Pre-Trip Report We're Going To Disney - For the FIRST TIME! Feb. 16-Feb. 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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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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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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Pre-Trip Report We're Going To Disney - For the FIRST TIME! Feb. 16-Feb. 19
Well it's official we have booked our first Walt Disney World Trip!!! We will be staying at Coronado Springs for the first two nights (Feb. 16, and Feb. 17) and then will be staying in Animal Kingdom Lodge (Feb. 18) in a Savannah View Room!!!!!! The cast of characters will include ME (age 13 almost age 14 - I know rather young - I'll be writing the majority of the TR), and my Dad (age 52 - he'll be adding into the TR on occasion!). We are also known as Fozzy (from the muppets) and Baloo (from Jungle Book) respectively!
Here's Me ... (sorry for the hideous picture - haha - it's on our fire escape - this picture was also taken about a year or a little more ago!)
And here's Dad (He's Australian BTW - If there are any Aussies on the board he wanted me to mention that)
We will be flying Southwest (leaving Feb. 16 at 7:20 AM from LaGuardia Airport - NYC and arriving in Orlando at 12:50 p.m) - and on the way back we will also be flying Southwest but opted for the Business Select option since it would allow us to check it when we could and still be assured we got into group a for boarding (leave Feb. 19 at 1:50 from Orlando and arriving in LaGuardia at 6:20 pm).
On our first day in Disney will be going to Magic Kingdom - and just go exploring. Probably will get fast passes at the rides that are super crowded. That night we plan to either chill at the pool (we are major water people as you will see in the next paragraph) or do a little downtown disney exploring!
On our second day we will be going to Blizzard Beach first thing in the morning - and going on all of the hot rides! We opted for the park hopper option so when it starts to get really crowded we plan on heading out, grabbing some lunch and maybe checking out Animal Kingdom (the only park I really requested to see - I REALLy want to try Expedition Everest) or maybe Epcot depending on what mood we are in.
On our third day we will be going to Typhoon Lagoon (told you we were water people ) and have the same plan as day 2 in that we will explore the water parks in the morning into the afternoon and then go back and explore around the other parks! We also are checking out of Coronado Springs that morning and having Disney (thanks Disney) transfer our luggage to AKL.
That night we will be checking into AKL and spending the rest of our time at Disney there. That night we have the only ADR we have made and that's at Boma!
On our fourth and final day we will be spending our time at AKL enjoying the animals, the pools, and the amazing atmosphere. A perfect ending to a hopefully perfect trip!
Anyway - will be adding pictures, more notes, and more as we get closer. Will update as soon as we receive updates and will definitely write throughout our trip!
Baloo will also probably be updating sometime in the near future!!
We can't waaaaiiiittt! Thanks for reading!!! Hope I didn't bore you
We have posted our day by day schedule on page 3 - first post - thats our next "official" post if you want to keep reading!!
Update-
Sadly we just found out that Disney's Blizzard Beach is shut down in February - BUT Typhoon Lagoon will be open - so our plans will change and Day 2 will probably look more like a mix of Epcot or Animal Kingdom or another park depending on the EMH!
We just made our one and only ADR for Boma on feb. 19th at 6:05 pm. We figure that will give us enough time to explore the hotel and the pool both before and after dinner!
We didn't make more ADR's since we decided to hit up a supermarket Tuesday night and save money, money, money that way. Instead of spending it on food will be spending on souvenirs, souvenirs, souvenirs (did I mention souvenirs) and maybe a few fun extra things (who knows!).
Anyway will post when there are more updates - thanks for reading!!
to the board! Great start. We've stayed at both CSR as well as AKL in a variety of different type of rooms. Hope you enjoy both resorts as much as we do. - CSR pool much better than AKL.
Are you doing any dining reservations?
Look forward to reading more pre-trip report details.
to the board! Great start. We've stayed at both CSR as well as AKL in a variety of different type of rooms. Hope you enjoy both resorts as much as we do. - CSR pool much better than AKL.
Are you doing any dining reservations?
Look forward to reading more pre-trip report details.
Thanks! The pool does look a little better at Coronado - that's why we ended up doing two nights there! Even though the first disney booking agent we spoke to told us there were no rooms available there (except for junior suites ) the next day I looked online - lo and behold there were rooms available! We called and got our caribbean beach booking changed over to Coronado (am I rambling here??)...
Anyway so far we have one ADR at Boma for the night we are staying at AKL. We are looking into getting another couple at CSR. Thanks for reading!!!
and great start! I have stayed at CSR with my family for 3 years in a row. I can tell you the pool is awesome and my kids just love the slide! Boma is a great ADR but I would recommend eating elsewhere than CSR IMHO. There are so many great places to eat at the parks, especially if you're getting the dining plan!
Your plans are looking great! AKL is my favorite resort as there is nothing like seeing animals outside your room windows. Boma is also one of my favorite restaurants at WDW. Sorry about Blizzard Beach!
and great start! I have stayed at CSR with my family for 3 years in a row. I can tell you the pool is awesome and my kids just love the slide! Boma is a great ADR but I would recommend eating elsewhere than CSR IMHO. There are so many great places to eat at the parks, especially if you're getting the dining plan!
That's what we heard - we might head over to another resort or depending on the EMH when we're there maybe eat in one of the parks! I wish we were getting the dining plan - but because that means you have to buy your tickets directly from Disney it wasn't going to work out (they really should offer it as an add-on to room-only reservations)...
Anyway sorry for rambling - thanks so much for reading!