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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
July can’t get here fast enough. We’ve had one heck of a time since last summer, especially the past few months. Thinking of our upcoming trip has given me something to look forward to during some very difficult times. But before we get too serious here, let’s get some of the fun stuff out of the way. Introductions and the bare bones plans.
Travelers: Myself (40), DH (40), DS (16) and DD (4). In case you'd like a face to go with the person:
DD, myself, and DH freezing at the Cubs game last month. I don't know what that face is she's making lol.
DS homecoming 2015
We were last in ‘The World’ in 2013 when DS was 13 and DD was only 18 mos. We can’t wait to see her reactions to everything. She’s so excited she can barely stand it.
Dates: Saturday July 31 – Sunday August 7
Travel: We’re flying Southwest out of Midway. I’m not a big fan of Southwest because I hate not having a seat number and I hate having to check in 24 hours ahead while enjoying my vacation. The departure is no big deal but I can’t stand watching the clock waiting to check in while wandering Epcot. This time it won’t really matter because we have a 4 year old so we can board after the A group regardless. I’m still going to try and get close to that 24 hour mark but it’s nice to know we have a plan B. I prefer O’Hare which Southwest doesn’t fly out of but Midway is fine. Besides, you get the extra thrill of taking off and landing over houses you swear you’re going to hit any second for no extra charge!
Resort: CBR water view. This is my third stay here, DH and DS’s second, DD’s first. We’ve stayed at POFQ the last couple of trips but we’re returning to CBR. We’re hoping for a murphy bed for DD. Otherwise DH and DS have to share a bed and I’m with DD. Everyone will make it work but it would be so much easier to have that extra bed. Fingers crossed. Also at the time we booked, CBR had the fantastic kid’s area at the pool. POFQ has since added a great one but CBR really has the better pool. That’s the one thing I don’t like at POFQ. Their pool is a little lacking IMHO. Being able to watch parts of Illuminations from the pool at CBR is a pretty cool perk. CBR has a more varied food court and it will be easier to find something for everyone. So CBR it is!
Let me explain the water view. We don’t really pay extra for them typically because we’re not in the room that often to enjoy the view. We originally booked a standard view. Then I got a pin code that actually fell during our vacation dates. I called and it didn’t apply to a standard room (of course) but they had a water view available. It still saved us over $200 so why not? ‘Oh and by the way dear, I had to upgrade to the water view to save us $200.’ We got a surprise upgrade to a water view at POFQ on our honeymoon and it really was nice so we’re not exactly complaining.
We have 7 day PH with QS dining. The PH’s were a free upgrade with the pin code. We used to always get PH’s but traveling between parks with a 4 year old seems like a whole lot of work for not much benefit. (Turns out it’s a good thing we got those PH as our plans have come along but that’s another post.)
This is our first time using the QS dining plan. We’ve had the standard dining plan the last 3 trips. We decided to try the QS for a couple of reasons. The last time we went DD was free so we paid for 3 adults as far as dining is concerned. Now we have to pay 3 adults and one child. A bit pricey. Secondly, with DD who eats at a snail’s pace, we’re not so sure we want to spend even more time at a sit down restaurant every day. It’s hard to be tied to a bunch of ADR times with a little one. QS will allow us to be more flexible. QS is also easier to find something for everyone. Again, I should explain. DH and DS are your standard eaters – nothing special but DH prefers to limit his meat intake. I’m a vegetarian – eggs and dairy yes, no seafood or obviously meat. DD has flat out refused to eat meat her entire life. We’ve tried. I feel being a vegetarian is my personal choice and I shouldn’t make that decision for my kids. She just flat out won’t eat it. Last time we tried to give her some she said ‘Ewwww…..dirt.’ And she’s 4. So she’s a picky eater like most 4 year olds. At least she’s getting better about it. Anyway quick service has more options available to us. We plan on eating breakfast in our room some mornings. We’re placed a Garden Grocer order for breakfast items, snacks, and water.
So that about covers the basics. I almost feel like I’m planning a trip for the first time even though we’ve gone many times in the past. An experienced newbie. Disney was testing MagicBands with select resorts during our last trip in 2013. Rapid Refill became active on our last day. This is our first time using FastPass+. Trying to make a general plan is different too. Take FP for example. Typically for MK we’d get FP for the mountains. Now a FP for Peter Pan makes more sense than one for Space Mountain. It’s easier for adults to wait an hour in line for SM and use rider swap than for a 4 year old to wait an hour in line for PP. Characters are important again. DS outgrew waiting in line for a M&G years ago although he’s still not too cool for a character meal. Now I find myself scheduling fastpasses to meet Rapunzel and Ariel.
