for those of you who drive from long island.... - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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what type of plan do you have?? ie, do you drive straight through, or do you stop over night? and where do you stay if you do stop? how many hrs is the drive? what time of day do you leave?
Am i crazy for considering driving? It's me, dh, dd7,ds7 and ds5 at the time of the trip. we've flown twice but now for some reason i am really nervous about flying. honestly how is the drive, and does anyone have an idea of what it typically costs them to drive?
I thought we weren't going to be able to go this year, and now there is a glimmer of hope that we may. I know southwest has $84 flights and for 5 of us it would be $1000, would driving be much less than that round trip or should i somehow get over my fears?? any help and advice is much appreciated.
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~Kelly
***August 2013 Kidani Village/ BC Club level***July 2012 BLT 1st stay as DVC members***January 2012 Poly Club level, grandparents first trip to WDW EVER! ***July 2011 BC DS 7th bday and our 15th anniversary celebration *** Aug 2010 bonus trip, we usually go every other year woohoo!!***July 2009 Beach Club *** August 2007 2nd family vacation Sheraton Vistana Resort for 7n & then 3n at POR!! *** June 2005 POFQ 1st Family trip
We are trying to drive stright though this time. Last time we stoped once in Tenn. about dinner time. Horrible hotel we never slept and left at 4am. This time we will take turns driving and if we get to tired will stop for sleep. DH thinks it will be around 200 for gas he firgured 100 gallons of gas, way cheaper then 4 airfares, rental car (we see family besides disney,) gas for rental, and hauling car seats.
We stop for meals, rest areas let the kids run for a bit snack and potty.
We drove from NY last year and will again this year. My dad will not get on a plane. We have dont both where we drive straight through and stop for the night. We usually stop somewhere in S. Carolina or Georgia. Our drive is about 20 hours. This year we will be stopping overnight. DH says its to hard to drive overnight. DH says we spent about 400 on gas for the entire trip and it was about 3 dollars a gallon then. deciding!!
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Some people view the drive there as part of the vacation. So, it really depends on how well you think your family would do. We much prefer to fly. (and were only coming from GA) I think $84 tickets is a heck of a deal! But multiply that times 5 and you would probably profit to drive. (we have similar problem, having 5 kids; something sounds cheap until you multiply it by all of us). If your comfortable making that long, long drive; go for it! If you can swing the flights, that would probably be more enjoyable thought. Either way; Have a great trip!
If you go on to Road, Travel, and Financial Services - AAA, they have a trip calculator which will estimate your gas cost based on current prices. Though prices may change, at least you can have a rough idea. We are planning to drive to WDW in May from NJ, it estimated our trip at 18 hours without stopping and about $200 in fuel costs. Even if you added another $200 for food, it will be much cheaper than flying.
I'm not from Long Island, but I live in CT which is pretty close. When my sister and I were kids, my family drove down about 3 times I think...we always left really early in the morning, 6 or 7, drove for maybe 12 hours, and stopped in North or South Carolina, wherever we happened to end up, got up the next day and continued to WDW! It was fun, I'd love to drive again, but it just takes up too much time, it would be like losing almost 4 days of vacation. I'd rather just get on a plane and be in FL in 2 and a half hours!
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We're from NJ, so kind of close. We are planning on driving next trip down. I think we will leave at 3am and stop overnight in Jacksonville @6pm. Get some rest and then we'll only be a couple of hours from the WDW the next day.