Tripleplay Pretrip report- May 26th thru June 9th! - UPDATED 5/25 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Ok, so we had our plan all set: BC, rental house, then Vero Beach. It was a great plan! Then tax time came. We got a puny little refund! When I started doing the math, it just didn’t make sense to spend so much at the BC, leaving markedly less spending money, when we’d be perfectly happy staying somewhere cheaper, leaving us with more money to spend elsewhere! So I changed our resort ressie to Pop Century! I know to some folks that may seem like a huge loss, but we will honestly be just as happy at Pop. Sure, I’ll miss the ability to just walk into Epcot, but if I had no extra money to spend in Epcot…..what fun would that be? So I chose to save $1300!! So that was that…..time passed and I got all the ressies paid off, a few ADRs made, changed my Disney ressie a couple times when new promotions promised to save me money. All was good!
Then, about 3 weeks ago, I was surprised to find that one of my Dad’s previous retirement plans had a life insurance plan attached to it. My brother and I received a decent size benefit check. I decided to be responsible with most of it. Really! But I just couldn’t help myself…….we have dreamed of taking a Disney Cruise for many years and I’ve actually booked and cancelled at least 3 cruises over the years. After checking availability in our time frame, (remember that I have already purchased non-refundable plane tickets) I found that there was availability on the 5 night, Bahamian cruise, with a double-dip at Castaway Cay! Just the itinerary that I would’ve chosen if given the choice!! I REALLY wanted a verandah, so I tried to book a cat 7. It was in guarantee status. Then I thought that I’d really like a full verandah so I booked a guarantee cat 6. (yea, I probably could've booked a 7 to get what we got, but didn't want to take the chance). I crossed my fingers and hoped for a decent location! We were later assigned room 7032.….a cat 5! Looks good to me!
So……first I changed my Pop ressie (they didn’t even charge me, guess they figured that I’d spent a bunch more money on the cruise so it wasn’t worth charging me a change-fee). Then I had to figure out what to do with the 5 days after the cruise. The house was paid for, with no potential for refund at this point. Vero Beach had just required a one-night deposit, so I went and cancelled that ressie. Vero Beach couldn’t possibly live up to the Castaway Cay beach! So then I asked the home-owners of the rental house if I could change my ressie from June 1st thru the 7th to June 4th thru the 10th. The funny part is that we actually leave the 9th. I figured the money was already spent and if they think I’m leaving the 10th we won’t have to check out early on the 9th. We can stay until we're ready to go to the airport! It worked out just like it was meant to be!! Whew!
So here it is:
May 26th thru May 30th: Pop Century
May 30th thru June 4th: DCL Wonder!!!
June 4th thue June 9th: Highland Reserve home
One cool part is that my DD Hailey convinced me not to tell my DD Sheridan about the cruise, so it'll be a complete surprise to her! Can't wait!
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 had the best of intentions to put some regular updates on here, but I've been so busy!!! I've been busy trying to catch up on all the cruise research that most of you would've been doing for months before your trip! I think we're pretty much together now. Got most everything packed. Went and bought the recommended extras: power strip, over-the-door organizer, and I'm bringing along more first-aid type stuff, since I can't run to the store while in the middle of the ocean!
I booked Quicksilver to take us from Pop to the port, leaving at 9:30am. Probably on the early side, but I'd rather run early than late. Can't wait to get on the ship!
It's funny, this trip is the LEAST planned that we've ever taken! I have a grand total of 4 ADRs set up. Sci-Fi diner (never been there), Tokyo (Hailey wants sushi and we've never been there), CRT (Sheridan has never been) and the Plaza (just in case we are dying to sit inside and eat while waiting for the night-time parade). These are all planned for the 3 whole days before the cruise. We'll have park days left over after the cruise but don't know which days or which parks we'll use them on. During the cruise, all I've planned is a facial and 2-day snorkel, float, and bike rentals. During our last 5 days, all I have planned for sure is La Nouba on our last night. We're flying by the seat of our pants!
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Pixie Dust
Liz 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
When I started doing the math, it just didn’t make sense to spend so much at the BC, leaving markedly less spending money, when we’d be perfectly happy staying somewhere cheaper, leaving us with more money to spend elsewhere! So I changed our resort ressie to Pop Century! I know to some folks that may seem like a huge loss, but we will honestly be just as happy at Pop. Sure, I’ll miss the ability to just walk into Epcot, but if I had no extra money to spend in Epcot…..what fun would that be? So I chose to save $1300!! So that was that…..time passed and I got all the ressies paid off, a few ADRs made, changed my Disney ressie a couple times when new promotions promised to save me money. All was good!
But I just couldn’t help myself…….we have dreamed of taking a Disney Cruise for many years and I’ve actually booked and cancelled at least 3 cruises over the years. After checking availability in our time frame, (remember that I have already purchased non-refundable plane tickets) I found that there was availability on the 5 night, Bahamian cruise, with a double-dip at Castaway Cay! 
Just the itinerary that I would’ve chosen if given the choice!! I REALLY wanted a verandah, so I tried to book a cat 7. It was in guarantee status. Then I thought that I’d really like a full verandah so I booked a guarantee cat 6. (yea, I probably could've booked a 7 to get what we got, but didn't want to take the chance). I crossed my fingers and hoped for a decent location! We were later assigned room 7032.….a cat 5! Looks good to me! 
Can't wait!
PassPorter Guide Author
Susan
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