Fabulous Fall Fun Trip! PTR for Sept 2014 WDW trip (AKL = Vero Beach) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Fabulous Fall Fun Trip! PTR for Sept 2014 WDW trip (AKL = Vero Beach)
Howdy everyone! I have only replied to other threads before so this will be a new thing for me. I will try to organize this report as I jump back and forth to Jennifer's Helpful Hints about writing these. I know that I just love reading everyone else's reports so much, especially as I am getting ready to go myself, that I wanted to give this a try. Expect many edits!
Ok, so basics. This will be from Sept 12th through the 19th at AKL in a one bedroom villa, then one night at Vero Beach (20th?) to try to decompress a bit before heading home.
The cast of characters is
Me! Tim, 47, lover of all things Disney, and convinced I just need a 6 month vacation at WDW. Twice a year. Hello, Powerball?? Are you listening??
DW Diane. Also huge Disney fan. We are (have) celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year and have been to DL many times while living in Cali for 9 years, plus WDW a few times before kids (BK)
DD Maddie, 8 going on 9
DD Alex, 6 turning 7 on our trip!
We will be taking SW out (even though I work for an major airline.... our 'free travel' these days is virtually impossible and you can get fired if you don't make it back on time to work, so....we will buy tickets) and SW back. We went on a DCL in March and had two different airlines out. Wait..no, that was the trip before. the DCL trip we did try to fly standby. Shall we take a small journey? lol My reports might be like a test to see if you can follow jumbled thoughts. Let's take a quick trip!
So we showed up to fly standby on a trip that had 40 open seats on it, for a 6:30 am flight. I had the highest seniority. Show up, plane is oversold (in 1.5 hours?) but somehow, they can get two of us on at the last minute. Then one guy ahead of me finds out there is a wide open flight to Washington Dulles which is where he wanted to go anyway, he runs for a different gate, and my two daughters and I get on. Wife says to go ahead, she will get there later. As we are backing out of the gate, I realize that she had said 'We are using these credit cars and not debit' and I had left everything but insurance and drivers license at home. I have NOTHING on me to get the rental car and get to where we were staying. Nada. So I am trying to send her texts, the flight attendents are telling me to shut it off.....it was crazy. But we can wait on her to get the next flight, right?
Nope. Misses everything going to anywhere that can hook back up to somewhere in Florida. We show up in Orlando, wife is still in our hometown. Car rental place won't give me anything without a card. Wife tests card info. Eventually the manager has a soft heart and swipes a card of his own that he knows has no balance on it (great idea dude!), it fails and asks for card info to be input, and he types in the info I had from my wife. Who is still home WITH THE PASSPORTS. If she doesn't make it, nobody makes it on the boat! SO on the way to SSR for the night, I get a text that my wife made the last seat, on the last direct flight to Orlando. We get to SSR and check in, pool is closed, we go to bed, wife catches DME over there and shows up at about 1:30 am. On the boat before we left port we bought tickets back.
So now.... we just buy tickets and relieve stress! Ok. I guess that tells you a lot about how I run my circus and manage my monkeys. We will have fun even if nothing goes to plan.
I think I will stop here and then pick up later tonight. Wife's computer is new and even opening up Word isn't cooperating with me.
Tim
Last edited by Timon-HakunaMatata; 08-05-2014 at 03:11 PM..
Reason: World of Color change!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
My goodness, that flight chaos would have had been frantic and then top it off with no credit card. Glad everyone finally made it. Can't wait for more.
Wow! I think I would buy tickets to and keep from dealing with that mess. I have a cousin who works for an airline and she has gotten us tickets to fly when we had to get back to California for funerals and flying stand by is not fun. The last time we didn't ever get a flight and it was for my grandmother's sister, so we all pooled our money and bought my grandmother a ticket to at least get her out there for the funeral. Not fun to say the least!
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.
Well, to be fair, I only had 20 years seniority with my company!! lol
Yes, we buy now. And if my company isn't the best price, we fly someone else. I will try to post more tonight. We are trying to finalize the reservations to make sure which dining plan we buy, or not get one at all. Allears is pretty good with the menus so we know what we would roughly spend. I think we will buy the one sitdown, one counter, one snack one.
