A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

would not happen again . So Disney World is surrounded by virgin acres . The tri

p to the Magic Kingdom from the highway is itself a five-mile ride , complete wi

th tollbooth . Then you have to take a tram to the booths to buy tickets and the

n a boat ride to an admissions gate , and then you have to traverse Main Street 

USA to get to any real rides . This can be an exhausting experience . You can av

oid a lot of the hassle by staying in one of the Disney hotels , which run the g

amut from reasonable to ridiculous in price . Disney resort guests not only rece

ive free transportation to the parks but also enjoy the early opening times . An

d resort guests never have to worry about the parking lots closing . ( Begin opt

ional trim ) We stayed at the Grand Floridian , Disney 's deluxe hotel , which i

s but a five-minute monorail ride from the Magic Kingdom and about 20 minutes by

 monorail or bus from Epcot and MGM . The Floridian set us back about $ 350 a ni

ght . But my theory was that , on a day when the crowds make me retreat to my ro

om , it would be best if the room did not look like a small cell at Rikers Islan

d . The Floridian delivered most of what I wanted from a luxury hotel . It remin

ded me of the racetrack at Saratoga all red turrets and Victorian balustrades af

ter Mary Poppins had taken over and banned all the betting . Very clean . Very p

roper . Lots of people in knickers . Our room was large , salmon in color and ni

cely furnished . ( End optional trim ) At some point you just have to get away f

rom the crowds , sit down , eat and relax . Arranging that is something of a fea

t , however , in peak periods when lines for a simple soda may stretch back to b

ygone days . One way to beat the problem is to apply Rule No. 4 . Book restauran

ts early . Resort guests can book up to three days in advance ; others up to one

 day . Tip No. 5 . Be flexible . Some things you just cannot plan . Rides break 

down . People have strange reactions to food and find themselves , as my daughte

r calls it , `` disembarfing . '' You just have to deal with it .

