Birnbaum's Official guide errors

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mwc1996

New Member
Has anyone noticed how many errors are in the official guide to Disney World? I picked up the 2004 version a few months ago and I'm glad I wasn't counting on it. It says that you can make reservations to Cindy's breakfast 60 days in advance, not 90 as it should. It says that you can not make PS's for Bongo's, House of blues (unless you have between 6 and 19 people), Rain forest Cafe, and Wolfgang Puck- the dining room. We have PS's for Wolf gang pucks and the house of blues for just my wife and I on different nights. These are just 3 errors that I have caught so far. I wonder how many more there are. For it being the official guide it has a lot of misinformation. I'm glad I got a lot of the info I needed from this site. you guys (and gals) are great!! :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

Only 4 days, 16 hours and 23 minites until our flight leaves for the World.....but who's counting?
 
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AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
I believe at the time that was written that was indeed correct. The 2004 version was published in late summer 2003, which makes it at least a year and a half out of date. The 2005 versions came out several months ago (I'll check when I get home to see if this has been updated).

It's interesting to note that even in WDW they are still selling the 2004 version in some places - must have had a lot of overstock. I saw them at several shops on my trip two weeks ago.

With the advent of the Internet, and sites like this, guide books are good for overall information (what's in each park, etc.) but when in doubt always confirm, because you could be going on outdated information. In this case, I don't believe they were errors - just old information. Policies/etc. change so often at WDW, even websites have a hard time keeping up.

AEfx
 
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surfsupdon

surfsupdon

Well-Known Member
They also mention that moderate rooms are all the same size, when in actuality the rooms at Caribbean Beach are 340 sq ft as compared to 314.

I think they may mention Caribbean's rooms are bigger in the Port Orleans section.

The UnOfficial Guide states the rooms are all the same size too.

I emailed WDW specifically about it; they verified that the rooms are in fact larger at 340 sq ft.
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
In reference to PS at Rainforest Cafe' their policy on PS changed in late 2003 (if memory serves me correctly) at that time they did not allow PS unless you were a Safari club member. Rainforest is an international chain (as well as house of blues and Wolfgang Puck) so their rules were a little different than a Disney owned restaurant. They have since conformed to the Disney PS standard.
 
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M

mwc1996

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for all of the info. I wish I could get my hands on a 2005 version now. Oh well. I'll be there in 5 days!!! :sohappy: :D :sohappy: :D
 
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R

rosebud's mom

Active Member
My biggest disappointment was discovering the mistake that the listed character lunch at MGM does not exist any more. ( Although I don't know just how long ago it was discontinued, so it may be one of those things that was correct at the time of publication.)
 
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Number_6

Number_6

Well-Known Member
As far as the Cinderella's Breakfast thing goes, I did book PS for it back in 2003 and at that time it was 60 days in advance, so if it is 90 now, then the information was likely correct at the time of publication. The problem with print guides is that they can't auto update like a website can be, they have to wait until next year's edition.
 
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Enderikari

Enderikari

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
In reference to PS at Rainforest Cafe' their policy on PS changed in late 2003 (if memory serves me correctly) at that time they did not allow PS unless you were a Safari club member. Rainforest is an international chain (as well as house of blues and Wolfgang Puck) so their rules were a little different than a Disney owned restaurant. They have since conformed to the Disney PS standard.
Click to expand...


Only the Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom uses the priority seating system of Disney, the one at Downtown Disney is still walk-up only.
 
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Kadee

Kadee

New Member
Master Yoda said:
In reference to PS at Rainforest Cafe' their policy on PS changed in late 2003 (if memory serves me correctly) at that time they did not allow PS unless you were a Safari club member. Rainforest is an international chain (as well as house of blues and Wolfgang Puck) so their rules were a little different than a Disney owned restaurant. They have since conformed to the Disney PS standard.
Click to expand...
I don't think you are right on this one. We made PS at Rainforest Cafe in AK back in 2000 and 2001. I'm sure of it. I still have our confirmation sheet (or what ever they call it) that they gave us at check in of all our PS's
 
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HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Don't forget they left out CoP and Timekeeper from Tomorrowland, but kept WoL in as "an extremely popular attraction, when running". :lookaroun
 
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T

thedisneydad

New Member
I was thumbing thru the Disneyland version at the bookstore, and they seem to have lifted the description for their new Tower of Terror directly from the Disney World version. Which would be fine except for the fact that the California version of the ride does not have the horizontal movement which is decribed in the Birnbaum book. Seems like someone should have caught that.
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Kadee said:
I don't think you are right on this one. We made PS at Rainforest Cafe in AK back in 2000 and 2001. I'm sure of it. I still have our confirmation sheet (or what ever they call it) that they gave us at check in of all our PS's
Click to expand...
It was only an assumption on the AK Rainforest. I tried to do PS on my first trip there when I was informed that they did not take reservations. After the first 3 hour wait on a Friday night, and then the experience being worth every second of it, I joined their safari club. Now I show them a card and I get seated in about 10 to 30 min no matter how busy they are.
 
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J

joviacdan

This isn't techincally a mistake, but I consider it a HUGE blunder.

In the "Best Of Food" section in the back, it lists Bill and Min's at MGM as Disney's best milkshake. Are you kidding?????? It's a McDonalds out of a machine milkshake.

Clearly, Birnbaum has never tried a milkshake at 50's Prime Time.
 
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W

weluvtink

Member
mwc1996 said:
Thanks for all of the info. I wish I could get my hands on a 2005 version now. Oh well. I'll be there in 5 days!!! :sohappy: :D :sohappy: :D
Click to expand...
The 2005 guide can be found at your local Disney Store. It's been out for about a month.
 
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