Pixie Dusted Honeymoon August 3rd - August 10th, 2009 PTR - Page 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, your plans look great. Just wanted to mention becuase I know you are trying to cut costs but you wanted to try the Tonga Toast, you can get Tonga Toast at Captian Cook's which is the food court at the Poly, this way you could either use a CS credit or pay OOP.
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I've never planned a vacation like this before so all your help has been invaluable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, your plans look great. Just wanted to mention becuase I know you are trying to cut costs but you wanted to try the Tonga Toast, you can get Tonga Toast at Captian Cook's which is the food court at the Poly, this way you could either use a CS credit or pay OOP.
Thanks so much for the tip. I made my ADRs today and am booked at Kona, but maybe I'll switch to save a little $. We're already planning on paying OOP for this one so we don't use a TS credit, but I never thought about using a CS instead.
I was able to make my ADRs on Tuesday morning, but haven't had a chance to post as its super busy at work. I didn't have any park hours at the time so I went by what the hours were last year. Luckily, after the park hours were released (around 5-6 hours AFTER I made my ADRs) I didn't feel like I needed to change anything. We'll see if I have a different opinion once TouringPlans gets around to updating their crowd calendar.
So here's how the ADR process went down. Monday night I was talking to my DH2B and said we needed to go over the dinner plans for our honeymoon as I needed to make the ADRs in the morning. So I got out the spreadsheet I had made and he laughed! He couldn't believe that I actually had a spreadsheet. He's not as into planning as I am, but once we started talking he found the spreadsheets very helpful. He had no idea how much planning I had done for the honeymoon. He basically said "Whatever you want dear" as he'll eat whatever. His two requests were that he still wanted to do the Luau and eat in the Castle. I told him about the so-so reviews for the food at CRT and he said he didn't care. It was a special occasion and we can't eat in a castle at home. So nothing really changed with my plans after talking to him, but I figured it was polite to at least let him think that he had some input.
So with the plans finalized (well except for those darn hours) I went to bed. Since Disney opens their phone lines at 7 AM it would be 6 AM here in MN. I get to work by 7 AM so I'm up by 5:30 AM getting ready. I had set an alarm on my phone for 5:55 AM to start calling. I was in the middle of putting on make-up when the alarm went off, but I dropped that and called. "Our office is closed". So I continued applying foundation and waited a minute. "Our office is closed". More make-up waited another minute. "Our office is closed". Waited again. Finally! I got through and answered the prompts and then braced myself for a long wait as I had read about people on the boards having to wait on hold for up to a half an hour. I put my phone on speaker and continued getting ready. Since it is a busy time at work I really had to try and get there by 7 AM, but if reservations made me late so be it! Once I put the phone on speaker I heard the first few bars of a song and then someone answered. I was shocked! I was maybe on hold for 20 seconds.
The first thing I did was say we wanted CRT for dinner on August 4th. I was fine with anytime between 5 and 8 PM. The woman helping me looked it up and said "Oh my. You should be fine you called right at 7 AM. CRT can't be booked yet!" Then she realized that she hadn't maximized her screen and there was, in fact, a 7 PM opening at CRT on the 4th. She said it was one of the last openings for that day. Thank goodness I listened to all of you here on the boards. I would have never called that early in the morning without the advice from you all!
All of the other reservations went fine and I got everything I wanted. I wasn't picky about time except for the one breakfast we wanted. I asked for dinner anytime between 5 and 8 PM and was able to get right around 7 PM every night. I figured that was fine. We're adults and can go to the later reservations. Leave the earlier ones open for people with kids.
So here's what I ended up snagging:
Aug 4th - CRT @ 7 PM
Aug 5th - Teppan Edo @ 7 PM
Aug 6th - Kona @ 8:55 AM
Aug 7th - Luau @ 8 PM
Aug 8th - Crystal Palace @ 7 PM
Aug 9th - Coral Reef @ 7 PM
The CM I talked to was very helpful and a pleasure to work with. I'll admit I had read a lot of complaints about making ADRs recently and I wasn't hoping for the best experience, but maybe I just ended up lucky as it was a great experience! I was off the phone in 17 min and that included the time it took me to take the short survey.
Now I've got all this waiting to do before the trip. How on earth am I going to pass the time?
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Not really an update, but yesterday I got the first item that we bought specifically for the trip: rain poncho's. We bought a bunch of them in the dollar spot at Target. Not that this is a big purchase, but it was the first purchase for the trip! My DH2B thinks its strange how excited I got about buying those. Especially since he knows I'm hoping we won't have to use them.