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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Thanks for the detailed review! We were in Yellow as well, but last tier before the walkway around the park. I agree with you on the inconsiderateness of people having kids on their shoulders. We were higher up, and still couldn't see very well, which I think dampered it for us! We did the picnic package, but didn't try to see it again on our visit!
Since Wednesday was our last day at DLR, we had to check out of the
Disneyland Hotel. We wanted to get going as soon as possible but we needed to pack things up, get checked out, have our bags stored for the day and head to DL. This is where Jennifer really shines. She always has a plan and is very methodical and thorough in what she does, while doing it all quickly. She really is amazing. The bell desk was extremely helpful in getting up quickly, collecting our bags, and reassuring us that everything would be there when we needed it.
I had packed a lot the night before and organized what we needed for the next day so that always helps. Ty helped me check all the drawers and the closet this time. He is getting to be such a big boy!!
A quick note on security: we have stayed at DLR a total of five times now, and we've had the bell desk store our bags for extended periods each time (sometimes twice - one at the beginning of our trip and then again on checkout day). We have never had ANY issues of having something missing or misplaced. Everything has always reappeared to us just as we gave it to them and in a timely and helpful manner. We've stored all sorts of expensive electronics, computers, Ipods, etc. and nothing has ever even looked disturbed, much less been taken. I would trust the staff at any DLR hotel with any of my valuables, and I think if we were to put Ethan in a shopping bag and left him with the bell desk, they'd have him helping out with guests and giving him snacks while offering him a job!
After everything was taken by the bell staff, we stopped at Ralph Brennan's for breakfast on our way. If you haven't been there before, it's in DTD, right in the middle. It's a New Orleans style restaurant and the food is really good. They have great beignets (fried dough squares with powdered sugar). We almost always order some. With the family size, you get eight and it's $9.99. They're big so a family of four would be just fine with everyone having two (and if you have young kids, one per child would be plenty). They are very messy with the powdered sugar, so be prepared for that. If you're not careful, you'll look like you were stuck in a snowstorm! We also got an order of their French Toast sticks, which looked similar to the beignets, but had that definite French Toast flavor (including maple syrup). Their English muffin sandwich is a nice version of an Egg McMuffin, with the sausage having a much less fast-food taste to it (you can also get bacon or ham). It comes with a hash brown patty (similar to McDonalds) and an orange slice. We've had it before and it was very tasty. This time, however, it wasn't hot enough and the cheese wasn't melted. If we had realized it earlier, we would have asked for another one because it's very tasty when it's done right. We also ordered a hot chocolate, which is very tasty (and VERY hot, so be careful). They have a nice area outside where you can sit and enjoy your breakfast, but it can also be eaten while you're walking into the park relatively easily.
We walked and ate as it was our last morning int he parks and we wanted to get in certain things. I was a bit worried we would not get everything in if their were crazy lines.
We wanted to do Toy Story Midway Mania at DCA, but it didn't open for an hour, so we went to DL until DCA opened. Jennifer wanted to do some shopping for some last day things, so I decided to take the boys on Pirates of the Caribbean. The line was so short (5 min wait) that we were able to go on it twice while Jennifer finished her shopping. Ty thoroughly enjoyed it and Ethan went through his usual "I'm not sure if I like this" at the beginning, but he always loved it by the end. Since I was able to record a video of it, I think the boys will enjoy watching it when we get home. Our hour was already up so we headed over to DCA.
I did not find too much to shop for a few pins and that was it. Can up to POTC just as Kent was getting the boys in the stroller and he had bought Ty a pair of pirate ears. Since I love ears I was very pleased to see him with a new pair.
It turns out that if you want to avoid a substantial line for Toy Story
Midway Mania, you'd better be there fifteen minutes BEFORE DCA opens. By the time we got there, the line said 20 minutes and ended up being almost 30. For most people a thirty minute wait for Toy Story WOULD be a short wait, but when you've got a precocious two year-old, that's a long wait.
