Budget SE Asia trip, Summer 2016 Updated real-time - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
It all definitely looks affordable. Imagine an AP for $128. I know that's just one park, and it's relatively new, so not fully developed, but still.... It'll be such a treat to be in the park with your son on his birthday. Eight seems to me a great age for the parks!
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 plans. I am not a business person but I am curious as to how/why HKDL can be so much less expensive. Would people in the area just revolt and stay away if prices were comparable to DW?
Great plans. I am not a business person but I am curious as to how/why HKDL can be so much less expensive. Would people in the area just revolt and stay away if prices were comparable to DW?
The Hong Kong park is fairly new and is in no way comparable to what even just MK has to offer. Maximum daily capacity is the lowest of any Disney park. Once the whole complex is developed I'm sure prices will go up!
Well, you're better than me then - we've only ever flown once with Ryanair (c. $40 for the two of us to Venice back in 2001, not long after 9/11, when all the airlines dropped their prices through the floor to get everyone flying again), and we swore never again. It was not a nice experience and I've heard bad things from friends in the intervening years as well.
Somehow I missed this post earlier!
Yeah, Ryan air is super abusive and cutthroat. I've done it tons, and know the deal. I will basically fold up into a suitcase and fly in the baggage compartment for what they charge. Happily, I never had to deal with a canceled flight with them, that sounded like a trip through Kafka's Trial.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
The Hong Kong park is fairly new and is in no way comparable to what even just MK has to offer. Maximum daily capacity is the lowest of any Disney park. Once the whole complex is developed I'm sure prices will go up!
I thought part of the lower prices was a product of the exchange rate. But it's true. I've noticed in my research that there aren't the wealth of dining options, for example. I've read some pretty nice things about some of their attractions, most notably Mystic Manor, which I'm not reading any more about so I can be surprised when I ride.
Dining is not much cheaper. For example, right now the character breakfasts run at 30 dollars, with children at 20 dollars. Isn't that the same as Chef Mickey's at WDW, and maybe a bit more expensive for kids?
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
I thought part of the lower prices was a product of the exchange rate. But it's true. I've noticed in my research that there aren't the wealth of dining options, for example. I've read some pretty nice things about some of their attractions, most notably Mystic Manor, which I'm not reading any more about so I can be surprised when I ride.
Dining is not much cheaper. For example, right now the character breakfasts run at 30 dollars, with children at 20 dollars. Isn't that the same as Chef Mickey's at WDW, and maybe a bit more expensive for kids?
I don't do character meals, but that does sound pretty much what it is at WDW. I really think the lower ticket prices reflect the smaller number of attractions and also they're still trying to build loyalty to this park. It didn't take off the way they'd hoped and attendance dropped the first few years. By offering lower ticket prices, especially the AP, they may get people hooked!
The whole concept of "SE Asia" is so big and unwieldy! I've been reading on Trip Advisor and got some books from the library that I've started to skim...but I think I'm just going to leave a lot of the research for this one to DH. There just isn't anything solid enough for me to sink my teeth into. Instead, I will have principals and preferences laid out for him and myself, and I will stick to planning the San Francisco travel and touring, and will do the communicating with our friends in Don Det, Laos.
Getting to SF:
Amtrak from Eugene (5:10pm on 6/18) arriving at Emeryville, CA (8:10am on 6/19). This gives us a huge chunk of wiggle room in case the train is late. Our experience with Amtrak, expecially in California, has taught us to expect delays. If the train gets WAY behind, we will have the option of hoping off and renting a car.
From Emeryville Amtrack, I thought we would have to find our own way over to the City, but for the same price, we can extend with Amtrak. Looks like they will have a bus waiting when the train arrives to shuttle passengers over to SF. Yay! We could have handled dealing with the Emery-go-round shuttle to the BART, but this is cheaper and simpler. Whoo hoo!
Sooo, if we're on time, we will have from about 9:30 AM to about 10 pm in SF. Oh, what shall we, what shall we do???!!!!
I know we'll have been up forever, since it gets light about 5 am at that time of year, and we will be WAY excited to be on our trip. So, I don't think breakfast can wait. I'll have to pack something. Our go-to road foods right now are hard-boiled eggs, celery, carrots, and cheese. I'll plan enough for dinner the night before, along with ramen cup-a-noodles, our favorite train food, as well as breakfast.
In SF, we will want DS to get as much activity as possible, preparing for the 12-14 hr flight ahead of us. The 2 best options I can see are Golden Gate park or the Exploratorium. DS went there 2 visits ago, and loved it so much. DH loves it too. Me, not so much. I like the idea, but it's just too overwhelming and overstimming and after a while I'm DONE, and they aren't.
Soooo, at 30 bucks for an adult, I don't see myself joining them. Perhaps I could travel down the road a spell to the Disney Family Museum while they Exploratorium to the hilt?
Another option is to go to the GG park and tool around there. I like this because it's close to some great hole-in-the-wall eateries on Balboa street. For the price of a museum entrance, we could rent bikes and see the entire park with ease and pleasure. As a cheapskate, I hate spending 65 bucks renting a bike...shoot...my own bike that I ride daily didn't cost that much! But, it does afford us a TON of mobility with our son, who is definitely not stroller age but really complains with longer rides. And DH actually can't do a TON of walking without getting leg cramps. So this might just be the way to go.
I see those as our 2 best options for the day.
After whatever we chose, we need to stuff our faces with cheap food, because, beginning just after dinner-time (about 8pm), we will make our way to the Fairmont Hotel, for ..... THIS!!!!
I'm pretty psyched on this. I don't expect it to stand up to our experience at the Forbidden Tiki in Vancouver, BC (that was much more intimate), but I think it could still be good. If it weren't across the water, I might chose Trader Vic's over this, as I think the atmosphere might be more casual and feel easier for our 7 yo...but this will have to do, and I'm excited!
We plan on going VERY SLOW here. We'll drop stupid money, but hey! It's a tiki bar that takes minors!
Despite having downed a Mai Tai or two, we will need to keep track of the time. At about 10:30, we'll need to stumble over about 8 blocks to the BART rail and catch a train for SFO. Our flight leaves at nearly 2 am. We'll get there early and snuggle down at the gate till boarding. Hopefully DS will catch some Zs, and we will be on our way.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
It was not a nice experience and I've heard bad things from friends in the intervening years as well. 
PassPorter Guide Author
DIlBrooksmom
Linear Mode