Rentalcarmomma got us a minvan for 9 days for 300 and some. DW has filed the paper away so I can't find it. We have had pretty good luck with them and I like being mobile as I tend to go over the Flight Of Fantasy in Polk City. So many aircraft restored and flying...next best thing to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Anyone who likes aircraft HAS to take the time to go out there. About an hour from WDW toward Tampa. Plus the last day we are headed out to Vero Beach so need to be mobile there too.
I loved the idea someone had here of buying food and snacks, everything on the MagicBands and then using the Disney gift cards we buy at Target (5% off with Target debit card) to pay it off at the end of the trip. Hey..saving 5% beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right?
We tend to play it loose with schedules. Wake up when we are ready (well, DW is never ready), go for a while, come back for pool time, and nap, then head back in at 8 or 9 to wherever has magic hours. Still debating if we are doing the Halloween party once, or twice. I vote twice.
Now a Halloween costume catalog came in the mail with Ana and Elsa costumes..over 100 each. Booooo! Of course, my wife and I love the Ana outfit, both girls want to be Elsa. We are trying to tell them they can't wear the lace on the arms with the train at WDW. They would hate the scratchiness of the arms, and the train cannot drag on the ground. Any bets on if we get both to be Ana? (Hint, place your bets LOW).
I will be going onto work tonight, will try to read more trip reports and maybe type more. 5 and a half weeks and I can't wait. I was raised on Disney and an admittedly a bit nuts about it. As is my wife.
We also have the dog (Nacho) set up to stay with the prison training program. It was around 500 bucks the first month he went, but now follow ups are 250 the first week, 50 bucks each added week. Most places around here want 50 a day, plus more if you want your dog taken out for two exercise periods. In the prison, he stays with a prisoner in the cell, has his own cage, is out training and chasing a ball for hours and hours every day. He always comes back happy and with his tail dragging. He sleeps for two or three days before he rebounds into crazy mode. He is happy, we don't worry, and love the report notebook we get from the prisoner. They write about how he acted, what he did, and so one. The best part is how you can tell they fell in love with him each time. He is a big dog, but a complete cuddle buddy. Velcro dog.
If you guys want something nice to watch, go to YouTube and search 'Walt Disney World Vacation 2014' Kevin Sheehan has made one of the best, funnest family video trip reports ever. I have watched it a couple times, and I WANT TO BE THERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!. It does put me right into the 'in-trip' mode.
And of course, if any other PP'rs will be there when we are, we would love to meet!
Did I mention we are staying at AKL? It is our home resort, but only stayed one night before (or after, can't remember) the cruise. First time being there 7 days. We usually get the 2 bedroom at OKW as we like being close to the room when we park/stumble/drag our exhausted carcasses back into the room and bed each night/early morning. I am excited, looking for tips on things not to miss there. Boma was not loved by the girls, maybe too young to enjoy the unique flavors. Mac and cheese girls to the core baby!
Question for everyone.... I loved the Vietnamese pork sandwich that was in the downstairs food court in EPCOT. Last time I went it was gone. I am hoping it has returned.....does anyone know? It was called the Bahn Mi I think. Pulled pork with great slaw.
I also need to set up a online photo storage account to post from when we get back. Things to do, things to do. All you super organized people will be pulling your hair out reading how we do things off the cuff. I apologize in advance!!
Tim
Last edited by Timon-HakunaMatata; 08-05-2014 at 03:24 PM..
Wow! On the stand-by drama. Glad all of you made it. Hope everyone has a great time at the Halloween parties. Can't wait to hear your impressions of Vero Beach.
Once again, I am reading everyone else's trip reports and seeing things I think are neat, so I will add to mine. On a side note, let me say God bless all of you that take 18 family members with you on vacation and come home without a few of them pushing up daisies somewhere on Disney property!! I have three besides me and sometimes that is three too many!
Ok, cast of characters! With more info anyway. I liked someones report where they mentioned favorite characters and rides, and thought I would add that.