There is a pic of Ethan in his 3D glasses that I am missing but I will post when I find it.
When we got on the ride, Ethan stayed with me and Ty went with Jennifer. It turned out that we ended up sitting back to back, so we couldn't see each other and that was a little disappointing. So if you want to sit side by side, let them know and I'm sure they could try and accommodate you.
The ride is a blast, but I say that with a little caveat. The set-up is that you're in a rotating car with four people sitting on one side, split into groups of two, with the same on the other side of the car for a total of eight people per car. The track runs you around to various video midway games where you use a blaster that has a string on it to throw/shoot all sorts of various things at the midway games (ducks moving across the screen, targets scrolling left and right, soldiers dropping on parachutes, etc.) For a guy who grew up playing video games, it's awesome the way Disney took something I loved and made it into an interactive ride and experience. The way they added the scoring so you could have some friendly competition is a great idea. For toddlers, though, other than the novelty of seeing characters they love in new situations, it's not a ton of fun. They don't really get what they're supposed to do, so they end up just watching all of the frivolity, which is nice, but not worth a long wait in my opinion. I ended up getting 162,500 and my virtual "prize" was a cat. Is that good? I have no idea, but I did have a lot of fun, and Ethan enjoyed pulling the string and watching Daddy pull his like he was the Flash of string pulling. So would we do this again? Absolutely. Would we do it again with a 30 minute plus wait? Probably not.
After our fun midway experience, Ty & Ethan wanted to go on the Under the Sea carousel, which has all aquatic animals rather than horses. Ty doesn't like the way they go up and down, so he enjoyed the ride while sitting on one of the benches with Jennifer. I stood right next to Ethan while he rode on a fish. Ethan absolutely LOVED this ride. You could not wipe the smile off his face the entire time. He had a blast. Ty liked it a lot as well, but this was a home run for little E.
After we were done, we headed over to Bug's Land so the boys could visit their favorite bug friends one last time before we left. Ty, who's a much faster runner than his little brother, tore off with Jennifer as Ethan and I followed. He and Jen got so far ahead that they had time to go on Heimlich's Chew Chew ride during the time it took Ethan and I to get there. Ty then rode Tuck & Roll's bumper car ride with Jennifer while I took E on the Heimlich ride. Ethan and I were done before they were so I had a chance to video them on the ride and it looked like they were having a blast.
Ty wanted to do the Ladybug boogie ride but the line was pretty long, so I substituted another round of Tuck & Roll again. Ty didn't seem to mind. After all the riding and running, the boys wanted to sit in the stroller, so we all went over to do Monsters Inc. one last time. Before we got to Monsters Inc., we saw that Mr. Incredible was there for photos/autographs. The Incredibles has always been the one Pixar movie that neither boy really got into. UNTIL a couple of months ago. Now TY LOVES this movie and he was SO excited to see his hero, Mr. Incredible. He gave him big hugs and a high five and the thing I thought was really cute was that Ty kept gently touching Mr. Incredible's face with a quizzical look, as if he was trying to figure out why his face was so hard and plasticky (I know that's not a word, but it works) instead of soft like his and Dada's. He was in heaven, though.
The indicator for Monsters Inc. said that the wait was 20 minutes and
Jennifer and I chuckled, because we had NEVER waited in line longer than 10 minutes for this ride. It turned out that the line was actually over 25 minutes, which was a real shock. Just as a frame of reference, we've probably been on this ride 20-25 times total and the line was always much, much shorter, so we knew that we weren't going to be doing this one twice in a row.
After we were done, we saw Sully off to the side of the entrance, and both boys were very excited, especially Ethan. We patiently waited in line and took a bunch of pictures. Ethan was FASCINATED by Sully's fur and probably would have spent an hour petting him and playing with his fur if we had let him.
But it was time to end our time in the parks and head back to the condo in Oceanside.
