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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Disclaimer: I’ve discovered I’m much better at PTRs than I am TRs. As always, it is still my goal to do a COMPLETE TR once we get home, but I wouldn’t count on it, haha! So, with that disclaimer out of the way, I’ll get on with the report I actually expect to finish, my PTR!
Who:
Me (Wendy), 33 – A grown-up Disney fan. My grandparents lived in Daytona Beach. So, as a child we took a couple of day-trips to random parks that I have very few and vague memories of. We were fortunate enough to take a trip as a family during the week of Christmas when I was in 7th grade and stayed at the Yacht Club. I definitely have some fond memories of that. But those memories are mostly of my family (and swimming in Stormalong Bay) than of the parks themselves. Fast-forward about 10 years into young adulthood and I made a return to the world and became instantly hooked.
My favorite Disney movie is Aladdin (Tangled as a close 2nd). Therefore Jasmine & Rapunzel are at the top of my princess list. My favorite WDW attractions are Soarin’, Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Richard, 32 – My prince (aka “husband”). His first trip to Disney was in December 2013 with me a few months after we were married. I was nervous if this man I had committed to spend my life with would enjoy (would “love” be asking too much??) my favorite place in the world. And thankfully, my fears subsided upon his first glace of Cinderella’s castle – all lit up for the season… music playing along… the man actually started to tear up. Needless to say, the trip was a success. I remember being in the gift shop at the Contemporary of all places on our first night (before he had even had that first glorious glimpse of the castle) and he said to me how much he already loved this place. I immediately sent a text to my mom, gleefully declaring my husband a Disney fan in-the-making.
Richard’s favorite Disney movie is The Lion King (the opening of “The Circle of Life” is the ringtone for him on my phone – really causes a few stares if it goes off in an aisle at Target and my phone starts wailing the African tune). His favorite attractions are Star Tours and the recently (and dearly) departed Animation Academy.
When:
April 24-30, 2016 (Sunday thru Saturday)
Where:
POP Century – not my first choice, but if it’s POP or nothing, I absolutely choose POP!
Why:
Well, the “long-awaited” part of the title is two-fold. First of all, pre-marriage, I’d been going to WDW at least once a year (many times twice) for about 8 years. However, since getting married, that hasn’t gotten to happen. As much as my husband has grown to really enjoy Disney, there’s still that whole “compromise” thing in marriage and he doesn’t want to go every single year (CRAZY). So, I’m in the midst of my longest no-Disney-trip stretch at the moment. Secondly (and bleeding over into the “babymoon” part of the title), my husband and I spent all of 2015 attempting to become pregnant. After 11 months of trying, it finally happened. We found out a few days before Christmas and we could not be more thrilled. And I just entered my 2nd trimester, so I’m breathing easy for awhile. WHEW. With all that said, this will be our “babymoon” trip. An adults-only “last hurrah” (for a while) to my favorite place on earth.
Up Next: The initial planning process + dining decisions
__________________
* Wendy *
Felicity Cadence
born 8.31.16
Last edited by Soarin829; 03-03-2016 at 09:42 AM..
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I know I said I would also be discussing our dining plans this update, but I've decided this was plenty without the dining added in. So, I will save that for next time!
On with the plans...
We didn’t decide to pull the trigger on this trip until after we’d learned about my pregnancy. We were wavering back and forth for a few days whether we wanted to go in late November (when the baby would be about 3 months old) or try and go (depending on how our taxes went) in April during my 2nd trimester for more of a “babymoon”. As comfortable as I am going to WDW, and while I think I could handle going with a 3-month old, the planner in me would have been too stressed about the unknowns to really plan the November trip. Who knows if our baby will be colicky or have any other (potentially worse) issues? I think adjusting to parent/motherhood will be its own feat. Going with a 2nd infant child? Now, that may be something we’re more likely to try and conquer.
We ended up making our decision for the (tax return-dependent) April trip and booked on 12/30 for our trip with a start date of April 24th. And spoiler alert: our tax return situation ended up fine, so the trip is most assuredly “ON” (the fact that I’m writing this PTR probably also gave it away…)! However, we still aim to make this a budget-friendly trip since we only had/have less than 6 months to save.
The decision to make this a more budget-friendly trip determined a lot of our decisions. We’re staying at POP Century, for example. I’m not exactly thrilled with that decision. However, if it’s POP or no Disney, I chose POP! And don’t get me wrong, I do really enjoy this resort. However, I think this will be my 4th stay there and I would have loved to have stayed at POFQ again if we’re repeating a resort. I’m also a tad nervous about the sleeping arrangement. My previous stay at POP with Richard, we requested a king bed room because we didn’t want to squish into a full-size for the week. I’ve made the same request this time, especially since I will be 5 months pregnant. And yes, we could sleep in separate beds. BUT, what can I say… we like each other too much to sleep in separate beds There is a downside to the king rooms, though. And that is that almost all of them come with the roll-in handicap-accessible shower. And we had water ALL over the bathroom floor last time. So, we’ll see if the request is honored. And if not… I guess we’ll be requesting a LOT of extra towels from Mousekeeping!
