Jennifer and Dave's Disney Adventure Report

Dates: 12/3 - 12/11, 1999 (9-Day Trip)

Adventurers:

  • Jennifer Watson (author): 31 year old, writer and co-author of PassPorter Walt Disney World, on her umpteenth trip to Disney (from Ann Arbor, MI)
  • Dave Marx: 44 year old, writer and co-author of PassPorter Walt Disney World, on his 11th (or is it 12th?) trip to Disney (from Hackensack, NJ and Ann Arbor, MI)
Updated 11/21/03

Copyright 1999-2006
PassPorter Travel Press, an imprint of MediaMarx, Inc.

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  Pre-Trip Planning

Back in August, we received an e-mail from Deb Wills inviting us to be the special guests at the 4th Annual Holiday RADP Meet in early December. We turned to each other and said, "let's see... Disney in December with a gathering friends and acquaintances where we get to be special guests?" It only took a few seconds to say "Of course!" We e-mailed Deb back to assure her we'd be at the meet, and we also let her know that we could donate ten copies of PassPorter for the family giveaways. Thus our December trip was born!

It wasn't until September that we called Disney to see what was available at the resorts. As it turned out, Dixie Landings was open for the majority of our trip, so we reserved it for December 4-11. Unfortunately, it wasn't available on December 3, so we booked one night at All-Star Movies. We're still trying to get that first night at Dixie Landings.

We waited until November to make our flight reservations because of some tricky timing issues. Nonetheless, we successfully reserved a flight to arrive on Dec. 3 and return on Dec. 11. On the return, Jennifer will be flying back in the morning, and then going on to Virginia for the holiday party at America Online with her good friend George. Dave will be returning in the evening on his own.

Additional planning was required for the meet events, many of which needed reservations and deposits ahead of time. Other than this, the only planning we needed (or still need) to do involves preparing research materials for PassPorter, and the basics like laundry, packing, and so on. So far, this has been a smooth planning effort, with no snags or problems. We still have a week before we leave, however! We'll keep you updated on our planning as we get closer to the big day.

11/29 Update: For the first time among our many trips to Disney, something happened to our reservations. When we called two weeks ago to add on the first night at Dixie Landings, all was well. We we called back two days ago to try again, Disney couldn't find either of our reservations for the All-Star Movies or Dixie Landings. We searched our charge card statements for proof that Disney had charged the deposit, and were dismayed to find that deposit never appeared on a statement. We did eventually find rooms elsewhere (Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs), but this teaches us (and hopefully everyone reading this) an important lesson: Always double-check that your deposit is indeed charged to your credit card account or that your check is deposited. And double-check your reservations before you arrive!

12/2 Update: We decided we didn't want to come to the RADP meet empty-handed, so a few days ago we volunteered to create booklets with the RADP meet information. We're working on these now and we'll be handing them out at the Meet & Greet on Saturday, December 4 and at every other meet we can make. We'll also give copies to those going to other meets so they can get them to everyone. The booklets are 5 1/2" x 4 1/2" and have 16 pages! Oh, and they fit in the PassPorter (convenient, eh?)

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