Adventures Down Under take on the World!!!!!!!!! A Pre Trip Report Jan 2008 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Adventures Down Under take on the World!!!!!!!!! A Pre Trip Report Jan 2008
Hi Everyone! My name is Jess and i am from Sydney Australia. I am very nervous because this is my first ever Pre Trip Report! I am only new to the boards and i have spent many hours thus far reading some amazingly funny pre trip reports. I am not sure i have what it takes but i figured i need to give it a go.
I have so much information and advice that i want to share with you all.
Firstly, I’ll begin with what is already booked.
We will be at WDW from the 2nd of January till the 13th of January staying at Pop! I am so excited i have read lots of great things about this resort.
We are then going on the Disney Cruise Line from the 13th -17th of January!!! i think i am even more excited about this!!!
Me Jess (26)
I am a primary school teacher, i think that is called elementary teacher in the states. I absolutely adore teaching children and knowing that I am creating wonderful learning opportunities for them. I enjoy my job and i love seeing their happy smiling faces. I am 26 years old and i will be married for 4 years by the time I aarrive in the world. I am married to a wonderful man, my high school sweetheart.
I am completely obsessed with anything disney!! (More on that Later)
DH Murray (26)
Murray is also a primary school teacher. He is not as disney obsessed as i am but he is definately a fan. His main passions in life are animals, especially frogs, snakes and turtles.
Previous Trips
I am very fortunate to have travelled to many disney parks. Coming from Australia, it is pretty expensive to get anywhere. It is costing us $6000 just to get to Orlando in January.
I have been to DL, WDW, Tokyo Disney and Hongkong Disney as well.
I was last in WDW in 2000. I came over as part of an international exchange program. I worked as a cast member for three months and i lived on property. I worked in AK. (Ill tell more details about this in a later post if people are interested).
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
My husband thinks i am crazy. He doesn't understand how i could spend hours planning for something that is so far away. When I told him that we had to plan our ADR's 180 days in advance he nearly had a heart attack. He thinks i am nuts!!!!
I on the otherhand, have had a ball searching through reviews and menus. I am so excited to try all of these wonderful resturants when I am there.
We decided to do the Disney Dining Plan (Yummy!!!!)
We have decided to go with the dining plan. I worked out that it will save me roughly $300. My husband is a coeliac (he cant eat gluten). Gluten is found in foods such as bread, pizza, pasta, cakes etc. :scared: As these foods are such a big part of the whole disney experience ie hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers, we figured that at least on the DP there is food he can eat.
180 Days ADR's here I come!!!! (well so i though so)
I have been waiting for today since i booked in April. I guess when you book a trip so far out, all the little milestones and events seem really big. Today is 180 days until we hit the world. I stayed up till 11pm and made sure that I called at exactly 7am orlando time. I have all of my ADR's ready and I am about to burst. After counting down from hours, to mins, to secs to go I finally dialled the number. When i spoke to the cast member she informed me that i was one day early. I got the days muddle because it is 180 days in Australia but you guys are 1/2 a day behind us in America. My husband was on the floor in a fit of laughter. He thought it was so hilarious. He later comforted me and reminded me that now i get to get excited tomorrow ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, here are the proposed ADR's
01/02 Spoodles @ 7pm
01/03 Chef Mickey's @ 6pm
01/04 Le Cellier 7pm
01/05 Sci Fi @ 6pm
01/06 1900 Park Fare @ 7pm
01/07 Mama Melrose @ 6:30pm
01/08 Crystal Palace 8am
01/08 Tony's Town Square 5pm
01/10 Boma @ 7:30pm
01/11 Chef de France (4th Wedding Anniversary Dinner)
01/12 Ohana's Breakfast 7:30am
So.......what do you think? Please let me know i hope that they are all good choices. I really researched so i feel like they are. I also had to choose resturants that catered for my husbands needs.
With all this delicious food i am dreading the amount of weight i am going to put on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 I think i better commit myself to loosing at least 10kg (not sure what that is in pounds) before i go. There you go i said it. Now all i have to do is stick to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry if i am rambling, i just love to talk......especially when it concerns disney!!!!
Ill be back tomorrow to let you know if i got the ADR's! Here's hoping!!!:
First Welcome to the boardds!!!
Second, we would to hear the censored version of being a CM.
Third, ADR look scrumptious!
Fourth, let the planning continue!
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
If today is an indication of how excited i am going to be in WDW....I am scared!
After all of the mix up over these ADR's, today was finally the day for me to book. I spent all day checking and changing my mind. I think i ended up with the exact same list that i started with in the first place!!!!
Anyway, i managed to stuff it up again and once again my husband was on the floor in a fit of laughter. I kept ringing and ringing and didn't understand why the dining was say that it was closed. I was ringing at 5am Orlando time. I muddled up the conversions and called 2 hours early.
Anyway it was now 9pm Sydney time and i was on the phone to disney. The other FOUR!!!!! times i have called in the last couple of days i have gotten straight through to a cast member. Today when i called it said that there was a high number of callers and to expect a wait!!! I am away on holidays at my parents holiday house and now i am sitting on hold to AMERICA!!!! Thankfully I was only on hold for 10 mins.... singing away to the lovely disney music. (I think they whould record guest on hold and then play back there singing it would be so funny).
After all of this suspense, i guess you are dying to know if i got my reservations. I am happy to report that i got all of my reservations except for one. I even managed to get all of the times i wanted. Tony's Town Square will be under renervation from Jan 5th so i missed out on that one. I replaced it with Whispering Canyon Cafe which i am really happy about because i have heard great things about that. So here is the final list......
01/02 Spoodles @ 7pm
01/03 Chef Mickey's @ 5pm
01/04 Le Cellier 7pm
01/05 Sci Fi @ 6pm
01/06 1900 Park Fare @ 6pm
01/07 Mama Melrose @ 6pm
01/08 Crystal Palace 8:05am
01/08 Whispering Canyon Cafe 7:30pm
01/10 Boma @ 7:30pm
01/11 Chef de France 7pm(4th Wedding Anniversary Dinner)
01/12 Ohana's Breakfast 7:55am
I want to go there right now. If today was any indication of how excited i am going to be i am a little bit scared. After i got off the phone i called four people chanting "I got my ADR's". My dad and sister thought i had gone mad and the other to said"WHAT ON EARTH IS AN ADR!!!!"
I am so glad i have all of you lovely people who understand me and are interested in my disney planning.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
sounds great Jess
I wouls also love to hear about your experiences as a CM ( I was one for about 3 weeks too!)
welome to the boards and have fun planning
we can answer any questions you may have
hurry back with more
Well today i called to talk to the disney cruise line reservation centre. FIrstly my cast member was so helpful and friendly. I love when that happens. I am all booked on the 13-17th of January 2008. I was originally booked for a category 12 but today i upgraded to a category 11. She even gave me my room number. We will be staying in room 7009! i am so excited. She told me that it was a very good room and location. DOes anyone know if this is true? I also made all my arrangements on transportation and i am going to use the disney cruise line transer bus. I am so excited i can't believe i got my room number and an upgrade all in one day!
About This Page: 
I am very nervous because this is my first ever Pre Trip Report! I am only new to the boards and i have spent many hours thus far reading some amazingly funny pre trip reports. I am not sure i have what it takes but i figured i need to give it a go.
Alice in Downunderland
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Gluten is found in foods such as bread, pizza, pasta, cakes etc. :scared: As these foods are such a big part of the whole disney experience ie hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers, we figured that at least on the DP there is food he can eat. 
I think your ADRs look great.......I hope you were able to get them all 
to hear the censored version of being a CM.
Linear Mode
