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PassPorter News
News, Announcements, Updates, and Tips
March 15, 2007 * Issue 7.11
PassPorter.com - http://www.passporter.com
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Welcome to PassPorter
News, an online newsletter
about PassPorter travel
guidebooks, the
Walt Disney World Resort,
and Disney Cruise Line.
PassPorter News is
available by free subscription to all readers and friends of our labor of love
--
PassPorter Travel
Guidebooks.
Learn all about them:
http://www.passporter.com/aboutpassporter.htm
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In This Newsletter:
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From the Authors:
PassPorter's Club
Travel Feature: City
Passes
Disney Feature: Walt
Disney World Railroad
Updates: What's New and
Changed
Tips: PassPorter Scrapbook
Pages, Honoring Our Veterans, Center of the "World"
Captain's Corner: Cuppa
Cuppa
Q&A: Is the free
parking offered by hotels near Port Canaveral safe?
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FROM THE AUTHORS: PassPorter's
Club
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Hi,
{{user("firstname")}}!
We're excited to announce
the availability of a brand-new PassPorter service, PassPorter's Club! This is
a subscription-based service that delivers unlimited, no-extra-cost access to
our growing library of e-books (four at last count), exclusive access to a
library of customizable, interactive vacation planning worksheets (13 at last
count), our best-ever discount on PassPorter's (printed) guidebooks, special club-only
offers, advanced access to limited offers like our $1 book deals, and expanded
features at the PassPorter message boards, like larger graphics allowances,
longer "sigs," and unlimited uploads to our server.
Readers can get a pass to
the Club on a month-by-month basis for $4.95 a month (the same price as just
one of our e-books!), while annual passes cost $44.95, a 25% savings over the
monthly rate. Annual subscribers get the ability to commission a custom,
interactive worksheet at no additional cost, too. Read the full list of Club
benefits and all the details, and take a peek inside the PassPorter's Club at
http://www.passporter.com/club
To support this project,
we've embarked on a major new e-book initiative to make sure our Club
passholders get a great (and growing) value for their money. As always, all our
e-books are available at regular retail prices in our online store, but as our
e-book library continues to grow we think membership in PassPorter's Club will
be a no-brainer. We invite you to drop into the Club and read-up on all the
details!
Disney Speed Planner
E-Book Updated: Our popular e-book, "PassPorter's Disney Speed Planner:
The Easy Ten-Step Program to a Perfect Walt Disney World Vacation has been
updated with interactive worksheets and calendar templates, as well as 2007
prices, attractions, DDP eateries, and some new photos. If you already
purchased this e-book, or are a PassPorter's Club passholder, you can simply
re-download the e-book to get the latest updates. If you don't yet have a Speed
Planner, check it out and see a sample page at
http://www.passporter.com/wdw/speedplanner.asp
Our latest page-by-page
book updates are online for both PassPorter Walt Disney World 2007 and
PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line (5th Edition). You'll find our book updates in
our Customs Office, along with updates for all our previous editions. Many
thanks to our office managers Chad and Nikki for their efforts to keep these
lists up-to-date! See the updates at http://www.passporter.com/customs/bookupdates.htm
In this issue of the
newsletter, feature columnist Cheryl Pendry describes the ins and outs of
various City Pass programs around the world, and message board Guide Dianne
Cook takes us for a ride on Disney's steam trains. Enjoy!
Jennifer and Dave
PassPorter Authors and
Publishers
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TRAVEL FEATURE: Your Pass
to City Life: Making the Most of City Pass Cards
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by Cheryl Pendry, Feature
Columnist and PassPorter Message Board Guide
Paris, London, New York,
Los Angeles -- these are some of the most glamorous and most visited cities in
the world. The number of tourists they receive means they all share something
else in common. Each of them has their own city pass, created especially for
visitors. They all have different names and the programs vary slightly, but the
idea is the same wherever you go. They're designed to give you free or
discounted access to some of the main attractions in each city and usually also
include free travel on public transport such as subways and buses for the
duration of your pass. They may also offer discounts for particular restaurants
and shops. But are they good value for money and will they work for you?
