Arrrrgh...Buffalogirl's Pre-trip Report! - Page 13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Dental When you can get past the pain I'd spend the time pre-packing and making autograph books. You can get chap-board ring-bound books at a scrapbooking store & have at them with stickers/ gel pens/ glitter pens/ paint pens/ etc to theme them pirate or whatever else you wish. Turning it into a whole-family project makes a bit of a mess (at least it does in my family) but burns a good amount of time. You could even make a Disney count-down chain & do something each day towards preparing for the trip (yes, we're ocd over-planners in our household)
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Dental When you can get past the pain I'd spend the time pre-packing and making autograph books. You can get chap-board ring-bound books at a scrapbooking store & have at them with stickers/ gel pens/ glitter pens/ paint pens/ etc to theme them pirate or whatever else you wish. Turning it into a whole-family project makes a bit of a mess (at least it does in my family) but burns a good amount of time. You could even make a Disney count-down chain & do something each day towards preparing for the trip (yes, we're ocd over-planners in our household)
We always do the Deluxe Dining Plan, and we are booked for it this trip- in 25 days. My question is, is it possible to call and downgrade to the basic dining plan now, and get a refund for the difference? Will there be any penalty?
I'm just thinking that we are not nearly as big of eaters as we used to be, with the exception of DH, and when I added up what we would save by using the basic DP this year instead, after paying for breakfast and a few things OOP, we'd still save about $350 vs getting the DxDDP. DH this morning said he still wants the DxDDP, thinks it's worth it, loves all the dining experiences.
But, I think we're just gonna waste so many snack credits, so many appetizers and desserts- or have sickly full bellies, and I'd like to spend a little more time in the parks and less time eating this year. We normally take advantage of that table service time, use it as our down time for breaks from the parks during the day, times to chat and such, but since we're going when the weather is not as hot, I don't think we'll need to do that as much.
Thoughts? TIA
So, that means cancelling many of our ADR's which would be a pain in the tush, and missing some character breakfasts. But, it would also mean not having to get up so early on most days, and now that the boys are older, they really like their sleep!
I am so torn, I just don't know what to do. I suppose we really should have thought that out before we booked- but I did go back and forth on it several times. It's just we've always done the DxDDP, and the boys & DH didn't think the basic dp would be enough food. I really wish there was a plan in between the Basic & the Deluxe. Maybe with two daily credits that you can use at any restaurant- TS or CS, and 2 snack credits per day, plus the resort mug. That would be so much better!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
For us, just trying to eat all the food on the regular DP was alot!!! The boys kept saying after each TS meal....I am not going to eat that much tomorrow!!
Just found this pre trip report. Loved the stories and pictures. Sorry to hear about all of the medical conditions. Glad that things are better now. I don't have MIL so I don't have to worry about that. Glad to hear PIF. Can't wait to read more!
Well, after much deliberation and trying to convince Tony and Michael, they still insist that they Deluxe DDP is the way to go, so we are sticking with it. FYI- I did call Disney, and they said you can change it up to 72 hours prior to check in for a $50 change fee.
Pirates League- Matthew is so cute about it! He asked if he could have it done the very first day, and keep the makeup on the entire vacation! I explained to him why this is not possible, and he was not too happy. So, then he asked if we could just go back and get it done all 3 times we are at MK, and again I had to explain to him why that is not possible! We are doing the $50 first mates package which gets you everything except the costume. Matthew wasn't too happy, he REALLY wants the costume! But, I just can't justify spending $125 to get the costume too. I told him we could go to Party City and see if we can get one there, or just use a red tshirt and black shorts from home. That was enough to keep him happy. For now.
I can't believe we are doing this again- but we are second guessing a couple of our dining ressies. We do this every year at the last minute. I want your opinions please! We have Wolfgang Puck Cafe booked for dinner on our DTD day, and I was thinking maybe Raglan Road would be better. Both are new for us. Thoughts? Also, On our last day we are booked for Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. I am not too thrilled with the menu there, but DH wants to try it since we've never been. I was thinking Crystal Palace would be better, we've been many, many times, but we love it there. His beef is that we are already going for breakfast that day, and also on Sunday, He said if we do that he'd want to go somewhere else for breakfast on Sunday to break it up a bit. We are already doing O'hana another day, and I'd want to stay on the monorail or in the park. I was thinking 1900PF which we did last year. We enjoyed it, but it's not a must do. Or, CM's, we always do it for dinner, but have never done breakfast there. The whole reason we do CP though other than the great food & characters is we love getting in to the park before opening! Thoughts?
Amy, I answered your CP lunch question on another thread. I can understand your DH's point of not wanting to eat at the same place several times. I can also understand you wanting to get into the park early.
What about WCC?
We ate at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant (not the Express) and the food was fabulous. My parents always eat at the Express and they love it.
Amy, I answered your CP lunch question on another thread. I can understand your DH's point of not wanting to eat at the same place several times. I can also understand you wanting to get into the park early.
What about WCC?
We ate at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant (not the Express) and the food was fabulous. My parents always eat at the Express and they love it.
Thanks- we're already doing WCC on Sunday night! That's the problem with the deluxe ddp- you run out of restaurants after a while, not that I am complaining, it's alot of fun getting to experience so many, it's just a pain to coordinate all of them and keep all of us happy.