Four Days Off Christmas Edition Complete 1/13/11 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hmmm, again, already? Yes intrepid readers, I just finished the Four Days Off Thanksgiving Edition. I know, but I didn't get to see the Christmas Storytellers or the Candlelight Processional.
I asked my boss if there were any really slow weeks in December. Turns out the week before Christmas would probably be pretty quiet. I took pretty quiet as permission to take off. My boss doesn't care. His last day is the 16th, he's moving to San Diego. Someone else will have to deal with me not being there for four days.
So I booked a Southwest flight and a room at the Celebration Hotel to take advantage of the Marriott discount. I figured I could Priceline a rental car for $150. I've done it everywhere else. I paid $8 a day in New Mexico. I figured wrong. I looked at rental cars today and an economy rental was $400 for 4 days with every discount I could think about applying. I tried the Marriott discout, the DVC discount, hotwire, priceline and MouseSavers.com - Disney Discount Source - Disney World Discounts, Disneyland Discounts, Disney Cruise Discounts. No luck anywhere. So now my $200 room for 4 nights wasn't saving me any money.
Last night I looked for an AP rate at a value . . . no luck. The best I could do was a $700 room at CSR or CBR. I don't love either of those resorts. I don't hate them, but that's what I paid at the Contemporary in November.
So I restructured my trip--I changed my flight to Thursday night, instead of Friday morning, which will allow me to work a double on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I changed my hotel booking for three days and searched for a rental car. Guess what--still $400. So I went back to the WDW website to see if I could do better than $600 for a room. The Bohemian Celebration charges a $10 resort fee and $10 for parking per day. So three nights with parking and the resort fee was $207. That plus the rental car added up to $607. Still less than a moderate, but not by much.
I got lucky! An AP rate had opened up overnight at All Star Sports for $330 for 3 nights. I believe the rate was $87 plus tax. I booked it and canceled my stay at the Celebration Marriott. Transportation from the airport is free. If I have to take a taxi ride or two it will still be cheaper than the car rental. The Contemporary to AK was only $25. However, my memory is that the bus service at the All Stars is pretty good.
I have to go back and change my dinner reservations because I was planning on having the convenience of a car so dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe was not a transportation nightmare . . .now it is . . .
Right now I have a reservation at La Hacienda de San Angel for Monday night, the Hollywood Brown Derby for Tuesday night and the Grand Floridian Cafe for Wednesday night. According to Walt Disney World Crowds and Travel Planning | TouringPlans.com I've made good park decisions for the week. I need to look for a MK restaurant reservation for Wednesday night so I don't waste time leaving the park to eat. For some unknown reason AK looks to be busy all week--so I don't know that I'll make it there. I'm looking at calling and booking a tour like I did for the last trip. I don't know which one, but I'm working on it--I'll start with trying for Keys to the Kingdom, think about doing one of the holiday tours or Wild by Design.
I'm off to look at dinner reservations for Wednesday night.
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Well everyone I've got my dining reservations squared away! I'm going to do Epcot on day 1 after my 11:30 arival. I have reservations at La Hacienda. I'll do the Studios on day 2 with a dinner reservation at HBD--I hope to catch Fantasmic at 8pm for the first time in 3 years. I scored at LTT reservation at 8:20pm for Wed night. which is fine because Holiday Wishes is at 10 and the second parade is an hour later!
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Oh yay, another one! I can't wait to read more! Sounds like all around you've gotten some great Disney magic so far, and had great luck sorting out both resort and dining reservations!
OK. This is actually causing me physical pain! Zack and I were supposed to be at WDW from the 17-24, but Zack needs his wisdom teeth taken out (ching, ching) so we downgraded to three days at Disneyland. But if we would have gone to WDW, I have good reason to believe that a good friend from the East Coast was going to join us for a few days and now I find out you'll be there too. Sob! Make sure to sit outside the Candlelight Processional on Monday night because Trace Adkins is narrating. That voice! Swoon! It's where I would have been, cocktail in hand. I'll be toasting you from California because our dates now match up perfectly (unfortunately on opposite coasts.) Have a great trip Heather!
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
OK. This is actually causing me physical pain! Zack and I were supposed to be at WDW from the 17-24, but Zack needs his wisdom teeth taken out (ching, ching) so we downgraded to three days at Disneyland. But if we would have gone to WDW, I have good reason to believe that a good friend from the East Coast was going to join us for a few days and now I find out you'll be there too. Sob! Make sure to sit outside the Candlelight Processional on Monday night because Trace Adkins is narrating. That voice! Swoon! It's where I would have been, cocktail in hand. I'll be toasting you from California because our dates now match up perfectly (unfortunately on opposite coasts.) Have a great trip Heather!
OH NO! Tell Zack I said hi and hope he's not in too much pain. I'm really sorry I won't get to see you . . . any chance of May/June? Pretty please post me lots of pictures of Disneyland at Christmas . . . hmmkay? I will promise to raise a glass on Monday night!
Sounds like you've got a great lineup! Now if only the next few weeks could hurry along, right??!!!
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Tanya
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I booked Keys to the Kingdom, but I didn't manage to do it for Wednesday morning like I was hoping. Instead I ended up with Tuesday morning at 9am. I'm going to have to change some of my plans around, but I think it will be okay.
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I'll be toasting you from California because our dates now match up perfectly (unfortunately on opposite coasts.) Have a great trip Heather!
I haven't finished your thanksgiving trip yet. Congrats on your new trip. They should give out awards for this.
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