Our First Bounce Back Pre-Trip Report (9/13/14-9/20/14) - COMPLETED 9/6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Our first day will be a traveling day. Over the years we use to fly down to give us more time to enjoy the parks and the resort, but due to my DH’s ear problems that flare up when flying and my son’s anxiety issues about being in a plane, we discovered driving is the better alternative. Last year was our first time doing this and I have to admit …we enjoyed it and found it very relaxing.
From Maryland, we’ll be heading into Virginia via Route 301, which is a nice scenic route and has one toll which is for the Governor Harry Nice Memorial Bridge. Since we’ll be leaving on a Friday, my plan is to start our drive around 5 am to avoid the rush hour/work zone traffic around the Richmond, Virginia area. I’ll be checking the traffic reports closely and if need be we'll take the 295 around the construction/work zone and hopefully will be past Richmond before traffic starts to build up there. I was so happy to learn about these routes from a co-worker, who knows how much I dread the capital beltway in the DC/VA area.
Since we’ll be bringing food with us to munch on the way, we’ll probably take our first pit stop somewhere between the boarder of Virginia/North Carolina area for a quick stretch. From this area will just head down 95 South until we get to our hotel, which should take roughly 5 hours, but I’m adding in time for rest breaks so it will more likely than not be closer to 5 ½ hours with us. If everything goes well and counting the breaks will take along the way, we should be arriving at our hotel where will spend the night around 4 o'clock.
We’ll be staying the night at the Travel lodge in the Savannah/Pembroke area. The price for the overnight stay was originally $60.61, but they were offering a 20% discount, so I was able to book it for $48.49. Last year we stayed in Richmond Hill, GA at the Scottish Inn for about $10.00 less than what I’m paying for at the Travelodge. While the rooms were decent, it didn’t have that many amenities. It was basically a room with not much else. For the difference in price, we’ll get to enjoy for the evening an indoor pool and hot tub, along with free Wi-Fi and a continental breakfast. Our dinner plans for that night will be to eat at the restaurant next door to the hotel, which happens to be one of my favorites….Cracker Barrel
Afterwards, we’ll all settle in for the night and then it will be onto day two of traveling.
Congrats on BOG ressie.
Didn't know you were an Eastern Shore person. Coming from Just East of Millington we do 301 trek as well. Love that you plan to go as far as Savannah Cracker Barrel is must stop at for us as well
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Congrats on getting the bounce back offer and being PIF!
The dining reservations look great and congrats on getting BOG which I know is a hard reservation to get.
I'm starting to believe September is one of the most difficult months to obtain a ressie at BOG. Most nights this year they're having MNSSHP and on other nights there closing at 8pm. Not too many hours available, so I'm tickled pink that I was able to secure one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
Congrats on BOG ressie.
Didn't know you were an Eastern Shore person. Coming from Just East of Millington we do 301 trek as well. Love that you plan to go as far as Savannah Cracker Barrel is must stop at for us as well
If we had more time, I would almost consider taking Route 301 all the way. I just found out yesterday, they opened a Cracker Barrel twenty minutes from my home. I think I'm in trouble
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Your Day 1 Travel plans look good!
Thanks! It looks good on paper, hope it works in theory.
The second day of our trip will involve only a short drive in comparison to our first day. From here we’re just a mere four hours away from Port Orleans Riverside, where will be staying for the week. My goal for this day is to have everyone up at 6, eat a light breakfast at the hotel, and be on the road by seven o’clock. If all goes well, we should arrive at our resort before noon. I plan on doing the online check-in , which really does help and in the past has saved us valuable time. So, far we’ve lucked out and have had a room ready for us when we checked-in early. I’m hoping the same happens again so we can get a couple of hours of rest before we head out for the evening. We brought the seven day magic your way ticket, so we’ll be heading out to one of the parks for the evening. Which one you ask Why Magic Kingdom of course. This is Joshua’s favorite park , so after a long drive this is how we like to reward ourselves. My selection for our fast passes for this evening will be:
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Main Street Electrical Parade
According to Disney’s schedule MSEP will only be shown this night during our stay, so I’m hoping this one will be available, when I make my selections. Since we can now schedule fast passes, our plan is to enjoy a nice relaxing dinner at the food court, before heading out to the park. We only have a few other rides, besides our fast pass selections that we plan on hitting that night. They include the Haunted Mansion, Winnie-the –Pooh, and Under the Sea. We plan on riding these during Wishes, which we plan on watching on another night later in the week.
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in comparison to our first day. From here we’re just a mere four hours away from Port Orleans Riverside, where will be staying for the week. My goal for this day is to have everyone up at 6, eat a light breakfast at the hotel, and be on the road by seven o’clock. If all goes well, we should arrive at our resort before noon. I plan on doing the online check-in 
, which really does help and in the past has saved us valuable time. So, far we’ve lucked out and have had a room ready for us when we checked-in early. I’m hoping the same happens again so we can get a couple of hours of rest before we head out for the evening. We brought the seven day magic your way ticket, so we’ll be heading out to one of the parks for the evening. Which one you ask 
Why Magic Kingdom of course. 
This is Joshua’s favorite park 
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