Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising LIVE TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 3/8 - Page 13 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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catching up...
Yes, Sea World has a horrible site. I had some issues with it recently and I made a booking for a client and it never showed up, though i did get the email. Another gal at my agency did the same thing and still not showing on our end. I had to contact Sea World to be sure it went through under us...and it didn't, so they have to monitor it manually. They acted like we did something wrong...but nope I have booked Sea World before...I know what I am doing...it's their awful site!
ok, something I did not know...You can make universal dining online? I have always called it in....where did you do that? I am obviously missing something there.
It's as if Sea World and Universal don't want you to visit. How frustrating!
At least the Disney bits and pieces are starting to come together. And sleeping late on the cruise sounds like a wonderful idea!
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Tanya
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catching up...
Yes, Sea World has a horrible site. I had some issues with it recently and I made a booking for a client and it never showed up, though i did get the email. Another gal at my agency did the same thing and still not showing on our end. I had to contact Sea World to be sure it went through under us...and it didn't, so they have to monitor it manually. They acted like we did something wrong...but nope I have booked Sea World before...I know what I am doing...it's their awful site!
Oh boy!
Quote:
ok, something I did not know...You can make universal dining online? I have always called it in....where did you do that? I am obviously missing something there.
Well, for Lombard's Seafood Grille, I just went to the restaurant and clicked the "reserve now" icon. I'm assuming it works the same for the other restaurants, but as this was the only one I booked, I don't know for sure.
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Pre-trip report – part ten: where’s the confirmation of my Annual Pass?
Tuesday 25 November
I happened to visit All Ears Net tonight for some research, not actually related to this vacation, but I spotted that they had a link on the front page to 2015 Epcot Flower and Garden Festival News, so of course I just had to take a sneak peek!
Unsurprisingly, there will be topiaries of Anna and Elsa in the festival. To be quite honest, I’d have expected there to be a massive outcry if they weren’t in there somewhere… Chip and Dale also get a starring role in “Goofy about Spring” topiaries, which appear to include Goofy too, given the name of them. There will also be new mini-gardens, including a dinosaur-plant one, which sounds interesting, and a Shakespeare one. I think I’m going to have fun exploring those…
Now what intrigues me a lot more is reference to “illuminated topiaries”, something I wasn’t aware Disney had done before, but what a neat sounded idea! I cannot wait to see the topiaries at night now.
Apparently there will be new menu items at the Outdoor Kitchens, and of course we’re going to be trying as many items as we can. Now what did intrigue me were details of the weekend concert series that runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, we’ll only be there for the first Friday and some of the first Saturday, but I’m hoping that maybe the Village People will be performing then. Out of the acts announced, they’re the only ones I’ve heard of, and I can imagine they’ll be a huge amount of fun to see!
Tuesday 2 December
We have our meet up with Amy (Amy L) sorted out – we’re going to get together with her and her husband at the Top of the World Lounge on the first Saturday we’re there, just before our dinner at the California Grill.
I was also reading my DVC News weekly email update this morning, and saw that parts of Stormalong Bay would be down for refurbishment in “early 2015”, so I quickly checked that out, and relief – it will all be concluded by 3 March, which is the date we check into the Beach Club Villas. Talk about good timing!
Wednesday 3 December
I read this in the All Ears newsletter this morning:
The Great Movie Ride" in Disney's Hollywood Studios is set to undergo a refresh of its pre-show and finale in 2015 as a result of a new strategic relationship between Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Walt Disney World Resort and The Walt Disney Studios. TCM branding will be integrated into the attra_ction's marquee as well as banners, posters and display windows outside the attraction. New digital movie posters will adorn the queue and will a new pre-ride video with TCM host Robert Osborne will run. The finale will feature an all-new montage of classic movie moments. After guests exit the attraction, they will have a photo opportunity with a classic movie theme. The TCM-curated refresh is set to launch by spring 2015.
Now, as you’ll see from the above, there are no details on if and when it will be down for rehab for this to be done, but I’m guessing they will need to take it down for some time to get this sorted. I can’t help but wonder whether it will be during our visit and, if it is, my goodness it will be yet another attraction missing at the Studios. There really isn’t going to be much left there at this rate!
The Deluxe Dining Plan is finally added to our stay at Bay Lake Tower – perfect, as we’re at the California Grill one night and Narcoosee’s the next. This is actually quite a big deal, as I’d been trying to do this for some time through the Disney Vacation Club member website. I knew I’d done it before, but every time I looked, there just wasn’t the option to add the Dining Plan. Well, I thought I’d do one final check tonight before I rang Member Services, and there the option was again – very odd! At least now that’s done, and I think that’s the last big bit of expenditure for this trip… well, at least before we get there anyway, that is!
