Hoosier Girls Invade the World---Final Thoughts---COMPLETE 7/17 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Hoosier Girls Invade the World---Final Thoughts---COMPLETE 7/17
[b]Destination:<font color="purple"> Walt Disney World (where else?)</font>
Adventurers: <font color="purple"> Dawn (DawnDenise)-34 & Tiff (tigger22)-28</font>
Dates: <font color="purple"> June 7-10, 2006</font>
Celebration: <font color="purple">Two Good Friends in Our Happy Place Without the Hubbies</font>
How It All Came About?????
<font color="purple">Tiff and I officially met at the Indiana Passporter Meet in July of 2005. After the meet, we continued to keep in contact through emails and many private messages. In late December, 2005/ early January 2006, we realized that we both were on MSN Messenger. Holy cow….did that open up the lines of communication!!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] We talk almost every night.
In mid-January, 2006, Tiff and I were chatting one evening. Go figure!! We both had just come off a December trip to WDW but were having major withdraw symptoms. We both had trips planned in October for the same week (which was a total coincidence), but that was sooooooooo far off. I really had no excuse since I had a trip in February to Disneyland, but who am I to turn down a chance at another trip to my happy place. On that cold winter night, our conversation went something like this:</font>
Dawn: Hey, I got a question for ya.
Tiff: Okay
Dawn: Since we are both itchin’ for another trip, what do you think of a girls only trip?
Tiff: I was thinking the same thing.
Dawn: Great minds think alike…lol
Tiff: When were you thinking?
Dawn: Late spring/ early summer?
Tiff: It has to be after busy season. Anytime after May 31st.
Dawn: I can work with that. Woooohoooooo!!!!
<font color="purple"><u>Here is Tiff’s take on the plan:</u></font>
It was all Dawn's idea. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] Sometime in December I got a PM with something about "a plan." Not sure exactly what the "plan" was at the time and kinda forgot about it. Then sometime in January we started talking about our next trips planned for October. Sometime in there we both said how we wished we were going back again sometime sooner and that is when I jogged Dawn's memory about the "plan”.
(Let me note that our husbands are positive that we are bad influences on each other. So saying that it was all my idea probably isn’t too far from the truth. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] )
<font color="purple">And with that, another Disney trip was born. We spent the rest of the evening looking at possible dates and discussing options on how we were gonna pay for this trip. We both had to break the news to our other halves. We eventually got off the computers and went to fill our hubbies in on what we were planning.
My conversation went pretty easy. I sat down on the bed while he was getting ready for bed and told him the conversation Tiff and I just had. He was pretty quiet. I ask him what he is thinking. He tells me he is jealous because I have more flexibility to go on these short trips. I explain that I have plenty back in savings and that I won’t be dipping into our house fund. He turns around and smiles. I can’t help but love this man!!! Not just because I have the freedom to take these kind of trips, but he knows how much Disney means to me. <sigh> Okay…enough of the mushy stuff. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
<u>And Tiff’s conversation with Eric…..</u></font>
My first question to Eric was whether or not he would mind if I borrowed some DVC points. He said go ahead because they are there to use before he caught himself and said what for. I said I wanted to take a short trip with Dawn down to WDW. I explained the only outlay I would have money wise was plane tickets, food and souvenirs (thanks to using DVC points and and annual pass). Eric said I could go on a girls trip if he could take a guys only trip to Vero Beach. I said sure because he has a lot more vacation time than I do and his only outlay of money for that trip would be food and gas money (which they were going to split between the guys going).
<font color="purple">The next morning, I get into work and log on to the boards while I’m eating my breakfast. I see the little flashing envelope that denotes I have a message waiting for me. I immediately go to my messages and see that it is from Tiff. She informs me that she has gotten the thumbs up from Eric to use DVC points for the resort. Of course she had to agree to a guy’s trip but sacrifices must be made. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] Since she was using points, I told her I would pick up the plane tickets. I write her back and throw out some dates so we could finalize. I told her everything is open on my end, it was up to her. Within an hour, I get a reply, and we decide on June 7-10th. I spend my lunch searching the airline websites looking for the best fare. Southwest didn’t have the dates for June open yet, so AirTran was my next stop.
