The Surviving Deployment Trip Report, Updated 10/18 COMPLETE!! - Page 23 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Great start so far. $27 definitely buys a nice "room" at Lackland. LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nimros
So glad to see your started your TR! Hope you're feeling better.
That's a pretty comfy room for $27! Michael the Bear looked right at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by a_bernard
Very nice room for $27 and pretty good deal for $10 for Outback. Looks like you had a good start to your holiday
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Originally Posted by chezp
What an amazing room - and for such a cheap price! Great deal!
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Originally Posted by orionchika
Rock those prices, girl!!!!LOL!!! That was ONE of the BEST parts of travelling while in the military, that I loved.... You can go almost anywhere in the world and the lodging will NOT break the bank!!! Can't wait to hear more....
I was quite pleased with the room. I had been told that the Air Force Bases were the place to stay. They were right. I'm curious now to see what sort of accommodations there are for three people.
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.
You are like a real life Handy Manny the way you have een taking care of the car. That's so great.
Hee hee! My DD will get a kick out of that comparison. I told her we should have gotten our picture made with him at Disney. My DH is getting a kick out of the car stuff, too. It is so not me!
September 14, 2009
I was up at 2:40 a.m., and trying to quietly get dressed and ready to go. Victoria was up around 2:50 or so. We slowly got ready. It was way too early in the morning. We were out the door at 3:40 a.m., and checked out.
The drive to the airport was easy. There was no traffic. We had a cool moon to look at. It looked just like the Cheshire Cat's smile. Victoria tried to get a picture. This is the best she got.
She said he was being elusive and that we weren't supposed to get a picture of him. I guess she's right.
I was looking for signs for the economy parking and passed right by it. I pulled into the long-term parking, got directions and went back to economy. We found the parking lot and a shuttle pulled right up to us. Yay! We unloaded the car and hopped on the shuttle that took us to the airport.
We checked our one suitcase. It is 1.5 lbs. too heavy. Geez! So, I put the hairdryer in Victoria's carry-on. That worked.
Our carry-ons were pretty heavy, so we lugged them through security and to our gate. I grabbed some breakfast from Freshen's. I got a croissant for Victoria and a cream cheese muffin for myself with cups of water for both of us. Our breakfast came to just over $4. Not too bad.
Michael and I were patiently waiting to board our plane.
We boarded the plane that was full of business travelers. Michael the Bear had never flown before, so we had to get his picture.
We listened to our iPods on the 33 minute flight to Houston. There were nice businessmen who helped us get our luggage down from the overhead compartments. It was a nice, quiet flight.
In Houston, there wasn't really a layover. We made our way to the gate and boarded rather quickly. Unlike our first flight that was quiet and full of businessmen, this flight was full of loud little children who kicked our seats, squealed, cried, fussed, etc. Great. The 1 hour, 53 minute flight to Orlando was full of children and families. I tried to sleep since I had gotten up so early. Victoria tried to sleep, but the woman in the window seat kept opening and closing the window; thus, light would pour in and blind us over and over again. It was weird.
We finally landed and got off the plane. Victoria had to go to the bathroom, so I waited at DME while she went. More and more people filed past me in the ever-growing line. Ug. Victoria finally came out, and we went through DME. There were a ton of people. We ended up waiting 45 minutes for a bus. There were lots of buses that came, but for some reason, they never came for Pop. Needless to say, my first experience with DME wasn't a good one so far.
A bus finally came for Pop, and we got on.
We first dropped off guests going to Caribbean Beach. Pop was the next stop.
I had checked in online so we were able to bypass the huge check-in line. I had requested a room close to the buses. We got the furthest 50s building on the far side of the building. I mentioned the request to the CM, and she just stared at me and said, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" Wow. The CM was less than magical.
One good thing is that our room was ready. So, we made our way to our room, and I looked over the packet of stuff they gave me.
Then we found this little guy in our window.
This was our first towel animal. Cute!
THe $27 dollar hotel and $10 dinner was a great start...sorry that your second flight was less then relaxing. What a wait for the DME. Glad you finally made it to POP and that your room was ready. The CM did sound very unmagical hope that the rest of the day picked up from there.
Great start on your TR. A few inconveniences with the flight and staff, but it seems that every trip, there's always a couple of inconveniences that arise, but it's the overall of the trip that matters
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.
Great start! Yes, flights out of Houston to Orlando are often filled with noisy and excited kids. Of course, usually that means on the flight back, they are either tired and sleepy or tired and cranky.
Sorry to hear about DME and that CM. Hope it turns around from here!
__________________
Betty Sue
Affiliated with CruisingCo.Com/MouseEarVacations.com
Disney Destination Specialist/ BettySueS@cruisingco.com August '09 Trip
Day 1, part 2
Originally, we had wanted to go to DTD for lunch, but we decided to eat at Everything Pop. It was after 1 p.m., and our ADR for 1900 Park Fare was at 5:55 p.m., so we decided to share some loaded nachos and chocolate cake. Lunch would have been $14.76 without the DDP. I bought the refillable mugs for our trip, and we put them to use right away.
Michael joined us for lunch, too.
I have to say, we were both pleasantly surprised by these little chocolate cakes. They were so much better than we expected them to be. We really enjoyed them during this trip.
After lunch, we looked around Everything Pop and started making a wish list.
I really, really, really liked this hat. I kept reminding myself that I'd be back in a month.
We went back to our room to hang out a bit. I was hoping our luggage would arrive soon since I had packed my backpack in our luggage, and I wanted to take it with us. I took pictures of the resort as we walked to our room.
Our luggage arrived at 3:30 p.m., and we were off to the bus stop at 4. We didn't wait more than five minutes for a bus to DTD.
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My DH is getting a kick out of the car stuff, too. It is so not me!
I had requested a room close to the buses. We got the furthest 50s building on the far side of the building. I mentioned the request to the CM, and she just stared at me and said, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" 
Wow. The CM was less than magical.
hope that the rest of the day picked up from there.
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