Home is Where the Mouse Is TR (June 1 - 11, 2017) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 thought travelling with older kids was easier, boy was I in for a rude awakening. Add to that a husband and you have a recipe for a stressful vacation. It was a great trip, don't get me wrong, but it was challenging at times and I found myself frustrated a bit.
This TR will be interesting. I was terrible at taking notes, even worse at taking food pictures and almost all my photos were taken with my phone (camera was not good, may be time for an upgrade). The first 6 days, notes were very detailed. The rest of the trip, notes were non-existing. I'll have to rely on memory, which by the way is not that good as you're approaching 40. But I digress...
So, without further adieu, I present to you my TR. Enjoy!!!
Wednesday, May 31 - Day before trip
Today was a stressful day. First of all, I had to go to AJ's school to pick up his report card (straight A's) and to order his senior class shirt (OMG, he's a Senior!! ). Abniel had a pool party to attend for a friend's birthday. Arben took him, since he had a chiropractor appointment and the pool was on his way. I know I did something else today, but I can't remember what. Maybe some last minute shopping.
To add more stress, we'd been without power since the day before, so all my plans of washing the beddings were down the drain now. To say I was mad is an understatement. I had this idea in my head that my entire house would be squeaky clean when we came back and now I couldn't even wash our sheets. But, there was nothing I could do.
The kids helped me around the house while Arben had to stay with his dad. His mom went out with SIL so she could buy some last minute things. This would turn out to be a shopping spree that would take a couple of hours. I was mad and frustrated because considering we were leaving later in the evening, my MIL could've stayed behind because she knows that when SIL goes out it's an all day affair. Plus, we had lots of things to do and it would've been nice to have Arben's help.
Since there was no power, I hadn't been able to check in for our flights. I figured out a way to do it on my phone and even had our boarding passes on it. Yay for technology!!
Our flight was supposed to leave at 2:30ish, so we would be leaving our house at 12:00 am. But, I started getting notifications that the flight was delayed.
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We were kind of hungry, so we headed over to Mexico for a bite to eat. Sorry, no photos.
We walked around for a bit and I took some photos.
Paparazzi shot.
The backside of The Three Caballeros
Close up of My Three Caballeros
Ok, let me get a shot of this.
Let me try again.
Third time's a charm.
Look at me, getting all artistic!
We got a couple more MM photos.
Soon it was time for our last FP. We headed over to Character Spot. While in line, we saw bil and his family.
After a short wait, it was our turn to meet the characters.
First up was Mickey. He was very formal.
Then came Goofy and he was a hoot. He pushed Arben along as he was walking. He gave us directions on how to stand and then kept asking us to scoot together. After we were in the perfect spot, he came over and stood in front of us, blocking me from being in the picture. After some laughs, he posed with us.
Last but not least, was Minnie. She was such a sweetheart. She hugged and kissed us all. She was fussing over my boys, even fixing her makeup for Abniel.
I have to say, this was the best interaction I've had with a non-talking character.
When we exited, we saw bil and chatted with them for a while. Then we parted ways, as we were heading back to POR for a break and they were staying at the park
I'm so glad you started your TR!!! It sounds like it was a stressful day before your trip and your departure day sounds kind of stressful too with the delays.
I'm so glad you started your TR!!! It sounds like it was a stressful day before your trip and your departure day sounds kind of stressful too with the delays.
I was hoping that once we got to WDW things would get better.
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Add to that a husband and you have a recipe for a stressful vacation. It was a great trip, don't get me wrong, but it was challenging at times and I found myself frustrated a bit. 
I'll have to rely on memory, which by the way is not that good as you're approaching 40. 
). Abniel had a pool party to attend for a friend's birthday. Arben took him, since he had a chiropractor appointment and the pool was on his way. I know I did something else today, but I can't remember what. Maybe some last minute shopping. 
To say I was mad is an understatement. I had this idea in my head that my entire house would be squeaky clean when we came back and now I couldn't even wash our sheets. But, there was nothing I could do.
I was mad and frustrated because considering we were leaving later in the evening, my MIL could've stayed behind because she knows that when SIL goes out it's an all day affair. Plus, we had lots of things to do and it would've been nice to have Arben's help. 
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