Disney and Southern California Adventure- 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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For years I've read trip reports and thought "I want to do that". So now I'm finally going to give it a try. This will be a southern CA adventure ending in Disneyland, hopefully I'm posting it in the right place.
On with the introductions...
Me I'm the planner and Disney addict. I'm also a pharmacist, wife, and mommy. My planning neuroses are not limited to Disney, I make graphs and spreadsheets for everything. I've been to DL numerous times as a kid, we have family in California and would visit every summer when I was younger. I've been twice as an adult (day trips only and no DCA) and DW 7 times.
DH is a Disney convert, he didn't want to go his first time but did and fell in love. He has been a stay at home dad for the past 7 years, but since the youngest is in preK he decided to go back to school. He just finished an EMT program and plans on going to paramedic school. He does not plan and thinks I should have plans memorized by now. He had been to DL once (one of the aforementioned day trips), and DW 5 times.
DS (7) loves reading , video games, baseball, and Legos. He is very easy going and willing to try anything. He has never been to DL and has 4 trips to DW under his belt.
DD (4) loves puzzles, ballet, princesses and Disney Jr. She's been to DW twice and never to DL. She's a mommas girl and spent both DW trips glued to me. I'm hoping this trip is different, I can't carry her around all day anymore ! Here is pic of all of us a couple years ago.
Up next the plans!
I am happy to come along for the ride! Never been to California let alone Disneyland so this trip has always appealed to me when I have been daydreaming. The flights are so expensive from Eastern Canada so we stick to WDW but at least I'll be able to live vicariously through your TR!
I am happy to come along for the ride! Never been to California let alone Disneyland so this trip has always appealed to me when I have been daydreaming. The flights are so expensive from Eastern Canada so we stick to WDW but at least I'll be able to live vicariously through your TR!
This trip began 3 years ago. In January 2011 we took my in-laws to DW (their first time) and everyone had a blast. While there DH and I began to talk about when we would return. It was then we decided that we should check out DL. It's closer, we could drive, and we would get our Disney fix all while being different. So I began to plan a DL trip for summer 2012. Unbeknownst to us the in-laws couldn't stop talking about DW and how much fun they had, my SIL and BIL caught the bug. Next thing you know I am planning a huge trip with FIL, MIL, SIL and my 2 nephews, BIL, his wife, and my 2 nieces, oh yeah and us (13 people if you are counting)! It was fun, but we had our fill of Disney for a while, or family trips, or both! We didn't go on a vacation summer 2013, and sometime around the start of school I was beginning to regret that. So I began to plan the Disneyland trip!!!
We knew we were going to drive, but it was too far (for us) to drive from Colorado to San Diego, so I looked at a map and Vegas was a 12 hour drive from our house. We have never been so why not add that as a stop? I knew we would spend 3 days in San Diego and 3 at DL. We began to look at school, work, and sports schedules. We decided since I am off on July 4th we could take advantage of the extra day, and save on the PTO. Here is what the schedule looks like:
July 4th-drive to Vegas
July 5th- drive to San Diego
July 6,7,8th- San Diego
July 9,10,11th- Disneyland
July12th- head home
My parents have a house in Palm Springs so we will drive there after DL on the 11th. My mom will be there that week, for her birthday, so it's a good opportunity for her to see the kids (my parents just moved to Alaska), and a night minus a hotel! All schedules set I now got to do the fun part the details.
I like to do things in order so I began looking at Vegas. I wanted to do a show but, didn't want something too late. I thought Tournament of Kings would be fun. We were about 6 months out so it was a little too soon to buy tickets, but I could get the hotel. I have to stop to say I hate playing the "when will the rates be the best" game. It would be easy to say where the show is, but after reading reviews of Excalibur I knew I couldn't take the family hotel snob (DH) there. DH is funny that way, he is the most down to earth, doesn't matter what things look like, let's go camping in the dirt kind of guy. However, when it comes to a hotel he's a catty teenage girl! I wanted something relatively close, i.e. walking distance, to Excalibur. I narrowed the search down to MGM or Mandalay Bay. I was leaning towards MGM but was open to whichever had the better rate. I checked rates every few days for about 2 months and was fed up with the yoyo effect. One morning I got an email from my skymiles advertising using points for summer travel. I clicked on the link and found that for 44,000 points I could book Mandalay Bay, I had 70,000 at the time, SCORE. After booking the hotel I picked up the dinner show tickets.
San Diego was much easier, after some internet searches I narrowed it down to 3 hotels and asked DH which he would prefer. For the first time in forever his #1 and mine were the same. We chose Paradise Point resort, and they we running a book early for summer and save, which I did. I also picked up the go select pass for San Diego as recommended in a mousesavers newsletter. Ours includes Seaworld, the zoo, Legoland, and a harbor tour.
I originally wanted to stay onsite at DL, but since we will be at the parks all day I couldn't justify the cost. On one of my many internet searches I came across the Costco travel package. I got a few different rates for various hotels, DH insisted he didn't care where we stay (he knew is wasn't going to be GC and was probably pouting). Eventually I chose the Sheraton Park hotel. With the package we get our park hoppers, a character meal, and some other swag (that has yet to arrive). All that was left was to plan the days at Disney!
Jumping aboard! I'm the working parent over here with a SAHD DH (I'm an RN) and a DS (almost 6). DL is my home park, though I've only been once in the past 15 years. I've got the bug again and have a WDW trip this summer and a DL return planned for 2015...I think...
For me, it's all about the theme, so I love Vegas too. I can't wait to take DS and will probably do that in the next 12 months when the time is right.
I, however, am the opposite of your DH and am literally willing to slum it on hotels if the price is right.
This looks like the makings of a great trip. Can't wait to kibbitz on your park plans!
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, video games, baseball, and Legos. He is very easy going and willing to try anything. He has never been to DL and has 4 trips to DW under his belt. 
! Here is pic of all of us a couple years ago.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Guess where we were headed??
It was fun, but we had our fill of Disney for a while, or family trips, or both! We didn't go on a vacation summer 2013, and sometime around the start of school I was beginning to regret that. So I began to plan the Disneyland trip!!!
It would be easy to say where the show is, but after reading reviews of Excalibur I knew I couldn't take the family hotel snob (DH) there. DH is funny that way, he is the most down to earth, doesn't matter what things look like, let's go camping in the dirt kind of guy. However, when it comes to a hotel he's a catty teenage girl! 
I wanted something relatively close, i.e. walking distance, to Excalibur. I narrowed the search down to MGM or Mandalay Bay. I was leaning towards MGM but was open to whichever had the better rate. I checked rates every few days for about 2 months and was fed up with the yoyo effect. One morning I got an email from my skymiles advertising using points for summer travel. I clicked on the link and found that for 44,000 points I could book Mandalay Bay, I had 70,000 at the time, SCORE. 
I narrowed it down to 3 hotels and asked DH which he would prefer. For the first time in forever his #1 and mine were the same. We chose Paradise Point resort, and they we running a book early for summer and save, which I did. I also picked up the go select pass for San Diego as recommended in a mousesavers newsletter. Ours includes Seaworld, the zoo, Legoland, and a harbor tour. 
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