First trip to the Grand Canyon...suggestions welcome! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
First trip to the Grand Canyon...suggestions welcome!
We leave in about 6 weeks for our first trip to the Grand Canyon!!! We are flying from Nashville to Phoenix, AZ and will get in fairly early in the day on Friday, May 14. We are planning to drive leisurely toward our condos in Pine Top hopefully seeing some sights on the way. I have uncharacteristically done very little in the way of planning for this trip as it is my sister's baby and her desire to go out there, but it is getting close and we're all getting into planning mode.
I think on the way we were going to try to see the crater and possibly the petrified forest?? Then set up for the week in Pine Top and use that as our base of operations to see what we can on day trips. Our Grand Canyon days are Monday and Tuesday....we have booked a couple hotel rooms with partial views of the south rim and are planning to try to do sunrise, midday, and sunset viewings of the GC as well as some type of tour there.
My husband says he does not want to spend all day just looking into a large hole regardless of whether it is the most amazing hole on earth. 1 hour of hole gazing and he is going to be ready to do something else. We have discussed mule/burro trips to the bottom (my sister will likely not do this), several of us would love to raft at the bottom (my sister does not want to get wet though she is open to waiting for us while we do any activity we want. We are getting some positive feedback from a helicopter ride possibility, and my sister mentioned yesterday that she thinks the jeep rides sound awesome to her.
Can anyone give pros/cons of any of the above? Any must sees in this area? Any discounts or special offer advice as far as purchasing National Park passes and like?
Any and all suggestions/advice very welcome. I have never been to this area of the country at all! My farthest west was South Dakota and farthest south was Wyoming so everything here is completely new to everyone in our travel group and we want to really experience it all as fully as possible. THANKS!!
Oh wow - you'll have an amazing time. It's such a stunning place.
On our most recent trip to the Grand Canyon, we flew out there from Vegas, then took a helicopter from the rim to the bottom of the canyon. Wow, that was quite something and I can thoroughly recommend it. We then took a boat ride, as opposed to a raft ride, and that was superb as well. Both got our seal of approval.
We did the Grand Canyon 2 years ago and it is simply amazing. We based in Sedona and drove up twice. As for the mule ride down, I hear it's not for everyone. It's not a leisurely ride like a trail ride on horses. Mules are shorter than horses and that can make your legs sore. The saddles are different as well which can make for a sore backside. The trails down are fairly steep and narrow at spots. The rafting starts at Lees Ferry which is a bit of a drive north. The trips range from fairly calm at the start of the canyon to the longer ones which go further down the river and into the canyon. For hiking you need to be prepared. The trails are steep and narrow. It's harder coming up than going down. There are no safety rails and a few folks loose footing or go over the edge at various points every year. A young man from Canada went over when we were there. The drive along the rim stopping at the various vantage points is nice because while it's all the Grand Canyon, every view is different. You'll pay an entrance fee to enter the park and that's good for a week. The Grand Canyon has a good website to help in planning. I'd also either buy some books about the area or check them out from your library. As for jeep tours, we did a Pink Jeep tour while in Sedona and were happy with the service and the guides' knowledge of the area. Google pink jeep tours and you'll get their website. I'm not really certain about where you're staying but the crater and petrified forest are a couple of hours from the Canyon. There's a couple of interesting things in Flagstaff as well. If it's operating, the Arizona Snowbowl operates as a scenic lift to the top of the mountain during nonski season. The Lowell Observatory (where Puto was first seen from) is also interesting and schedules night viewings out of their telescope, check out their website as well. Again,not sure where you're basing out of but we flew into Phoenix and drove to Sedona. It was a straight shot and took about 3 hours. It was interesting to see the landscape change. There's a quaint bordering touristy shopping village in Sedona called Tlaquepague Village. It has art galleries and boutiques and some nice restaurants. There's a magazine called "Sedona" that you can buy in bookstores that highlights Sedona and the surrounding area which is a nice resource. It's a beautiful part of the country and you'll certainly enjoy it.
Oh, just want to add that upon entry you'll receive a publication that highlights all of the various activities going on at the Canyon everything from nature talks, to hikes, to family fun by day and time. There's also a table listing sunrise/sunset times. Everything you need to know is in there. Maybe you could call a few week prior to your visit and they'll mail one.
I've only been to the North Rim, but you really can spend hours gazing out at the Canyon. It is not just one spot and every place you go is different as is every time of day.
Are you staying in the park? At the north rim, there was plenty to do even though it is the more isolated side. Just relax, look out, lsiten to music, read a book.
DH and I went to the GC for the first time the summer of 2008. It was AMAZING, and that's coming from someone that really didn't have much interest in it, was more going for DH's sake. It is unbelievably beautiful. I think your husband really might change his tune of not being willing to look at a hole for more than 1 hr when you get there. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. As for the tours...we chose not to do a mule tour, and I'm sort of glad. We walked down the Bright Angel trail and the Kaibob trail to the 3 mile point, and then went back up. I think the trail on the mules would be pretty uncomfortable. The trails aren't smooth. There are large log type pieces of wood that go across the trail every few feet in most places, that the mule (or you if you're walking) has to step over (the wood is there to prevent erosion). I can imagine that on a mule it would be quite a rocking experience. Also, the trail does get narrow in some areas, and although I'm not really afraid of heights, I might be a little scared knowing that I was not completely in control of whether I slipped or not. Walking myself, I knew I had control. The guide books that we read seemed to imply that the BA trail was easier than the Kaibob, but we found that to be the reverse actually. I also thought the views were much better on the Kaibob trail because you go out further into the canyon, as opposed to the BA trail. There is also the Rim Trail, which is paved in some places and has almost no incline, so it is very relaxing walking. Like someone already mentioned, you get different views all along the rim, and depending on the time of day. It is so stunning particularly at sunrise and sunset. We are planning to go back in 2011 or 2012 and hike rim-to-rim. I can't wait!! Have an awesome time on your trip!!!! Oh, one more thing to keep in mind since I just noticed when you are going - it will probably still be quite chilly when you go. We went over July 4th weekend, and it was just starting to warm up then. One day it barely reached 70, another it was in the upper 70s and very nice. Have fun!
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends