Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Dreaming of a Disney spring break! THIS SECTION COMPLETED
Dreaming of a Disney spring break
Pre-trip report – part one: maybe April would work better...
Dates: Thursday 7 April – Sunday 24 April Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (38) and DH Mark (45) Destinations: Walt Disney World and a cruise on the Disney Dream! Resorts:
Thursday 7 April – Tuesday 12 April: Beach Club Villas
Tuesday 12 April – Thursday 14 April: Villas at Wilderness Lodge
Thursday 14 April – Sunday 17 April: Disney Dream cruise
Sunday 17 April – Tuesday 19 April: Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas, Jambo House (TBC)
Tuesday 19 April – Sunday 24 April: Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas, Jambo House (last two nights concierge) Meets: a lot! Celebration: enjoying the Disney magic with friends
I always seem to start these reports with no real introductions, but don’t worry, this time there will be introductions a plenty, as there are so many players taking up roles in this trip report!
First off, I’m Cheryl and I’m a Disney-aholic, just like most people here on the PassPorter boards. I’ve always had a soft spot for anything Disney, but my love of the place really took off on our honeymoon back in 1999, which was the first time either myself or my wonderful husband Mark had stayed on Disney property. We were hooked from that moment on.
We said, as we booked that honeymoon, the wonderfully naive words, “there’s no way we’d ever pay to stay in a deluxe resort”, as we thought there was no way to justify the price they charged for them, so we chose what was then Dixie Landings and today is Port Orleans Riverside instead. It was a charming enough place and definitely a wonderfully romantic choice. However, a few days into our vacation, we went to explore some of the other resorts. The second we stepped inside the Beach Club, a new love affair was born and we both fell head over heels for the place.
We returned there in 2000 and 2002, the vacation where we bought into the Disney Vacation Club, with the Beach Club Villas (of course! ) as our home resort. We’ve added on points three times since then, which gives us lots of lovely points to play with. Our trips to Disney, which were going to “every other year” when we joined the DVC (another wonderfully naive saying!) turned into annual pilgrimages and, in some years, more than once a year. Additionally, we visited Disneyland and fell in love with that park, so returned a couple of years later. Disneyland Paris became a semi-regular place to visit, certainly in years when we couldn’t make it to the States anyway.
By 2008, I’d found a great deal to go to Hong Kong, so we were able to sample Hong Kong Disneyland and, for our 10th wedding anniversary, the greatest present, a trip to Japan, the country I’d always longed to visit. It lived up – and in some cases exceeded our expectations – and the same can definitely be said for Tokyo Disney, with Tokyo DisneySea becoming our favourite Disney park, even higher than our beloved Epcot.
We also managed to fit in a couple of Disney cruises along the way, starting with a three night one in 2004 and then graduating to the inaugural Mediterranean cruise in 2007, which was an amazing experience. We knew that more cruises would be on the way.
So that’s us. Over the last ten or so years, we’ve both become real Disney addicts and over that time, I’ve found a wonderful home here at the PassPorter message boards. After joining in June 2002 and not posting much at all for the next six months, I dived straight in and found I loved helping people with any questions that I could answer. It was the start of a beautiful friendship with the message boards and many, many beautiful friendships with the people who hang out here.
The best of those is with Wendy (wendyismyname) and it’s only right I tell you all about her, as it’s partially down to her that we’re taking this trip when we are. She e-mailed me, from memory, either late in 2002 or early 2003 – she can probably remember much better than I can. We e-mailed every day and would speak on the phone from time to time, but it took us a number of years to meet up and we didn’t see each other until our fall 2006 trip and it was so emotional to finally meet her. Sadly, we didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with her. It was with great joy that I got an e-mail from her the following spring, saying that she and her husband Ben would be coming down to Disney for one night only that December and would be spending the time with us!
It’s fair to say that we had an absolute blast with them that day, although we were all exhausted, partially due to all the running around we did that day and also partially due to the ridiculous humid temperatures we encountered for mid December. When plans were announced for the Decade of Dreams tour in May 2009, Wendy announced that she was going to go with her daughter Gabby and I said words to the effect of “it’s a shame I can’t go with her” to Mark. He told me to get on and book it before he changed his mind and I contacted Wendy. Poor Gabby never knew that she was originally booked to go on that trip, as things were quickly changed around and suddenly we were spending the best part of a week together.
