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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Okay, for the first time in a long time, I'm going to do this in the correct order: Introductions followed by the PTR versus the start of the PTR with the introductions somewhere in the middle
Cast of Characters:
Darlene (me): 40 something YO who grew up loving Disney. My first trip was at age 4 to Disneyland but it was for a few hours and I don't remember it at all so we can't really count it. The next few trips to Disney World - starting in 1980 when there was only the MK - aren't really remembered any better but it did start my love of the parks. This will be my 18th trip to Disney and my 10th with Lenny and Abby.
Lenny (DH): 50 something YO who visited Disney World for the first time as a 40 something YO adult. He was very anti-Disney before that trip. He didn't believe anything I told him about the parks - how immersive they are, how he can ride pretty much everything with our daughter (something he couldn't do at other parks) - and he didn't want to go as he felt he'd be on the sidelines watching things happen instead of being able to ride and take part. He went and by the end of the trip, I heard from him, not our at the time 6 YO child, "when can we come back?" While Lenny admits that it is an expensive trip, he does feel overall that we get our monies worth so this will be his 10th trip to Disney.
Abby (DD) - 18 YO Autistic recent High School graduate. This is also Abby's 10th trip to Disney World. My father always wanted to take Abby to Disney World but unfortunately he passed away before he was able to but it was something I always wanted to do too. I was able to go as a child so Abby should be able to as well With her being Autistic, I really wasn't sure how a trip would work but I did what I've come to do well over the years - I researched, did my homework and made lots of plans. The first trip was not without it's ups and downs but over the years, the trips have gotten better and better (and planned and replanned :wink and Abby has grown so much. We've gone from that first trip where Abby thought there was only one park and thinking when we left it the fun was over to going to every single park, some years park hopping, and having fun all week long, even when not in an actual park. She's riding rides by herself, talking with CM to trade for pins on her own, she's giving input on what she wants or does not want to do. She still struggles with parade and after fireworks crowds but overall, she has just grown so much and almost acts like a completely different kid. Is it any wonder why I want to keep going back?
Where:
All Star Music resort - our home away from home
When:
August 5th to August 18th
Why:
Do we really need a reason? Since we are going though we'll celebrate Lenny's birthday (August 17th so it happens while we are there) and Abby finishing High School.
How:
By airplane :-p - and lots and lots of hard work and saving. We'll take Southwest early in the morning and then use a rental car to get around the property once there.
I started writing this PTR somewhere near the beginning of 2017 believe it or not. However, what I ultimately ended up writing turned into almost 20 pages and we were still a few months away from our trip. As much as I hate chopping up my PTR, I did it anyway. The "original" one - along with the second and third drafts - I wrote can stay in my computer if I ever want to go back and reread them. This is the "new, revised" version much more suitable for posting. In it, I still have the "key" points I had in the other, I just took out a lot of the details I'm known for. And like I said, at almost 20 pages, that's lots and lots of details. I'm also going to do this PTR slightly differently than in the past. A lot of the information will be in a timeline/bullet form. Then everything I did, starting in mid to late June 2018 will be in a regular paragraphs filled with details format. So here we go.
2016
August - Lenny booked a room for August of 2017 that would eventually get canceled.
November - My job at school became unbearable and I started looking for a new job
2017
February - Lenny got promoted to full time status at Home Depot. He was now offered health insurance and he became the insurance carrier for the family.
March - I was finally offered a new job, one I was hoping to get, and quit school
April 3rd - I started my new job
May - Pandora opened but it didn't interest us. Especially when I found out the Flight of Passage ride vehicle isn't disabled friendly
June 2017
Lenny had another Cardiac Catheter done. He had two more stents put in and was put on a new medicine. He ended up suffering from a lot of the side effects of it.
Our Dodge van died and was non repairable. We replaced it with a Ford Transit Connect XLT wagon van
I booked a room for August of 2018 and canceled our 2017 reservation
July 2017
Lenny cut his thumb with the table saw and ended up at the ER
The doctor finally listened to Lenny and took him off the new drug and put him back on Plavix. Within days he started to feel better.
