So many wonderful places to go how do I choose. - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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!
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Hi I'm Hazel, mum to three, two of which are fledgling adults, love ?Disney love travel and have a mad busy work life. We live currently in Paris with a home in Scotland but are moving to Brisbane in July.
As if I didn't have enough to do I'm trying to plan my summer 2015 holiday. I tell myself it is because I'll need to book it just after the big move but actually I just want my head in next holiday mode.
We have DVC points both at WDW and at VGC. We will be travelling in 2014 UY and we have already used most of our 2014 WDW points with the exception of 110 VGF points. I really really want to use our VGC points at VGC for the first time and coming from Brisbane LAX is a great arrival airport as it is a direct 13 hour flight, so VGC is the only definite on the list.
We have an added complication that DS Peter who will be 16 almost 17 is not moving to Brisbane with us but going to boarding school back home in .Scotland. So he will be flying in from probably London and meeting us at whatever arrival airport we pick for that.
So now my problem where to add on to VGC. I really want a couple of nights in San Diego and a couple of wind down nights at Santa Monica Bay but that leaves us about 12 nights unplanned.
I was originally thinking go to Orlando and have 5 or 6 no park nights at VGF and AKV, hire boats, golf, mini golf, enjoy the resorts and eat a tour favourite restaurants then have 4 nights onsite at Universal. However Peter thinks WDW is a little done and in fairness we were there in 2012 and twice in 2013 so I can see his points there are so many other places on the list.
NYC is somewhere I have always wanted to go and also would really like to go to Atlantic City. Peter could easily fly in and meet us in NYC and we could easily fly over from LAX however I'm hesitant about amusing two energetic boys in two city environments. Yes there are loads to do but I think they are more my kinds of things to do than teenage and tween things.
So my head is now thinking a couple of nights in Santa Monica, then drive north with a couple of nights in Monterey/ Carmel area, meet peter in San Francisco, have 4 nights in San Francisco then fly to San Diego for the zoo and some beach time before driving to Disneyland and having a blast there before the short drive to LAX for back to Australia. Less flying time and we could maybe squeeze in either Las Vegas or Universal in LA
Ah decision decisions I really can't make up my mind about what to tack on to my VGC time. I'm even wondering about investigating a Dude ranch in Arizona or a national park.
Can anyone sympathise with my very first world dilemma?
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I can fully sympathise with you - I have so many places in the world I want to go!
I'd say San Diego is a definite - we absolutely loved that city, there's so much to do and see there. We only had a couple of nights there and we'd have preferred more time there. Apart from that, I'd go for New York City over San Francisco. We just didn't feel the love for San Francisco on our last trip there. However, the idea of national parks gets my vote.
You could easily drive to Vegas, spend a couple of nights there (it's a bit like a Disney for adults - the theming of the hotels is on the same standard as Disney for example) and then go to some of the nearby parks. You've got the Grand Canyon and Bryce within fairly easy distance.
As far as flying in goes, why not all fly into LAX? There are numerous flights out of Heathrow into LAX, so you should be able to get a good fare for Peter - and I suspect it'll be cheaper than you guys trying to fly from LAX to NYC, as there's not as many airlines flying direct as you'd think.
Actually I have just priced it on BA and got a really pleasant surprise. i priced as one ticket
Edinburgh-London-NYC
NYC-LAX
LAX-London-Edinburgh
Out June this year, return end of August and he flys to Brisbane with us in between on a separate ticket. Price £1250 not bad considering we pay that for Gatwick-Orlando alone.
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.
Actually I have just priced it on BA and got a really pleasant surprise. i priced as one ticket
Edinburgh-London-NYC
NYC-LAX
LAX-London-Edinburgh
Out June this year, return end of August and he flys to Brisbane with us in between on a separate ticket. Price £1250 not bad considering we pay that for Gatwick-Orlando alone.
Please tell me that's the price you pay for Premium Economy?
I, too, have so many places I would love to visit, but not the pocketbook We took a trip to San Diego several summers ago -we stayed 8 days and had plenty to do and see and we probably could have added a day or two more. If you plan on SD for a few days anyways, I would extend your time there. I can highly recommend the Zoo and I would also recommend the Safari Park (in Escondido). The Safari Park offers special overnight experiences that are on my personal bucket list and those might interest you. Balboa Park (where the SD Zoo is located) also contains a large number of museums that are worth the time. Between the Zoo and the other museums, you could spend several days sightseeing just within Balboa Park alone. We also spent a day kayaking in LaJolla which was very cool.
Also included on my California Bucket list: Yosemite National Park, Big Sur, Napa Valley.
I think, if I were you, I might forget about NYC for this trip and stick to the west coast.
I would love to travel to Australia & Bora Bora. Lack of a passport & endless funds have stopped those plans from becoming anything more than dreams right now. One day I hope!
Atlantic City is nothing special, IMO but if your going to be that close to NYC then why not hit it up plus there's an Earl of Sandwich in AC! Lol.
