Forums Closed
|
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
|
|
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.
|
 |
|
10-27-2005, 05:56 PM
|
#1
|
Community Rank: Trailblazer 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 5,325
|
OUR not so scary annual fall vacation...10/15-10/23 COMPLETED REPORT Day 10!!!!
The Players:
Scott-DH, a Disney Veteran
Logan- DS, 7, a Disney youngster and lover
Me-Angela, A Disney Veteran and fanatic
When and Where:
October 15-23, 2005
Pop Century: 50’s building, room 2330
Starting Point: Chattanooga, TN Ending Point: House of the Mouse
Day One on the Road to see the Mouse: Oct 14 [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
We booked our annual trip in March 2006. We couldn’t decide where to stay and thought our son would enjoy the Pop. We made our reservations and a couple of months later added the Dining Plan. Little did we know that the Dining Plan would end up being the best decision of the entire trip. We counted down until we were able to make our dining reservations in July. Luckily, they had just changed the policy so that we could make all of our reservations at once. For me, the countdown really begins when those reservations are made!! I was on the internet daily looking for tips and trying to find new things to do this year. This is when we found out about the passporter and went to our local bookstore and bought one. I then started checking out the message board and found other people who share my obsession. I thought I was the only one addicted to all things Disney.
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]Our morning on the 14th started early. We packed our car by 7:15 a.m. Then my husband and I took Logan to school and worked in a Spirit Day event (bake sale) my son’s class was sponsoring. Then after it was over, as homeroom mom I had to coordinate a Fall Fun Day event for his class. We got out of there about 2:15 but oops we forgot to get my prescription filled and had to hit the drug store before we left. Then ended up having to make a quick trip home. We then stopped to get a bite to eat on the way. So really we left more like 3:30. Logan had his DVD player and took Disney movies to watch on the way. We drove to Valdosta, GA and stopped to spend the night at the Quality Inn about 9:30. We had gotten into some construction traffic and stopped at Applebee’s to eat so we didn’t make great time going down.
By the time we got checked in, we were all exhausted. I kept saying to Logan…tomorrow we see the Mouse…..tommorrow we see the Mouse…..
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img]
UP NEXT: HELLO Pop and Magic Kingdom
|
|
|
|
10-27-2005, 06:01 PM
|
#2
|
|
Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Great start!! Can't wait to read all about getting to the Mouse!!
|
|
|
|
|
10-27-2005, 06:49 PM
|
#3
|
Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Foothills of Maine
Posts: 784
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
OFf to a great start...can't wait to hear more... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zputer.gif[/img]
|
|
|
|
|
10-27-2005, 08:43 PM
|
#4
|
Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Northwest Florida Panhandle/Lower Alabama
Posts: 568
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Great start... more more more...
|
|
|
|
|
10-27-2005, 10:17 PM
|
#5
|
Community Rank: Explorer 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,386
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Wonderful start! I'm looking forward to reading more.
Joy
|
|
|
|
|
10-27-2005, 10:27 PM
|
#6
|
Community Rank: Scout 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Methuen,MA
Posts: 4,499
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
keep it coming!
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 06:16 AM
|
#7
|
|
RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Great start [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Hurry back!!
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 09:51 AM
|
#8
|
Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Manchester NH
Concierge Level: 4
Posts: 12,514
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
looking forward to reading more!
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 10:27 AM
|
#9
|
Community Rank: Adventurer
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 505
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
I can't wait to hear more! We live in Chattanooga, too. I am very interested to hear about your dining plan experience, we are trying to decide if we should do it for our December trip. Thanks. Karla
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 10:53 AM
|
#10
|
|
Eileeeeeeen!™
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 28,861
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Great start - can't wait to read more...
Eileen
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 11:46 AM
|
#11
|
Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New York
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 7,960
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Great start! Hurry back with more, please!
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 12:18 PM
|
#12
|
Community Rank: Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: the Burbs outside of Philadelphia
Concierge Level: 1
Posts: 12,093
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Can't wait to read more. That is about when we were down last year and I so miss it (although I was down in July but it's never enough - oh I'm sorry do I sound obsessed)
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 04:07 PM
|
#13
|
Community Rank: Trekker 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,831
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23
Looking forward to hearing all about it!
