"Are you going to do this every year?" A PTR. - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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 all.
I'm new to PP, about a month but have so enjoyed reading everything, especially TR's . I was looking for information and something to pass the wait... until our trip when I found the boards. I have decided to give this a whirl because I love talking about our plans and maybe everyone who's been to WDW a bunch will have some tips/advise that I don't know about or didn't thing of.
Some background, I'm a teacher have 2 DD's the oldest is 27 (Mandy) and the youngest is 12 (Beth). Mandy and I went to WDW in 1995 when she was 12, with mom, brother, sister-in-law and 2 young nephews. I have been to DL several times as it is much closer to Alaska and for many years my aunt and uncle lived about 30 miles from DL so we could stay with them.
At 4 years old Beth (now 12) knew I had taken Mandy to DL 3 times and she had not got to go yet , I promised I would take her. Due to finances and husband health issues we didn't get to go until 2008 when Beth was 10. Mandy's family, (son-in-law and 2 grandsons) traveled with us. I had made it a total surprise for Beth and she was really, really surprised! We had fun even though we had some major rain because we were there in December.
On to the current trip, this past summer my sister was talking about how she wanted to take her youngest daughter to WDW, I said that would be fun, maybe we could go together. She said . We started to plan, I knew - just in general that ressies could not wait till the last minute so I started to research and found that on some dates we could get the free dinning plan. Quick call to Sis and she said make the reservations. This was exciting because I've never stayed in a Disney resort. It was DD (12) biggest wish - to stay at a Disney resort. Soooo, since we'd get the DDP free we could swing it.
I got WDW books so find out where we wanted ADRS. I had made the down payment and we were about a week from 180 days and Sis calls and due to truck break down and major repairs they couldn't go. Now what.
My DH is a great guy and very supportive of whatever I want to do, but he's planning on his family reunion and is not very interested in Disney. I asked my mom-in-law and got a big negative. DD(27) couldn't swing it by self due to finances and 2 young sons (my grandsons). My sister-in-law is getting a free WDW trip through work in April, they're about 2 weeks out. I asked my brother next, he's not a fanatic but very positive about Disney and has been 4 times plus on a Disney cruise for 25th wedding anniversary. But bro said did not have the money. I thought about just DD(12) and I and we could have done that, but I would have liked another person.
I thought about it, crunched budget and discovered it would cost very little to pay for someone else (except for plane ticket) - so talked to DH about taking my brother. My brother is a great guy and has helped me (when I was a single parent) and all the rest of my life. Car problems? Moving? and many other issues I always know I can call Bro and he'll help. I wanted to do something really nice for him. DH totally agreed with me. I called Bro and asked if we could stop by, he said sure. Got there and DH, DD, and I probably had grins like the Cheshire Cat when I said "Well, do you still want to go?" Bro answered, "Of course, but I already said I didn't..." I told him I hadn't asked about money, but that if he wanted to go, money wasn't an issue, all he had to do was say yes, and he said .....
Quick note about title here, I'm a planner. I love to plan and learn about places and in the midst of continuous WDW research my DH asks me "Are you going to do this every year? (trip to WDW) I thought, oh dear is he upset? then he finishes, "cause if you are, it'd be good to join an airline club to get miles I said he's a great guy, didn't I?
Up next: Where's an air fare deal? Ahhhh! car rental went up $280.00!!!
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I introduced the cast of characters but haven't shared how we choose our time of year or length of trip so I'll start here.
DD started middle school this year (6th) and too many days out of school makes brain explode when trying to catch up - so missing school was not an option. Besides, with me being a teacher I can't miss a bunch of school either and Bro also works with the school district. I did not want spring break because by the time we fly there and back we loose 2 full days and I was not up for the huge crowds.
Our trip to DL was just just before Christmas, which means DD has seen Disney Christmas and wanted to go at a different time of year.