Now trying to maximize our WDW time, I go for the 5:55am flight that would get us into MCO around 9:30am. The latest flight for our return at the time was 5:50pm. That means getting DME by 2:30ish. Not great but very doable. I was unwilling to wait for Southwest to release their dates so I throw yet another message to Tiff. Before I knew it, she’s agrees with the times that I have found. I tell her the airfare would be purchased within 2 days. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img][img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]
I cannot tell you how many messages went back and forth between the two of us that first day. I know I didn’t get anything accomplished at work that day. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] I have gotten verification from Tiff that no work was done on her part as well. She believes that all of her partners were out with clients and she had no work to do. Anyway, by the end of the day, Tiff lets me know the confirmation number for the resort portion of trip. We’ll be staying at Old Key West…a first for both of us. We’ll be in a studio, which will be more than enough room. I immediately ordered a spiral edition of the Passporter as my deluxe was being used for my October trip and heaven forbid my info get mixed up. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Mmmm…the task of picking restaurants. Since we are visiting the world after April 1st, we were able to add the dining plan to our DVC reservation. Since we only had 3 table service credits, we decide to use those for our dinners. We also knew that we wanted to do Crystal Palace for breakfast on the last day so one meal would be out of pocket. Once again, the messages start flying back and forth. Unfortunately, we were having difficulty finding places that neither one of us had visited. We both make some compromises and come up with the plan. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]</font>
<u>June 7th:</u> 50’s Prime Time Café (New for Tiff)
<u>June 8th:</u> Whispering Canyon Café (New for both)
<u>June 9th:</u> The Garden Grill (New for Dawn)
<u>June 10th:</u> Crystal Palace (Has Tigger and Eeyore….there was never any question)
<font color="purple">According to Tiff, we will be doing it up like my mom and I did on our trip by partaking in a few adult beverages, especially since she has DDE to use at our table service meals. And let’s not forget some partying at Adventurer’s Club and 8-Trax.
With our main meals behind us, we move onto the real fun stuff. In one of our early conversations, we discovered that we both love to surprise people. Well, we were not going to disappoint one another. We both have had a hard time keeping to ourselves what we have planned and such. Each of us has only let one thing come out of the bag. I went up to visit Tiff one weekend and ended up giving her a Tigger T-shirt I made on Zazzle.com and a Mickey polo bought from Disney. Tiff got a great discount on La Nouba tickets and wanted to know before she bought them if it was something I really wanted to see. We decided to make each other’s autograph books so I am having fun experimenting with that one, and I know Tiff is having fun with hers too. Apparently mine has become the rolodex of autograph books. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
We did run into a little snafu with the airfare. AirTran has changed our flight times for the trip home more than once. Both times they failed to notify me. To say the least , I have been on the phone more than once with them. Tiff has been on the phone with DME changing our reservation with them. It’s been a back and forth thing that hopefully will not rear its ugly head again. We have received our fair share of DME luggage tags, a total of 8.
So now we are a little under two weeks and we are both overly excited about this trip. Sure, we will miss our hubbies but we are going to take the World by storm for those four days!!</font>
[b]<font color="purple">I am so excited about our trip. I can't wait. We have many missions on this trip including riding Expedition Everest, Conquering my fear of the Tea Cups and Mission Space and Stalking Mr. Incredible.
Your trip plans sound delightful! How wonderful to be able to spend some time at WDW with a good friend on a girls only trip. And you're going to love Old Key West. My mom and I stayed there last November and thoroughly enjoyed the resort.
Hey I know all about those conversations Kris and I had a few of those ourselves!!! Girls trips are the best and you two are going to have a blast!!! I can't wait to hear about the trip!
Great start Dawn and Tiff [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] What a great time you're going to have [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
<font color="purple">I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] it! Tara & I had alot of fun e-mailing eachother too! Mostly she wanted me to spill the beans on her surprises, but [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] I kept them all![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Ladies, Joey & I will be down there those days as well. I don't know which park, which day, but if you see a short redhead with a bunch of teenagers around her, that'll be me![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] Have a blast! </font>
Re: Hoosier Girls Invade the World---Day 1 Part 1--OMG, It\'s early!!
[b]I’ll get these updates started off, and hopefully Tiff will chime in. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Night Before
<font color="purple">Tiff arrived at my doorstep around 8:30-8:45pm. I think I surprised her because I swung open the door before she could even knock. I wasn’t excited or anything. After she gave Ana some much needed attention, it was time to open up our surprises. We sat down in the middle of my living room floor and started going through all our little gifts. It felt like Christmas morning. Tiff outdid herself. I was just overloaded with goodies.
· Autograph book (and it was definitely like a Rolodex of characters [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] )
· Pack of retractable Sharpies in many happy colors.
