First Ever Disneyland Trip Updated 10/13 - Page 17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I'll be listening for that scream of excitement here in NY!
Keep listening!
Quote:
Originally Posted by roaminggnome
Just caught up and I am surprised at the differences between WDW & DL on releasing dates. I will keep my ears open for any screams echoing up to Northern WI.
Luke and I went on our usual four-mile walk this morning, using a portion of our city’s green belt. It was such a beautiful day, blue skies, fluffy clouds, and mild temperatures accompanied by low humidity. It almost felt like fall, my favorite season. I just didn’t want to think about Disneyland this morning, so I didn’t even log on before we headed out. So it wasn’t until about 10:30 today that I opened my laptop, logged into the Disneyland website, and went to dining. Actually, it didn’t work that smoothly. I attempted to log in twice, but after loading my user name and password, a blank screen appeared. At one point, Luke was looking over my shoulder, and asked why I was staring at a blank screen. Eventually, I did what Stefanie called x-ing out of it. I went on to check my e-mails, and didn’t return until that was done. I opened a new window and put in disneyland.com. Oddly, when the site opened I was already logged in. Just weird! Now I could actually go to dining to discover that, you may have guessed it since the air waves carried no scream, no openings yet for our days. At that point I was done with Disneyland for the day, at least, that was the plan.
I went to my scrapbook room and applied myself to creating another layout for our May 2015 WDW trip. I was working on some of the many topiaries. With mental peace restored, we got ready for our monthly Target shopping. Target did provide some Disney fun as we purchased another gift card and a small mouthwash for trip. Not that mouthwash is that exciting, but this one is the perfect size for packing and sufficient for a week away from home. We did have a little fiasco though. I had purchased four packages of cotton rounds, even though I only planned to get one or two. But the posted sign had these on sale for $2.04, and if you bought three, the four was free. On the ride home I was checking the receipt and noticed that no only had we not gotten one free, but we had been charged full price. At home, I also realized that I had failed to pick up All detergent. So once I’d unpacked all our bags, we headed back. The young girl working customer service was super, telling me that the signage was probably expired and should have been taken down. But she refunded the full amount to our Target Redcard, and then resold them to us at the posted sale price. Sweet! We picked up the All, and in the end, we got back a couple of dollars. Since we were out we decided to eat at Beef O’Brady’s before going back home.
When we got back home, I decided to try one more time with the ADRs at Disneyland, even though I had sworn them off. No screams still; no dining packages yet. But I’ve spent time researching on touringplans.com. while toggling back and forth to Passporter Boards. In Cheryl’s PTR update today, she mentioned a tour called Walking in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps. So I looked it up on Touring Plans. The description initially sounded like the KTTK tour at MK, a walk around the park with interesting insights and history stories plus two rides and lunch. There is even a collectible pin. Then it was mentioned that he tour included a visit to Walt’s apartment and my interest was piqued. It only got better as the tour includes a peek inside the Club 33 lobby. I’ve filled Luke in on all the details, including a DVC discount of 20%, so he’s thinking about it. No definite yes . . . yet.
We're exactly the same on that tour. I may even think about it when we get there, as for us, it will depend how much we've seen already, as I'm looking at it for our final day. I like the idea of it, but I don't want to do it at the expense of seeing anything else... we'll see....
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Oh boy, I hate getting home from shopping only to discover I've been overcharged! What a pain to have to go back! Hopefully, the Target is not too far from you. And in the end, you got dinner out, so that's nice!
I really have to say I admire you and Luke for your walking regimen! Wish I had the determination to do that!
The website difficulties drive me crazy. I've had the same thing happen on MDE. I attempt to log in, the screen goes blank or times out, but when I come back later in the day, I'm already logged in! The In Walt's Footsteps tour is similar to one day of the ABD tour I did in 2012. I absolutely loved going to see Walt's apartment and hearing all the stories. I didn't find Club 33 all that interesting, but I suppose it's something to have been there.