That's the dilemma that we
quite often face. Cities are one of our favorite destinations -- outside of
Disney of course! Where else can you find such a range of things to see and do
in such a small area? Most cities have more than enough to occupy you for two
or three days and in many cases, you could easily spend a week in the bigger
cities and still not cover everything. That's why most city passes are
available in different durations, ranging from a single day for those who are
just taking a day trip, up to a week for those who plan to take their time.
The first thing to
consider if you're planning on buying a city pass is how long you're going to
need one for and the most important thing to find out is how each pass works.
Some, such as the Helsinki Card ( http://www.helsinkiexpert.fi/helsinkicard/ ),
are activated for periods of 24, 48 or 72 hours from the first time they're
used. That means you can first use it early on a Saturday afternoon and a 48
hour card would then be valid until early Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, they
don't all work that way, as we discovered when we tried out the London Pass (
http://www.londonpass.com/?ref=cj ) recently. We had to buy a two day pass, as
this one works on calendar days, so if you activate it on a Saturday afternoon
and want to use it on Sunday morning, a one day pass won't be enough.
Once you've worked out how
many days you're going to need, you can start to work out whether a city pass
will actually represent good value for you or not. Before you can make that
decision, you need to have a good idea about what places and attractions you'd
like to visit during your city break.
For example, most of the
main attractions are included in the London Pass, but there are a couple of
significant omissions, namely the London Eye and Westminster Cathedral. If
you're planning to visit during its summer opening, Buckingham Palace isn't
included either. That means you'd have to pay for each of these out of pocket.
If they were in your top three of places to visit, the London Pass may suddenly
not work that well for you. Equally, the Go Los Angeles Card (
http://www.golosangelescard.com/?GCID=S18000x014&KEYWORD=los%20angeles%20city%20pass&MATCHTYPE=search
) only includes admission to Universal Studios Hollywood if you purchase a
three, five or seven day card. If you've only got two days to spare and that's
one of the places you want to visit, then again this may not be the best way to
go. It's also worth not taking everything you read on the official web sites
for granted. We discovered that some of the attractions listed for the Helsinki
card, for example, were actually free to everyone, but the official literature
promoted that you could get free admission with the card. It's always worth
checking out all the information for yourself, just to be on the safe side.
Once you know where you
want to head for and whether the city pass you're looking at includes those
places, then it's time to start doing some simple calculations. How many places
do you realistically think you're going to be able to visit during your time in
the city? Come up with something that will be achievable for you -- after all,
you know how much you can pack into your days. Then have a look at each of
those places and what their full admission cost. Add it all up and then compare
it to the price of a city pass for the same period. If you're not planning on
visiting particularly expensive places, you may just be better paying out of
pocket.
Let's look at the New York
Pass ( http://www.citypass.com/ ) as an example. A three day pass is currently
$102 for adults. If, during your three days, you think you're going to be able
to fit in visits to the Empire State Building and experience the Skyride there,
see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, take tours of Madison Square
Garden, Rockefeller Center and NBC Studios, head out one night for a harbor
lights cruise and visit the Bronx Zoo, then those attractions would otherwise
cost an adult something like $137. If you think that's too ambitious, then the
pass may suddenly not be such an attractive option.
Something else worth
looking at is whether your pass includes free access to public transportation
during your stay. Some passes include this automatically but for some it is an
option. For example, the London Pass gives you the option of buying a pass just
for attractions or one that includes travel on buses and the Tube. Again, look
carefully at these. We found that the one day pass with travel was great value,
but it was cheaper to buy travel passes for two or more days than pay the price
charged by London Pass.
You may now be thinking
that the decision about whether to buy a pass on your next city visit isn't
that straightforward after all. That's certainly true, but a little bit of
research can tell you whether it's going to save you a lot of money or be a bad
deal. Only you know what you can achieve during the time you're in a city and
it certainly does pay to do the math before you get there and work out exactly
which option is best for you.
[Editor's Note: Some
cities and regions have more than one city pass program available. For example,
Go Los Angeles and CityPass both have pass programs for Los Angeles/Southern
California, each offering different combinations of attractions and features.
The Southern California City Pass ( http://www.citypass.com/city/socal.html )
includes admission to Disneyland, while Go Los Angeles (
http://www.golosangelescard.com/ ) does not.]
About the Author: Cheryl
and husband Mark live in England and love to travel, particularly to America.
