for if you're willing to drive a few hours each way.

He was paying about $180 per acre. Once the news it was Walt Disney buying the prices shot up as high as $80,000 per acre.

Here's a book about it:

https://www.amazon.com/Project-Future-Inside-Behind-Creation/dp/0615347770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=project+future+the+inside+story+behind+the+creation+of+disney+world&qid=1443465788&sr=8-1

Disney later on lobbied for the show cops to never be filmed in Orlando to prevent a negative image about the city.

Since we are going when the Christmas decorations are up and want to check out the resorts, we are going to do a Magic Kingdom resort area bar crawl.

Hitting up MK for rope drop, the after 2pm heading Fort Wilderness Campgrounds to Crockett's Tavern. They open at 3pm and have moonshine drinks. Going to explore there a bit, check out the stables and then head to The Wilderness Lodge and the Territory Lounge, which is wonderful and has great food. From there we are going to Mizner's at GF, then to Tamu Tambu and Trader Sam's at the Poly and we are finishing up at The Contemporary and California Grill for the fire works.

We will do the Crescent lake bars later in our trip. Looking forward to going to Bluezoo!

There is a great new book out about all the places to drink.


On mobile and can't format correctly.


https://www.amazon.com/Drinking-Disney-Travel-Worlds-Lounges-ebook/dp/B01K1D5GJK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475065438&sr=1-1&keywords=drunk+at+disney

I need a gift idea for my aunt and uncle. They live in Brooklyn and love the city. Last year, I got them BAM gift certificates and a Brooklyn cutting board; they actually bought each other BAM gift certificates for Christmas as well, completely unplanned. They're casual Mets fans and devoted dog owners. I would love to get them a Brooklyn 'experience', tickets or gift cards for various local activities. I was originally thinking of something like this or this but would love to find a Brooklyn equivalent. My budget for them is ~$150. Any ideas?

ETA: We are also an Italian family, and we love our food. My aunt loves Scrabble, and they both love J. Crew.

111 Places in Los Angeles That You Must Not Miss

This book should help.

Link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Coaster-Crusade-Bryce-Yelverton-ebook/dp/B01AE445XY

There is a hidden Mickey handbook that you can get at a local bookstore. It is great fun to see how many one can find in the park. It is small enough that you can carry the book with you in the park.

Ik this isn’t relevant but this book is pretty cool you might like it.

Of Mouse and Men: Confessions of a Disney Character https://www.amazon.com/dp/173255580X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lF4HDbN5WP3M7

I like the unofficial book on Haunted Mansion as well, it covers some stuff the official Disney release does not https://www.amazon.com/Unauthorized-Story-Disneys-Haunted-Mansion/dp/1683900405/

Disney Security don't have jurisdiction. I've seen a few people tazed and held, but county sheriff come in. Fire is run under RCID because Florida would not put up funds for fiberglass fire training if I remember right. A fun (well, actually really dry) read on the whole thing for developing the Reedy Creek Improvement District and how the land was secretly acquired is Project Future.
It goes into detail the divisions and agreements the State of Florida and Disney came to in order to manage and where certain things begin and end legally.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Future-Inside-Behind-Creation/dp/0615347770

How long will you be at WDW? If you're there multiple days, are you staying on-property?

The book The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World has a lot of good strategies and is well worth the money, especially if none of you have been to Walt Disney World before.

Some tips, no particular order:

• The parks are most crowded in the early afternoon. If you're staying on property, a good strategy is to get to the parks very early, then go back to the hotel for a mid-day siesta (naptime, hang out at the pool for a couple of hours, whatever), and then go back to the parks for an afternoon/evening shift. I've found that this is really, really helpful with small children.
  
  
• Magic Kingdom is usually the most crowded park, and it gets super-crowded on weekends. If your schedule permits, try to avoid Magic Kingdom on Saturday and Sunday.
  
  
• Get the parade schedule, and try to hit popular rides/attractions just before and during parades-- the lines will be shorter. It's going to be hard for your kids to see much at the street parades, so I would avoid them. The night-time electric boat parade on the lake at Epcot is much easier to see, if your family can stay up that late.
  
  
• Since you've got three adults, you have the option of rotating coverage with the kids. Try to find a few windows where one adult can stay with the kids (maybe do It's a Small World...again, or play on the playground in Toontown), while the other two adults run off and do a "tall people only" ride.
  
