Goofy's Lemon Surprise Pre-Trip Report - UPDATED 5/17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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With our countdown being in the "teens" I thought it'd be good for me to start my PTR. It'll help me stay focused on what still needs to be done!
Well it was about 9 months ago that I made the decision to “cancel” our September 2008 trip because of many financial hardships that came up along with being so very sick for four months straight. Canceling the trip made me even more ill. I actually spent a lot of time away from these boards because I was afraid it would make me feel worse.
Then I realized that I needed to “Get back on that horse” and stop feeling sorry for myself . It wasn’t long before I was back in the swing again! It helps to have fun wonderful people here that understand all of lives woes and offer lots of support and encouragement.
It was about a month after our “canceled” trip had passed when DH said to me that we needed to start planning. Apparently he likes seeing my excited about Disney and wanted to see me in action again. I can’t believe that I’ve converted him. That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t even hesitate, after all we’d finally felt like we had gotten through all of those hurdles we experienced over the summer. At least we hoped that this was the case.
The title to this TR will be explained much later in the PTR. You'll have to stay tuned!
Up next: A deal like no other?
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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
Okay so I kept procrastinating on booking our trip and it was really for no good reason at all. I kept weighing my options of what kind of trip to book and where to stay. We really wanted to go in February for our twins birthday but DH wouldn’t be able to get the time off from work so I had to suck it up and celebrate my birthday in WDW. It’s a hard life!
We were all set to book the Contemporary Resort for 10 days with park hopper or so we thought. Then all this chatter started about an offer to be announced very soon. This got me extremely excited and I got those little butterflies in my stomach. Of course this deal was the buy 4 get 3 free. We were going to save some major money!
DH and I were looking forward to a few of very cool things this trip.
1. It was the first time the four of us would be going to WDW by ourselves without relatives or friends in tow. Having traveling buddies is fun but it’s also fun to have alone family time.
2. The kids are older now and we were interested to see their take on the world as 8 year olds compared to the last time when they were 4.
3. Springtime in WDW and experiencing the Flower and Garden Festival is something new for us. A little shout out to Princess Sharon here because it was the pictures of her May 2008 trip that inspired me to experience the FGF. Amazing pictures Princess Sharon!
So on November 6th we sealed the deal with our $200 token of commitment. We sat down and worked out our budget so that we would be off to a good start. Christmas was coming up so we needed to make sure we kept separate budgets for Christmas than we did for our trip so that we wouldn’t get off track. Then there was the idea of how much that airfare was going to set us back…
Up next: Sure there’s room for you in our luggage.
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. It wasn’t long before I was back in the swing again! It helps to have fun wonderful people here that understand all of lives woes and offer lots of support and encouragement. 
That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t even hesitate, after all we’d finally felt like we had gotten through all of those hurdles we experienced over the summer. At least we hoped that this was the case. 
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Pixie Dust
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Sammi
Reese
PassPorter Guide Author
It’s a hard life! 
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