This is Maddie and Alex. Little less than two years apart, will turn 7 on this trip and Maddie 9 two months later.
Maddie loves Ariel first and foremost. Then Elsa and Ana. She is a bit more timid as she step off a stair in front of our house when she was 17 months old and had a greenstick fracture. Then about a month before a Disney trip she had a babysitter in the bathroom and decided to make a run at the box of candy that was in the top of a cupboard and fell and broke her arm right above the elbow. had a trip in a multi colored camo cast. I have to say she didn't hate the extra attention!
Anyway, she loves Pirates, BTMRR, Safari, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets, anything Ariel or Nemo, Space ranger spin, Toy Story ride, things like that. Oddly enough, loves Test Track probably the most.
Alex is 6 and when she was 5 she rode EE about 15 times. Loves Rockin Roller Coaster, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain. The bigger, faster, more nauseating inducing the ride, the more she likes it. Want to ride Living with the Land? She about passes out from boredom. Only her mouth doesn't stop working so she can remind you how boring it is. I ride a lot of rides with her.
Her characters are Aurora first, then Ana and Elsa. She loves to drive go carts, has an electric car, and remote controlled cars. She is an action girl so I don't think characters are too important to her usually. She loves anything with foxes on them. And giraffes.
Giraffes are cool unless you are worried about a lion eating you I guess.
My Wife Diane loves Malificent ('before Malificent was cool' as she says) and Eeyore. Not sure what order. Oh..Lady from Lady and the Tramp. We have soooo much L&T stuff. An original cell and boatloads of stuff to go with it. She likes any ride pretty much, and loveloveloves the Magician game with the cards and going around the parks. I take the girls swimming and she goes to MK to play that by herself (as the girls don't want to walk that much). But we like it all pretty much. Which is why she is the best in my book.
I love so many characters. You can guess Timon, right? Pumba too, but I love the wise cracking characters. Lilo and Stich are great. I love the Willy Brothers (WHAT DID YOU DO WITH UNCLE SLIM!!???!?!?!) Also the goat the little piglets from HoTR. Baloo is my man. I mean, bear. I love the Pig in Toy Story, and Rex cracks me up. I love the two Moose in Brother Bear. I like Remy's brother. Doug in UP. Maximus was GREAT. I love Olaf, but love Sven, especially when he is showing off the new sleigh. And Oaken. "Big Summer Blowout?" I guess I love the comedic relief guys. I love to laugh and thinking of them always makes me laugh.
I like the bird show and AK. EE, Nemo show, and, well, I like most rides and attractions. Splash Moutain, Pirates, BTMRR, HM, SM, Toy Story, TTrack, Soaring, and so on. Hated the prehistoric spin. Banged me around and I did NOT enjoy that one at all. Also Dino ride is ok, but not like the Indiana version at DL. Most other things I am happy riding, sitting through shows, and I love to sit and watch people, especially kids meeting characters. The look on their faces is...well, we all can use more of that kind of magic in our worlds.
I am not sure if I cleared anything up with this actually. We tend to go do whatever we feel like at the time so plans change constantly. They girls are half fish so we can drop things to go to Blizzard beach or Typhoon Lagoon at the drop of a hat, or change parks in a day. We have hit three in a day, but that is eaiser to do with a car for sure.
So now you know a little bit about us and our plans, likes and dislikes.
Last edited by Timon-HakunaMatata; 08-06-2014 at 12:21 PM..
I'm going to try to add some photos that were too big in the first post, I resized them, they show as 500 by 375 in photobucket, but when I paste them here they showed up at 680 by 1024 again. I am, as they say in Nebraska, corn-fused.
Nope. doing details on it here shows the 1024 still. Hmm. Tis flummoxed am I!
Side note....watched UP after I got home from work with my girls. Wow, what a tear jerker the scene with him and Ellie marriage through her passing. And the end with him and Russell in the photos. I forget how EMO that makes me.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Katie's graduation
Glad everyone finally made it. Can't wait for more. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Liz 
Thank goodness you've now decided to purchase them.
Linear Mode
