The Geek, the normalo, the princess and the pirate (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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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The Geek, the normalo, the princess and the pirate (PTR) ;)
We are planing our trip for March!!! Im soooo excited!!!
Before I start I would like to mention that Im originally from germany and even though I spent a long time in america I still sometimes translate german sayings word by word into english. Usually makes for a good laugh! I just wanted to make sure you wont be confused
Well last october things changed in our home and my stepdaughters (3 and 6) moved in. Its been rough, its been stessful, its been fun, its been AWESOME!
Now we are planing our first vacation as a new family! and we are just sooo excited!
I started a blog for our family and friends and thought Ill share it with you too since I read a bunch of reports and just looooooved them!
so here we go:
My first Disney Trip
So I (Andrea) went on my first Disney Trip in the Summer of 2005. At that time I was an exchange student and nanny. We went with a 10 year old Girl and a bunch of boys (16, 15, 13, 6). We stayed at the Pop Century Resort.
My hostfamily used to live around the corner from Disney and went every single weekend!!!
Therefore they knew everything and the mom would run in the front while I was in the back making sure noone dared to glance at something twice. For the 6 year old goofy fan it was the first trip and we sure had a hard time keeping up with the group.
We got to go on a lot of ride but didnt see much. We ate one meal at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends. And we ate one breakfast at Chef Mickeys which was my favorite memory because the 6 year old got to meet Goofy who took at least 30 minutes to hang with him (it was early and the restaurant was nearly empty).
We had a good time but due to the stress I didnt enjoy it as much as I wish I would have.
Our honeymoon!!
We did not really have the time or money to go on a honeymoon after we got married on August 15th of 2009 (in the mountains of NC in front of a beautyful waterfall). Not too long after our wedding my husband also deployed.
I had too much time on my hands and saw an add for a military disney trip. 99 bucks for a 4 day ticket!?!
So I annoyed my husband who didnt believe in the magic at Disney World for a while and he gave in. A while after he came back we moved a friend into our house so the pets wouldnt be alone and went on our journey. 11 hour train ride to Florida! oh yes haha ... It went by somehow and we checked into our hotel in kissimmee and ate at IHOP. The next day our trip began!
We had a busdriver (free service from hotel) named Giovanni and he added a lot to the trip. He spoke with a thick italian accent and was always singing or making jokes. He would drop us off at a different park everyday and would say his trademark sentence "I will pick you up at the magic kingdom/transportation center/etc! So dont come here! Because I WONT be here!" We heard that about 20 times a day.
Also we weren at Disney, we were at Dis-E-ney.
The first thing we did was going to the Magic Kingdom! we saw the opening ceremony and everything!
We walked through the gate and just looking at Main Street USA is so special that the man next to me turned 5 again for the day
Bob on Main Street USA
The first ride we took was a classic! "its a small world" ... I think Bob still hates me for suggesting it and I might have to ride that one alone with the girls haha
Well and then Bob was able to do one of the things on this bucket list! Ride the Haunted Mansion Ride!
And yes it is now his favorite!!!
Im sure we did more that day but my memory just doesnt seem to work right now :/ thats why I plan on writing the next trip down day by day! Im pretty sure we also went to Epcot though!
But I do know that we went to the Animal Kingdom the next morning!
First we went on the safari and then we rode Kali River Rapids which is one of my 2 favorites!!! (next to Test Track).
We got in line for expedition everest but when we were almost there the ride broke. People were stuck and had to climb down .. I wore flip flops that day because I hurt my foot the day before and Im scared of heights! man was I happy that I wasnt stuck up there!
The first cart is already empty...
We went to Rafikis Island and walked around a bit and then went to my favorite park!!! TYPHOON LAGOON!!!
We went and swam with sharks, went on the waterrollercoaster (it pushes you UP! it isnt a slide!) and everything
And later we went to Magic Kingdom again to see the Electric Parade!
The next day we started with the Typhoon Lagoon and later went to Hollywood Studios (which I will forever call MGM).
