A Review of Kimberly Button’s The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook

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A trip to Walt Disney World is perhaps one of the most anticipated and exciting vacations one may ever take. As a result, many guests begin preparing months in advance for their special vacation. In addition to reading through sites like the Mouse for Less, travelers may also purchase guidebooks to use as a resource for planning.

Kimberly Button’s The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook is not a typical Disney travel guide. Rather than being created to aid in preparing for a Disney trip, it is written to teach and entertain while on the trip. Its subtitle describes its purpose as, “the only guidebook with activities to cure wait time boredom at the Walt Disney World Resort.” Button’s purpose is to provide a book to have handy throughout the parks as a source of fun and interesting ways to pass time during those long lines at many of the attractions.

Like many other authors of Disney guidebooks, Button logically divides this book according to the four main Disney World parks: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios (which has been renamed Hollywood Studios since this book was published by Infinity Publishing.com in 2006), and Animal Kingdom. Unlike some other Disney travel guides, Button’s book also includes a segment for Character Meet and Greets.

Each section begins with some basic information and maps introducing the specific park. Button then introduces each land, if appropriate, before discussing individual attractions. While in line, guests will open their books and discover not only a description and helpful hints related to the attraction, but also fun activities to make the wait more entertaining, such as hidden Mickey hunts, scavenger hunts, trivia questions, and word searches. Button thoughtfully includes an answer key for those more difficult questions that may stump even the sharpest Disney guest.

Occasionally a unique activity or piece of information is included. For example, while waiting in line for Stitch’s Great Escape, guests using this book may open to page 117 and learn Hawaiian words and their pronunciations for eight common English words, including yes, no, and thank you. Similar word translations are provided for the World Showcase countries in the Epcot section. Disney film and music enthusiasts will enjoy an activity in the MGM Studios section that includes matching the movie with its Academy Award winning song (302).

A family desiring to make their Disney vacation an educational field trip will appreciate the many ways Button assists in this area by relating Disney World trivia to significant facts about our world. For example, the question, “How long is a day on Mars?” (184) combines the subject of astronomy with the Mission Space attraction. “In which city is Notre Dame, the beautiful cathedral where Napoleon crowned himself emperor, located?” (207) combines the subjects of geography and history with Epcot’s World Showcase.

While the content of The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook accomplishes Button’s purpose of providing a diversion during slow periods of a Disney vacation, the length of this 386 page book may deter guests who wish to keep their loads light from carrying it around the parks. For this reason, and also because we travel during a slower season when the lines are not as long, our family chose not to add the weight of this book to our fanny packs and instead to enjoy it at home both before and after our trip as a fun activity to remember one of our favorite places. I recommend this book as an entertaining guide for Disney enthusiasts even if it is not used during those longer queue line waits as Button intended.

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