The Time Warp Pre-Trip Report **COMPLETE - 8/13** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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I’m going to try something a little different for this pre-trip report.
Our vacation starts exactly four weeks from today, so what I thought I’d do is write a daily installment detailing what we’ll be doing four weeks in the future.
…with any luck, DW (soccermomof2) will chime in and add her two cents as we go along.
Now, strap yourselves in tight as we teleport into the future…
DAY ONE
August 15th,2008
I drive the boys to their last day at Sports Camp, dropping them off around 9AM and head back home to begin helping Margaret double-check our packing list and begin loading up the car. I make sure that all of our electronic gear (2 cellphones, 3 Nintendo DS’s, 2 iPod Shuffles and one iPod) is fully charged for our 1,000 mile trip. We discover there are a few things we don’t have, so we make a quick trip to Target (about 10 minutes away). Upon returning home, we pack the car with our suitcases and make up some sandwiches to pack into our small cooler for our ride this evening.
Around 3PM, we leave the house, top off the gas tank, pick the boys up at camp and hit the road towards Orlando. Having packed snacks, sandwiches and drinks, our plan is to pretty much drive as much as we can without making stops. Using my timelines from previous treks as a guide, I expect to be at Baltimore around 5pm and south of Washington DC on I95 around 6pm. We’ll stop at the rest area in Ladysmith, VA if we need to answer nature’s call and continue onward. We’ll probably need to refuel the car around Richmond, VA, so we’ll stop at a convenient gas station, fill up the tank and stretch our legs while waiting for the car’s thirst to be quenched.
After the pit stop, we’ll continue on and call it a night around 11pm. If all goes well, we should end this leg of our journey somewhere in the vicinity of
South of the Border (NC/SC border). We’ve got our AAA guidebooks and we’ll call ahead to check on vacancies at places about 60 miles down the road from our location around 10pm. We’ll check-in, Margaret will get the boys ready for bed while I unload the car for the evening (no big deal – just two suitcases and our overnight bag).
UP NEXT: 8/16/2008 - Our Journey Continues....
Great start Rob. We're leaving the same day you are. While the plane touches down around 6:30pm I'll be thinking of you driving. No seriously, if Andrew were better in the car and I had the vacation time I might try the drive as well.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER!!!!!!!!! Oh, the wonderful tourist trap of many of my childhood Myrtle Beach trips! I still have my little South of the Border key chains. Can't wait to read about that part of the TR!! Don't forget to take as many pictures as you can of the great signs leading up to it!!!
You know, they say if you 'pre-pave' your future, you're much more likely to have the same outcome in reality - so make it a good one. How about seeing yourself stop on the way and buy a winning lottery ticket?
If it ever came down to driving or not being able to go I'd do it; but facing a thousand mile trip (driving) sounds so daunting. The way down wouldn't be bad; coming home would be awful!!
What a great idea, Rob! I keep thinking we'll try the drive one of these days, but I get antsy on the drive to the airport. Maybe you'll inspire me! (I'm sure it would be cheaper than the $1,600 I just shelled out to fly during "Jersey Week." ) This report should be lots of fun... can't wait to read more!
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No seriously, if Andrew were better in the car and I had the vacation time I might try the drive as well.
PassPorter Guide Author
from The Rocky Horror Picture Show Rob, "Let's do the time warp again." Can't wait for more.
) This report should be lots of fun... can't wait to read more!
Aimee
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