They're now looking forward to setting sail on Disney's first cruise around the
Mediterranean in May.
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Did you enjoy this
article? Have questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit
http://www.passporterboards.com to discuss your Disney travel plans. Also check
out our Article Collection at http://www.passporter.com/articles for more great
information!
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DISNEY FEATURE: Walt
Disney World Railroad
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by Dianne Cook, Guest
Columnist and PassPorter Message Board Guide
This week's transportation
focus is on the Walt Disney World Railroad. As I mentioned in my last article,
Walt Elias Disney's love of railroads and trains is well known. His uncle,
Michael Martin, had been a steam locomotive engineer. As a teenager in Missouri,
Walt Disney had a summer job selling newspapers, candy, fruit and soda on the
Missouri Pacific Railroad. He loved the uniform, the trains, the candy, and the
chance to see the country.
In 1949, Walt Disney moved
his family into a new home on a large piece of property in the Holmby Hills
district of Los Angeles. Walt had friends who had their own backyard railroad.
Walt developed his own blueprints and with the help of his friends, created a
miniature steam railroad for his backyard. He built most of the engine himself.
He named the railroad the Carolwood Pacific Railroad. This name came from the
name of the street on which they lived, Carolwood Drive. The track was a
half-mile long and included a 46-foot long trestle, loops, overpasses, and
gradients. Mrs. Disney put her foot down and made it clearly known that she
would have nothing interfere with her rose flower beds (her passion). So Walt
Disney had a 90-foot tunnel built underneath Mrs. Disney's flowerbed. Walt
Disney even had his lawyer draw up right-of-way papers giving the railroad a
permanent, legal easement through the garden areas, which Mrs. Disney agreed to
and signed. The miniature steam locomotive was built by Roger E. Broggie of the
Disney Studios. Walt Disney named the engine Lilly Belle in his wife's honor. A
live steam engine like this one is large enough for the engineer to ride behind
sitting on the tender, and can take passengers around the track, which he so
often did for his daughters and their friends, as well as adults they entertained.
When Walt Disney was
developing the concept of Disneyland, he told his friend Herb Ryman that he
wanted the park to, "...Look like nothing else in the world and it should
be surrounded a train." This idea was inspired by the rides he gave on the
Lilly Belle. He never wanted to lose control of the railroad to the financial
backers of Disneyland, so he placed the steam train and the monorail
attractions into a free-standing company called "RETLAW", which is
"Walter" spelled backwards. All five Disney resorts around the world
include a steam railroad.
For the first eight months
after the opening of The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World (until February
1972), The Walt Disney World Railroad had only one station serving park
guests-the one in Main Street, USA. During that time, a "D" ticket
was required to ride and you needed to take a "grand circle trip."
The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia built the steam engines between
1910 and 1920. They were purchased from the United Railways of Yucatan, where
they carried both passengers and freight. They were taken apart bolt and bolt,
shipped to Tampa, Florida and then rebuilt. The passenger cars were built from
scratch in the same place the engines originally were. Originally the engines
burned wood for fuel, but were converted to and currently burn oil.
Around May 1972, the
Frontierland Railroad Station opened a few feet northwest of the Pecos Bill
CafŽ. It marked the westernmost point of Frontierland for nearly 19 years. This
station provided the only alternative point for boarding or disembarking until
a third station opened in 1988 in what was then called Mickey's Birthdayland
(now Mickey's Toontown Fair). The entire ride covers one and one-half miles and
now takes about 20 minutes to complete.
Just north of the
Frontierland Railroad Station, was a vast area of grass between the railroad
tracks and the Rivers of America. This land was the intended location of the
"Western River Expedition." Plans for this fell through and the
northern part of the land became the site for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
(one of my personal favorites).
In November 1990, the
Frontierland Station was taken down to make way for Splash Mountain. The new
station was built directly over the area of grassland that contained the
parade's old exit road. The new parade exit route was located south, directly
through the center of what used to be the old station.
One of the steam
locomotives at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is named the Lilly
Belle, in honor of its Carolwood Pacific namesake. On October 21, 2003, the
Walt Disney Railroad Steam Engine #3, the Roger E. Broggie, was re-dedicated in
honor of the late Roger Broggie, who was named a Disney Legend in 1990. The
other engines are called the Walter E. Disney and the other is the Roy O.
