Ten Days, Three Resorts... A Disney Convert Dives In - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
having stalked your profile from your comment in my trip report, i am now following yours! i'm so glad your family found disney to be more than you thought--i had a very similar experience. i never thought i'd visit disney, nevermind enjoy it...er, love it. (see--that's even still kind of hard for me to admit...which is insane, given the fact that after this may, i'll have visited 3 times in seven months!)
having stalked your profile from your comment in my trip report, i am now following yours! i'm so glad your family found disney to be more than you thought--i had a very similar experience. i never thought i'd visit disney, nevermind enjoy it...er, love it. (see--that's even still kind of hard for me to admit...which is insane, given the fact that after this may, i'll have visited 3 times in seven months!)
I'm still embarrassed to admit to many of my non-Disney friends that we loved it and plan to return as often as possible!
I'll answer the question you left to my comment here so I don't hijack your TR....the rainforest camp we visited in Costa Rica was called Rara Avis. It was quite the adventure, but I would probably steer families with young kids (and anyone not prepared for truly rustic conditions) in another direction. Our experience included a HUGE rat in the room, highly venomous eyelash vipers right beside the walking path, and a bumpy tractor ride to get there that I worried was going to leave my toddler with shaken baby syndrome. There are other more family friendly eco-lodges in Costa Rica.
Earth University is a wonderful institution worth checking out... and a great place for anyone to tour and see their banana paper plant and innovative agricultural practices. Kind of like "Living with the Land", rain forest version.
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.
the rainforest camp we visited in Costa Rica was called Rara Avis. It was quite the adventure, but I would probably steer families with young kids (and anyone not prepared for truly rustic conditions) in another direction. Our experience included a HUGE rat in the room, highly venomous eyelash vipers right beside the walking path, and a bumpy tractor ride to get there that I worried was going to leave my toddler with shaken baby syndrome.
First, I thought "why in the world are they doing the dining plan for only 1 day?", But it totally makes sense for you guys! What a great plan!
We rode the boat from DTD to OKW to have lunch at Olivia's during our trip a few weeks ago. I loved OKW! I totally want to stay there now! Do you have pics of the rooms? I'd love to see what OKW looks like so I can dream about being there. And I hope you ate at Olivia's. that was one of the best meals of our trip and we kind of know one of the chefs. I'll be posting our meal there to my TR soon.
You are right, staying at the airport hotel delayed the magic, depending on how much you really saved, I think getting into the Disney Bubble as soon as possible is the best idea!
We had a problem with our keys too! They finally gave us plain white keys to use. We wondered if they were master keys and would unlock any door! But we only had one blue key with our name on it that ever worked! And we didn't have tickets or dining plan or room charging or anything on our keys. So weird!
We liked Sunshine Seasons too, such good food and choices. Did you use snack credits for the pre-lunch ice cream?
Did you do the spinning side of Mission Space? I'm not brave enough to try that and I'll do ANY kind of thrill ride.
Can't wait to read more!
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
LOL...I know, quite a change for us. I wouldn't trade our Costa Rica trips... fascinating and adventurous... but I loved the relaxation and ease of Disney. (No rats is also nice!)
__________________
Deer Isle Mom
Last edited by deerislemom; 03-19-2011 at 06:01 AM..
First, I thought "why in the world are they doing the dining plan for only 1 day?", But it totally makes sense for you guys! What a great plan!
We rode the boat from DTD to OKW to have lunch at Olivia's during our trip a few weeks ago. I loved OKW! I totally want to stay there now! Do you have pics of the rooms? I'd love to see what OKW looks like so I can dream about being there. And I hope you ate at Olivia's. that was one of the best meals of our trip and we kind of know one of the chefs. I'll be posting our meal there to my TR soon.
We liked Sunshine Seasons too, such good food and choices. Did you use snack credits for the pre-lunch ice cream?
The 1-day dining plan worked well for us and saved some money. I'm not sure we've worked out exactly the best way to to the dining yet. It would have been more fun to spread out our character meals... but then we would have ended up with more credits than we could use. Tables in Wonderland worked pretty well for us as DD and I sometimes shared, and DS usually just wants something off the children's menu.
We love OKW. It's very mellow and relaxing and the rooms are HUGE - much bigger kitchens and living areas than typical DVC villas. I'll see if I have any photos.
After a nap for DS and DH, and a swim at High Rock Springs pool for me and DDs, we caught a bus to Magic Kingdom. Didn't wait too long for the bus, but still just barely made our 7:30 p.m. ADR at the Crystal Palace. We reconnected with our friends who had been touring Magic Kingdom while we were resting. They were staying off site and planned to return to their condo right after dinner.
Dinner was loads of fun, but fairly chaotic. They seated our party of 10 at two round tables next to each other. Has anyone else noticed that it is almost impossible to get an ADR for 7 or more without a message "please note your party may be seated at more than one table."? The four boys (ages 7,7,8, and 12) immediately sat at one table and the adults and girls squeezed in at the other. We kept a close eye on them, with one adult sitting with them almost all the time... but 4 boys at a rowdy dinner buffet was crazy. At one point they were trying to collect mickey shaped confetti off of the floor and I caught one of them crawling under another party's table to pick up a piece. Please accept my sincere apologies if you were seated in the same section as us that night!
My kids loved the food and loved the character interaction. We enjoyed visiting with our friends, though conversation is difficult when Pooh and Piglet are stopping by every few minutes. The other kids were more interested in the confetti and sugar packets than the characters. They've been to Disney more than we have, so maybe the characters have lost a bit of their magic. Or it could just be the age. Tiger and Pooh led a parade of sorts around the room twice while we were there. DD(3) had an ear to ear grin as she proudly marched along. I don't remember them doing this when we were there last year.
The food at Crystal Palace is pretty good for a buffet. Several of the salads were interesting and tasty (shrimp and quinoa, edamame). I really liked the fire roasted corn pudding on the hot buffet. Sort of like a polenta casserole. The salmon with herb aioli was also good. Save your dessert calories for somewhere else if you can. The kids loved the soft serve ice cream and sprinkles, but I thought the desserts did not match the quality of the rest of the food.
We missed the fireworks. Original plan was to take a break from dinner, watch from the porch of Crystal Palace, and then return to our meal. It was way too chaotic to try this. I was sad our friends missed it as they aren't typically in the parks this late, but they didn't seem to mind.
We walked them to Main Street and said our goodbyes. Then headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain - a favorite of the older two. I don't remember our order of rides that night, but I know we did BTM twice, the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Space Mountain. EMH was from 11-2 and by 11:30 we were fading. The kids wanted to stay later, but they didn't argue too much when we said "one more ride." On our trip last April we stayed out at Magic Kingdom EMH until 2:00 a.m. one night. We were with another set of friends that time, and the kids were having such fun together. The little one was sleeping in the stroller anyway, so we just went for it and slept in the next day. This time around, however, everyone was getting cranky, so we were out of the park by midnight and in bed at SSR by 1:00 a.m.
All in all, a wonderful first day at Disney World!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Dana
Kristie
Deer Isle Mom
Linear Mode
