Yes - Disney Again pretrip report 8/23-8/31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
We will be there part of the same time! Me and dd arrive on 8/20 and ds and friends arrive 8/22!!
__________________
Margaret
May 1996 All Star Sports May 2000 Dixie Landings Dec 2001 Caribbean Beach - Barbados June 2002 Caribbean Beach - Aruba March 2003 Paradise Pier - Disneyland Aug 2011 Sheraton Vistana Aug 2014 Animal Kingdom Lodge (Yay!!)
RESORT; I'm am over the moon to report that dd & I will be staying at the Yacht Club. A bit of the back story, we have stayed at all of the value resorts (well they added AOA so we still have to do that) and I thoroughly like the values. I think they are a great budget way to stay at Disney especially for the first few trips where you commando the parks and are rarely at your resort anyway. But our last stay at AS Sports involved a large tour group of ignorant teenagers. I won't mention nationality because I think that had very little to do with them being ignorant as that has more to do with the age than where they are from. I whole heartedly believe a large tour group of American teenagers would be equally obnoxious as a group from any other country. Anyway it kind of soured my experience and I have to say I have gotten spoiled staying at Moderates and the very occasional Deluxe. We absolutely love CSR and to be honest aren't really interested anymore in staying at a value - although as I said we still have to hit AOA and might do that at the beginning of a trip and then move up from there as we have done split stays. I also have on my bucket list to stay at every Disney resort. I had the values and moderates checked off until AOA was built so I have to double back to that resort
So I priced out CSR to stay there again. We love that resort so much it was the first resort we duplicated. For my 40th birthday we stayed at Beach Club and fell in love with it. For my dd's 13th birthday we stayed at the Poly for a partial stay and then for a long weekend sneak away trip we hit Boadwalk during the F&WF. I have to say since Epcot is a favorite location of mine I do love the resorts close enough to walk to the park. With that in mind I started looking into renting DVC points. One of my problems with this is that one of the recommended sites to use is in Canada and since I'm not my credit card would charge me an out of country fee on the charges which is 3%. Now keep in mind I'm a poor single parent with a college student and the added 3% was not making me happy. Another aspect that wasn't making me happy was the fact that once you book the trip you can't make any changes or cancellations. I have never cancelled a trip and the only time I made a change was when it worked out cheaper to go longer once so naturally I extended my trip and paid less. Luckily neither company could obtain a DVC stay for me at Beach Club or Yacht Club for the dates I wanted because I got a private message from a fellow passporter about a TA that she uses that has gotten her great deals on YC/BC. I immediately email the TA to get a quote and in no time I'm looking at a quote for either YC or BC at the same price I would have booked CSR at regular rack rates. I did later on get another pin code that would have reduced my rate at CSR but to be able to stay at a deluxe for the price of a moderate was beyond belief. I immediately texted my dd at school and asked her which resort she wanted and we decided on YC since we had already stayed at BC before (although they pretty much seem like the same resort but I'm happy to check out the differences). We got 8 day PH tickets that come with an extra special feature that we can use for one of the water parks so we will be heading to Typhoon Lagoon one day because we haven't been to a water park in quite a long time.
We are going to do this trip at a slow pace just doing whatever we want when we want. We plan to spend a good bit of time at the resort since we are paying for a deluxe we feel we should get our money's worth out of the resort. That is the reason I recommend values to first time travelers because you want to spend so much time at the parks it doesn't make sense IMO to pay a ton for a resort you aren't at much.
So glad you were able to get Yacht Club, I sooo prefer that side of the resort (I know I'm in the minority here) They really do have two different personalities to them!
Yacht club in on my bucket list! Glad you get to go this year! We have to wait one more year...since Katie will be a freshman this year and we don't know when she will be starting! Looking forward to seeing what ADRs you get!!
ADR's: When we travel in the summer months, which is most trips since my dd got out of elementary school we like to eat at counter service restaurants because we never know with the heat and possible rain when we will feel like eating. Add on to that the budget really doesn't allow for alot of sit down meals. We have picked a few meals already and I'd like to get your opinions
8/23-travel day then Epcot
lunch at resort possibly Hurricane Hanna's CS while we lounge by the pool
dinner - Katsura Grill CS
8/24 MK BOG for lunch (hoping for a fastpass+)
8/25 DHS Cape May Cafe Character Breakfast 9:40 am
8/26 AK/???