I had another look at the other theme park hours again. Still nothing for either SeaWorld Orlando or Busch Gardens Tampa beyond the end of this month – it’s insane to see this month’s hours up, and to see the first few days of January with no details there… However, better news from Universal – finally they have park hours up for the day we’re planning on visiting in February!
Friday 5 December
I printed off confirmation of having the Deluxe Dining Plan, and went to put it in my folder for our trip, and it was then that I noticed that I didn’t seem to have the will call certificate for our Annual Passes. I searched through the folder, and some other folders, as I’ve seen it in the last few weeks, but no joy. It just didn’t seem to be anywhere.
Now you’re probably thinking this isn’t that big a deal… well, usually that wouldn’t be a problem, but this time it is. Here’s why… these Annual Passes were bought sometime back in 2012 for our Christmas trip that year. The intention was to use them for that trip, but a few weeks before we were due to head off, there was an excellent offer for DVC Members on Annual Passes, so we got those, which were good for both our December 2012 and our October/November 2013 trips.
Of course, could I remember when I purchased the darned things? It took some serious searching through my emails (thank goodness I didn’t delete them – phew! ) and eventually I found it. I clicked the link for the will call certificate, but no good – it just isn’t displaying properly, so I’ve had to email Disney and ask for their help. Not good… I guess this is why you should save a copy of your pass, as well as having a printed version…
Wednesday 10 December
I’ve had a response from Disney about our Annual Pass, and I now have all the details I need to collect it when we get there, which is a relief!
Finally, the park hours are out for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Tampa – my goodness, how long has that taken? There are no huge surprises – Busch Gardens is open from 10:00am – 6:00pm, and SeaWorld is open from 9:00am – 7:00pm.
Tuesday 16 December
I got an email from Disney today about refurbishments to Stormalong Bay. Now I knew this was happening, but from all the information I’d seen to date, it hadn’t concerned me, as it was supposed to be finishing the day we arrived at the Beach Club Villas. Apparently not. The email told me that the following section would be unavailable during our stay:
Guess what? That’s the bit I usually enjoy swimming around. You couldn’t make it up! Oh well, we’re lucky – if it’s out of action this trip, then at least we’ll still be able to enjoy it next time…
Wednesday 17 December
I figured tonight that I’d go on to Virgin Atlantic’s website to double check that I could book seats for our outbound flights on Monday. I also wanted to see if there was a time given that you could do this, as I thought I remembered that it was 9:00am from previous experience. Well, no joy whatsoever on that count. The information on their website isn’t exactly helpful, shall we say but at least I did see that if you book flights after 18 November 2014, you can then book your seats when you book your flight, which is what we always used to be able to do, so that’s a step in the right direction. Of course, there’s now a charge for this – big surprise! I guess that will help in the future…
As part of this research, I went into our booking, and I really was mad to discover that the Virgin website had lost a lot of our information that I’d previously inputted. Our security information, including passport numbers, was no longer there, so I had to put that in again, and Mark’s frequent flyer number had disappeared again. So frustrating when you’ve already done this once before!
Friday 19 December
Realising that our Fastpass+ selection time was fast approaching, I also realised I had no idea what time you could actually make those reservations. Was it 6:00am EST, like the ADRs or midnight, like bookings for the cruise? Well, we all know the best way to find out the answer to that one… that’s right – ask on the boards! I quickly found out that you can make reservations from midnight EST, which is a bit of a pain, given that’s 5:00am our time. Ok, so maybe I won’t be getting Fastpass+ for Anna and Elsa after all – I can live with that, so long as I manage to snag some for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.
Saturday 20 December
There was another realisation, thanks to a comment on the boards. I was saying that I’d just realised I could only book my Fastpass+ day by day, rather than from the first day of our stay for the duration of that, but I was wrong. I can book for the duration of our stay, which is great, but it was pointed out to me that Disney will only let you book Fastpass+ for the length of your pass. Ah yes, the pass.. I guess I’d better get that added to My Disney Experience then!
Fortunately, it wasn’t as tough to do that as I was expecting, and for once, the Disney website behaved! I know, novelty, right? So now the Annual Pass is in there, and hopefully I’m all set to go on Monday…
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And sleeping late on the cruise sounds like a wonderful idea!
PassPorter Guide Author
Sorry, couldn't resist! 
Chip and Dale also get a starring role in “Goofy about Spring” topiaries, which appear to include Goofy too, given the name of them. There will also be new mini-gardens, including a dinosaur-plant one, which sounds interesting, and a Shakespeare one. I think I’m going to have fun exploring those… 
Now what did intrigue me were details of the weekend concert series that runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, we’ll only be there for the first Friday and some of the first Saturday, but I’m hoping that maybe the Village People will be performing then. Out of the acts announced, they’re the only ones I’ve heard of, and I can imagine they’ll be a huge amount of fun to see! 
I searched through the folder, and some other folders, as I’ve seen it in the last few weeks, but no joy. It just didn’t seem to be anywhere. 
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