Tripleplay Pretrip report- May 26th thru June 9th! - UPDATED 5/25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Tripleplay Pretrip report- May 26th thru June 9th! - UPDATED 5/25
Wow! I can’t believe that it is that time already! It seems like I’ve been waiting for this trip to arrive for YEARS, yet we have just over a week left to wait. So much has happened since that very first reservation was made. Some good, some horrible, but we’re in a perfect place now to really enjoy and appreciate our good fortune and health by spending some time at our favorite place…Walt Disney World!
Our trip plans began as a spring break vacation. Since my eldest DD is now in high school, we just can’t justify taking her out of school. Too much to make up! We avoid the hottest months, since we are Alaskan and basically melt like butter in the sun! I had actually planned a 7 night Disney cruise for spring break, but once I got to shopping for airfare I went into sticker shock! I could’ve afforded it, but I just couldn’t justify $900 per person for a crappy itinerary (not the cruise, but the flights! 16+ hours!) and short trip! Not when I usually pay about $550-$600 per person. Sooooo…..I cancelled our cruise (this was the 3rd cruise that I’ve booked and cancelled!), got our money back, looked at the dates that I could choose from, and chose the earliest dates that I could get without pulling the girls out of school. I purchased the plane tickets FIRST this time, and figured I’d work out the rest…..I’m no dummy! (We’ll probably still melt but it won’t be dead of summer yet….I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.)
Let me give you a little info about us! My DH and I are lucky to have two easy-going girls. My eldest, Hailey, is 15. She loves art, anime, creating furry plush masks, and living on our computer. I’m lucky that she loves to travel, or she might rebel at being drug away to the same place every year! When asked what she looks forward to the most, she say “Shopping in the Japan pavilion!” I don’t even know much time we spent in that store during our last trip…..I’m sure we’ll probably double it now that she’s actually taking Japanese in school.
Her little sister, Sheridan, is 7. She is quiet with strangers, but once you are her friend she won’t leave your side for anything! She loves nothing more than to be playing with her friends outside. When asked what she looks forward to the most, she says “Swimming in the pool!” Figures. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, it seems like the weather is lining up to cook us poor Alaskans this year, so she may get her wish on a larger scale than even she would expect!
Then there’s me! I just turned 40 and I LOVE to get out of Alaska for a little while! I love to travel, and married a man who HATES to fly. And we live in Alaska. So I do what I thought was very bizarre when I was a young married person……I leave my DH at home for vacations! He’s actually gone a couple times, but it really isn’t his thing. He enjoys renting a nice house and car, and enjoying the everyday life. He does NOT enjoy crowds or theme parks. It just got to the point that the pain of traveling outweighs the parts that he likes…try as I might I could not convince him to come on this trip. Sigh…….I will have fun, but it would be awesome to share it with him!
Oh yeah! When are we going? I got all side tracked there….We’ll be flying out on May 26th. We’ll be dragging our sunburned, wore-out selves back on the plane on June 9th. Yeah, you read that right! 14 days baby! I’ve got plans, boy do I ever…..but you’ll have to wait…Sunday night and I’ve got to work tomorrow!
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So, now that you know who and when, let me tell you about my plans! Well, at this point, these WERE my plans! I have honestly revamped this trip more than all my other trips put together!
To start out, I decided to do a split stay. I figured that with 2 whole weeks, we could afford to try a couple different places to vary our vacation experience. We’ve never stayed at a deluxe resort, and I knew that we really wanted to focus more on Epcot than in previous trips. The allure of Stormalong Bay convinced me to give BC a try! BC had the awesome deal where it was 40% off (or it may have been 45%, don’t remember). So I booked a standard room for 7 nights, with 7 day park hopper tickets. I wanted the flexibility to run into Epcot every night if we wanted. So that took care of the first week. We like to rent homes in the Highland Reserve golf community. The homes are so beautiful, and they back onto the golf course. So I contacted the new owner of a home that we rented a few years ago and reserved it for the second week! The house has far more room than we require, with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The pool is huge, and has an attached hot tub. Amazingly, they only charged me $160 per night, including taxes. This house is beautiful and so spacious that when we rented it in 2007, with 9 people, we all were amazed that we never felt crowded, and we spent quite a bit of time together at the house. I would heartily recommend renting a house to anyone with kids or extended family. I must say that I have been able to get better deals by renting from the owners, rather than going through a large company. They have property managers right in Highland Reserve. It’s so wonderful to have room to spread out! My DH, DBIL and DSIL would get the kids to bed and enjoy sitting out by the pool or in the hot tub with our FABs! That’s the life…….
That was my plan for awhile. Then I started thinking about the beach! In all the trips we’ve made down to Florida, we’ve NEVER been to a beach! The one year that we really planned on doing the beach, the weather got bad and beach erosion became a problem, so we skipped it that year. So I carved out 2 days to stay at Vero Beach by lopping off 1 day from each of my other ressies. That would wrap up our trip.
So that was that! BC - 6 nights, HR house - 6 night, Vero Beach - 2 nights!
It was the perfect lineup, but now I started dreaming about something else……..do I dare?
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I had actually planned a 7 night Disney cruise for spring break, but once I got to shopping for airfare I went into sticker shock! I could’ve afforded it, but I just couldn’t justify $900 per person for a crappy itinerary (not the cruise, but the flights! 16+ hours!) and short trip! Not when I usually pay about $550-$600 per person. Sooooo…..I cancelled our cruise (this was the 3rd cruise that I’ve booked and cancelled!), got our money back, looked at the dates that I could choose from, and chose the earliest dates that I could get without pulling the girls out of school. I purchased the plane tickets FIRST this time, and figured I’d work out the rest…..I’m no dummy! (We’ll probably still melt but it won’t be dead of summer yet….I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.)
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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