So I hope you’ll tag along and see how this all works out. I’m pretty curious myself.
Great start! I feel like we are in the same boat you are, our last trip was in 2013 just before all the changes with MagicBands, FP+ and the mug refills. I am looking forward to trying out MagicBands.
Great start! I feel like we are in the same boat you are, our last trip was in 2013 just before all the changes with MagicBands, FP+ and the mug refills. I am looking forward to trying out MagicBands.
Thanks! We had to get our mugs activated on our last day there in 2013. We went to get a refill and they wouldn't work. They had the RFID readers on the doors and I loved just waving the card in front of it when I had DD by myself with all of her stuff. Can't wait for the bands. Even easier!
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.
The Epcot world showcase passport I ordered for DD arrived last night. We had a grand old time putting stickers on and talking about all the different countries. For whatever reason, she has an obsession with China lol. She keeps talking about how she wants to go there someday and walk on the Great Wall. I ordered the passport because she's a perfectionist and I knew it would take at least an hour to put all the stickers on. This way she could take all the time in the world and it gave us a chance to talk about the different pavilions and what we would be doing there. Ok, on with the PTR.
Warning: depressing event overload to follow
As I said, we’ve had a very difficult year. My DMIL was in and out of the hospital and rehab centers for almost a year with various medical issues. She’s doing great now thank goodness.
My DF was diagnosed last spring with cancer for the second time in 4 years, this time leukemia. He was diagnosed and treated for chondrosarcoma, a cancer of the cartilage, while I was around 5 months pregnant with DD. He beat that and so far the leukemia isn’t really doing anything so they aren’t treating it. With leukemia, there are about 5 treatments available. Some may not work at all. The ones that do will only work for a certain length of time, then you have to try a different one. Once you start treatment you essentially start the clock, so if it’s not really doing anything they hold off on treatment.
Then my cousin unexpectedly passed away in January 2016. She hadn’t been feeling well one day, decided to take a nap, and passed away in her sleep. We had just had dinner with her the night before and she was fine.
As if that wasn’t enough, the worst is yet to come.
My DM was diagnosed with primary liver cancer last August. After 6 months of trying every treatment available with no success, she passed away the end of February 2016. She was 65. It’s been extremely difficult for me. She and I were very close, a mother/daughter best friend type of relationship. Without her I sort of feel like a ship without an anchor. I had already explained to DD about death when my cousin passed, but then I had to tell her that’s what was happening to Grandma. It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. She’s only 4 years old. I still have a hard time thinking of my mother without choking up. Even typing this brings tears to my eyes. It’s so hard not having her to chat with every day like we used to. We used to talk about our vacation and plans. She was so excited for DD and for us too. I know she would have loved to hear all the DD stories we’ll have. I’m sure there will be moments that hit me while we’re there.
September 2015 - Me, DD, and mom on our last trip to the zoo together, a place she took me as a child.
Oh and I had the joy of having a kidney stone in January. I almost forgot about that whole adventure. That was the first trip to the ER this year. Then, just for fun, in April we had the entire house except me down with a horrible flu virus. I’ve never seen so much vomiting in my life. I had to take DD to the ER (for our second trip this year) at 2:00am for continued vomiting. She ended up being hypoglycemic and dehydrated. We spent the next 4 hours there getting IV fluids for her. Not fun with a 4 year old. Thank goodness for the Disney Movies Anywhere app lol. We watched the most recent Disney shorts movie which kept her distracted from messing with her IV.
Sick little girl
So anyway! Now hopefully everyone can understand why we feel so desperate for this trip. We need a break from real life more than ever before. When it seemed like the world was falling down around me, I could do some Disney dreaming about our trip and it gave me something to look forward to.
Next time I’ll start going through our itinerary. I swear it won’t be more doom and gloom. It better not be anyway. I’ve had enough of that for the rest of the year.
You have definitely had your fill of "doom and gloom." I am so sorry for the loss of your mother. I truly hope this trip gives you that much needed relief from reality, which can be a bear.
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.
