We're back!! The Lopez-Pullano Family Invades WDW - 5/7/08 - 5/13/08 - Our Trip Report - UPDATED 6/17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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We're back!! The Lopez-Pullano Family Invades WDW - 5/7/08 - 5/13/08 - Our Trip Report - UPDATED 6/17
*Hi everyone and thanks for taking time to read my pre-trip report. Please bear with me because sometimes I get too involved with details (I'll try really hard not to do that) and may ramble a bit. I hope you enjoy this and I promise to post my entire Vacation Report when I return. In the meantime, I will update this as I gear up to go!
It all started with our “Big” family vacation last August. My mother, sister and I had made the “executive” decision to book a WDW Vacation for my entire family (8 of us in total) for a week of fun in the Happiest Place on Earth. Well, in the aftermath of what was officially one of the best (great time in the theme parks and with the dining) and one of the worst (the very public fight between my mother and husband at the bus stop of our Resort. I’m sorry if anyone reading this was exposed to that!) I got the idea to execute an even better, more enjoyable vacation. But how? When? Is there even such a thing? How would we pay for it? To many of us the idea of going to WDW is an easy decision to make. My biggest problem seemed to be when to go.
I put the thought into the back of my head for the time being and settled into my normal routine. I mean seriously, how was I really going to convince my husband that we should again, and soon? After Thanksgiving and Christmas came trips to the hospital for my father. He has been in and out of the hospital six times since December and in between coming home in September and February, we became a statistic in the horrible housing market. Luckily we were able to avoid any losses due to swift action and when all was said and done, March had come around. It wasn’t until the first week of March that I started thinking of Disney. Leave it to all of the Travel Channel specials to get the brain thinking about Disney! I knew it was time to plan. We had reason to celebrate. My father was planning to retire, his 65th birthday was looming and my husband and I were rejoicing in the fact that we were both gainfully employed, still had our house, and a wonderful family to come home to every day! The next decision: When to go & visit the Mouse?
Now I have been to Disney World many, many times and I have gone during some of the best times and some of the worst times. However the one time that I have never tried was right before the summer rush. So May it was! But early May? Late May? The easy part of the decision is that my husband, father and I could go at any time. My daughter is in Pre-K, so missing school isn’t going to be detrimental to her future development (I checked with her teachers!). The problem turned out to be my son (not literally)! He is currently in the midst of finishing up 6th grade. That’s when I became one of THOSE parents. That parent that other parents and teachers raised their eyebrow(s) at because they weren’t only considering but were actually willing to pull their child out of school to go not only on vacation, but to Disney World.
After dwelling on the thought for all of…five minutes, I moved on and started the quoting process. Because my middle of the week plan worked so well last time, I decided that a mid week departure was our plan of action. Flights are actually cheaper when flying out on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday as opposed to a weekend. I priced out different resorts and ticket packages. In the end, we settled with a 7 day/6 night stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We’d fly out of Boston on 5/7/08 and come back on 5/13/08. We decided on using the Disney Dining Plan since we made good use of it last time we went and a 7 day Park Hopper Ticket with the Water Parks and more option. This time, my husband, Rick, and I would travel with our DS (12), DD (4.5) and my father (almost 65). On March 23, 2008 I made the final payment on our vacation and bought our plane tickets. Now, there was nothing stopping us. Well, only the six week wait, but hey if I waited this long from our last vacation, six weeks would be nothing right?
Wrong! I swear every day since that day in March has been torture. My daughter mentions Disney or Vacation in every other sentence (note to self, make sure to wait until the week before when telling the kids about Disney), my son keeps thinking he’s going to forget something (that’s why I love list making!) and my husband keeps sending me text messages of things he needs (seriously, I have to get how many bars of soap and bottles of mouthwash?). Now as we close out the last Friday before we leave, I find myself wanting the weekend to fly by and know that many people will loathe me for saying that!
My family and I will board that plane in 4 days, 11 hours, 35 minutes (not that I’m counting or anything…34 minutes) and I’ve never been more excited or feel more fulfilled as a wife, mother, daughter…adult…kid at heart. I know I’ll have lots to report and I’ll probably post again to the pre-trip report before we leave (Pirate and Princess Party expectations, BBB for my little princess, dining, preliminary itinerary, etc.) but this was a good starting off point for me. I can’t believe we’re going again! It just proves that you need to have Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust!
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I hope you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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I love hearing all the details about how other folks' trips come to fruition.
You are so right in the statement of sometimes, all it takes is faith, trust, and pixie dust-I know that all to well firsthand.
Can't wait to hear about your dining plans!! We'll be there the same time (I leave tomorrow night, as does my travelling companion) so maybe we'll see you.
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We're back!! The Lopez-Pullano Family Invades WDW - 5/7/08 - 5/13/08 - Our Trip Report - UPDATED 6/17
Disney - 9.2012
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I hope you guys have a magical time 
Sammi
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