 Leonard Bernstein once scoffed at the notion that there is such a thing as a si

ngle , ideal , unimprovable musical interpretation of a piece of music . We shou

ld be similarly skeptical of the proposition , already put forward by a few earl

y reviewers , that Humphrey Burton 's fat new biography of Bernstein is somehow 

`` definitive . '' Definitive it 's not , both because the idea itself is meanin

gless and because the life in question is too complex and too recently ended to 

be definitively written about . The nearly-600-page `` Leonard Bernstein '' can 

, however , make this considerable , if limited , claim : It 's the best we have

 so far . The book is dutiful , exhaustive ( sometimes to a fault ) , respectful

 without being fawning . And to deal quickly with an issue that all Lenny fans w

ill be unworthily wondering about , it handles Bernstein 's complicated sexual l

ife a sort of strenuous omnisexuality , it seems , with a steady pull toward hom

osexuality in an unblinking but decently compassionate way . On the other hand ,

 the book is not very excitingly written and could have benefited from some tigh

ter editing . It 's a portrait , a sketch , written by a longtime friend a TV pr

oducer , not a musician who 's smart , unsentimental , who has had access to pil

es of important letters . And such letters ! Tender , hope-filled youthful notes

 to Aaron Copland , or his parents ; letters of euphoria and gratitude to his ea

rly mentor Serge Koussevitzky at the Boston Symphony Orchestra ; letters of stea

dily rising confidence to his lifelong confidante , Helen Coates ; letters of al

most unbearable conflict to his finacee and later wife , Felicia , as the desper

ate-to-be-loved Bernstein gropes with the for him especially problematic possibi

lities of marriage and monogamy . Burton gently debunks a few press-agent Lennyi

sms that have wafted unchallenged into the general consciousness . One of these 

concerns Bernstein 's supposed roots in jazz . Unlike , say , Andre Previn , who

 is a certifiable jazz man , Bernstein was really not steeped in the tradition ,

 a fact that Burton addresses crisply : `` Bernstein 's knowledge of jazz was ch

eerful and enthusiastic but essentially superficial . Jazz musicians never thoug

ht much of his gifts as an improviser . '' Burton also calls attention to Bernst

ein 's dainty total output as a composer , a fact that Bernstein himself often r

ued later in life . Burton points out that between 1957 , after `` West Side Sto

ry ' ' opened , and 1971 , when his `` Mass '' had its premiere at the Kennedy C

enter in Washington , Bernstein managed just two works : the `` Kaddish '' Symph

ony and `` Chichester Psalms . '' The two works together total less than an hour

 of music . Burton also offers a brief but instructive and clarifying view of th

e infamous 1969 party for the Black Panthers , held at the Bernstein apartment o

n New York 's Park Avenue . Tom Wolfe 's subsequent New York Magazine piece abou

t the party coined the smug term `` radical chic '' and tried to offer Bernstein

 as a comical , desperate figure , or , as Burton paraphrases it , a `` naive bu

mbler who hobnobbed with terrorists . '' The important , often overlooked truth 

was that it was Felicia 's party , and Lenny merely staggered into it . That Wol

fe 's piece , which looks increasingly weak and smart-alecky as the years go by 

, was able to create such a stir is testimony to the then-novelty of what has si

nce become a journalistic commonplace : the sanctimonious , questionably motivat

ed trashing of the famous . The book 's treatment of Bernstein 's last years pub

licly lionized , privately an impulsive , reckless widower is touching . We feel

 the regret , the self-doubt , the overextended emotional resources , but also ,

 finally , the greatness , a verdict that had long been withheld in some quarter

s but which by the end had become nearly unamimous . Burton 's book gives us , i

n sum , the first real full-length , intellectually worthy picture of Bernstein 

the man endearing , effusive , exasperating , irreplaceable . It 's a man who ga

ve classical music a humanity it needed and still needs , a man to whom a friend

 could send a telegram on the occasion of Lenny 's first audience with the pope 

that read in its entirety : `` REMEMBER : THE RING , NOT THE LIPS . ''

 Big guns John Grisham and Tom Clancy are weighing in with new beach books . So 

are Peter Benchley , Cormac McCarthy , Edna O' Brien , E.L. Doctorow and Ken Kes

ey . Here 's a look at the major fiction due out this summer . Some books may be

 in stores before their official publication date . A young lawyer takes up the 

case of a Klansman on death row in John Grisham 's `` The Chamber '' ( Doubleday

 ) . Late May . Something scary is lurking off the Connecticut shore , but what 

is it and why is it killing people ? The answers lie in `` White Shark '' ( Rand

om House ) , the latest don't-go-near-the-water thriller by Peter Benchley ( `` 

Jaws , '' `` Beast '' ) . June . Cormac McCarthy 's `` The Crossing '' ( Knopf )

 is the second book in a projected Western trilogy that began with the best-sell

ing `` All the Pretty Horses . '' An escaped IRA terrorist finds sanctuary in a 

remote house outside an Irish village inhabited by a widow in Edna O' Brien 's `

` House of Splendid Isolation '' ( Farrar Straus Giroux ) . `` The Waterworks ''

 ( Random House ) , E.L. Doctorow 's newest historical novel , is set in Gilded-

Age New York . The timing sounds perfect for this satire : In Christopher Buckle

y 's `` Thank You for Smoking '' ( Random House ) , a PR man for the tobacco ind

ustry is targeted by an anti-smoking zealot . Someone is killing Oklahoma 's sta

te legislators in `` Fine Lines '' ( Random House ) , the sixth One-Eyed Mack my

stery by PBS 's Jim Lehrer . A man who is actually a vampire kills the childhood

 enemies of his best friend in David ( `` Lie to Me '' ) Martin 's `` Tap Tap ''

 ( Random House ) . In Robert B . Parker 's new Spenser mystery , `` Walking Sha

dow '' ( Putnam ) , the Boston P.I. investigates a murder at a small repertory t

heater . `` Black Betty '' ( Norton ) is the new Easy Rawlins mystery by Walter 

Mosley , whose fans include Bill Clinton . Actress Meg Tilly makes her writing d

ebut in `` Singing Songs '' ( Dutton ) , a coming-of-age novel about a girl trap

ped in a dysfunctional family . `` Blacker Than a Thousand Midnights '' ( Hyperi

on ) , a novel about a black firefighter , is Susan Straight 's follow-up to `` 

I Been in Sorrow 's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots . '' July . Ken Kesey ( 

