Is Belle a Disney Character? September 2015 PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I've hemmed and hawed over whether I wanted to write a PTR, and if so, when to start it, but I supposed the best time to start is now.
I have a lot coming up between now and our trip, so here we go!
I’ll start at the beginning, a little background of how this came about.
I moved to Southwest Florida at the very end of March 2013. My grand plans of having family down here in nearby Marco Island and up in Tampa, miserably failed me when everyone decided they wanted to be back in my hometown in NY, but I came anyway!!
One major perk of moving to Florida, is being soooooo close to WDW!! A mere 3 hour drive and you’re there! And trust me, 3 hours is nothing compared to the 26 I spent driving from NY to FL to get here.
A month after I got down here I met someone, Joshua, and we quickly ended up moving in together 3 months later. I also invested in Annual Passes for the two of us. Josh was not a Disney-lover, but I thought “Who doesn't love Disney?!”
I wrote a PTR for a trip that we were going on in January 2014. Needless to say, I never wrote a TR because I found out that some people in fact, DO NOT LIKE DISNEY AT ALL.
I am happy to say that we did do a couple short, weekend trips after the terrible January trip, with some “improvements” in Josh’s eyes, and things got considerably better.
I have been working on Josh’s love for Disney since that first terrible experience, and it’s been coming along nicely. He currently loves the move Big Hero 6, so we’re seeing some progress!!
Also, something wonderful that came out of the terrible January 2014 trip – Joshua realized how much of a jerk he had been, and I ended up getting a puppy out of it!
Here is Brockton!
Brockton's First Week with Us, March 2014
Brockton throughout 2014
Brockton Christmas 2014
I wanted to name him JARVIS after Ironman’s super intelligent “side-kick” computer (my mom and I named her dog Pepper, after Pepper Potts) but when we went to the humane society to look at the puppies that day, Brockton was already his name, and Joshua is originally from Brockton, Massachusetts, so we just couldn't change it!!!
But I digress. I moved to Florida and of course am now the perfect family member to use as an excuse for a vacation. My mom comes down twice a year, and has made it somewhat of a tradition to come at the end of May with my aunt, and the beginning of December by herself.
I’m planning on going home for Christmas this year, so I told Mom there was no point in her coming then, but that this would be a perfect opportunity for us to go to Disney instead. I could take the time off, she could come in a different month, and we will actually spend MORE time together than we would if she was just coming to visit and I was still working every day.
It took some convincing… I spend a good majority of one day drafting a giant Disney vacation sales-pitch – Mom hasn't been to the world since 1998 when we went as a family, so she had no idea of all the new things that have developed since then. Magical Express, New Hotels, On-Site Perks, Dining Plans, New Parks… I also had to sell her on the numbers and show the value that came with the price tag.
This email was massive… but it worked!! I thought it was going to take more convincing, but an hour after I sent the email, she agreed!!
Two days later, I had put a deposit down!
We are going to Disney, September 13th-18th!!
Our small cast of characters for the trip:
Me – Melissa: Will be 29 at the time of trip, and this will be my 8th trip to the World in my lifetime. My favorite character is Donald Duck, and my favorite Disney movie (series) is Pirates of the Caribbean; so much so that I got a tattoo of the music box from the movie on my back (picture to be taken and posted at a later date).
Mom – Linda: She’s my mom and wouldn’t want me posting her age , and this will be her 3rd trip to the World in her lifetime. Apparently, Belle is her favorite character, and Beauty and the Beast is her favorite Disney movie. She does not have any tattoos to record this.
Mom and I (and Brockton!) on her December 2014 visit
There's plenty of prep, planning, and other (non-Disney) visits and trips between now and then, so stay tuned!!
Great start! Brockton is such a sweetie (I always hone in on the animals!) and I love the name. I grew up very close by, in Bridgewater. Can't wait to hear more of the trip details.
I feel your pain with the boyfriend & his dislike of Disney. Mine doesn't hate Disney but has absolutely no desire to visit the world. We are planning on taking our son next year & I have never been so nervous about planning a trip. I figure if it goes badly then there will not be a second family vacation there with him but if I do well & he tolerates or even possibly enjoys himself than we can revisit the magic.
If you have any suggestions based on your experience I would be very excited to hear them.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Thank you! I’ve enjoyed reading your TRs, so thank you for joining in on mine!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Great start! Brockton is such a sweetie (I always hone in on the animals!) and I love the name. I grew up very close by, in Bridgewater. Can't wait to hear more of the trip details.
Thank you so much! He is my baby boy! We’ve been taking him to the dog park lately. He loves to run! You grew up in Bridgewater, NY? That’s very close to where I’m from!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnK
Cool!!!! It will be fun going with you mother...so many new things to experience!!
Brockton looks like Bolt! He is a cutie!!
My mouth dropped open when you said "....does not like Disney at all!"....sad, very sad!!
Mom is going to be VERY surprised I think!
Someone from high school said Brockton looked like Bolt, but we hadn’t seen the movie! We watched it and can confirm, Brockton definitely has a Super Bark!
It is very sad, how can anyone not like Disney?! He is trying for me though. I think my commando touring style is what doesn’t work for him So I’ve learned to take lots of breaks, and buy him lots of beers!
About This Page: 
, and this will be her 3rd trip to the World in her lifetime. Apparently, Belle is her favorite character, and Beauty and the Beast is her favorite Disney movie. She does not have any tattoos to record this. 
*Melissa
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Katie's graduation
You, your Mom and Brockton are all adorable!! 
Your mother/daughter trip should be terrific!! 
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
So I’ve learned to take lots of breaks, and buy him lots of beers! 
Linear Mode