We also purchased tickets from Undercover Tourist for the first time ever this trip. We got them a couple of weeks ago. And now with the price hike, I think that ended up saving us about $100 on tickets (it was only about $40 before the increase, which is still good savings)! So, we’re thrilled about that. AND we recently upgraded to the premium Disney Visa (which we keep paid off). And since we haven’t been to WDW in over a year, we’ve got over 400 Disney Rewards points (so far), which will pay for most of our room at POP. Woohoo for savings!
Also, a bit of a non-trip update. We went for another doctor appointment yesterday to check on the pregnancy/baby. Everything is going great so far! AND we got to see the baby's face (more of a profile). It's amazing how detailed it already is at only 14 weeks! And I love my OB office. They do an ultrasound every visit and only charge you for 2 of them.
AND a friend of mine who is also pregnant (with a due date 5 days before mine!) tipped me off about some maternity clothes that were on sale at Sears. So, after our appointment, we went by and got some great deals! I got some jeans that were originally $50 or 60 for only $25! And 2 pairs of some cute & comfy cargo-style capris (with the cute drawstrings at the bottom) for only $14.99 each! I definitely expect to take those to Disney with us, especially the capris. So, I guess that was somewhat Disney-related!
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We love Pop but I hope you get the King size bed because the full are definitely small! Glad you're Disney Rewards will help cover the hotel cost! Great buy on your clothes.
Congrats on the tickets and Pop!! Great season the clothes!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great savings on the tickets and the maternity clothes!
Thanks! Gotta love a good deal!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
We love Pop but I hope you get the King size bed because the full are definitely small! Glad you're Disney Rewards will help cover the hotel cost! Great buy on your clothes.
Yeah, I definitely think I'd rather contend with the watery floor than the small beds!
Our budget this trip also helped determine the kind of restaurants I looked into booking for ADRs. However, with us not booking until late December for a late April trip, I was nervous about what kind of ADRs I could get. I decided to just search some of the more affordable TS places and see what I could get. I ended up pretty pleased! We’re repeating a few favorites as well as trying some new things. And I did book us one really nice TS. It is a babymoon after all (and our anniversary is the week following this trip!)!
Here is what I ended up booking:
Monday, 6:30pm
Beaches & Cream – a repeat favorite of ours! I see a No Way Jose in our future!
Tuesday, 10:30am
Tusker House – excited for this, as I’ve heard this is a good time to book so you can get both breakfast and lunch offerings. I’ve done breakfast here once with my mom, but Richard has never been.
Wednesday, 10:15am
Whispering Canyon – We’ve been here, but breakfast will be a first. I think the antics are fun when you have a group, but with just myself & Richard, I think it will be awkward. So we’ll probably decline the fun and just enjoy our food!
Wednesday, 6:15pm
Yachtsman Steakhouse – This is a repeat. We ate here on our first trip together and we both loved it (I had been one other time). It’s not something we’ll repeat often due to the cost, but I figured we could have one splurge this trip
Thursday, 8:35am
Crystal Palace – New to Richard, not to me. Can’t wait to load up on Pooh’s Puffed French Toast! It’s like eating funnel cake for breakfast… and what’s not to love about that?!
Friday, 6:50pm
Trail’s End – Not a new restaurant to me, but a new meal. I’ve only been for the a la carte lunch. New to Richard altogether.
I had an ADR booked at the Grand Floridian Café, but neither of us were particularly excited about it. So, I cancelled it already. AND now that Rivers of Light will be going on during our trip, we may or may not try to get a dining package for that (probably too costly, but we’ll see).
We kinda go back and forth on the dining plan. We love that it means it’s aready paid for up front and, therefore, don’t really worry about the price tag much. But we also like the freedom of sharing meals or ordering an appetizer instead of a dessert. And while we still drink some cokes (I’m from the south – all soft drinks are cokes to me, haha), we get water quite a bit with meals – especially considering I’m pregnant.
Once I had our ADRs secured, I went through and figured up a general cost for our meals using AllEars.net (including some QS ideas and general budget for snacks). Turns out it’ll be close to the cost of the standard dining plan… BUT the dining plan doesn’t include tip. And my figure does. So, really… the dining plan would cost more. All that to say, we’re going dining plan-less this trip and I’m excited about that decision.
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). So, I’m in the midst of my longest no-Disney-trip stretch at the moment. Secondly (and bleeding over into the “babymoon” part of the title), my husband and I spent all of 2015 attempting to become pregnant. After 11 months of trying, it finally happened. We found out a few days before Christmas and we could not be more thrilled. And I just entered my 2nd trimester, so I’m breathing easy for awhile. WHEW. With all that said, this will be our “babymoon” trip. An adults-only “last hurrah” (for a while) to my favorite place on earth.
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Pixie Dust
Looking forward to hearing all about your plans.
There is a downside to the king rooms, though. And that is that almost all of them come with the roll-in handicap-accessible shower. And we had water ALL over the bathroom floor last time. So, we’ll see if the request is honored. And if not… I guess we’ll be requesting a LOT of extra towels from Mousekeeping! 
Sounds like paying out of pocket will be best for you all this trip. 
Hybrid Mode
