Guidelines for Travel Guides

Guidelines for Travel Guides and Travel Guidebook Media / Walt Disney World® Resort / Disney Cruise Line® Vacations**

Disney Destinations Public Relations at Walt Disney World® Resort (“Public Relations”) each year works closely with Disney Editions, the publisher of the Birnbaum’s Official Guidebooks relating to the Disney Parks. Public Relations welcomes coverage in other travel guidebooks (“Guidebooks”). However, due to limited staffing, the proliferation of Guidebooks and the deep level of detail these books demand, Public Relations support is limited. Public Relations works with such editors — but is not responsible for the review of Guidebooks’ editorial content for either comment or to validate the information contained in such Guidebooks.

Guidebook editors can help themselves to publish accurate content by first fact-checking their copy against information contained in four important online sources (which will also be invaluable to writers in the research that may precede any site visits that they make):

  • disneyworld.com, the consumer vacation-planning site filled with updated information about the Walt Disney World® Resort.
  • disneycruise.com, the consumer vacation-planning site filled with updated information about Disney Cruise Line® Vacations.
  • disneyparksblog.com, official blog for Walt Disney World® Resort, Disneyland® Resort and Disney Cruise Line® Vacations.
  • dclnews.com, a media-only site where writers and editors can access a wide array of information, from news releases to ongoing events. Please share the news of this important media research tool with your project colleagues. Visit often for news updates; the site is updated frequently.

Please note: The photos displayed on the above news website (dclnews.com) are for professional news media use only. Public Relations maintains a separate set of images approved for use in Guidebooks.

Ship visits should be arranged and executed without the involvement of Public Relations.

Guidelines for — and advantages of — use of Walt Disney World® Resort images and Disney Cruise Line® images in Guidebooks

Each Guidebook request is handled on a case-by-case basis. After review of a request, a Guidebook that Public Relations determines it will work with may include Public Relations-provided images (“Disney-provided images”), subject to guidelines and restrictions that will follow.

Disney-provided images have been reviewed to determine that they accurately portray scenes and depictions of shows, attractions and resorts at Walt Disney World® Resort and in Disney Cruise Line® Vacations at the time they are made available.

For a Guidebook with which Public Relations is working to use any of these Disney-provided images, the procedure is:

  • A catalogue of available approved Walt Disney World® Resort and Disney Cruise Line® images will be provided for review to Guidebook editors with whom Public Relations at Walt Disney World® Resort is working.
  • Public Relations will require a permission letter agreement (prepared by Public Relations) to be executed. The letter agreement will denote specific images from the catalogue (described above) that the Guidebook editor has requested to use. Guidebooks shall not have any right to use such selected images until the permission letter agreement has been fully executed. The number of Disney- provided images licensed for use in Guidebooks is limited and shall be at the discretion of Public Relations. The copyright notice as indicated in the permission letter agreement must accompany every Disney- provided image.
  • Photos obtained from all other sources or by Guidebook authors/photographers will not be reviewed by Public Relations. The author/photographer/editor/publisher, as the case may be, is responsible for his/her/its own clearance work.
  • Walt Disney World® is a trademark and is not a geographic location. Walt Disney World® Resort is the correct reference to the place where attractions and facilities such as Magic Kingdom® Park, Epcot®, Disney’s Hollywood Studios®, Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park and Downtown Disney® Area are located. Thus, we encourage the reference “Walt Disney World® Resort” in Guidebook copy.
  • Used in the book title, “Walt Disney World® Resort” cannot be placed in a prominent fashion or in a size type or style to make it stand out more than any other feature on the Guidebook’s cover.

** Guidelines subject to change without notice.