with Ken Babbs ) has written a historical novel about the 1911 battle for the Wo

rld Championship Broncbusting title in `` Last Go Round : A Dime Western '' ( Vi

king ) . `` Generations of Winter '' by Vassily Aksyonov ( Random House ) follow

s the fortunes of one Moscow family from 1928-1945 . Actor-turned-best-selling-a

uthor Kirk Douglas is back with a new novel , `` Last Tango in Brooklyn '' ( War

ner ) , the story of a May-December romance . `` The Gift '' by Danielle Steel (

 Delacorte ) is set in the Midwest in the 1950s . `` Rare and Endangered Species

 '' by Richard Bausch ( Houghton Mifflin ) is a collection of short stories by t

he author of `` Rebel Powers . '' `` The Unicorn Hunt '' ( Knopf ) is the fifth 

installment in Dorothy Dunnett 's saga of Nicholas van der Poele in 15th-century

 Europe . `` Arise and Walk '' by Barry Gifford ( Hyperion ) is a novel of femin

ist revenge by the author of `` Wild at Heart . '' Alan Sternberg 's `` Camaro C

ity '' ( Harcourt Brace ) is a collection of stories about a Connecticut factory

 town that has lost its factories . `` Shear '' by Tim Parks ( Grove Press ) is 

a new novel of psychological suspense by the author of `` Juggling the Stars . '

' Yet another actor , Stephen Collins , has decided to try his luck at fiction w

ith `` Eye Contact '' ( Bantam ) , about an actress suspected of murder . August

 . Jack Ryan is called out of retirement to serve as the new president 's nation

al security adviser as trouble brews in Japan in Tom Clancy 's `` Debt of Honor 

'' ( Putnam ) . Carol Higgins Clark , daughter of suspense queen Mary Higgins Cl

ark , has written a new Regan Reilly mystery called `` Iced '' ( Warner ) . Paul

 Auster 's `` Mr. Vertigo '' ( Viking ) is a novel of 1920s and '30s America . B

ill Maher , host of Comedy Central 's `` Politically Incorrect , '' has written 

a book about five aspiring comics in the mid- '70s called `` True Story : A Come

dy Novel '' ( Random House ) . Thomas Mallon ( `` Aurora 7 '' ) re-creates the s

tory of Henry and Clara Rathbone , the young couple who sat in President Lincoln

 's theater box the night he was assassinated , in `` Henry and Clara '' ( Tickn

or & Fields ) . `` Dixie City Jam '' by James Lee Burke ( Hyperion ) reprises Da

ve Robicheaux from `` In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead . ''