Us at MGM
We did not spend enough time in Hollywood so we will make sure to spend a lot more time there next time!!!
The rest of the day we spent at Magic Kingdom and also the rest of the next day (we left at noonish to go back home)
Entry from Feb 2nd:
its booked!!!
So today I reserved the vacation!
After ending up with 3,000 Bucks less in our tax return I searched the web until I found "small world vacations" (as much as Bob hates "its a small world" he loves those guys Im sure ). They were able to book our vacation "kids stay and play free"! wooohooo! All we paid for them was park hopper and waterpark tickets and of course the dining plan Its still extremly expensive up at least we can afford it now!
2 days later we paid everything off and a few days later we booked the flight
we will be staying at the Pop Century Resort for 6 nights, 7 days with dining plan (1 sit down, fast service and snack a day) and of course park hopper and water parks option!!!
planing the fun
Now that the vacation was reserved I planned everything out! Who wants to see a little girls face if a Cast Member says "oh sorry the restaurant is booked"?
So I maxed out our sit down meals on the dinging plan and reserved everything!
Here is a list:
T-Rex is not on the Dining Plan but its a MUST GO! Dinos for Grace and yummy yummy food for the rest of us!
Also we have all the quick service meals left which will feed us good AND all the snacks (Turky legs, Ice crea, drinks...). On the 1st we will probably go to a restaurant in Hollywood Studios that my husband wants to go to.
A real princess has its style
.. has its style!
So we had to stock up on cool clothing
Thanks to Mema and Pepa we already have a bunch of shirts with Mickey, Tink and the Princesses. The Girls already packed them away onto the "Disney Pile" haha
On a trip to Wal-Mart I saw this Princess Dress though and we brought the girls back to choose one (they had Dresses, Shirts, Pants, etc with different Disney Characters). Well both girls choose the same dress! The one I liked too! haha
Then we found out how expensive it is to get the make over at disney world (250 bucks per child!) and made a compromise! we got dresses online for a lot less! and they will get the 50 bucks each make over (hair and make up!).
Well our little Cinderella fan Grace isnt that faithful if you show her pretty dresses and picked a Sleeping Beauty dress! (I must say that dress DOES look amazing!!)
our rough-and-tumble-princess Chloe choose a Piratedress
Grace still has her Ariel outfit from Halloween and she wants to wear at at the parks too!
Grace in her Arieloutfit is on the left. Chloe ripped her fairydress already
Since Chloe doenst have her Halloweenoutfit anymore we got her a snow white dress! ... Gotta love the look on the models face!
And they dont know it yet! but we got them shirts too!
Grace got a shirt of her favorite football player Tim Tebow!
And Chloe will get a Handy Manny Shirt with her name on it!!
now with the clothes they already have this should be perfect!!
Also we want to make our own shirts for the first day with some german words on it
Lets get them tatoos!
A while ago we all went out for a friendly game at the arcades and some pizza at godfahters. Well at the exit they had this machine with Disney Tattoos!
We got them some until the machine ran out today we will try again and hope for a bigger collection!
Im sorry that this was sooo much at a time! I will from now on post shorter posts! promise!!
oh and just to make sure! most of your know DWD! but I wrote this for our friends and family and only my in laws ever made it there! (and in the 80s...)
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I just booked the seas aqua tour as a birthdaypresent for my husband! (Bday: March 1st) Im soooo excited! He is such a water and ocean creature fan!!
Im not sure how to present it to him though as disney wont send us anything (they could at least print a card or something ...)
any suggestions????
(the seas aqua tour means that he will get to swim in that huge aquarium in Epcot! he isnt certified so he cant dive but he can swim and snorkel with animals I DONT want to meet!!! haha)
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today we will try again and hope for a bigger collection!
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Pixie Dust
I see you're from Wyoming. Me too.....Cody. Your plans look great; I can't wait to read more.
PassPorter Guide Author
What a wonderful back story! 
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