My First Ever Mommy/Daughter Disney Dream Getaway!! - Pre-Trip Report - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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It's just my DD and I, so we always travel to WDW alone. It is such a fabulous bonding experience! Your plans look great! And 3 times in 12 months, wow... I'm . Have a magical time!
Thanks Amy! I'm hoping that it will be a lot of fun and without having my husband and father and son grumbling about having to do the "little kid stuff," it will be nice to cater to her and what she and I want!
After your health problems on your last trip, I hope you and Isabella have a wonderful time. Your ADRs look faulous!!
Thanks Cheryl! As I am now Appendix-free (or so my doctors say!) I am hoping for a wonderful vacation with my little princess. As we have hit the 45 day mark, I am more anxious than ever!!!
So I woke up this morning realizing that today is our 45 day mark. A very important day in any Disney Vacation Planner's life as it marks the day that the final payment is due!!!
Having already taken care of that, I have decided to hash out a preliminary itinerary for our first day...Nothing set in stone, but it's nice to have something done!
Here it is:
4:30 AM- Wake up and shower/get dressed
5:00 AM - Make sure all suitcases and carry-ons are downstairs, double check documents for travel, double check for ID, confirmation #'s, etc
5:30 AM - Wake up Isabella and get her dressed
6:00 AM - Head to Logan Airport (Jet Blue terminal)
8:30 AM - Depart Boston for Orlando
11:30 AM - Arrive at Orlando (MCO) - give or take fifteen minutes
12:00 PM - Check in at Disney Magical Express Counter
1:00 PM - (Giving ample time) Arrive at Animal Kingdom Lodge
1:30 PM - Either head to room (if ready) or store luggage and head to Magic Kingdom 2:30 PM - (Again, giving ample time) arrive at MK and walk around, take pictures, and of course, ride the rides!
5:15 PM - Jump on the Monorail and head to the Grand Floridian
5:45 PM - Arrive at Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
6:05 PM - ADR at 1900 Park Fare! Can not wait for this experience!
7:30 PM - Leave GF for MK again!
8:00 PM - Arrive back at MK and play a little longer
9:30 PM - Head out for the buses and head back to the Resort
Now as I mentioned, this is just a preliminary itinerary. We may change our minds and decide that we would rather stay by the pool for the afternoon and then head over to GF for dinner. I would love feedback! I'll post more later today.
Sounds like you've got the day planned out to the minute, but I'm glad you are allowing for flexibility! You certainly don't want to make your plan too rigid. Some of our more spontaneous moments have been some of the most magical! Can't wait to hear more
Now as I mentioned, this is just a preliminary itinerary. We may change our minds and decide that we would rather stay by the pool for the afternoon and then head over to GF for dinner. I would love feedback! I'll post more later today.
I can give you better feedback at the end of next week. Dd and I are leaving Friday morning for a girls only trip. It will be her 7th bday on Monday!
We land at 9:30am on our first and I'm planning on hanging at the pool for a bit before going over to MK. We are having dinner at Chef Mickey's that night (1900 Park Fare is the next night) and I'm leaving our schedule flexible after that. I'm thinking we may be wiped after such a long day (we have to leave the house at 4:30am) so we may not make the parade after dinner!
After being such a trooper for your family on your last trip you deserve this....and what a better way to spend then with your daughter...have a wonderful trip. Your plans sound great...
Your plans look great, you girls definitely deserve a special trip!
danielle
Thanks Danielle! I'm definitely looking forward to it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
After being such a trooper for your family on your last trip you deserve this....and what a better way to spend then with your daughter...have a wonderful trip. Your plans sound great...
Thank you! I'm hoping this trip is way better than our last. Only 43 days to go!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plan
Thank you Marnie!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minniemouse27
I can give you better feedback at the end of next week. Dd and I are leaving Friday morning for a girls only trip. It will be her 7th bday on Monday!
We land at 9:30am on our first and I'm planning on hanging at the pool for a bit before going over to MK. We are having dinner at Chef Mickey's that night (1900 Park Fare is the next night) and I'm leaving our schedule flexible after that. I'm thinking we may be wiped after such a long day (we have to leave the house at 4:30am) so we may not make the parade after dinner!
I would definitely love the feedback when you get back! I don't want to push it on our first day, so I'm thinking we may skip the park until after dinner and just relax and explore the resort.
A wonderful start to my day! An entry on Airfare...
Well, this entry is not so much a Pre-Trip update, but more of a "I just have to share this" moment!
When I first purchased my airfare for the trip down, it made more sense (for me) to purchase the airfare separately, instead of purchasing it roundtrip. I was scouring the internet and calling local Travel Agents and even contacted AAA to come up with the best airfare. After many, many days of non-stop searches, I found flights from Boston to Orlando, nonstop, leaving Boston at 8:30 AM, for only $94.00. I was so excited!!! With the economy being what it is and the gas prices soaring, I knew that scoring a $94.00 flight to Orlando from Boston was fantastic. So I put it on my card and did my goofy dance of joy...This was back on June 19...
Fast forward to this week. Almost a month later and I had resumed my search for flights from Orlando to Boston. I could not find a flight to go home for under $200/each! That means that we would have paid over $300 for roundtrip airfare! I wasn't paying it! I was heartbroken and resolved myself to the fact that I may, in fact, have to pay more for the airfare than I had anticipated.
I was checking all week, different websites and lowest prices that came up had me leaving at 8:30 AM...not happening since my daughter and I have 9 AM ADRs at Cinderella's Royal Table! Finally this morning, I had a feeling. I jumped online because I was doing my banking, when it dawned on me...I should check the airfare since it is so early in the day. With that, the first website I checked was Jet Blue. I entered in my information, made sure that it was a one-way trip from MCO to BOS and hit Search and what happened??? I found my AIRFARE!!! I was lucky enough to find seats on a flight that is leaving MCO at 5:50 PM which means I still get at least 1/2 a day at Magic Kingdom before having to leave! It also puts me back in Boston before 9 PM. Not to mention, I didn't have to pay out the nose for these flights. The were listed at $114 and my mother had given me a $30 Jet Blue Voucher, so before taxes & surcharges, my flights were realistically only $99.00!
Well, you can imagine my joy so I threw these on my credit card and got up to get ready for work. I think today will be an exceptional day! Now that everything has been booked, purchased and paid for, all I have to do is wait! Bring on August!