Disney, for a total of four. At Disney's Wilderness Lodge and Villas at Walt
Disney World, there is a mini-museum devoted to Walt Disney's love of railroads
in the DVC villas building. It is called the Iron Spike Room. It is a wonderful,
quiet place to just relax. The room has railroad memorabilia and a very special
exhibit on loan from the Disney family, which include a piece of the original
railroad track used to build the Walt Disney World railroad and two of Walt
Disney's scale-model train cars. It is one of my favorite places to relax when
we stay at the Wilderness Lodge.
While at Walt Disney
World, take time in the early morning to take advantage of the "Disney's
the Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour" at the Magic Kingdom. You follow
the Walt Disney Railroad engineers as they get the trains ready for the day,
tour the backstage roundhouse where the trains are stored, ride the trains, and
hear about Walt Disney's love of trains and the history of the Walt Disney
World Railroad.
About the Author: Dianne
has taken over 25 trips to Walt Disney World and is taking her first Disney
cruise in April 2008 for her 25th wedding anniversary. She has two sons who she
"raised on Disney" and a husband she "converted." Dianne is
a Registered Nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator.
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Did you enjoy this
article? Have questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit
http://www.passporterboards.com to discuss your holiday plans. Also check out
our Article Collection at http://www.passporter.com/articles for more great
information!
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UPDATES: What's New and
Changed
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Here's a few relevant news
items:
Tea drinkers, rejoice! A
new tea stand, Joy of Tea opened last week in Epcot's World Showcase at the
China pavilion. Offering eight hot and iced teas ($3.79), non-alcoholic and
alcoholic tea-based frozen slushes ($4.29-$5.99), Chinese beers ($4.79), plum wine
($4.49), plus green tea and caramel ginger ice creams ($2.99), we're sure a few
of you will be adding a new favorite snack stop to your Epcot itineraries. (By
the way, I think we're the first to report this news on the Internet!) Joy of
Tea Photo: http://www.passporter.com/images/joyoftea.jpg
Annual Passholder previews
of the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club will take place March 30 - April
1, 2007 during regular park hours. Each Passholder may be accompanied by up to
three guests.
The Haunted Mansion at the
Magic Kingdom will be closed for rehab from June 6 - September 12, 2007.
The 12th Annual Epcot
International Food & Wine Festival will be held this year September 28 -
November 11.
CORRECTED: Thanks to all
those who wrote in to let us know that there is indeed a Partners statue at
Disneyland. We "Goof"-ed. What can we say, we were Sleepy, Sneezy and
possibly Grumpy. But above all else, we're also the eighth dwarf - Sorry!
Our thanks to
http://www.allears.net from which we get some of our news leads.
>Things To Do: Hear
some news? Send it to us at
news@passporter.com
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DISNEY TIPS FROM FELLOW
READERS
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Our readers are a wealth
of information! Here are the winners in this month's tip contest:
PASSPORTER SCRAPBOOK PAGES
"It dawned on me that
the fold-out maps from my "older" PassPorter editions would be
wonderful as background pages in a scrapbook! I could use these maps behind
photos, they are nice heavy paper stock. Can't wait to get back from my next
trip to put together some wonderful memory books!"
-- contributed by Ellen G.
HONORING OUR VETERANS
"Attention
Veterans:_When we were at the Magic Kingdom we found out they honor a veteran
every day. You have the opportunity to lower the American flag located at the
entrance of the park. You have to register at Town Hall and you must be
vacationing for at least a week. My husband was so proud to be chosen for this
honor. He protected our country while in the Navy and now Disney was saying
Thank You in their own way."
-- contributed by Tracy C.
CENTER OF THE
"WORLD"
"When you are in
Epcot walk west from Innovations West towards the Land Pavilion. Look for a
circle shape on the ground that is surrounded by quotes from scientists. Stand
in the circle and you are in the geographical center of Walt Disney World!"
-- contributed by Mary
Jane K.