8/27 TL/Epcot Cape May Cafe Clam Bake 6:45 pm (our favorite restaurant at WDW)
8/28
8/29
8/30 MK Kona Cafe 9:45 am
8/31 travel day home quick breakfast in room then DME bus to airport
We still have a bunch of meals to fill in but that's our start and they are already booked. Other than the 2 breakfast we have planned we will probably eat the rest of the breakfast in our room before departing for the park. We will either pack food in our suitcase like we have in the past or order from Garden Grocer.
I wanted to take dd to Coral Reef because they have a dish that sounds alot like lobster mac & cheese but unfortunately she saw the prices online and put the kabash on that idea. We always eat at least one meal if not more from the counter service in Mexico so thats a give in. Feel free to give me suggestions, especially overlooked counter service places.
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.
Great Start. Evan and I will be there the same time. Maybe we will run into you. I'll keep a close eye on your plans and if we are scheduled to be in the same parks I'll let you know. We have some ADR's but plan on some counter service too so would like to see what people recommend to you.
Sorry DD had a rough start her first semester. College is a big transition. I had a hard time my first year. Just dont think the school was a correct fit for me.
Nice on the YC!!! I also have the goal of staying in every Disney resort......and as much as I despise split stays.......I am doing a short one this summer to be able to stay at AoA before moving over to AKL!
Your dining plans look great.........with staying at YC, you are so close to be able to just hop into Epcot for some great food!!! We love Katsura Grill! And we always enjoy the fish and chips in England! At AK I suggest Flame Tree BBQ! You could even probably split a sandwich and the fruit plate - which was fantastic and very generous portion!!!
__________________
Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
I think one of the nice things about doing mostly QS is you don't need to plan them! You can eat at whichever is closest when you get hungry I wouldn't try to get my heart set on any honestly! The downside to YC is that you do have to walk over to the Beach Club Marketplace or across to the Boardwalk Bakery if you want a non-poolside QS. But they both have nice sandwich/salad/soup options from what I remember!
We finally tried Cape May Breakfast on our last trip. Since we had splurged on a one night stay at BC so our kids could use the pool, it made sense to have breakfast there. You'll love being able to go from you hotel room to a character breakfast so close by. There was a good variety and we enjoyed our food.
Kona Café breakfast is great. It's a must do for us most trips.
I'm not great at keeping track of the CS places we eat at and what we liked so I can't comment on that.
I did want to mention The Plaza at MK and Beaches & Cream at BC. They are both table service places and though they are more expensive than CS, they are on the less expensive end of TS with good food.
We have done Cape May Cafe character breakfast before (actually on my 40th birthday) and loved it so we are happy to be doing it again. I also definately want to go to Beaches & Cream while we are there too. Kona is a must do for us each trip but for financial reasons we have been getting our Tonga Toast from Capt Cooks for a bunch of years. Last year we took my brother & his family to Kona and they loved it too so we are heading back again.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
. Luckily neither company could obtain a DVC stay for me at Beach Club or Yacht Club for the dates I wanted because I got a private message from a fellow passporter about a TA that she uses that has gotten her great deals on YC/BC. I immediately email the TA to get a quote and in no time I'm looking at a quote for either YC or BC at the same price I would have booked CSR at regular rack rates. I did later on get another pin code that would have reduced my rate at CSR but to be able to stay at a deluxe for the price of a moderate was beyond belief. I immediately texted my dd at school and asked her which resort she wanted and we decided on YC since we had already stayed at BC before (although they pretty much seem like the same resort but I'm happy to check out the differences). We got 8 day PH tickets that come with an extra special feature that we can use for one of the water parks so we will be heading to Typhoon Lagoon one day because we haven't been to a water park in quite a long time. 
Katie's graduation
Holly: 
At AK I suggest Flame Tree BBQ! You could even probably split a sandwich and the fruit plate - which was fantastic and very generous portion!!!
Liz 
I wouldn't try to get my heart set on any honestly! The downside to YC is that you do have to walk over to the Beach Club Marketplace or across to the Boardwalk Bakery if you want a non-poolside QS. But they both have nice sandwich/salad/soup options from what I remember!
Your dining plans look great. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Linear Mode