We did the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour on our last trip. We originally had the one day Adventures by Disney booked for the Studios tour in Burbank but ABD cancelled it. I was devastated since they cancelled it for good. So we booked that tour at DL instead since it would allow us to see the apartment and the lobby of Club 33. We loved the tour, it was a nice small group and we got to walk right on a few rides (Mr. Toad, Small World) and learned a lot about the park and Walt and going into the apartment was worth the price alone.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
We did the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour on our last trip. We originally had the one day Adventures by Disney booked for the Studios tour in Burbank but ABD cancelled it. I was devastated since they cancelled it for good. So we booked that tour at DL instead since it would allow us to see the apartment and the lobby of Club 33. We loved the tour, it was a nice small group and we got to walk right on a few rides (Mr. Toad, Small World) and learned a lot about the park and Walt and going into the apartment was worth the price alone.
I agree, wasn't the apartment incredible to see? That was a real highlight for me of the ABD Backstage Magic trip.
I did not hear any screams of delight this morning, so I'm assuming everything is status quo? Or as we say, status no go? Sorry you're having such troubles. Winging some "good luck with dining reservations " pixies your way!
Sounds like a nice tour and you'd get to see some interesting locations like Walt's apartment and Club 33 Lobby.
Glad you got everything worked out at Target. I hate when you get home from the store and find that they overcharged you for something. What I have been experiencing a lot lately is not all of my bags making it home with me from the store. Just the other day I was checking out at Walmart and I asked the cashier (as I always do) if I had all my bags. I saw her look at the bag carousel and she told me yes, I had all my bags. Of course, I get home and realize one of the bags wasn't there. This has happened several times. I am now committed to checking the bag carousel myself and not relying on the cashier to make sure I have all my bags. It just really irks me that I paid money for things that end up remaining at the store because the cashier never gave me the bag. Okay, rant over
So the waiting game continues... I think when you finally do get those booked, not only will your scream be heard, but there will be cheers let out from PassPorters around the world, like when you do the wave in a stadium.
And you had problems with a Disney website? How unusual. Yeah, I couldn't even type that with a straight face!
I took the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour many years ago and loved it! If you can fit it in, I definitely recommend it. I know it's changed some since I took it, but for the better, in my opinion.
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I am so glad to hear that if your receipt is not right you go back to the store to have it corrected. I check my receipt before leaving the parking lot now. That Tour sound totally interesting, hope it works out for you.
We're exactly the same on that tour. I may even think about it when we get there, as for us, it will depend how much we've seen already, as I'm looking at it for our final day. I like the idea of it, but I don't want to do it at the expense of seeing anything else... we'll see....
That may be the final decision from Luke to wait until we're there to decide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Oh boy, I hate getting home from shopping only to discover I've been overcharged! What a pain to have to go back! Hopefully, the Target is not too far from you. And in the end, you got dinner out, so that's nice!
I really have to say I admire you and Luke for your walking regimen! Wish I had the determination to do that!
Thank goodness, Target is only about 10 minutes from where we live. Since we began walking in March, we have covered 632.26 miles, which surprises even Luke and me. There have been days when one or the other of us has said we'd rather no, but we always go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
The website difficulties drive me crazy. I've had the same thing happen on MDE. I attempt to log in, the screen goes blank or times out, but when I come back later in the day, I'm already logged in! The In Walt's Footsteps tour is similar to one day of the ABD tour I did in 2012. I absolutely loved going to see Walt's apartment and hearing all the stories. I didn't find Club 33 all that interesting, but I suppose it's something to have been there.
Walt's apartment is what has me most excited. I'm really hoping I can convince Luke we need to do this>
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.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Now I could actually go to dining to discover that, you may have guessed it since the air waves carried no scream, no openings yet for our days. At that point I was done with Disneyland for the day, at least, that was the plan.
We picked up the All, and in the end, we got back a couple of dollars. Since we were out we decided to eat at Beef O’Brady’s before going back home.
PassPorter Guide Author
Yeah, I couldn't even type that with a straight face! 
I know it's changed some since I took it, but for the better, in my opinion.
Linear Mode
