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Rating: 
Summary: Best Universal guide out there--just needs a little more!
Review: Being a very compulsive vacation planner, I have read, or at least skimmed just about every Universal and Disney/Universal guide book out there. This one is the best, especially if you are planning a true Universal Orlando vacation, rather than just a Universal day or two during a Disney vacation.The planning section covers everything you need to know about visiting at different times of the year, the advantages of staying on-site, ticket options, transportation information, and so forth. Mr. Monaghan does a great job covering all the attractions, including comparisons to similar Disney attractions, best seats, and descriptions of how scared or wet you might get. There are also touring plans for those who don't have the on-site hotel express privileges. The only addition that would make these summaries even more useful would be survey results showing what ratings people of different age groups give each attraction (as provided in Bob Sehlinger's unofficial guides). This book gives the best restaurant descriptions of any guide I've looked at. Mr. Monaghan describes the atmosphere, noise level, and of course food quality of each full service and counter service restaurant (and even the little food carts) in the parks, hotels, and Citywalk. These reviews could only be improved by adding information on whether vegetarian options are available and some more detail on available kid's meals (since kids are usually the pickiest eaters!) The descriptions of each of the three resort hotels really made me want to try staying at all of them! The amenities of each hotel (including the all-important hotel pool) are given plenty of detail, as well as a feel for the overall atmosphere of each hotel. The different rooms are described well, but I would love to have floor plans and square footage given for at least the more common room types. The information on Citywalk is great and gives enough detail even for me! The chapter on off-site hotels is very bare-bones (just a brief sentence or less and list of amenities for each property), so those planning to stay off-site would probably want to find another hotel information source. Or better yet, change your plans and stay on-site! Overall this guide is probably more than enough for a "normal" vacation planner. Pictures would be a great addition, but I suppose there might be some legal or expense related reason that there are no pictures. For people like myself who enjoy information overload (as in the Unofficial Disney guides), this book could add in a lot more information. I would love to know more about the history of the Universal theme parks and maybe some humorous or interesting anecdotes about the parks, hotels, various attractions, etc. Last of all, you may want to check the other orlando dotcom (trying not to get this information deleted!) first for more information. Happy vacationing!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I work at Universal...don't waste your money. Just go to the park and ask an attendant near the front gate or the first ride you go to to help you plan your day, and they will. We're trained to, and we know when stuff is going to be busy on each particular day.
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