September to November 2017
Lenny fell in the backyard and broke his femur on September 5th. 7 weeks away from home would follow this as well as countless trips for me back and fourth to the hospital and rehab facility as well as countless hours on the phone with the insurance companies and Home Depot
During these months, Abby really stepped up to the plate and helped with a lot of things including getting ready for my Aunts visit when we celebrate both Christmas and Thanksgiving on the same day. Abby made lists, checked them twice, wrapped gifts, made gift suggestions and kept everything so neat and organized that I barely had to do anything. It was such a huge help to me that she took responsibility and worked so hard on everything. I was otherwise "occupied" during this time still running back and fourth to the rehab place, spending hours on the phone for various things and still working both jobs
After spending 7 weeks between the hospital and a rehab facility, Lenny finally came home on October 24th. Soon after, he started outpatient Physical Therapy
I can't believe these plans go back this far, but considering what your family has been through the last couple of years makes sense as you had to postpone the trip on at least one occasion. Plans are looking good and a long WDW is something all of you need!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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I can't believe these plans go back this far, but considering what your family has been through the last couple of years makes sense as you had to postpone the trip on at least one occasion. Plans are looking good and a long WDW is something all of you need!
Thanks. That's the way we feel too - we need this trip. I kind of couldn't believe myself it's been in the works so long but yeah, we've been working towards it since we got home in 2016
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovewdw2
I am so EXCITED that you are posting your PTR!
Thanks Kate. I know it took me long enough but considering how many times I had to edit it before I was happy, I'm surprised I finally go there this "early"
Quote:
Originally Posted by gremlinkid73
Great start. Looking forward to more.
Thanks. I'll post more in the next couple of days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by purplegal
You guys really deserve a nice vacation, its been a rough few years for you.
Thanks, it has been but that's life - things happen. It's all in how you deal with it and I've dealt with stuff and now we're getting ready to go to Disney.
Great start! Wow, I can't believe your plans went way back to 2016. After what you've all went through this year with Lenny falling, I would say you deserve this trip now more than ever.
Great start! How wonderful that you have 13 days in Disney! And you have so many things to celebrate...in addition to Lenny’s birthday and Abby’s graduation you have your new job and Lenny recovering and getting back to work!
I am so glad that you were able to make this trip work after all that you have encountered over the last couple of years. Looking forward to reading your plans and adventures.
__________________
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
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I was wondering when you would start this PTR. Great start and neat new format.
I was wondering when I was going to post it too Cam Thanks - and I'm glad you like it. I was originally going to do my "traditional" paragraph format and it just came down to there was stuff I wanted to include but to do my paragraph format, it either would have been 50 printed pages (probably) for the PTR or it would have been really awkward (I think) to edit everything down to just a sentence or two. Quick "blips" just seem to be better with bullet points or indents or just something different than a paragraph.
Quote:
Originally Posted by patclairesmom
Great start! Wow, I can't believe your plans went way back to 2016. After what you've all went through this year with Lenny falling, I would say you deserve this trip now more than ever.
Thanks - and yes. The plans started when we got back from Disney in 2016, then just a whole bunch of life happened. I think we deserve it too but not everyone does (but we won't get into that).
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Great start! How wonderful that you have 13 days in Disney! And you have so many things to celebrate...in addition to Lenny’s birthday and Abby’s graduation you have your new job and Lenny recovering and getting back to work!
Thanks Donna. You're right - we do have a lot to celebrate. Originally this was going to be about his birthday and her graduation and truthfully I never even thought to include my job and his return to work in all my edits. Abby has said she wants to get "I'm Celebrating" pins too for all of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manticorjenn
I am so glad that you were able to make this trip work after all that you have encountered over the last couple of years. Looking forward to reading your plans and adventures.
Thanks Jenn. We're happy we've been able to make it work too and as each day goes by, we're all starting to get more and more excited for it.
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
Thanks - and I'm glad you like it. I was originally going to do my "traditional" paragraph format and it just came down to there was stuff I wanted to include but to do my paragraph format, it either would have been 50 printed pages (probably) for the PTR or it would have been really awkward (I think) to edit everything down to just a sentence or two. Quick "blips" just seem to be better with bullet points or indents or just something different than a paragraph.
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