A Magical 10 Night Trip, The 10th Month and The Orlando Trifecta- PTR - UPDATED 10/2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Saturday, March 25th I cancelled my Royal Pacific reservation with a water view room. Perhaps, some of you may think I am crazy but there is a reason! I checked the Royal Pacific website and there are once again standard king bedrooms for $243 per night, which is what I wanted originally. The total is $108 less than my original booking, so that saves me a bit for a four night stay. I need to save a bit as there are other things I want to do such as the Halloween Horror Nights R.I.P Tour.
Sunday, March 26th I went on the SeaWorld website and purchased the Unlimited Quick Queue Ticket for $19.00, which is their version of the Express Pass. I’m not sure how crowded it will be here on my day, but I thought it would be a good idea to get this as I’ll get on the popular attractions rather easily with minimal wait. It will help with the assortment of roller coasters in the park and others.
I tried to link my resort reservation at the Dolphin on MDE and could not do it. It was getting quite frustrating. I called Disney reservations and they corrected it. The reason being is that I wasn’t using Google Chrome as my browser as it was Firefox. Weird! But, it’s all good now.
Sunday, April 2nd I changed the time of my ADR at Emeril’s Tchoup Chop at the Royal Pacific from 8pm to 7pm, on Open Table. I will have a long day and probably be up since 3am and I think it’s a good idea to go with an earlier time as I’ll probably be a bit tired by now.
After this, I wanted to look in to transportation options as there will be a few of them I will need. From home to the airport and the return home I’ve already set up with my work colleague Sharon as she has done this for me before, including my October trip last year.
I first checked Mears for town car, taxi and shuttle services. Unfortunately, you can’t book more than 180 days out and currently, I’m only a few days short of that. From Orlando Airport to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal is $71.10 by town car including a 10% online discount, taxi is $44.60 estimated rate and shuttle is about $20. As I’ll be starting my trip, I want to go in style and will probably go by town car to my resort and the extra money is worth it. I used a Mears town car last year to the B Resort and enjoyed it. I also looked at Quicksilver and a town car and they are $70 from the airport.
I would also need transportation from the Royal Pacific to the Dolphin Resort on Sunday, October 8th in the am, when I begin my WDW stay. The estimated fare by taxi is just over $33. Shuttle service is not available from resort to resort. A Mears town car is about $42 and not too much more than a taxi and a better ride, so something to consider.
On my departure day, I will most likely use the Mears shuttle service as my trip is over and not concerned about traveling to the airport in a luxurious way. I can only book this by phone and can only make this reservation the day before at the earliest. Fare is about $20.
I still had one other transportation option I needed and that was from the Royal Pacific to SeaWorld. Universal does have transportation available but may be a bit of a hassle. There is a shuttle available from my hotel and stops at the other Universal resorts and dropped off at a central location. From there you take another shuttle to SeaWorld. There is no set schedule, so there may be a lot of waiting involved. A taxi would be $20. Another option is Uber or Lyft and should be somewhat cheaper and I think that’s the option I’m favoring. Tara actually suggested this to me to SeaWorld as she and Muffin did this from their Universal resort recently!
I decided I will book a Quicksilver Transportation luxury sedan from Orlando Airport to the Royal Pacific Resort. Cost is $70 not including tip. I booked this online. I will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours. I’m not ready to book my transportation from the Royal Pacific to the Dolphin yet as I’m still considering my options. I have plenty of time, so no rush.
I wrote up some of my daily plans for Universal including time spending in the parks, resort time, ADRs and after dinner plans. Except, for some of the bookings such as Halloween Horror Nights, many of the plans later in the day and at night after dinner will hopefully be at a relaxed pace. I also began my plans for WDW as well. The park hour schedules were not out yet for WDW, so I’m sure my plans may be a bit modified down the road once they are released.
I made an ADR for Emeril’s Restaurant at Universal on CityWalk. This is for lunch on Saturday, October 7th at 1 pm. I’m not sure if I’ll wind up keeping this as I plan on a big dinner at BICE this evening at the Portofino Resort, so we’ll see. There are also some other lunch options in Universal and CityWalk that aren’t quite as filling and may be the way to go. I still can’t make a reservation for BICE on Open Table. It seems you can only make these up to 60 days out, so I’ll wait until August for this!
NEXT: ADR Time and Why Can't I do This?
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!