Sarilas' O-fficial Pre-Trip Report -1/2009 (a.k.a. Vacation, Take TWO!) - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
It's been a slow planning week around here while I wait out my ADR's...
Beth, thank you (and welcome aboard!). She truly was my best friend, which made it all the more difficult. And while it's still not easy, time has eased the pain. And I feel like she's with me all the time now. ...so that does help.
A newlywed friend of ours got a surprise weekend trip to Disney World as a gift from his new FIL. They found out last week, went this past weekend and so have returned this week. They went to Epcot, then one of the water parks, then MK on their last day. My husband got the low-down from the guy who went (who has never been there before), and he said that while they had a good time, they couldn't see themselves spending more than three days there.
Well I'm not surprised! My DH was CRACKING UP as I got all in a huff and defended WDW - How COULD they enjoy it properly when they did no research? Had no travel guide? NO ADR'S! For heaven's sake it's BARBARIC!
The past couple of months have been terrible with the hours being released...I actually used the December 2007 hours when I started to plan my ADR's for our December trip...
When the new ones came out I had to do a little tweaking but not much....hope the hours come out for you soon.
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.
I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about this!
A few weeks ago my husband and I had changed our family suite room over to two adjoining rooms (we all remember that, right?). BUT when I called to change back, the woman I spoke to was super nice BUT a bit confused. She told me I could call for my dining reservations in JUNE. She thought the 180+10 meant 190 days... not understanding at all myself, I called Disney Dining and got another fantastic CM who explained it to me correctly and we got a good laugh about it. But she also gave me a VERY interesting piece of advice: She said that sometimes, if you get a reservationist like herself, if you call at say, 184 days prior you can book all your ADR's! She said sometimes the computer will let you book three or four days before the 180 day mark- which would explain WHY Cindy's Table or Chef Mickey's seem to book in 6 minutes flat - people can book them a few days before if they have a willing reservationist! THAT'S A HOT TIP FOR US ALL!
My 180 day mark is July 14; she suggested I try calling the Friday or Saturday before (the 14th is a Monday) and try booking. She actually told me HOW to word it! Got your pencils ready?!
"I know that people can call on the 180th day and the reservations are already gone, and I know I'm still a couple of days out but if you could please try and book my reservations for me, I was told that sometimes the computer will allow it..."
So, that Friday was yesterday... Did I get any ADR's early?!
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.
DANG it's hot in Nashville today! Thank heaven for evening thunderstorms.
After getting my hairs cut, buying a new printer (time to design t-shirts!) and perusing possible new cameras (drool!), I'm back to answer the "did she/didn't she" question!
SHE DID!
The second CM totally confirmed what the original CM told me and the computer DID allow her to make my ressies three days early. Now, the first time I called I got a woman who was none too keen to try and help me out, but after a second call and some deep breathing exercises, I WAS successful! (Not everyone will bother to see if they can do it, but it does happen, I can confirm!)
So here is our current ADR list (subject to change, but of course):
We got Cindy's Table, Le Cellier, Cali Grill... everything we'd wanted!
Now, I have to say that this list was based on our assumption of wanting to visit WDW with the DxDDP. This may change.
We had a 'dry run' tonight at a chain restaurant during dinner (I was SO not cooking in this heat) and let me just tell you that I don't think we could eat that way two or three times a day for 8 days! Especially not in the middle of the day... So we're re-thinking our dining options and may go with the regular ol' DDP and pocket the difference for treats and snacks (it's about $1000 difference for the whole lot of us).
Glad that you called back and succeded in getting the ADR's you wanted...they all look great. I have often thought about the DxDDP but am afriad that while I am sure we could eat a day or so of big meals a day, it would be too much food by the end of the week.
We had two TS on two days this trip (very spread out - breakfast and then late dinner) and found that we hardly even had snacks on those days...
I am sure you will figure out what will work for your family...
Way to go on scoring all your ADRs. That is so interesting about getting them early and I will need to try that for next time. Good luck with your decision on the dining plan. I don't think we could eat all that food each day either.
__________________
Margaret
I am not a Disney employee. The postings here are my own and do not represent the positions or opinions of the Disney Company
Glad that you called back and succeded in getting the ADR's you wanted...they all look great. I have often thought about the DxDDP but am afriad that while I am sure we could eat a day or so of big meals a day, it would be too much food by the end of the week.
We had two TS on two days this trip (very spread out - breakfast and then late dinner) and found that we hardly even had snacks on those days...
I am sure you will figure out what will work for your family...
I think it would be different if the kids were all older, and there wouldn't be so much playing and running... when that time comes I'll just cross my fingers that the DxDDP still exists! LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by piratefreak
Way to go on scoring all your ADRs. That is so interesting about getting them early and I will need to try that for next time. Good luck with your decision on the dining plan. I don't think we could eat all that food each day either.
I guess it never hurts to ask- definitely something I didn't expect to happen!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plans
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Starla4436
I love all the plans! Your ADR's look yummy! Good idea about possibly reconsidering the deluxe dining plan its definitely not for every family.
Yeah, I really WISH it would work for us, but again, maybe when the little ones are older and it's less about the actual rides and more about the experience... and the FOOD!
So, it's been a busy weekend in these parts and I've got a couple of updates!
First of which is, we had to take my Dad to the hospital Friday and he'll be there till at least Monday or Tuesday. Now I should warn you that this is a pretty regular occurrence; Dad lives with us now and he's a pretty sick guy. (Colon cancer in remission, missing a leg at the knee, diabetes, kidney failure... he's a hot mess.) This particular hospitalization is kidney related; he's about thisfar from dialysis and needed some treatment. But I digress.
Friday was stressful with the whole "convince Dad that going to the hospital for such a long period of time is a GOOD thing" (he hates it), so I did a little online retail therapy that evening. How could I NOT with another big ol' Disneyshopping.com coupon code?!
Wanna see?
Okay, so this first purchase is for the Alice in Wonderland party DH and I are planning. It's a necessity!
These are for Christmas gifts for the little girls, Lexi and Stasia...
This is a birthday gift for Stasia (August 10!) to familiarize her more with the princesses... some of them still kind of freak her out a bit.
Both of the little girls will have matching shrugs for those cool Florida winter mornings...
This top for Lexi...
And this one for Stasia...
PJ's for Stasia...
And for Lexi!
Both of the girls will get one of these: It says "Magical Moments" with the princesses (and we'll alter it with their names or something on the back):
And last, but certainly not least, this will be for Tatiana (a similar color to the little girls' shirts!):
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Margaret
Linear Mode