  

[The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2012 (Unofficial Guides)]
(http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Guide-Disney-World-Guides/dp/111801233X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331707683&sr=1-2&tag=bookforyoudm-20)

Hey there, fun contest! Almost as fun as eating a potato.

One of my favorite activities is cooking! Especially making elaborate meals with my boyfriend. :)

BLURB: When I was a kid (around 8-12) I was on Cartoon Network. I used to recite great lines like, "Now for a brand new Powerpuff Girls, right after this break!!"

This seems pretty interesting.

The Dark Side of Disney

This book is great.

• Disney The Magic Band. I also happened to interview erm the head of the disney magic band program (fuck man, I interviewed so many weird people). Like I said, I was the type of person to find a mentor in the most obscure shit possible, because nothing was a gimme in life. Well I met him on an airplane again, this fucking guy, spent 7 years or some shit, doing this program: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/bands-cards/ . Granted i only talked to him for like 10 minutes.... HMMMMMM..... idk what else to say here. Its just a fucking RFID band that stores data in it somehow. I am no expert here, I will go do research on this tool. **Isn't this band kind of similar to the applewatch? Iwatch? GTD, how one particular sales field guy I know, (old dude), uses applewatch for vibration GPS reminders to turn signal, uh, check messages, check# of steps walked in day, and send some applewatch to applewatch messages
  
  
• And data logistics on people coming into the theme park. Erhm, I didn't get that much of an information here, I'd have to research this, but specifically I'd imagine its no different than walmart data analyst deciding what sells and what doesn't sell in puerto rico vs USA. Just pulling up MySQL data on whatever you want, MongoDB, whatever fucking DBMS your using. Then um, doing data analytics n shit, googling events, finding patterns in weather, determing what parameters are influencing sales, pricing optimization, and determining all influences in preventing people from not showing up to the park and marketing strategies i guess. Predicting how many people coming into the themepark is important for forecasting labor costs and who needed to be on staff. Lots of historical trend data, DISNEY employs CAPTURE FUCKING EVERYTHING philosophy.
  
  
• Also, how does fucking DISNEY, capture everything else? You know buying shit, purchase orders, through its ERP system, managing like IDK 10,000 employees (just guessing here), all the bosses bosses, where items are, its backend systems, its underground tunnels, its manipulation of vanishing points in art, for the disney castle, in uhm magic kingdom? And, uhhhh what the castle was originally based on (it was based on a German castle). Not sure what the fuck GTD is here for, possible good ideas for warehouse management for small startups? Ideas for things like tunnels n shit, employee working areas, right, HOW TO HIDE THE BAD SIDE OF THINGS, of course Magical Disney does it better than everyone else. Have you ever been to fucking DISNEY, and seen grafitti? The night time crew fucking repaints fucking everytthing every fucking night. I have conducted many studies of people that have worked there, H1B1's overseas, "Disney Internships" as they call them, and uhh people who just worked there part time one time or another.
  
  
• I'ma reverse engineer your shit one day Disney, I just need more data. Actually couldn't I just buy a book on disney? No all i'd get is stupid magical horses and ponies and shit if i searched that up, probably. That reminds me, sometimes I walk into something like a home depot and look at the employeaes type on that fallout 4 looking terminal, just to see, what their ERP system is for fun. Most use that 4 letter word company, sus, started with an A. Well, i looked it up, http://www.capterra.com/enterprise-resource-planning-software/, cant fucking find it, I guess i really don't know jack squat about erp systems, go figure. All I know is most cost over $100k/year
  
  
• Well there's this book....but....http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Disney-Leonard-Kinsey/dp/0615506135/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458860969&sr=1-12&keywords=disney ... its probably not what i was hoping for. You know what, maybe I'll buy it fucking anyways. Data is data, and $10 is a small price to pay for a book. Fuck, my tally of books to speed read is now like up to 20
  
  END 7:03 PM, 3/24/16
  
  
• Why hasn't anyone made a restaurant using purely souvide technologies anyways? It seems to be all the rage of r/food, I'm surprised no one has capitalized this, or maybe they have
  
  
• Oh, and my old roommate, used to fuck with this guy by putting pictures of his prom photo underneath girls dormitory, I forgot to write that down. Then this kid thought he was being stalked. Another day though

Read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Disney-Leonard-Kinsey/dp/0615506135

Everyone should give Project Future a read. Great insight on the politics behind the creation of Walt Disney World.

Not saying I recommend it, but if you are dead set I think this book tells a few stories where the author did just that.