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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I've driven to WDW for pretty much every trip I've stayed on property as an adult. It's only 8.5 hours (though we budget 10 hrs for stops/traffic). But we decided to just see what was out there for flights to save some time. Well, we booked some really cheap SW flights. I am so excited to get to experience the Magical Express for the first time!!
But my main thing is that I feel kind of like a newbie since flying will be a whole new experience compared to driving. Thankfully, SW allows 2 free checked bags per ticketed customer. I want to limit us to 3 checked bags for the trip down so that I can have a 4th (if needed) for souvenirs on the way back (and because it alwasy just feels like our stuff has at least doubled by the time we pack up to head home).
I've also heard of people using Garden Grocer for things like bottled water. Or Amazon Prime to have things shipped there.
I guess I just want to know your best tips for flying to WDW! Please share
We *love* DME! I love being able to drop the bags off at our home airport and not see them again until they show up in the room. And with flying SW, you can use Resort Airline Check-In and check your bags at the resort for the return trip home so you don't have to schlep them at MCO. (I hate dragging luggage around an airport - can you tell?) They have totally spoiled me from wanting to travel anywhere else. I think that may have been their plan all along!
But what I really wanted to say was THANK YOU for the Amazon Prime comment. We wanted to get a case of water, but didn't have enough for a Garden Grocer order... never thought about ordering water via Amazon and having it delivered to Disney!! DUH!
My only other comment, is since you don't normally fly - remember you can't carry on "snow globes", etc. We shipped home the one I bought a few trips ago and have been careful not to purchase things I couldn't put in the carry on unless I want to pay to have Disney ship it home. (At least if they ship it and it breaks in transit, they replace it. I don't trust 'breakables' in my checked-bag(s). )
But what I really wanted to say was THANK YOU for the Amazon Prime comment. We wanted to get a case of water, but didn't have enough for a Garden Grocer order... never thought about ordering water via Amazon and having it delivered to Disney!! DUH!
Glad to help! I think I read that on one of Tom Bricker's blog posts! I thought it was a great idea, too!
Yes I totally agree MDE is the best as long as you get there during normal operation time you don't even get your luggage you just go to check in for the MDE and mysteriously your luggage will appear safe and sound in your room. You have to allow 3 hours after you land but that has never been an issue for me as we always take the early flight and I don't make dinner reservations until 7:30 - 8:00.
Put your magic band on while you're on the airplane or as soon as you get off the plane. I assumed I wouldn't need it until I arrived at the resort and had to dig it out of my bag to check in for DME.
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Don't forget the dos and don'ts of air travel. For your carry on, don't forget the 3-1-1 rule(3 ounce or less liquids and gels that has to fit in a 1 quart bag and 1 per person) . The 3 ounces has to be in a 3 ounce or less bottle too, you can't have just a little bit left in a bigger bottle. I don't know which (if any) makeups fall under the 3-1-1 as I don't wear any.
On the airplane, if it has wheels, it's considered a carry on and must be put in the overhead bin, including backpacks with wheels. A plain backpack without wheels is considered a personal item and can be put under the seat in front of you. Everything must be stowed during take off and landing - you will not be allowed to carry anything in your lap during that time. Carry ons are also limited to two per person.
For SWA, unless you've purchased early bird check in (EBCI) go online 24 hours in advance to check in for your best boarding number. With the increase in EBCI, do not be surprised if even at 24 hours, the best is boarding group C (this may be more likely to happen coming home versus going - it happened to us last year).
We've taken "solid" snacks (whole fruit, muffins) and sandwiches with us to cut down on the airport food expense. Drinks will have to be purchased after security.
Boarding begins 30 minutes before the flight time so try to be early.
I'm sure there's more I could say but I can't think of it offhand. This is just stuff that either has happened to us or I've observed happening.
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Put your magic band on while you're on the airplane or as soon as you get off the plane. I assumed I wouldn't need it until I arrived at the resort and had to dig it out of my bag to check in for DME.
I don't remember needing my Magic Band to get on the DME bus...maybe this has changed since our trip in 2012. I will note this for our next trip in March!! Thanks!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CinderAbby
On the airplane, if it has wheels, it's considered a carry on and must be put in the overhead bin, including backpacks with wheels. A plain backpack without wheels is considered a personal item and can be put under the seat in front of you. Everything must be stowed during take off and landing - you will not be allowed to carry anything in your lap during that time. Carry ons are also limited to two per person.
My carry on (and DH's backpack) both have wheels and I have always placed it under the seat in front of me...never been an issue. Maybe I've just been lucky. Our bags fit easily and neatly under the seat so we get on the plane, get to our seat, tuck our bags in place and off we go!! But then, I've never flown SW...maybe that's the difference.
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
I don't remember needing my Magic Band to get on the DME bus...maybe this has changed since our trip in 2012. I will note this for our next trip in March!! Thanks!!!
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I needed mine last May (2014). Fortunately I also had a paper voucher, as I was part of a split-stay (booked by someone else) and when my band was scanned, they had me going to the second resort of our stay!! I pulled out the voucher, which showed the first one, and I went on my merry way with no further delay.
So it doesn't hurt to have your voucher, if you have one, but DME will look for your band otherwise and it's just a quick scan now and on to your bus!
Give yourself time in the airport. I like to allow two hours from parking the car to checking the luggage, to security and getting a snack and a water before boarding.
Also put a reminder on your calendar for 24 hours before departure and return home so you can remember to check in on Southwest.com and get your boarding groups. The southwest App on your phone makes this really easy.
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Great tips already! I got the SW app right after we booked our flights and already have reminders set on my phone for 24-hours before! I'm an A-type planner like that
On the toiletries, do those rules only apply if you are putting them in your carry-on? Or even in your checked baggage?
On the toiletries, do those rules only apply if you are putting them in your carry-on? Or even in your checked baggage?
As stated by Darlene, the rules only apply for carry-ons. Checked can have as much fluid as you want.
I always pack my fluids in two ziploc baggies. Place in one, squeeze out air, zip it up. Place that in another bag and repeat. I also usually wrap those bags up in my washable clothing. I've even gone to the extreme of placing my clothing in ziplocs.
Can you tell I had some liquid leak onto my clothing once? Yeah - not fun.
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On the toiletries, do those rules only apply if you are putting them in your carry-on? Or even in your checked baggage?
The 3 ounce rule is only for carry ons. Checked luggage you can put the bigger bottles with whatever amount you want. To lessen what I bring home, I try to take smaller bottles I will finish off while on vacation so I can toss them and create more room for souvenirs.
We have used WeGoShop for the last 5 trips for groceries. We have never had any trouble. And their rates are very reasonable.
I suggest packing surprise snacks for the flight. Get each persons favorite candy, but don't tell them until your in the air. I always surprise my wife and son with their favorites!! Now, they anticipate getting each each trip.
As for SW, we are flying them this trip too. I spoke to a SW rep, they don't issue seats. It is merely, first come first gets. So, i suggest paying for the Early Bird Check-in. It doesn't guarantee a seat, but you are more likely to get in the first boarding group.
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