· New Eeyore watch
· The Starter chain of the Add-a-Link Mickey Charm bracelet
· Two new Eeyore T-shirts and a Green T-shirt
· Disney stickers
· Passporter pouch with luggage tags, name tag, pens, etc.
· Cinderella pencils
· Trip report journal
· Pooh lip balm (candy apple flavor)
· La Nouba tickets (I knew about that one!!)
To say the least, she spoiled me. After our gift giving episode, it as around 10:30pm and we had to at least try and get some sleep. We brought in Tiff’s luggage and blew up the air mattress. Chuck and I had to beg Ana to come upstairs with us, but we eventually got situated and went to bed.</font>
Day 1, Part 1: OMG…is it early!!
<font color="purple">The alarm goes off at 3:30am. I had just fallen asleep at 1:30am (definitely living that “I’m too excited to sleep” commercial) so I was having a hard time comprehending that I need to get up. I go downstairs to get Tiff moving, and she tells me she couldn’t sleep either. After getting ready, I wake up Chuck as he is our chauffer. Before we know it, we pack up the car and head to the airport.
We make it there with no problems. There is no traffic as it is 4:15 in the morning. Chuck drops us off in front of the terminal and say good-bye. I promise to call him to let him know we made it…a few hugs and kisses by me, a Tiff and I were off. Check-in went real smooth and we head to security. As we are disbursing all of our carry-ons and shoes into the little gray tubs, one of the TSA people tells me I can keep my shoes on and go through the special screening booth. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] I stepped into the machine, and it proceeded to blow puffs of cold air up and down my body. Kind of cool! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] The TSA agent says I passed the screening (phew) so I join Tiff and gather all of our belongings.
I cannot remember anything that happened that was out of the ordinary. No men I had to flip off for dirty looks, no janitors trying to move people’s luggage…nada…nothing. We do eventually get boarded and before we know it we are on our way to the wonderful city of Atlanta. We get comfortable, grab the iPods, turned on the latest Mousetunes podcast, and settled in.
The trip was uneventful. We spent a lot of the time chatting back and forth and enjoying our ginger ale and little graham crackers for breakfast. Before we knew it, we were landing. Now we had 30 minutes to get to our next flight and I was hoping that we weren’t going to be dashing across the airport. We check with the airline employee as we exited and we were just three gates down. YAY!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Within 10 minutes, we are boarding again, and we are whisked away for the last hour until we are back in Orlando. Both Tiff and I are listening to our iPods but keep pausing and talking a mile a minute. We are just way too excited.
We land in Orlando on time and make our way to check-in at DME. There isn’t a line so Tiff is able to check us in with no wait. We are directed to our particular line that goes to Ft. Wilderness Campgrounds, Saratoga Springs and Old Key West.
After about 5-10 minutes, we are ushered onto our bus and headed toward the world. We drop off a huge family at the campgrounds and the next stop Old Key West, or so we thought. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] We get to the entrance of OKW and there is a huge box truck blocking the entrance. We sit there for a couple of minutes and the driver of the truck is just sitting there smiling. Our driver makes an executive decision and heads on to Saratoga Springs. I grab a picture of the sign for Tiff since this is her “home” resort. She points out where she stayed in December and some of the other points of interest. We drop off the next bunch of vacationers and make our way back to OKW.
We get in without delay this time and they drop us off at the hospitality house. Tiff and I look at each other and smile REALLY big. We go check-in without delay, and our room isn’t ready. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] After we get all the necessary paperwork figured out, we head to the couches to get our park bags in tact and check our carry-ons with bell services. It was kind of funny because we both grabbed TONS of maps and time guides. I always grab an extra couple scrapbooking purposes but I think I have 6 of each park. Anyone need any park maps??? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
We go out and wait for the bus to MGM. We grab some pictures of the surroundings and of course the goofy ones of us waiting.</font>
Coming up: A chance encounter [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] and the first adult beverage
Re: Hoosier Girls Invade the World---Day 1 Part 1--OMG, It\'s early!!
Great start Dawn [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] So glad you guys made it without incident! More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Re: Hoosier Girls Invade the World---Day 1 Part 2--Chance Encounter and First Adult Beverage UPDATE 6/20
<font color="purple">Dawn, it seems we arrived at MGM as you were leaving it![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img] Hope to meet up with you again one day. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]
Gotta try me some of that lemonade [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] </font>
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Hybrid Mode