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 07:29 PM
|
#14
|
Community Rank: Trailblazer
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 5,325
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23 Updated!!!
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Day Two: Hello Pop and the Magic Kingdom!!!
We got up around 6:30 to get ready to leave. It is a pretty short drive from Valdosta, only about 3 hours to Orlando from there. We got ready, packed up our things and went to the breakfast at the hotel. We then went across the street to WalMart. We had packed a cooler and we got snacks there and some ice. Then it was on the road to Disney. We got to the Pop about 11:30. It was funny to see it as we drove in under the Disneyworld sign. We are all so excited to be there. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
I was very impressed with the lobby area at the Pop. The gift shop and food court area was very nice also. We only stood in line to check in a couple of minutes. The lady who checked us in was very nice and let us choose between the 50’s and 70’s building. Based on everything I had read I chose the 50’s. We were off to our room. I was surprised at what felt like a very short walk to the 50’s compared to hikes I had taken at the moderate resorts. My son was really glad to be staying so close to the bowling pin pool. That is the pool he was waiting to swim in. The laundry facilities are right by the pool there so you can’t get much more convenient. We went up to our room which was really close to the elevator. Not a great view though, we were overlooking a bunch of trees. The room was a little on the small size but roomy enough for the three of us. It was very nice and clean. We got settled and went up to the Pop Food Court to grab a counter service lunch. It was our first experience with the Dining Plan but we went by the guidelines and had no problems. Sonia at the check out register was wonderful in explaining everything to us.
After lunch we grabbed a bus to the Magic Kingdom. After a quick 13 minute bus ride (my DH timed it!) we were there. After months of planning, it was off to see the MOUSE!!! When we went in the gates my DH went over and bought our MNSSHP tickets for Thursday night. The 3:00 Share a Dream parade was going on so we caught what we could see of it knowing we would be seeing it on Monday when we went back to MK. After the parade, we proceeded to Tomorrowland after of course seeing the Castle!! I loved the way it was decorated up for the Celebration! Our first ride was Stitch. Ok, my son is going through a “scared of the dark” phase and when the lights went out during the ride he freaked out crying and grabbing me. He begged me to get him out of there. Now when you are basically strapped down in a seat, that is a little hard to do. When it was over my nerves were about shot. Not a good start folks!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
After the freaked out event we went over to the Carousel of Progress. My son loved it and we all settled down. Then we went to the TTC and rode it. My husband and son then rode the cars at the speedway. I positioned myself for a great photo op with our new digital camera we bought for the trip. Note to self….next time try it out before you use something new. I basically got a shot of the back of my husband’s head as they went by. We then went over and rode the new and improved “It’s a small world”. The colors are so much brighter in there now and it was great. It was getting time for Dinner so we headed over to Cinderella’s Royal Table for dinner at 5:45. We had a great meal and again the Dining Plan was easy to follow. We spent $128.00 there in one meal. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
After dinner we went over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean which is one of our favorite rides. Yo Ho, Yo Ho the Pirates Life for Me! You can’t seem it get it out of your head!
Then we looked around in some of the gift shops and went over to snatch a spot for Spectromagic and the Wishes Fireworks. Spectromagic was of course a beautiful show. I love Chip and Dale playing the piano! They are so cute! Then we moved across the street for the Wishes Fireworks. I held Logan in my lap. As the song played and said all my wishes will come true…. I realized my months of dreaming and planning had caused my wishes to come true. It is truly magical to hold your child and watch their face as the sky lights up!!!
UP NEXT: Day Three, Future World and the Digital Camera nightmare begins!!
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]
|
|
|
|
|
10-28-2005, 07:38 PM
|
#15
|
|
Living Seas wannabe
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
|
Re: OUR not so scary annual fall vacation.......10/15-10/23 Updated!!!
Great update - although the "digital camera nightmare" does not sound too good.
|
|
|
|
| Thread Tools |
|
|
| Display Modes |
 Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
