Books

Book Review: Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide

Denise

Hi everyone!

I received Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide to review, as well as the Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World guide and I will link that one up as soon as I post it.

Birnbaum’s is the official guide of Disney and has been around for almost 40 years. It is hard to believe it has been that long, and I don’t think the books have changed that much through the years. The guides aren’t comprehensive, but have a lot of good information and tips and the Disneyland version can be carried in an average sized purse. It is about 140 pages and paperback, bigger than the average paperback book but not huge.

Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide (Birnbaum Guides)

We just spent nearly 2 weeks at the Disneyland Resort for HalloweenTime and were there for 10 or 11 nights back in July as well, so it’s interesting to see what is and isn’t in the guide.

Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide does encourage guests toward a travel package, which is something I rarely book for myself (especially in Anaheim), but overall the guide is fair and balanced in not only pointing to Disneyland hotels, but to the many Good Neighbor hotels in the area. Note that the Anabella Hotel recently closed as another hotel will be built there.
 
Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide features sample itineraries, information on restaurants, resorts and then land-by-land guides to attractions in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. There is a “Birnbaum’s Best” stamp on signature attractions like Indiana Jones Adventure and Pirates of the Caribbean but also on other attractions like Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The one thing about a published guide book is that everything is subject to change as new attractions, hotels, etc. are announced. The Paint the Night parade is noted here as being at Disneyland but that “at press time there was a strong possibility that it would move to a Disney park elsewhere in the world”. Well, not only did Paint the Night leave Disneyland and the Main Street Electrical Parade took over this past summer, but Paint the Night is going elsewhere – across the esplanade to Disney California Adventure, so guests visiting the Disneyland Resort will soon be able to see it once again. And sometime next year there will be a change from Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier, which isn’t mentioned in the book (due to publishing deadlines). The Pixar Play Parade will eventually head to Disneyland to replace Mickey’s Soundsational Parade. So use the book as a guide but check the Disneyland website (and unofficial sites) for the most current info when you are nearing your trip.

Fantasmic receives a full page after being down for a about a year and a half (the multiyear absence mentioned is not quite accurate), and it tells guests to book premium viewing seats. Actually, you will want to see about booking a dining package, I personally recommend the Blue Bayou – we’ve booked two different restaurants since July and Blue Bayou was more worth the cost. Or you can try to secure a Fastpass, and there is limited standby room available.

One of my favorite aspects of the Birnbaum’s guides is that they often have coupons. The Disneyland guide includes Alamo, Earl of Sandwich and Wetzel’s Pretzels, I expect to use 3 or 4 of the coupons in the coming year. There are at least a couple of shops with coupons that may be closing soon –  Build-A-Bear Workshop and Ridemakerz. I thought they were closing at the end of September 2017 but it looks like they might be there just a bit longer.

I like the Birnbaum guides, but more as a souvenir with useful information as opposed to an exhaustive look at the parks and resorts. The guides aren’t too expensive, and for me the few coupons we will use will about cover the cost of the book if we had purchased it. There are some fun photos as well in Birnbaum’s 2018 Disneyland Resort: The Official Guide.

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