The "Aren't you glad I booked the room?" TR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
While Lenny was looking for a new job, we kept hoping that we'd still be able to get back to Disney this year so we talked about it on occassion. Not at great length but comments here and there. Then Disney put out an offer that I originally thought wasn't a deal - one free quick service meal per person per night. To get it would mean paying rack rate for the room so just out of curiosity, I went online and priced it out and compared it to what we had been quoted. Believe it or not, rack rate is exactly what we were paying anyway - I just didn't realize it. So now knowing what we were paying combined with our eating habits, it truly was a deal for us.
We go in August when it's typically really hot and we stopped doing the "original" dining plan because it was just too much food. We just couldn't eat a TS meal, a QS meal and a snack each and every day of our stay. Well we did - and we got everything we had "paid" for but it was just too much. Now it's a few years later and we've changed around how we've been eating. Instead of TS dinners, we've switched to mostly breakfast meals which means we do eventually get hungry later in the day. Even if we don't get the desserts that are included with the QS meal, on the low end we would spend $30 for the three of us. Multiply that by 13 nights - the length of our trip - and we're looking at close to $400 savings. That was enough of a savings for me to want to book the deal. The only things that we needed were 1) for Lenny to get a job, 2) to come up with the money to actually go and 3)to call and see if we could actually get the deal.
Items one and three actually happened. Within two weeks of losing his job at Walgreens, Lenny got a new job at Home Depot. It was only part time but some time is better than no time. We were hoping too with his knowledge of tools and parts and such and just how he is at the register that he'd possibly get at least close to full time hours if not get put to full time. As for calling and seeing if we could get the deal, I did finally call on February 3rd and I was told we could do it. It just took a really, really long time to get it done though as we had booked a handicapped accessible room with the king and double bed. Once that is booked, it's gone so I spent a long time on hold. Of course I had tried to make this phone call before my mother got home because I didn't want to hear her being negative about it.
After Lenny lost the job at Walgreens, mom and I had been sitting in the kitchen talking and she asked about Disney. "Are you going to Disney this year?" I told her we were thinking about it but didn't know for sure. "Well when were you planning on telling me about this?" Huh, I need to tell you my thoughts now? I responded with "we're only thinking about it so there is nothing to tell. As soon as we know if we can go, I will let you know. For now, we're just thinking about it." As if that conversation wasn't bad enough, she had other comments along the line of "he just lost his job, do you think it's a smart move to go? Do you think anywhere will give him time off for vacation? You know he won't get paid." It was nothing but negative comments but my thinking was if we could manage to make this trip work despite the setbacks, then we would deserve to go. As much as my mother seems to think it at times, I am not stupid. I love Disney - a lot - but there is no way I am going into debt to get there.
So back to my phone call. I spent probably a good half an hour just on hold waiting for the CM to get the free QS meal offer with the room. She was really pleasant and I was very surprised when she asked if she could put me on hold so she could talk to Guest Relations and make sure everything was booked correctly. Nobody wants to be put on hold - especially for that long but she really was pleasant and kept "checking back" with me and apologizing. While I know I was there for a long time - I kept checking the clock hoping the call would be done before mom got home - it didn't really seem that long. Maybe because I was either typing up this PTR or checking out the boards. Of course that day mom was actually home on time. She didn't ask me who I was on the phone with - she probably figured it was Disney - but I did tell her outright what I did. I'm sure my mother was very doubtful as to what I told her "yes, we have a room but that doesn't me we are absolutely 100% going." Mom, as I said, has had negative things to say about our trips to Disney. It's not just this one, she's been doing it for years, but she didn't outright say she didn't believe me.
She just doesn't get, especially for us, how far in advance we have to book the room we want. Then for this year, to get the free QS meal, that also had to be booked by a certain time. At the beginning of February, we didn't know if we would actually be going or not but it only cost me an "extra" $30 or so to change from the room only to the package so for the $200 total I had put down, it was a no brainer. I had more than enough in our vacation savings to cover it and I knew if I had to cancel, I would do so in a timely enough manner to get a full refund so the only thing I would be out was the time I spent booking the original room (actually Lenny did this so it "cost" me nothing at all except to hear "aren't you glad I booked the room?") and then the time on the phone spent changing what we had.
Jumping on! I love your trip reports Darlene and I'm so happy to find this one close to the start because I usually find it after you came home hahaha.
__________________
5/02 AKL*8/09 POR*10/10 ASMu*8/11 Pop*2/12 ASMu*8/12 POFQ*2/13 ASM*8/13 CB *4/14 AoA*8/14 AKL*8/15 CS*2/16 Disney Magic*8/16 Split stay! POR/BC*2/17 Disney Fantasy & OKW*8/17 Poly/AKL*1/18 ASMu*8/18 SS/?? split stay!
