Talk us into or out of driving from Maine to Disney!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
We drove from NY last year and it was a beautiful ride, but it cost us over 1500 to drive down. We did stay over 2 nights because our youngest was 2 at the time. And I was the only one driving. We did bring our own food and drinks and snacks with us, we ate picnic style at the welcome centers. We used our own car too
__________________
Jenn
Past Trips:
Disney Cruise: Sept. 2002
Pop Century: Easter 2006; 60s bldg, Aug. 24-29,07;50sbldg
Skybus from Pease in NH is $40 each way...so all 5 of us can fly for $459! That is darn cheap..we would have to rent a car to drive in from the airport....but we wanted to rent one anyway to keep DH off the buses.
Now we just have to commit to a time... late January is looking good.
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 say go for it! We usually drive to save money (I would rather spend the $$ in disney then on airfare). Plus I like the convenience of having my car (even though we use disney transportation I like knowing its there). Also I never have to worry about the souvineers I buy getting broken on the plane or my suitcases weighing too much (that has happened before and its not fun at all).
It also make for great family time together. Have a great trip
We started driving because I hate flying with my kids (It's fine without them, but with them the airport is such a hassle, and my youngest does not fly well). I LOVED driving--- our only mistake was driving straight through-- I won't do that again. Joe didn't love driving, so I thought we were back to flying. However the kids were so disappointed that we would be flying on our next trip, that Joe reconsidered and we're driving again (probably from now on). The kids loved that they got their pick of movies to watch, and got in the car to a surprise of a few new video games and toys (that I had picked up over the course of the year and saved). They didn't complain one bit. We have a 17 hour drive. They also loved stopping at the rest stops in each state--- go figure. I don't know if we really save money between gas, hotel, food, extra toys that I've picked up--- but I can see the savings if you have 3 kids. But, I just really prefer the drive. Also I like being able to pack more with us, and have things from home that I wouldn't normally have if we flew. But, that being said, we always went to Disney when I was a kid, and we always drove, we even drove to CA from Philly, so I'm used to it. DH never took a road trip, so if you're not used to the long drives you may want to give it some thought. I say go for it though! I also love having my car in Disney--- though we almost never use it--- I like being able to hop in and grab some groceries or something we might need. It's also nice if we have an ADR at a resort restaurant.
__________________
Dina
Last edited by Happymommy; 10-01-2007 at 09:23 AM..
I Say Go For It. Sounds to me like your kids are well past the "are we there yet?" stage. We always drive from Chicago and now with a 3 and half year old are looking forward to the trip this coming January. If you have a DVD player and MP3 player that's a lot of entertainment right there. And the time you spend in the car could be special bonding time. One piece of advice I would give - would be to take a break every four hours or so. Get out of the car and stretch. Have your kids help you plan your driving route and look up things along the way that may be neat to stop and just see. WE love doing this. Its a nice flexibility you don't get flying.
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.
We always drive. It is a 2 day trip for us because driving straight through leaves us too tired for fun. We all live in different spots but really enjoy the travel time, too. Also, we can pack enough to avoid the laundry and can bring back whatever we want! We say go for it!
The only thing that stops US from doing it is gas prices, those extra few hotel stays down & back plus the extra meals for those extra days for my teens who eat A LOT. We figure its almost a wash and we just want to get down there asap!!!!
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.
We have always driven. I consider it part of the adventure! When my DD and DS were young, we would take movies along, always having a few new ones that I would pick up before hand. Now that they're older and have jobs, they don't really have much vacation time accumulated. So they will fly down to meet us in January. But they have mentioned that if they had more time off, they would prefer driving with us.
Take your time, stop often and watch for all the fun, silly South of the Border signs (if you're going I-95). Disney books and cds with Disney music will build the anticipation as well. Have a great time.
If you are planning on doing any touring other than Disney (Sea World, etc.) you will need a rental car anyway. So why not drive. Although the airfare price you were given is almost to good to pass up.
We usually drive if our trip is during the summer months. Our kids love seeing all of the sights along the way (a 24 hour drive for us broken into 2 or more days). Just seeing all of those Civil War Battlefields , Welcome Centers, etc. take up lots of time with 2 boys. And mom usually insists on stopping at a beach someplace for a day or two, also.
If it is winter time, we fly ... there is nothing worse than getting stuck in PA or WV in an ice storm. UGH!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Janell
I've been Jingled by TNdisneyfam
Linear Mode