 Is `` Goodnight Moon '' making you loony ? Does the phrase , `` And a comb and 

a brush and a bowl full of mush , '' run ' round your brain like some Lite Mixed

 Variety tune piped into the dentist 's office ? Maybe it 's time to experiment 

with some new bedtime fare . Oh , don't desert the great green room of Margaret 

Wise Brown 's classic . Just supplement `` Goodnight Moon '' with some other boo

ks that have a going-to-bed theme . Here are a few of the newer ones : My favori

te is `` Good Night , Gorilla , '' by Peggy Rathman ( G.P. Putnam 's Sons , $ 12

.95 , 36 pages , ages 1-4 ) . After sharing it with a giggling toddler , you 'll

 wonder why more picture books don't have a sense of humor . The text is incredi

bly simple . A sleepy zoo keeper is making his last round , saying `` good night

 '' to each of the animals as he walks past the cages . First on his route is th

e gorilla , which surreptitiously snatches the key ring from the zoo keeper 's b

elt . The gorilla unlocks his cage and follows the keeper through the zoo . As s

oon as the keeper says , `` Good night , Elephant , '' the gorilla uses a color-

coded key to release the elephant . The same thing happens with the lion , hyena

 , giraffe and armadillo , who fall into line behind the gorilla . Soon they 're

 all tiptoeing behind the keeper as he walks to his house , opens the door and h

eads down the hall to his bedroom . When he climbs into bed next to his sleeping

 wife , she stirs and says , `` Good night , dear . '' Imagine her surprise when

 each of the animals , curling up for the night in her bedroom , responds , `` G

ood night . '' On the next page , actually a double-page spread of inky black , 

all we see are the whites of her frightened eyes . She flips on the light , and 

the animals flash sheepish grins her way . But she gets up and leads them back t

o their cages anyway . Everyone settles into the right cage the elephant with hi

s Babar doll , the armadillo with his stuffed Ernie from Sesame Street . Everyon

e , that is , except gorilla . Kids will cheer his great escape , sensing that i

t just might be a nightly occurrence . `` Good Night ! '' written by Claire Masu

rel , illustrated by Marie H. Henry ( Chronicle , $ 12.95 , 32 pages , ages 2-6 

) is about nighttime rituals . As a little girl gets ready for bed , she gathers

 up all her dolls and stuffed animals . There is no doubt who 's in charge . `` 

Silly Oscar , '' she tells the clown doll . `` It 's not time to play cards ! It

 's time to go to bed . '' Her stuffed dragon can't watch any more TV . Her rag 

doll can't read any more books . This little girl is giving the orders , and kid

s will enjoy sharing her sense of empowerment . When dogs dream , their legs pum

ping like pistons , are they catching squirrels and nabbing rabbits ? Naw. `` Dr

eaming '' by Bobette McCarthy ( Candlewick Press , $ 12.95 , 32 pages , ages 3 a

nd up ) stars a salty dog who dreams of sailing the ocean blue . His wicker bed 

is transformed into a rowboat : Awash and away , I drift through the night , Thr

ough mizzle and moonlight , Through darkness , through light . Eventually he dri

fts back to the seaside home of his human family , where a little boy has been w

aiting for him to wake up . There 's nothing like cuddling up with your kid to r

ead a slow , sleepy story , and then waking up three hours later cramped in the 

corner of her twin bed , a book on your nose and a crick in your neck . Kids who

 live for those nights when they outlast their parents will enjoy `` A Quiet Nig

ht In , '' by Jill Murphy ( Candlewick Press , $ 12.95 , 32 pages , ages 3 and u

p ) . The Larges a family of elephants that debuted in Murphy 's `` Five Minutes

 ' Peace '' are celebrating Mr . Large 's birthday . Mrs . Large gets all the ch

ildren ready for bed early so she and Mr . Large can enjoy a quiet dinner by can

dlelight . But before they retire , the kids talk Dad into reading them a story 

. He conks out , and they persuade Mom to finish the book . She 's snoring a few

 pages later , and the kids are quite happy to tuck her in next to Dad on the co

uch . After all , Mom and Dad did want a quiet night in .

 Llamas will carry the load on a three-day guided hiking and camping trip in the

 Chugach Mountains just east of Anchorage , Alaska , beginning Sept. 16 . Each h

iker will have his or her own llama to carry a tent , sleeping bag and pad , per

sonal items and backcountry cooking supplies to the Williwaw Lakes area , normal

ly ablaze in color and ripe blueberries in September . The hiking pace is relaxe

d , with time for photography and nature study . Meals are cooked by guides , us

ing fresh ingredients at campsites . Cost : $ 375 per person including all campi

ng supplies , meals and llamas . Not included : air fare to Anchorage and shuttl

e service to the trail head . Contact : Llama Buddies Expeditions , P.O. . Box 8

74995 , Wasilla , Alaska 99687-4995 ; telephone ( 907 ) 376-8472 . -0- A six-day

 road trip for baseball fans begins Aug. 23 in Boston at the Copley Square Hotel

 , from which participants leave for an evening game in Fenway Park . The next d

ay , sports buffs motor-coach to Cooperstown , N.Y. , to visit the Baseball Hall

 of Fame . The trip continues with two games at Yankee Stadium in New York , one

 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and one at Camden Yards in Baltimore , with