I wondered exactly when we would get all the details of how Lenny was responsible for booking the room. I really cannot express how glad I am that you 3 are returning to Disney this year. You all have been through so much and it is so great that the struggles are paying off. I hope that it will happen that way for us too...very long time coming and still not financially feasible but I'm doing whatever we can to make it happen.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Southwestern Florida, USA
Concierge Level: 7
Posts: 39,153
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 39
Likes (Received): 114
Thanks (Given): 18
Thanks (Received): 46
Pixie Dust (Given): 1
Pixie Dust (Received): 8
Great cast of characters! I love your descriptions!
I am so happy for how long you get to stay! I have never stayed that long!!!
That long gives you plenty of time to relax and enjoy!
Congrats on getting the free QS meal and being able keep your room! So sorry about the long wait time on the phone - but so worth it in the end!
Signing on. I love following your trip reports. I love that you extended your trip. I can't wait to see how you fill your extra days. You pack so much fun into your time there.
I was happy to know Lenny was able to get a job so quickly. Goid luck getting more hours.
Btw, you asked awhile back about TSA times in Orlando. We flew home on a Tuesday afternoon in June. On average it was taking about half an hour to proceed through the line. I had a girl with a knee injury, so I quickly secured a nice young sky cap and we were through in 15 minutes.
Signing on! I just realized today that I should probably look to see if you've started your PTR and was so happy to find it. I enjoy all the details you provide, Darlene.
Jumping on! I love your trip reports Darlene and I'm so happy to find this one close to the start because I usually find it after you came home hahaha.
Thank you. Anytime is a good time to find a TR but IMO after they are done are sometimes better - no waiting to find out what happens
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
So great that you were able to add the free QS meal and keep your room! The wait time on hold was a little crazy but sounds like it was worth it.
Thanks Cam. We were glad we were able to keep the room too because if it came down to getting the deal or getting the room, we would have gone with the room. The fact that we could get both made the wait very worth it. I still check every so often that it's listed right because I still can't believe we actually got both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
I wondered exactly when we would get all the details of how Lenny was responsible for booking the room. I really cannot express how glad I am that you 3 are returning to Disney this year. You all have been through so much and it is so great that the struggles are paying off. I hope that it will happen that way for us too...very long time coming and still not financially feasible but I'm doing whatever we can to make it happen.
Wonder no more. I've answered that one question - and many, many more that weren't even asked . Thank you - and I hope you too get to go soon. If you do what we have been doing (if you aren't already), it may help. We'd look at something (an item to buy for instance) or think about going out to dinner and more often than not we decided "we'd rather us the money for Disney instead." Whatever the items were obviously weren't needed anyway - I don't even know what they were - and we'll do plenty of eating out in Disney so it worked out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luvsun
Great cast of characters! I love your descriptions!
I am so happy for how long you get to stay! I have never stayed that long!!!
That long gives you plenty of time to relax and enjoy!
Congrats on getting the free QS meal and being able keep your room! So sorry about the long wait time on the phone - but so worth it in the end!
Thanks. I'm kind of surprised at how long our trip turned out to be. It wasn't originally going to be that long but somewhere along the lines it grew from what it had been. If I knew how and when, I would have included those details too. And yes, the wait was definitely worth it. Every so often, I even go online to double check it's still right because I just can't believe we were able to get both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcmary
Signing on. I love following your trip reports. I love that you extended your trip. I can't wait to see how you fill your extra days. You pack so much fun into your time there.
I was happy to know Lenny was able to get a job so quickly. Goid luck getting more hours.
Btw, you asked awhile back about TSA times in Orlando. We flew home on a Tuesday afternoon in June. On average it was taking about half an hour to proceed through the line. I had a girl with a knee injury, so I quickly secured a nice young sky cap and we were through in 15 minutes.
Thanks. Stay tuned and I'll give you our plans for everything, including the extra days. We too were happy he got the job so quickly and as for hours, I've mentioned it in my TR so you'll just have to stay tuned to find out. Thanks for the info on the airport. Everything I've been hearing here has been good so I guess either TSA got things under control or people are doing their part to get through quickly. Maybe both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you were able to get the dining deal!!
Thanks Marnie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Williextreme
Signing on! I just realized today that I should probably look to see if you've started your PTR and was so happy to find it. I enjoy all the details you provide, Darlene.
And well done, Lenny, for booking that room!
Thanks - I did and 'm glad you enjoy them. And yes - way to go to Lenny, who still says "aren't you glad I booked the room?" (he's worn it out a little bit
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.
February 9th was our 180 day mark and I could make our ADR's. There was no harm in doing it so after getting Abby up so she could get ready for school I started my computer to see if I could get our favorites. At that time, our dining looked like this
Monday 8/8 - Crystal Palace breakfast at 8:30 am
Wednesday 8/10 - Garden Grill breakfast at 8:15 am (the meal is new to us even though the restaurant is not)
Thursday 8/11 - Tusker House breakfast at 8:15 am
Saturday 8/13 - Beaches and Cream dinner at 4:30 pm
Sunday 8/14 - Ohana breakfast at 7:30 am
Monday 8/15 - 1900 Park Fare breakfast at 8:00 am
Wednesday 8/17 - Cape May Cafe breakfast at 7:30 am - Lenny's birthday choice because he enjoys it so much.