We had a ball together and with all our PassPorter friends that week, so much so that I managed to talk her into coming back down for another night with Ben during our December trip and, once again, we had so much fun with them. It was in between those two trips that the exact timing of this trip was really born...
In December 2007, we were at Disney at the same time as some of Mark’s family and, after that trip, they talked about how much they’d loved it and how they wanted to return. We asked them when and they started to talk about spring 2011, which seemed fair enough, although admittedly a heck of a long way off. I told them that May was a good time to visit, based on our experience in May 2004, as it wouldn’t be too hot. Well what did I know?
I discovered just how hot early May now is in Florida during the Decade of Dreams trip and immediately realised that a May trip would not be a good idea, especially not when kids were involved. The heat and humidity really got to me, so I began to re-think our plans a bit, thinking maybe April would be better. That’s when I started to wonder if our trip could tie up with Wendy’s, as I knew she was planning on going back to Disney with her family in early April.
I’m sure Wendy will chime in with her own update, but I just wanted to at least introduce her family, as you’ll be hearing these names a lot, of that I have no doubt. There’s her and her husband Ben, who we’ve met a couple of times already and love. He’s so much fun! Then there are the kids, Josh is the eldest at 16 and Carlee is 15, while Michael is 7 and Gabby is 6. Hope I’ve got that right this time, my friend...
I did some searching online and discovered that Easter is stupidly late in 2011, about the latest I’ve ever known it. It’s literally the last weekend in April. I did a bit more research and discovered that the schools over here would be breaking up for their Easter holidays two weeks before Easter, which is roughly the time that Wendy was looking at going. Wow, this was all coming together so well!
Next: what do you mean we can’t use our points anymore?
Can't wait to hear more about your LONG trip!! And I always love hearing about everyone's history related to their love for Disney!
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Tanya
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Great start, Chez! I'm really bummed I won't get to see you guys this year. I tried to work something out to pop down for a long weekend, but it just didn't pan out. I'll hopefully get to see you guys next year. But I will really love reading about all the fun you're gonna have!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Great start, Chez! I'm really bummed I won't get to see you guys this year. I tried to work something out to pop down for a long weekend, but it just didn't pan out. I'll hopefully get to see you guys next year. But I will really love reading about all the fun you're gonna have!
I'm so sad we're missing you. Do keep December 2012 free, as I hope to be back at WDW then for my 40th! Maybe we'll see you this side of the pond on one of your travels as well?
I'm so sad we're missing you. Do keep December 2012 free, as I hope to be back at WDW then for my 40th! Maybe we'll see you this side of the pond on one of your travels as well?
I will definitely be around to help you celebrate your 40th! I don't think you've got plans to be in Italy in late May/early June, so it'll have to be 2012 for us. And there's Tokyo in 2013 as well!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
I will definitely be around to help you celebrate your 40th! I don't think you've got plans to be in Italy in late May/early June, so it'll have to be 2012 for us. And there's Tokyo in 2013 as well!
Well, you never know about Italy... I'd have to check airfares... we could possibly do it in a day!
Glad 2012 sounds like a goer and that you haven't been put off Tokyo by recent events. to everyone out there.
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) as our home resort. We’ve added on points three times since then, which gives us lots of lovely points to play with. Our trips to Disney, which were going to “every other year” when we joined the DVC (another wonderfully naive saying!) turned into annual pilgrimages and, in some years, more than once a year. Additionally, we visited Disneyland and fell in love with that park, so returned a couple of years later. Disneyland Paris became a semi-regular place to visit, certainly in years when we couldn’t make it to the States anyway. 
It was with great joy that I got an e-mail from her the following spring, saying that she and her husband Ben would be coming down to Disney for one night only that December and would be spending the time with us! 
When plans were announced for the Decade of Dreams tour in May 2009, Wendy announced that she was going to go with her daughter Gabby and I said words to the effect of “it’s a shame I can’t go with her” to Mark. He told me to get on and book it before he changed his mind and I contacted Wendy. Poor Gabby never knew that she was originally booked to go on that trip, as things were quickly changed around and suddenly we were spending the best part of a week together. 
There’s her and her husband Ben, who we’ve met a couple of times already and love. He’s so much fun! 
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If you spot us, be sure to say hi! 
Maybe we'll see you this side of the pond on one of your travels as well?
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