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August 29, 2008 - I think what fans of Walt Disney World are always on the lookout for are ways to make the days go by just a little bit faster between their trips to Walt Disney World. Regardless of if you have an annual trip or go down a few times per year or perhaps only get a chance to visit the World once every few years, everyone looks for a little "Disney magic" in their life from day to day and the Walt Disney World Trivia Calendar 2009 by Louis Mongello is aimed right at those folks. Desk calendars have become a fixture of many offices and desks in America for some time now, but Mongello created his own calendar just for the Disney fans that can't get enough of the park. Disney fans in general are extremely nostalgic and love to look back on the past and take time to "remember when..." so it makes perfect sense to look at a desk calendar that highlights interesting trivia and commemorates past events, celebrations and openings at Walt Disney World.

The calendar comes in a colorful box that jumps out at you with silhouettes of the classic tri-circle Mickey Mouse design abound. Inside the box, we find the desk calendar that comes with a sturdy plastic backing. You can opt to have the desk calendar lay flat on it's back or prop it up with a twist of a plastic stand in the rear of the calendar. The calendar is for the 2009 year and as you might imagine, runs from January 1st through December 31st, 2009. The pages have a nice glossy finish to them and doesn't feel cheap at all. In fact, the entire calendar feels like a quality product that you feel like was made with care. On each page is the day of the week, the date, a calendar of the current month as well as the following month and of course the real content of the calendar, trivia!

The trivia found in the calendar covers the gamut of Walt Disney World trivia. Each day features one trivia bit and can be a few lines in length. A nice twist is on weekends, where the desk calendar sticks Saturday and Sunday on one page, you will find a game to play. These games have a wide range of variety from quick games to play at your desk to even games where the calendar instructs you to rip the page out and bring it to the parks on your next trip to add some extra fun. It's a great idea that might actually make you look forward to Monday (assuming you don't "cheat" and look at it all right away). Speaking of fun ideas, Mongello also used his DisneyWorldTrivia.com logo and put it on the bottom right corner of every page so if you quickly flip through the pages, you can see an animation before your eyes. It's another fun and neat addition that compliments the entire product.

As always, we look for the Studios connection in any product we review and there are a number of days dedicated to the Studios with trivia from the park. It isn't overwhelming as you might expect and one has to understand that since the product is aimed at covering all of Walt Disney World, the Studios gets it's proportion of the trivia in here. Basically, there isn't a whole lot of Studios trivia to be found here but there are enough for most Walt Disney World fans. I was surprised to find some real good trivia and not the sort of trivia that most Disney World fans that have been on a site or two would know. I applaud Lou for digging deep and including lots of interesting trivia beyond the common things you might expect to find otherwise.

Overall, the desk calendar is a great idea and a smart addition to any mega Disney World fan's desk. The product retails for $11.95 and is cheaper than most guide books. I'd love to see the next version come with even more trivia (of course), as well as color on the pages. I found the box to be so nicely decorated that it would really add to the whole product to have some color in the pages (perhaps even photos). The fact is that anyone who will likely read this review is the target audience of the desk calendar, namely Disney Internet fans that just can't get enough of the mouse and this is a great way to get your "Disney fix" for the day. While it won't blow you away, it's a fun distraction that you can keep with you to help your day go by and keep you sane for one more day as you get closer to your next trip to Walt Disney World.

Overall score: 7 out of 10

Link to buy this calendar