Book Review: “Walt Disney World Hacks: 350+ Park Secrets for Making the Most of Your Walt Disney World Vacation”

Hi everyone!

We received Walt Disney World Hacks: 350+ Park Secrets for Making the Most of Your Walt Disney World Vacation by Susan Veness to review. I actually read the book and wrote an endorsement prior to the book being relased (we are friends with the author), and it is available now. I am not a fan of the word “hacks”, so I’ll say that there are 350+ tips and ideas in this book that can be useful to those going to Walt Disney World. These can be prior to the trip (it is really best to plan a Walt Disney World trip months in advance) or during a vacation. And some of the tips are practical in the sense of – for example – photographing or writing down your schedule in case there is an issue with the My Disney Experience app. Personally, the My Disney Experience app doesn’t really work for me (and I’m in the parks several times per week), so I plan reservations on the computer and then write them down and/or photograph them with my phone. It is nice to have a backup.

Some of the ideas in the book are about planning a surprise vacation. Some tips are for families with children, some for couples, some for those who have never been to Walt Disney World and others can be for those who have. There are quite a few Fastpass+ tips scattered through the book. Some of the most important tips can be about sun relief in one way or another – whether it is getting water for free (don’t pay for bottled water if you don’t have to), sun protection, etc. Summer in Florida is particularly hard on some, and becoming dehydrated is really easy to do (or getting sunburned). #356 talks about earning (and sometimes redeeming) Starbucks rewards, which I do all the time. There is another tip on loyalty programs at non-Disney owned restaurants on Walt Disney World property. Now, #250 about Frozen Ever After dining…the attraction isn’t as crazy any more most of the time for lines, for example it was a 35 minute stand-by wait in the afternoon the other day (it can be more though too). So it may or may not be worth spending the money on dining.

If you are a very regular park goer – and I am in the parks a LOT – you will probably know most of the tips that pertain to you. But if you are just going every so often on vacation (which is the average guest), there will be new things to discover by reading it. The book can fit into a backpack and be marked up with highlighters for the most important tips ahead of time. If I was reading the book for a place I didn’t frequent, it would be dog eared and marked up well before I went.

Like any written book, there are going to be things that change. For example, in tip #60, it mentions to try free Club Cool samples in Epcot. Unfortunately, Club Cool will close sometime in the near future. It could relocate but I don’t know if it will. #66 says to visit Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground for a rest day. I love Fort Wilderness, but there is a lot of construction there that just started and some of the walking trails are closed, the beach is now closed and the barn will be closed and I think relocated. The Disney Skyliner is mentioned, that will open sometime this fall.

Walt Disney World Hacks: 350+ Park Secrets for Making the Most of Your Walt Disney World Vacation is a pretty inexpensive book at about $11 currently on Amazon, and should easily be worth much more than that for most readers with the information it provides.

This review includes affiliate links.