You have definitely had your fill of "doom and gloom." I am so sorry for the loss of your mother. I truly hope this trip gives you that much needed relief from reality, which can be a bear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh my goodness, you really have had your fill over the last year, haven't you? I can understand why you need this trip so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
It sounds like this trip is just what you need.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
It sounds like you guys really need this trip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Wow, you had a tough time. I'm thinking a Disney trip is just what you need.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo125
Sounds like this will be a much needed trip and hopefully a fun and relaxing one with lots of great memories made!
Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts. It's funny...as much as I feel like we've planned for this trip like fp's and ADR's, at the same time it's very loose and carefree. We really want everyone to just relax and have a good time, including us grown ups. We've earned it.
I forgot to mention we're celebrating our anniversary while we're there. DH proposed to me at DTD and we honeymooned there in 2009. We'll be leaving the day before our actual anniversary. Close enough . Back to the fun stuff: our plans!
Saturday July 30: Departure Day!!
Our flight leaves at 10:55am on Southwest which means we’ll be flying out of Midway. I personally prefer O’Hare but Southwest had the cheapest flights this time so Midway it is. We use offsite parking at Midway Park Ride and Fly. They’re cheaper than the airport, easy to use, and have great service. We’ll have to get something to take on the flight for lunch since we don’t land until 2:25pm.
We still need to book our parking but haven’t decided on a time yet. No later than 8:00am at the very latest and we live about 40 min from the airport.
We’re using DME to get to CBR. We have a water view room (thanks pin code! ) and we’re keeping our fingers crossed we get a room with a murphy bed for DD. That way DS can have his own bed and DH and I share, DD loves the idea of having her own little bed. Otherwise DH and DS will be in one bed with me and DD in the other.
We have a Garden Grocer order for breakfast items, snacks, and a bunch of water. We eat more than the two meals a day included on the QS dining plan. Eating breakfast in the room covers the difference and it’s cheaper. It makes it easier anyway to have DD start eating while everyone is getting ready – she’s the slowest eater you’ve ever seen.
Our original plan was to hang out at CBR then go to Chef Mickey’s for a 6:30 dinner. That changed once the Jungle Book dining packages came out. None of us wanted to burn a fastpass on it or wait forever in line with a 4 year old. We figured we might as well do breakfast instead, save some money, DD can still meet basically the same characters, and we’ll have reserved seating for the show. So out went Chef Mickey’s.
The new plan is going to Disney Springs for a bit to check out the changes and have dinner at Earl of Sandwich. We’ll be back at CBR early, maybe swim depending on how much energy DD has to burn, and get to bed at a decent time. We need to be up early the next day.
Sunday July 31: Animal Kingdom
We have an 8:45 ADR at Tusker House with the Jungle Book dining package. We’ve eaten here before and I wasn’t really impressed. However we had a late breakfast reservation and I’m blaming my bad impression on that. To me it seemed like things had been sitting out for a while and empty containers weren’t really being replaced. I loved that juice though!
Our first fastpass is at KS from at 10:05 which we plan on using after we’re done with breakfast, then our next fp is for KRR at 11:55. This one we plan on using closer to 1:00. That way we have from the end of the safari until 1:00 to do whatever we want.
We usually head back to the hotel at some point in the afternoon because it’s so hot. Our next fastpass is for EE at 6:45. DH and I have both ridden it at night and want DS to be able to. Since DD can't ride, using fp will get the rest of us through the line quicker. We use rider swap so DS gets two rides which he loves.
***Mini rant: it drives me crazy when Disney makes it seem like this is the first time ever you can see AK at night. No it’s not. DH and I went there at night on our honeymoon in 2009 during pm EMH and fell in love with it. It’s my very favorite nighttime park.
Proof!! August 2009
We’ll grab a snack and head over to the 9:00 Jungle Book show whenever it’s getting past 8:00 and we’re finished doing whatever we’re doing. I’m thinking DH, DD, and I will definitely be heading back to CBR since we need to get up early the next day for Epcot. DS is old enough he can hang out at AK if he wants to. He’s 16 and has been there enough to know how to use the bus system and make it back to the room. We don’t expect the kid to be attached to us every minute for a week straight but don’t expect to never see him either. He also doesn’t need to be to Epcot the next day as early as we do.
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.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I can' wait to hear all the details. 
PassPorter Guide Author
. Back to the fun stuff: our plans! 
August 2009
Linear Mode
