"WOO HOO! WE MADE IT" - Our Live TR 2/4-2/12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 can't believe we're finally here! The past six weeks have been tough, and the past 24 hours have been a bit stressful... but now we are officially ON VACATION!
As some of you might know from my PTR, we were initially going to depart this morning (Friday) at 6am, and drive all day. But Thursday morning we discovered that there was an ice storm expected in our area and through MS and AL (our route to WDW) overnight Thursday. We didn't want to get stuck in THAT, so we decided to hit the road Thursday and get as far as we could before stopping for the night.
So we left at 330pm, stopped at Sonic, then hit the road by 4pm. We got past Tupelo with no problem, and mentally patted ourselves on the back for leaving before the ice storm. Then we drove straight into an ice storm. It was awful. The highways were pure ice. Cars were in ditches, and a tractor trailer jack-knifed not far in front of us (we think the guy was ok since the cab was intact, but still pretty badly damaged). It was all just awful.
We debated whether or not to just stop at a hotel, but since I was the one driving, and I felt comfortable enough plugging along at 30mph, I said, "Listen, I really don't want to wake up to this stuff in the morning. Let's push through as long as I feel comfortable." Mom agreed, so we pushed through. It took hours, but we made it south of Birmingham, where the freezing rain finally stopped between there and Montgomery. We stopped just east of Montgomery at a Motel 6 (which was sparse but otherwise surprisingly clean and nice - with hardwood floors - ok probably laminate but still, attractive).
We went to bed somewhere around 10pm, and I didn't sleep well at all. At 5am I was woken up by my bed vibrating. No, really. Vibrating. A lot. I finally figured out that it was pressed up against the heating/ac unit, which had turned on. The room was a tight fit, what can I say? Anyway, after giggling for 10 minutes about a vibrating bed, I was just up. So I played Angry Birds on my iPod for a while, and then mom got up at 530am on her own. We ended up leaving the hotel around 6am (had to wake poor Meri up) and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. Then we were on the road by 7am.
Ok, now, all times mentioned prior to this were central time. After we left the hotel, I switched the clock to eastern time, just to orient us.
Here's Meri, entertaining herself:
We ate lunch in Valdosta at Subway, where I had a meatball sub, mom had a turkey sub, and Meri had tuna. LOL. I did not take photos, sorry.
Meri napped for the last hour and a half (thank heavens, because I got so tired of hearing, "Are we there yet?" every 5 minutes)
FINALLY we drove into the Disney bubble at 330pm. I checked in to our pirate room at CBR and of course it was ready. I had done online check-in with no requests, and it took me about 2 minutes to get checked in. It was easy peasy!
So we headed over to building 37 (sorry, not mentioning the room number while I'm in it, lol) and into the coolest room ever!
I can't believe it's over! Looking forward to the updates when you get a chance. I'm so glad you had a good trip. With all the pre-trip dramas it seemed at times it wouldn't even happen. for safe travels home!
The weather here, by the way, was gorgeous and around 83. It felt SO good when we opened the car door at CBR! *tear*
Anyway, so the room is so cool! Here's some photos of it:
After checking out the room thoroughly, we decided to go hit the pool to unwind a bit. Meri was in hog heaven!
Here's some photos from along the way:
A cool hidden Mickey
We thought this was a riot:
After we swam, we headed back to the room to get dressed for dinner. This was Meri's outfit...
We ate in the food court, which was surprisingly empty. Meri had a pail of chicken nuggets, I had a philly cheesesteak, and mom had salmon with beans and broccoli. Photos below:
Not a particularly appetizing photograph but... mom said she loved it!
This was a fork and knife sandwich...
Then we browsed the gift shop and watched some CM's do the electric slide and the macarena, before heading back to the room. We've been vegging here for the last hour or so, and now we're getting ready to put on Fringe. I'm debating walking out with Meri (who is still awake) to go see the fireworks from IllumiNations. If she's still up in 10 minutes, we'll go. Otherwise I'm just as happy to stay here. I'm really tired and I'd love a hot soak and a sleep.
Tomorrow we move to AKL, and then it's lunch at Sanaa followed by an afternoon in EPCOT with friends, and dinner at LeCellier!
If our room is ready early, I'll update from AKL. Otherwise, you'll hear from me some time tomorrow night, I'd guess!
G'nite you all! Thanks for coming along for the ride!!
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Wanted to add one more thing. We just watched the fireworks from the beach in front of our building. Meri and I snuggled in a hammock and watched the show. It was absolutely a perfect moment. A perfect way to end our first day of vacation! I'm so glad I didn't talk myself out of watching them.
To give you detail... if you are at the beach in front of Trinidad South, and you look to the right, the fireworks are in that direction. It's an absolutely perfect view.
We're watching Fringe now, and then it's sleepy time. I'm just beat!
What a great end to your first day in the bubble! I love Meri's pirate outfit! The room at CBR looks awesome and I love the pool there. Hope your check in goes well at AKL--its my favorite place to stay! Have a great day tomorrow!
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Melanie
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Great room and 
pics! 
PassPorter Guide Author
It sounds like you're having a great time now. 
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