Looking at our dining plans that afternoon, things just seemed off. The reason? We always eat at Akershus for breakfast on our first Epcot day and at GG for dinner on our last day of our trip. I had switched things up and after talking with Lenny, we just didn't like it so even though it was only hours after I had made the original ADR's, I ended up going back online and canceling the GG breakfast and adding Akershus at 8:15 am instead. I couldn't reschedule GG however because our last two days were outside of the +10 window so I had to wait to do those. On the 11th however, I was able to go back in and I added to our dining:
Thursday 8/18 - Be Our Guest lunch at 10:30 am
Friday 8/19 - Garden Grill breakfast at 8:15 am
For the next week, I didn't do anything else for Disney but on Feb 18th, during my February vacation from school, I did get up at 6 am to check out SWA for airline tickets. The cost ended up being a little bit more than I expected - $771 (115 going down, 142 coming home). I had been hoping for $100 tickets like what I got for our return airfare last year but the rates I saw weren't too bad so despite not being the smartest thing, I did actually purchase the airfare. Just out of curiosity, over the months, I actually kept looking at the airfare prices too. Not in hopes of it coming down as a credit would do me no good but to see what it would have cost me had I waited to make my purchase. A week after I had bought them (the following Thursday) the airline tickets were now listed at $1300 for the 3 of us (227 going down, 217 coming home) . After that, they came right down again to my price but then they eventually seemed to settle around $1150 (170 going, 210 coming). At the beginning of June, they went up to about $1217 so with the increases I was seeing, I was very happy with the decision I had made in February.
Being very hopeful I could actually make this trip work (and not be out the cost of our airfare), I also called Walker Mobility that day to book a scooter for Lenny this year. That, like Disney, doesn't have to be paid until the trip so there was no harm in doing it.
We had decided last year after going on the Pirates and Pals cruise that we'd enjoyed it enough that we wanted to do it again on our next trip. So after the airfare and the scooter, I decided to try and call Disney for that. I had a lot of trouble getting through to book it however as I was constantly told there was a long wait. I forget now how long it took me but I kept trying for a couple of weeks to get through and once I finally did, I was able to book the date I had been hoping for. The cost, like everything else at Disney, went up from last year but only $10 a person so it wasn't unreasonable.
Love all your ADRs! Luke and I are big breakfast eaters, but lately after reading about breakfast at GG, I'm tempting to get the latest breakfast possible. By nearly lunch time we are usually hungry. Sounds like you made the wise choice on buying your airfare!
Love all your ADRs! Luke and I are big breakfast eaters, but lately after reading about breakfast at GG, I'm tempting to get the latest breakfast possible. By nearly lunch time we are usually hungry. Sounds like you made the wise choice on buying your airfare!
We like to get into the parks early so we like as close to opening as possible and then if we have to get a snack or something later that's okay with us. It gives us a chance to get Abby out of the heat (she won't say she's hot until she's past that). As for reading things - what have you been reading about them that has you wanting the latest seating?
As for the airfare, I do think it was the wise choice. After typing this up, I checked a couple of more times. It ended up over $1300 round trip before our flight home became sold out.
We like to get into the parks early so we like as close to opening as possible and then if we have to get a snack or something later that's okay with us. It gives us a chance to get Abby out of the heat (she won't say she's hot until she's past that). As for reading things - what have you been reading about them that has you wanting the latest seating?
As for the airfare, I do think it was the wise choice. After typing this up, I checked a couple of more times. It ended up over $1300 round trip before our flight home became sold out.
Sorry, I didn't word that well. The GG breakfast food I've read about in others' TR sounds and looks so delicious, but I wouldn't be hungry enough for it until closer to lunch time. When we eat around at a normal breakfast time, I can't eat much. It's like my stomach takes awhile to wake up.
Sorry, I didn't word that well. The GG breakfast food I've read about in others' TR sounds and looks so delicious, but I wouldn't be hungry enough for it until closer to lunch time. When we eat around at a normal breakfast time, I can't eat much. It's like my stomach takes awhile to wake up.
Save
Thanks Cam for clarifying. If you can't eat early then it makes much more sense to go later on.
Sounds like this trip was just meant to be since everything seemed to just fall into place. You were able to snag some great choices! We love, love, love Cape May Cafe breakfast.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Us 
. Thank you - and I hope you too get to go soon. If you do what we have been doing (if you aren't already), it may help. We'd look at something (an item to buy for instance) or think about going out to dinner and more often than not we decided "we'd rather us the money for Disney instead." Whatever the items were obviously weren't needed anyway - I don't even know what they were - and we'll do plenty of eating out in Disney so it worked out.
(he's worn it out a little bit 
. After that, they came right down again to my price but then they eventually seemed to settle around $1150 (170 going, 210 coming). At the beginning of June, they went up to about $1217 so with the increases I was seeing, I was very happy with the decision I had made in February.
Linear Mode
