AoA, Owners Locker, Grocery Service & Stroller Rental - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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AoA, Owners Locker, Grocery Service & Stroller Rental
1. To anyone who has an Owners Locker and stays on-site can you please answer this OL question for me please?? My OL is very heavy and I'm staying at AoA...someone suggested I call luggage services and be in my room to receive it during their scheduled visits. I'm an off-siter who is staying on-site for the first and maybe final time...OL is easy for us off-site because we have our minivan, we get to the front desk and load our box into it, drive it to the room...nice. I'm staying at AoA with DD5 next trip and w/o DH who would actually carry the box to the room no matter how far it is. We have 2 OL, but I'm only sending for one because it doesn't seem convenient to have one delivered let alone two.
How long is the wait to receive luggage delivered to the room? I am taking the Magical Express and will have no checked luggage. I plan to arrive at AoA in the early afternoon before check-in.
Dumb question. And how much do you guys tip luggage services? We never had to use a bell service before, not even in Vegas or anywhere else -- we handle our own luggage.
How far in advance should I call luggage service to come pick up my OL before we check out? Night before, day of?? I have to get it back to the front desk.
2. Who do you guys use as a grocery service? Someone recommended? Garden Grocer to me...no rental car so that means no Wally World for me.
3. My DD5 will be 6 when we go on vacation and she's still a noon-2pm napper. I won't be able to bring her jogger stroller so I'll need to rent one if I want to be out all day long DTD, in the parks, at other resorts, etc. without having to take her back to the hotel for a nap. I will not be checking any luggage to keep things easy on me. I Googled some stroller services and there are many that rent out up to 75lb single strollers...who do you guys recommend? I was happy to see that OL rents out strollers at a great price, but they only rent up to 50lb single strollers.
Sorry for this being so long.
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Tanya "The Filofax Queen" Proud Passorter "Deluxe" Owner
I can only help you with tipping and grocery delivery. We tip $1 a bag to the DME driver and bell services. We add a few more bucks if we have groceries being delivered. We have used Garden Grocer a couple times and will be doing so again this September. I have no complaints at all about their service.
I can only help you with tipping and grocery delivery. We tip $1 a bag to the DME driver and bell services. We add a few more bucks if we have groceries being delivered. We have used Garden Grocer a couple times and will be doing so again this September. I have no complaints at all about their service.
Thank you!
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Tanya "The Filofax Queen" Proud Passorter "Deluxe" Owner
The luggage time really depends on what time you arrive. Busier times takes longer. Our flights usually land around 9:30-10 am. This last trip we arrived, had lunch, then took off to the park. The bags were in our room when we came back. You said early afternoon, so I'm assuming 1-2 ish? Is that when you want to arrive at the airport, or arrive at the resort?? It's usually a good hour+ after landing before we make it to our resort. You may be hitting it at a busier time, so it may take a while longer to get your luggage. And when are you traveling? We usually go in value season. So that would affect the time too. I always pack whatever we'll need for the day in my carry on, which has included bathing suits, etc.. The one trip we arrived early and spent the day by the pool. Our room wasn't ready until later on, but when we made it there at 3-4 ish, the bags were already there.
I have never rented a stroller, but friends of ours did Kingdom rentals and the stroller was nice, but there was very little basket space.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amirah95
3. My DD5 will be 6 when we go on vacation and she's still a noon-2pm napper. I won't be able to bring her jogger stroller so I'll need to rent one if I want to be out all day long DTD, in the parks, at other resorts, etc. without having to take her back to the hotel for a nap. I will not be checking any luggage to keep things easy on me. I Googled some stroller services and there are many that rent out up to 75lb single strollers...who do you guys recommend? I was happy to see that OL rents out strollers at a great price, but they only rent up to 50lb single strollers.
You know that you can gate-check strollers, right? You take it right to the check-in desk at your gate & tell the attendant that you want to do that. He/she gives you a tag that you place on the stroller, and then someone takes the stroller in the jetway (may be a little different at your airline, probably you should ask when you get the tag). Then, when you get off the plane, the stroller is there waiting for you! I've done this several times, back when my sons were younger, and it was great. You have your very own stroller with you at all times, and you can even "stroll" your carry-on luggage in it in the terminal, since a 6yo should be fine walking in a terminal.
The luggage time really depends on what time you arrive. Busier times takes longer. Our flights usually land around 9:30-10 am. This last trip we arrived, had lunch, then took off to the park. The bags were in our room when we came back. You said early afternoon, so I'm assuming 1-2 ish? Is that when you want to arrive at the airport, or arrive at the resort?? It's usually a good hour+ after landing before we make it to our resort. You may be hitting it at a busier time, so it may take a while longer to get your luggage. And when are you traveling? We usually go in value season. So that would affect the time too. I always pack whatever we'll need for the day in my carry on, which has included bathing suits, etc.. The one trip we arrived early and spent the day by the pool. Our room wasn't ready until later on, but when we made it there at 3-4 ish, the bags were already there.
I have never rented a stroller, but friends of ours did Kingdom rentals and the stroller was nice, but there was very little basket space.
We go in the regular season...May and end of October. This time we're going in May and we hope to be at the hotel by at least 2pm. So I don't have to wait for them to deliver my OL (it's considered luggage still though it's being delivered to the front desk) and not coming in with me from off the bus? And I probably will need to call them after I book my trip to ask them how do I get the OL back to the front desk...it's heavy and I won't be able to walk it from LM to AH. I heard that if I do early check in the day before that the room may possibly be ready before standard check in time...is that right too??
OL works for us because we stay off-site so it was a no brainer...now, we're on-site and I'm just thinking about not sending for it because it may cause a headache.
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Tanya "The Filofax Queen" Proud Passorter "Deluxe" Owner
You know that you can gate-check strollers, right? You take it right to the check-in desk at your gate & tell the attendant that you want to do that. He/she gives you a tag that you place on the stroller, and then someone takes the stroller in the jetway (may be a little different at your airline, probably you should ask when you get the tag). Then, when you get off the plane, the stroller is there waiting for you! I've done this several times, back when my sons were younger, and it was great. You have your very own stroller with you at all times, and you can even "stroll" your carry-on luggage in it in the terminal, since a 6yo should be fine walking in a terminal.
Good luck!
Ginger
No, I didn't know that. I thought I had to check it. So I can take her stroller through security and all the way to my gate??? That's good news if I can do that. That would be awesome. Thanks for that tip! I'll check that out.
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Tanya "The Filofax Queen" Proud Passorter "Deluxe" Owner
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