Two’s company, Three’s a crowd…let’s make it four! PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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I love my Disney spread sheets! I have one for our itinerary, which I will eventually print out on card stock and cut into strips, one for each day. Each strip has our basic plans for the day and includes dining ADR confirmation numbers, and FP times. I know this info can be accessed on the DME app, but I don’t have a smart phone. Tom and Kayla do, but I’d rather have the info at my fingertips. And so a paper copy of my itinerary is how I do it.
The second of my spread sheets is for dining. Each of the TS restaurants is listed along with an estimated dollar amount per person. Then in the columns I multiply X 4 diners, add tax, add an 18% tip and subtract the 20% TiW (or 10% DVC) discount and then get a total for that meal. The last column is left blank so I can write in the actual amount spent and see how close I’ve come with my estimate. Sounds complicated, but it's not really too bad, and it makes it super easy to estimate what we'll be spending for meals.
The third spread sheet is really just a table that I bring with us to keep track of dining. The left column lists all our restaurant choices and across the top I have our names. The rest is blank. So at the end of the meal (or at the end of the day) I can note what each of us ordered, along with the server’s name and our overall rating of the service and the food.
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I hear you about having a paper copy, especially as our American cell phone decided on our last vacation to have issues with accessing the Internet. Smart phones are great, but to me, there's too much that can go wrong and I'd rather go old school, although I now use Word instead of Excel.
I hear you about having a paper copy, especially as our American cell phone decided on our last vacation to have issues with accessing the Internet. Smart phones are great, but to me, there's too much that can go wrong and I'd rather go old school, although I now use Word instead of Excel.
I love being able to see the trip at a glance.
And I am always tweaking little things. I try not to print them out until the last week or so to include any last minute changes.
With the 25th anniversary of DVC this year, they announced some after-hour parties at various parks that would be open only to DVC members. We were happy to find out that one of the parties was scheduled for September. The Safari Spectacular takes place at AK, 4 times during the month of September, from 9:30 until midnight. One of the parties is on September 13th, the day before we leave.
It is a complimentary event, but still requires reservations. I was able to secure those on July 6th, the first day they were available. The party includes: select attractions, (with KS closing at 10:30 for the animals safety), a DJ dance party, exhilarating entertainment , complimentary cookies, chips and ice cream, and 25th anniversary merchandise available for purchase. They have not said how many people they are allowing per night, so I'm not sure how crowded it will feel. I was hoping as part of the "exhilarating entertainment" we would get a chance to see the new nighttime show (whether it be Jungle Book or Rivers of Light), but that is looking doubtful right now. They still have not extended Jungle Book beyond September 5 and I’ve heard rumors that RoL may not be ready until 2017. So, I guess we’ll just wait and see.
And then a few days later was our 60 day mark…
I made our FP+ on July 9th. I got everything we wanted, no surprise there really. With the lower crowds in September I kind of expected that I wouldn’t have any issues.
We got Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, and Tower of Terror for our afternoon at DHS on our arrival day.
Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise for MK.
The next day at AK we got Kilimanjaro Safari, The meet and greet at Adventurers’ Outpost, and Expedition Everest.
DHS again, ToT, TSMM and ST.
Our first Epcot day we have Mission Space, Character Spot and Soarin’.
DHS again for RnRC, ST and ToT.
Then our next day at MK, Peter Pan, Mine Train and Pirates.
Last day is Epcot with Spaceship Earth (If we haven’t already done it two or three times!) and Frozen Ever After.
We’ll see about getting a 4th and 5th FP each day once the first three are used.
Then I remembered I could do online check-in! So I did that as well, with the only request being an upper floor. I figured I’d already phoned in our request for a corner room so I just left it at that.
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.
Nice going with the Safari Spectacular! Sounds like a fun event. Looks like you did well with your FP+ ressies!
__________________
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!
Glad that the Safari Spectacular dates worked out for you! Can't wait to hear what you think...we are going to the later one.
Your FP+ plans look wonderful as well!
We are booked for the Safari Spectacular on September 22nd. So I can't wait to hear what you think of it. I'm hoping there will be some fun and rare characters out to meet. And hopefully it's not too crowded!
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I may do something like this for the F&W fest as you can get these at various locations to use for food and beverage!
I have one for our itinerary, which I will eventually print out on card stock and cut into strips, one for each day. Each strip has our basic plans for the day and includes dining ADR confirmation numbers, and FP times. I know this info can be accessed on the DME app, but I don’t have a smart phone. Tom and Kayla do, but I’d rather have the info at my fingertips. And so a paper copy of my itinerary is how I do it. 
Each of the TS restaurants is listed along with an estimated dollar amount per person. Then in the columns I multiply X 4 diners, add tax, add an 18% tip and subtract the 20% TiW (or 10% DVC) discount and then get a total for that meal. The last column is left blank so I can write in the actual amount spent and see how close I’ve come with my estimate. Sounds complicated, but it's not really too bad, and it makes it super easy to estimate what we'll be spending for meals. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Smart phones are great, but to me, there's too much that can go wrong and I'd rather go old school, although I now use Word instead of Excel. 
The party includes: select attractions, (with KS closing at 10:30 for the animals safety), a DJ dance party, exhilarating entertainment 
, complimentary cookies, chips and ice cream, and 25th anniversary merchandise available for purchase. They have not said how many people they are allowing per night, so I'm not sure how crowded it will feel. I was hoping as part of the "exhilarating entertainment" we would get a chance to see the new nighttime show (whether it be Jungle Book or Rivers of Light), but that is looking doubtful right now. They still have not extended Jungle Book beyond September 5 and I’ve heard rumors that RoL may not be ready until 2017. 
So, I guess we’ll just wait and see. 
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