It always makes me sad to walk out of the gates of any disney park for the last time on that last day. I knew we would be back in a couple months this time and it still makes me sad. I always feel like I am leaving home a little bit.
Aww, what a great last day. I'm glad you got in all the rides you did - sure sounded like it got busy with that last line for the day!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I had a lot to catch up on! Thanks for the great and detailed view on WoC; I am glad you enjoyed it. We saw it opening week and I was more lukewarm although a lot of that was because of the long and somewhat frustrating process of getting to and waiting for the show.
I am glad you had a successful last day without too many long lines and some fun character interaction!
Danielle
__________________
~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
On the way back to get the car and our luggage from the hotel, Ethan fell asleep. We stopped for some lunch at the quick service counter at Tortilla
Joe's. It's similar to Chipotle and Qdoba, but a small step up, in my opinion. They have very flavorful meats that they can put in taco or burrito form and nachos that are really good. If you're a fan of carnitas, get it here, because theirs is slow roasted and fork tender with a great orange-citrus marinade on it. As we started eating, Ty decided that he needed to sleep as well, so both Jennifer and I ended up with a sleeping boy in our arms, so our departure would just have to wait.
As we were walking out into DTD we realized we were starving and I went inside to order our food. By the time I got back out to the table Ethan had crashed in Kent's arms. Just as I got the food sorted for everyone Ty crawled into my nap and in about 30 seconds crashed himself. It was quite funny I am sure to watch the two of us eat with one arm and no ability to sit forward. We managed just fine in the end.
After both the boys woke up and had a bit to eat, we headed back to the DLH. Jennifer went to get our luggage with the boys while I went to self parking to get our car and meet them at the front of the hotel. I don't think I mentioned this before about the parking. Here's our plan when we get there. We valet the car for the first day and then move the car over to the self parking lot for the remainder of our stay. That way, since you want to get right into the parks anyway, you let them handle the parking for that first day. Sure, it costs $17/day, but I think it's well worth it in the long run because you can get right to the magic. Just a thought....
It took Kent a while to get back with the car and both boys were realizing the plan was to leave and they were very sad. Ty kept asking to go see Buzz and Mickey. Once Kent arrived with the car and we got Ethan strapped in I took Ty inside to go potty. We had to walk right by the gift shop and I decided to run in and buy the all star (baseball) t-shirt Kent had been looking at as a surprise for him. Ty walked right over to a Buzz toy and asked me so nicely for Buzz to come home with us. I melted, so yes Buzz came home with our family. Quick trip in the potty and we were back out to the car just as Kent finished loading it up!
Anyway, I loaded up the car and our great trip at DLR was over. We've been here four times now in the past year and have had a great time every time. I know Disney World is the big draw because of the two extra parks and the water parks, but for my money, ESPECIALLY when you have young children, DLR is the way to go. You don't need any buses, monorails (other than to have some fun) with long commute times (if you factor in the wait for the mode of transportation to arrive). You can walk everywhere and if you're staying on property, you don't even need a car. You can just fly into Orange County airport, take a taxi or shuttle to the resort and you're good to go.
I may be biased since I've been to Disneyland so much and know it so well, but I really think it's true when it comes to toddlers. Going back to the hotel for nap time isn't a three hour process - from the park to our hotel room was ten minutes of walking. If you're staying at the GC it's even less (a little bit more for Paradise Pier). There's not the implied pressure of cramming so much into your vacation that you run yourself ragged. You can slow down your pace and really enjoy not only the fun rides but all of the great landscaping and other buildings as well. When you're rushing around, you really miss out on the experience, I think. We always have some new things to try and things that we didn't get around to that we wanted to, but that's why we come back! So see you in September, DLR!
So that's my first TR. I hope you all enjoyed reading it because I really enjoyed writing it. Both Jennifer and I love Disney and the theme parks and it's great that we can share our thoughts with other people who love them too. I love spending time with my wife and boys and DLR is a great place to do that. We always leave with smiles, great memories and the desire to do it all again.