 motor-coach transportation from site to site . Participants eat at local restau

rants . Cost : $ 675 per person , double occupancy including game tickets , hote

ls , ground transportation and guide . Not included : all meals and air fare to 

Boston and from Baltimore . Contact : Sports Tours Inc. , P.O. Box 84 , Hatfield

 , Mass. 01038 ; tel . ( 800 ) 722-7701 . -0- For fans of Southern history , hor

ses , antiques and regional architecture , two five-day bicycling trips through 

the heart of Kentucky 's Bluegrass Country leave Lexington on Oct. 16 and 23 . C

ycling is on traffic-free back roads with gentle terrain for riders of any abili

ty . Participants stop at Kentucky Horse Park and Shaker Village in Pleasant Hil

l , and tour Harrodsburg , Kentucky 's oldest town . Participants spend nights i

n antique-furnished inns along the way and eat traditional Kentucky cooking . Co

st : $ 1,045 per person , double occupancy , including lodging , meals and snack

s , van support and guides . Not included : bike rental ( $ 109 ) and round-trip

 air fare . Contact : Backroads , 1516 Fifth St. , Suite PR84 , Berkeley 94710-1

740 ; tel . ( 800 ) 462-2848 . -0- A 49-day around-South America cruise aboard t

he 729-passenger Regent Sea will depart Ft . Lauderdale , Fla. , on Oct. 14 . Pa

ssengers will witness the total solar eclipse of Nov. 3 off the coast of Brazil 

, near Rio de Janeiro . Guest scientists aboard ship will lecture and discuss th

e eclipse , the constellation known as the Southern Cross and the so-called Mage

llanic Clouds . Participants also will see Antarctic glaciers , the Strait of Ma

gellan , Chilean fiords and the Andes Mountains , before transiting the Panama C

anal . Some stops on the tour will include St. Thomas , in the U.S. Virgin Islan

ds ; Barbados ; Santiago , Chile , and Lima , Peru . Cost : $ 5,442 from Los Ang

eles , including all meals and ship facilities . Not included : gratuities , por

t charges and optional land excursion costs . Contact : Regency Cruises , 260 Ma

dison Ave. , New York 10016 ; tel . ( 212 ) 972-4499 . -0- ECLIPSE IN BOLIVIA A 

six-day , land-based eclipse-viewing trip to Bolivia leaves Miami for La Paz on 

Oct. 31 . Tour members stay at a downtown hotel in the Bolivian capital and take

 leisurely tours of the city including the Witches ' Market . An all-night train

 trip to the `` center line '' of the eclipse 's course , between Sevaruyo and R

io Mulatos , follows . A box dinner will be provided on the train , but no sleep

ing accommodations . After the eclipse , participants will continue by train to 

the small village of Huatajata on the shores of Lake Titicaca for an overnight a

t the Hotel Inca Utama , then cruise by hydrofoil to Copacabana , Sun and Suriqu

i islands before returning to La Paz . Cost : $ 1,695 per person , double occupa

ncy , including round-trip air fare from Miami , hotels , trains , sightseeing a

nd most meals . Not included : air fare from Los Angeles to Miami . Contact : Tr

avel Bug International , P.O. . Box 178247 , San Diego 92177-8247 ; tel . ( 800 

) 247-1900 .

 Considering that the United Nations has recently created a Bosnian war-crimes t

ribunal , Joseph Persico 's `` Nuremberg '' could hardly have arrived at a more 

opportune moment . Persico , who is the author of a fine biography of William Ca

sey , displays sleuthing skills worthy of the former CIA director in tracing the

 course of the trial that sought to establish a basis for prosecuting internatio

nal atrocities . This is no dry-as-dust account , but a vivid reconstruction of 

the actions of the wartime Allies and the Nazi elite at Nuremberg . Using the pr

ivate papers of the Nuremberg prison psychiatrist , the letters and journals of 

prisoners , and accounts of the battles between the prosecutors and judges , Per

sico easily carries us into a deeper understanding of the trials . Persico 's bo

ok does suggest that justice at Nuremberg will remain a noble idea murdered by a

 gang of ugly facts . The United States designed the trials in the heady days af

ter World War II . Nuremberg was to signal not only the triumph of superior migh

t , but also the victory of superior morality . Like the United Nations and the 

World Bank , the Nuremberg trials were an integral part of the postwar new world

 order that the wise men of the American establishment attempted to create after

 1945 . Today the Un ited States lacks the confidence and the United Nations the

 power to realize that dream . The menace of a loaded gun remains more potent th

an a diplomatic brief . Still , the great merit of Persico 's book is to remind 

us that the undertaking itself was a success . Nuremberg 's most significant acc

omplishment was to confront the German people with crimes planned and perpetrate

d by the Nazis . Unlike World War I , the Germans could not seek refuge in the m

yth of a stab in the back . The trials showed that they had stabbed themselves i

n the back . Some of the most fascinating passages in Persico 's book center on 

the responses of the Nazi ringleaders to the overwhelming evidence of concentrat

ion camps and mass shootings introduced at the trials . One of the most odious c

ases was that of the former Nazi governor-general of Poland , Hans Frank . In or

der to overcompensate for his partly Jewish ancestry , Frank became one of the m

ost fervent anti-Semites among the Nazis . So determined was Frank to prove his 

loyalty to Nazism that he had all of his rema rks condemning the Jews , and boas

ting of exploiting 1.3 million Poles for forced labor , recorded for posterity .