First Ever Disneyland Trip Updated 10/13 - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Well, making dining and package reservations sure is a drawn out, and sometimes frustrating process, isn't it? Hoping you are able to book the World of Color Package very soon.
Me, too! And you will know shortly after I get it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
DLR does not seem as organized as WDW with all that is set up on their web sites! With a big resort like DLR, anything for 60 days out on ADRs should be available to book! Something is wrong there and you mya want to voice your opinion to HQs!
Actually, I used Super Shuttle once and it was in Los Angeles from LAX, back in 1998 when I went on a tour of the SW USA and through some of the national parks covering parts of CA, AZ. UT and NV. They are pretty well known and I see their vans at some of the NYC airports as well. I had no complaints about my trip that I can recall (it's been a while as 1998) and they seemed prompt and efficient! I'm sure you could Google for reviews if you want!
Thanks for the info on Super Shuttle. Luke has checked online reviews, but he said he'd like to hear what people I know think. We trust PassPorters to give us their honest opinions.
So good to hear that Tortilla Jo's is good! I have been making all our reservations so far online so that has evidently changed. Luke is definitely looking forward to California Screamin'.
Hope something here will be helpful.
Now you have me nervous as Blue Bayou is the ADR I hope to book tomorrow. It was the first place we knew we absolutely wanted to do. I better cross my fingers.
I didn't mean to make you nervous. You should be fine. You are much farther out than we were. Good luck! Not that you will need it.
I have noticed that WDW dining CMs are chatty and friendly. Hopefully the package opens up soon. We had planned on doing that exact one when we planned our trip. The menu looks divine! I have not tried Super Shuttle but I am following closely because that was what we had also planned on using.
Unfortunately Cam, your experience pretty much matches mine when it comes to dining reservations and as for park hours... Don't even get me started on that! I don't think you'll have experienced that yet, as they're supposed to be out six weeks beforehand. Well, from what I've experienced "supposed" is the right word.... just to warn you.
We used the Gray Line Disneyland Resort Express bus service last November. They were affordable, $46 each for a round trip, (although that has now gone up a couple of dollars), and were excellent, we thought. The buses were clean, comfortable, easy to find and use, and offered an excellent service. It helped that our resort, the Fairfield Inn by Marriott, was one of their stops along the way - this meant that we were effectively taken door to door.
I would definitely recommend them, although I don't know how they compare price-wise to Super Shuttle.
__________________
Silvercat
(Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels Parts 1, 2, 3 & the new volume 4" - available now as e-books)
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.
I didn't realize the two parks were so vastly different in planning processes (probably because DL is still out of reach for us)? When my parents took us, we walked up to the park window and bought our passes for each day (walked from our hotel down the street). This was well before the California Adventure and DtD expansions though.
__________________
The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
I'm so excited you've started your report! I just booked a trip for April (had to cancel our trip for November) and am interested to follow along. We've been to DL twice and both times had the most magical time. We used the Gray Line Disneyland shuttle and it was very good (we also found a coupon somewhere).
I can't wait to hear about your experience at Ralph Brennan. We ate there on our last trip and it was wonderful. We sat upstairs by a window watching all the people in DTD below. The food was great!
Looking forward to reading more of your plans and following along on your trip.
Yay, so happy to hear I can make ADR's online for our November trip! See, I knew I would learn a few things from your PTR. On our 2013 trip we were going to use Super Shuttle, but then I found a coupon and ended up using a car service which was awesome. He was right there waiting for us the second we grabbed our bags and took us right to the DL Hotel. Super Shuttle goes to all the area hotels. A couple of the other PP's there for the same races used Super Shuttle and it worked really great for them.
Are you flying out of LAX to go home too? We flew into LAX and out of SNA. For SNA we were able to take a taxi and it was easy and very affordable.
Cam, we used Super Shuttle from the SNA (John Wayne Airport) to DL back in 2005 and they were OK. I thought the van was kind of dirty and the air conditioning wasn't working properly but the airport isn't that far to DL so I it was alright. I would read reviews on the shuttle coming from LAX since that is quite a bit farther distance. Sorry that you're having such a difficult time with the dining reservations. Back in 2005 I hadn't made any reservations ahead of time, and we just would walk up to a restaurant and if they had availability then we ate there. I did make a reservation for the Blue Bayou the day before when we were in the park before I heard that it wasn't that easy to get in. I know things are different now though. I did feel during past trips to DL that some CM's did not exhibit the same "magic" that most do in WDW.
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.
About This Page: 
With a big resort like DLR, anything for 60 days out on ADRs should be available to book! 
Something is wrong there and you mya want to voice your opinion to HQs! 
We trust PassPorters to give us their honest opinions. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Don't even get me started on that! 
See, I knew I would learn a few things from your PTR. 
Linear Mode