I do not do well in the heat and humidity kills me. I would rather stand in the for a week than be out in a major hot/humid place for a day. I picked the end of May, 1st of June because although it will still be hot to us at least it won't be full out middle of summer! Plus, the time will be right at the end of the school year so we have something to look forward to.
Because we live in Alaska we are soooo far away from everything in lower 48 whenever I travel I try to squeeze in as many days as possible. The original plan was 2 weeks in Florida not counting flying days. Then I discovered flying back on a Monday instead of a Tuesday would have cost $400 more for the 3 of us - so we got an extra day. We are leaving Friday, May 20th (my last day of work) and returning June 7th which gives us 17 days.
I was watching airfare, which is really pricey from here, and prior to Christmas it was running about $550 - 600, I wish I had had the $ then.
The closer it got to Christmas the prices started to climb, $800-1,000 a ticket to MCO from Anchorage. But expected prices would come back down after holidays. I don't know how everyone else's gas prices are but end of January - beginning of February ours started to go up. We started at $3.24 two months ago and it's now 4.05 per gallon. When they started to go up I was really watching airfares expecting they would start climbing too. Found a fare I could live with but wasn't sure if I should wait or not so Bro and he said go for it because prices would only be going up. I checked our ticket prices when we went to DL and are only paying $50 more per ticket to FL. so feel pretty good about that.
Next time I'll get to the rental car and having to totally revamp our plans.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
My trip will be kind of overlapping yours (May28 - June 11).
I'm with you with the airfare prices . I thought I wasn't going to able to go because of the high prices (there's 5 of us). Can't wait to read the rest of your plans.
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.
My trip will be kind of overlapping yours (May28 - June 11).
I'm with you with the airfare prices . I thought I wasn't going to able to go because of the high prices (there's 5 of us). Can't wait to read the rest of your plans.
Where are you flying from? Do you know what what your daily plans are?
About This Page: 
Hi all.
. I was looking for information and something to pass the wait... 
until our trip when I found the boards. I have decided to give this a whirl because I love talking about our plans and maybe everyone who's been to WDW a bunch will have some tips/advise that I don't know about or didn't thing of. 
, I promised I would take her. Due to finances and husband health issues we didn't get to go until 2008 when Beth was 10. Mandy's family, (son-in-law and 2 grandsons) traveled with us. I had made it a total surprise for Beth and she was really, really surprised!
We had fun even though we had some major rain because we were there in December.
. We started to plan, I knew - just in general that ressies could not wait till the last minute 
so I started to research and found that on some dates we could get the free dinning plan. Quick call to Sis and she said make the reservations. This was exciting because I've never stayed in a Disney resort. It was DD (12) biggest wish - to stay at a Disney resort. Soooo, since we'd get the DDP free we could swing it.
.
. DD(27) couldn't swing it by self due to finances and 2 young sons (my grandsons). My sister-in-law is getting a free WDW trip through work in April, they're about 2 weeks out. I asked my brother next, he's not a fanatic but very positive about Disney and has been 4 times plus on a Disney cruise for 25th wedding anniversary. But bro said did not have the money. I thought about just DD(12) and I and we could have done that, but I would have liked another person. 
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Pixie Dust
Welcome to the boards! That's so sweet that you invited your brother to WDW! Can't wait to read the rest of your planning details.
Besides, with me being a teacher I can't miss a bunch of school either and Bro also works with the school district. I did not want spring break because by the time we fly there and back we loose 2 full days and I was not up for the huge crowds. 
for a week than be out in a major hot/humid place for a day. I picked the end of May, 1st of June because although it will still be hot to us at least it won't be full out middle of summer! 
Plus, the time will be right at the end of the school year so we have something to look forward to. 
whenever I travel I try to squeeze in as many days as possible. The original plan was 2 weeks in Florida not counting flying days. 
When they started to go up I was really watching airfares expecting they would start climbing too. Found a fare I could live with but wasn't sure if I should wait or not so 
Bro and he said go for it because prices would only be going up. 
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
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