Ohhh Hazel we are moving to Brisbane too! (I grew up there but we currently live in Perth). If I'm not being too nosey, where are you going to live? Brisbane is an easy 12.5hr flight to LAX or 14hrs to Galveston to enter the USA or for another Disney fix you could head 7hrs to Hong Kong or 9hrs to Tokyo (or if late in 2015 maybe Shanghai)...so many options. If the Brisbane move is just temporary you could bank the points and head off to visit the great outback or Perth or Uluru...so many choices!
Have fun - maybe I see you down the street!
On the vacation front we love Vegas and the Grand Canyon and we have visited NYC only pre/during Hurricane Sandy so would love to return there. Our kids are almost 18, 15 and 8.5yrs so we look for places that adults would go and then find kid stuff if they get restless!
Ohhh Hazel we are moving to Brisbane too! (I grew up there but we currently live in Perth). If I'm not being too nosey, where are you going to live? Brisbane is an easy 12.5hr flight to LAX or 14hrs to Galveston to enter the USA or for another Disney fix you could head 7hrs to Hong Kong or 9hrs to Tokyo (or if late in 2015 maybe Shanghai)...so many options. If the Brisbane move is just temporary you could bank the points and head off to visit the great outback or Perth or Uluru...so many choices!
Have fun - maybe I see you down the street!
On the vacation front we love Vegas and the Grand Canyon and we have visited NYC only pre/during Hurricane Sandy so would love to return there. Our kids are almost 18, 15 and 8.5yrs so we look for places that adults would go and then find kid stuff if they get restless!
I don't really know where we will be living yet I haven't started the house search but Rory is going to Brisbane Boys college in Toowong so as close the there as we can.
I really need to go to California as our VGC points are already banked and we really want to go next year. We will have another three years after that to explore Oz.
your kids are not far off in age from mine 18, 15 and 10 at the moment.
We are leaning very much towards staying in CA. I'm currently thinking San Diego, Santa Monica, Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Beverley Hills then Anaheim. Seems mad going south and North but the Monterey Bay Aquarium got a big thumbs up all around and we missed Santa Cruz last time.
We are leaning very much towards staying in CA. I'm currently thinking San Diego, Santa Monica, Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Beverley Hills then Anaheim. Seems mad going south and North but the Monterey Bay Aquarium got a big thumbs up all around and we missed Santa Cruz last time.
Sounds like a good plan to me! We really enjoyed the Monterery Bay Aquarium.
One of my kids favorite adventures was to see the tarantulas crossing the roads at Pinnacles National Park (we did a day trip on the way from LA to SF with a few days in Monterrey.) They also loved the entire Monterrey Bay area including the aquarium. Depending on the time of the year, a whale watch might be a lot of fun.
I also think the San Diego area has tons to do and my kids enjoyed Palm Springs. My middle son is a bird watcher and he took a trip to Salton Seas, which he loved but my other two stayed in Palm Springs those days and we found lots to do.
Agree, too many places to go, things to do and not enough time or $$$. We just did Vegas and loved it. One of my "bucket list" trips is road trip from San Francisco to Yosemite Nat. Park, to Monterey in CA. To turn that into a bigger road trip you could 1.) continue onto LA then over to Vegas, to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and leave via Phoenix or 2.) just continue south in CA to LA and finish in San Diego. Again, too many choices.
Agree, too many places to go, things to do and not enough time or $$$. We just did Vegas and loved it. One of my "bucket list" trips is road trip from San Francisco to Yosemite Nat. Park, to Monterey in CA. To turn that into a bigger road trip you could 1.) continue onto LA then over to Vegas, to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and leave via Phoenix or 2.) just continue south in CA to LA and finish in San Diego. Again, too many choices.
We love the sound of the Grand Caynon, I really want to do Vegas but the kids don't fancy it but we are now running out of nights to add the GC. I think this time we are going to stay in CA. San Diego to Santa Cruz and back is already a fair drive
You could also do part of the trip by train. The scenery between LA and San Diego is spectacular on the train. The roads for cars are set back from the ocean, but the train tracks go right along the coast. If you're on the ocean side of the train there's nothing between you and the Pacific. I did this route as part of a coast-to-coast train trip years ago and watched surfers and even saw whales from the train window. It's more expensive than renting a car, especially with all five of you, but might be a nice change.
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We took a trip to San Diego several summers ago -we stayed 8 days and had plenty to do and see and we probably could have added a day or two more. If you plan on SD for a few days anyways, I would extend your time there. I can highly recommend the Zoo and I would also recommend the Safari Park (in Escondido). The Safari Park offers special overnight experiences that are on my personal bucket list and those might interest you. Balboa Park (where the SD Zoo is located) also contains a large number of museums that are worth the time. Between the Zoo and the other museums, you could spend several days sightseeing just within Balboa Park alone. We also spent a day kayaking in LaJolla which was very cool.
We really enjoyed the Monterery Bay Aquarium.
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