>Notes: Send us your
tips! You may see them in this newsletter and win a copy of PassPorter! Visit:
http://www.passporter.com/wdw/tipsandstories.htm
>>Want more Disney
tips? For Walt Disney World fans, we've collected 500 of the best tips
submitted by readers over the past six years. All have been edited for accuracy
and categorized. For details, visit the PassPorter Disney 500 info page at
http://www.passporter.com/wdw/disney500.asp
>>For Disney Cruise
Line fans, we have an e-book with 250 cruiser tips, as well as a special cruise
line comparison section and seven customized packing lists. For information,
visit the Disney Cruise Clues info page at
http://www.passporter.com/dcl/cruiseclues.asp
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CAPTAIN'S CORNER: Treasure
Hunting Game
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Play our fun and quirky
treasure hunting game, hosted by Captain Jack Skatt from our book,
"PassPorter's Treasure Hunts at Walt Disney World."
The Captain makes a study
of the delightful details -- sometimes hidden, sometimes in plain sight but
often overlooked -- at Walt Disney World and aboard the Disney Cruise Line.
Using notes from his journals, he will lead you to this "treasure" at
Disney with clues, questions, photos, or riddles. Your challenge is to discover
the answer by searching your memory, visiting Disney, or even just looking
really hard on the Internet. If you think you've found the answer, e-mail it to
jackskatt@passporter.com -- the first person to correctly submit the FULL
answer will receive a free PassPorter enamel pin or PassPorter name badge pin.
Here is this weekÕs
journal entry:
"With the possible
exception of a good rum punch, nothing satisfies my thirst quite like a good
"cuppa" tea. So I'm especially happy to learn of that new watering
hole over in China. I never was one for dainties like scones and cucumber
sandwiches, but I did manage to find a more adventuresome outpost a while back
that served a mighty nice silver needle white tea. I'll have to return there
when next I visit...." (remaining text obscured by gigantic footprint)
Where can this tea stop be
found, and what is its name?
Send your full answer to
jackskatt@passporter.com -- the winner will be notified by e-mail and announced
in the next newsletter, along with the correct answer!
Congratulations to Kimber
Appleton who was the winner of last week's treasure hunt game! Kimber correctly
answered that the giant soda bottle "holds" 8 oz. (According to the
bottle anyway!) To view the original clue, see last week's newsletter.
In the March 1, 2007
treasure hunt Captain Jack really stumped us with those photos! But Michelle
Heisler came closest by answering that the photos were taken in the
"building on the left, where all the mosaic tile is" - otherwise
known as the Gallery of Arts and History in Morocco. Congratulations to
Michelle!
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Q & A WITH JENNIFER
& DAVE
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Mormadsmom asks: "I
was looking around the internet for some possible hotel stays in the Port
Canaveral area. We will be driving up from Fort Lauderdale on the Friday before
we sail. I saw that some hotels are offering free parking during your cruise
and shuttle services to and from the ship. Is it better just to drive ourselves
to the port from the hotel and pay the daily fee to park our car? It seems
there may be a catch or something could go amiss. Any info would be
great!"
Dave & Jennifer
answer: "I think the "catch" is that the hotels near the port
are competing with the hotels in Cocoa Beach (as well as with each other). They
can't offer a beach within walking distance, so they're offering something that
has real value to the people most interested in being close to the cruise
terminal. Even when the Radisson was the only hotel close to the port it offered
free parking, so the newer hotels certainly have to match that in order to be
competitive.
While I haven't heard of
anyone having problems using the hotel free parking offers, it's probably worth
noting that usually, it's just plain, outdoor hotel parking. Security is pretty
light. On the other hand, the parking lot at the port is fenced and guarded. Is
the extra security worth an extra fee? That's your call."
Have a question? Check out
our new "Ask PassPorter" Q & A blog at http://ask.passporter.com
. We're still working on getting the blog ready for prime time, but we welcome
your comments and questions! You can also post questions at
http://www.passporterboards.com/ -- and if you're lucky, you may find that
folks have already asked and answered the same question that's on your mind!
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WANT TO GET PUBLISHED?
===================================
PassPorter News is
published weekly and weÕre always on the lookout for good quality Disney and
travel articles! We seek guest columnists who want to contribute articles to
this newsletter. No professional writing experience necessary, just a desire to
share your experience with others! Not only is this a great way to give
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"print" and receive a $25 gift certificate.
====================================
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MediaMarx, Inc. / PassPorter Travel Press, PO Box 3880, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
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