Before You Go: Read the Kingdom Keepers

One thing we do to fuel the excitement about our upcoming trip is to read great Disney-themed books. We read the Kingdom Keepers straight through over one weekend right before our 2007 Walt Disney World trip. It was riveting for all of us, except my youngest son (who was 4 at the time).
Five Orlando kids are chosen to be models for holographic hosts (called DHI's) in the Walt Disney World parks, but soon find themselves being transported into the parks at night to fight off classic Disney villains who are trying to take over. 
It was exciting to get to Walt Disney World and visit the rides we had read about in the book. We found ourselves giggling like crazy when we rode It's a Small World, and looking for villains in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. 
The Kingdom Keepers does have some scary scenes. In the It's a Small World scene, the dolls come to life, and they are definitely bad guys. The pirates in the story act like, well, pirates. It's probably most appropriate for tweens and older (10 and up), although my 7 and 8 year olds thought it was fantastic.