One final tech note (go ahead Jennifer and roll your eyes...) He asked for it, . I mentioned shooting videos of various rides and parades that we go on and watch. I try to shoot a video on any ride we go on so if the boys want to watch it again at home, we can. I use the first generation Flip HD camera, which shoots in 720p and can record for 60 minutes. On our 1080p HDTV, the videos look awesome. Not like the grainy VHS footage from my youth. You can get the 2nd generation one in many stores and it now records up to 120 minutes. I cannot recommend this unit enough. It's small enough to fit in even the smallest of pockets and is light enough that you can hold it upright during a 20 minute parade and not have your arm get tired. We've had ours for over two years and have never had any issues. It charges via the USB port on your computer where you can transfer the files.
Instead of burning them on to a DVD, we use the WDTV media player from Western Digital to watch the videos. Basically it's a bare unit that you plug an external hard drive into via USB. Any video files (or photos or music, for that matter) that are on the hard drive it can play. I've only run into one type of video file that it couldn't play. It plays all of the popular formats (.mp4, .avi, .mpg, .wmv) and lots more. It can also play videos in HD, so they've included a high definition connector via HDMI. So when you hook it up to the HDMI input on your HDTV, you still get the stunning quality of the video file. The amount of media you can watch/listen to is only limited by the size of the hard drive you hook it up to. The hard drive we use is a 1 TB portable one that gets its power from the WDTV, rather than needing an additional outlet to plug it in. The unit is very small and is easy to take with you on trips, especially with the portable hard drive.
Many hotels have televisions with video inputs that you can use so you can play videos and movies that you like, even without a hotel DVD player. We like to bring ours so our boys can watch some of their favorite shows that I've ripped from the DVD as part of their usual morning routine. It's a way to bring some of home with us (and saves us from having to watch all of the commercials on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. I know I've used a TON of tech terms here, so I'm sorry if I've lost you in the details. If you want to know more, though, I'm sure Jennifer could give you my email and I could answer any questions you might have. We love this setup and if it could help you, I'd be happy to share how it all works.
I loved this report! It was just the thing to get me ready for our trip next week. We tour in a fairly relaxed fashion as well, since we've been a number of times and know we'll be back again soon. Thanks for sharing!
So I got way behind, but just finished reading all about your trip. I love how detailed it was! I felt like I was right there with you! Great job! I look forward to hearing about your Labor Day trip.
I just found your TR and read the whole thing at once! I love tag team TRs and this one was no exception! It was fun reading about your trip from different perspectives. I am surprised the crowds were so light around 4th of July! Good for you, though. It sounds like you had a wonderful trip and I'm looking forward to reading all about your next one. Thanks for sharing!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
PassPorter Guide Author
Once Kent arrived with the car and we got Ethan strapped in I took Ty inside to go potty. We had to walk right by the gift shop and I decided to run in and buy the all star (baseball) t-shirt Kent had been looking at as a surprise for him. Ty walked right over to a Buzz toy and asked me so nicely for Buzz to come home with us. I melted, so yes Buzz came home with our family. Quick trip in the potty and we were back out to the car just as Kent finished loading it up!
. I mentioned shooting videos of various rides and parades that we go on and watch. I try to shoot a video on any ride we go on so if the boys want to watch it again at home, we can. I use the first generation Flip HD camera, which shoots in 720p and can record for 60 minutes. On our 1080p HDTV, the videos look awesome. Not like the grainy VHS footage from my youth. You can get the 2nd generation one in many stores and it now records up to 120 minutes. I cannot recommend this unit enough. It's small enough to fit in even the smallest of pockets and is light enough that you can hold it upright during a 20 minute parade and not have your arm get tired. We've had ours for over two years and have never had any issues. It charges via the USB port on your computer where you can transfer the files.
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
It sounds like you had a wonderful trip and I'm looking forward to reading all about your next one. Thanks for sharing!
Linear Mode
