The "We Just Can't Skip a Year" PTR/TR 8/9 - 8/15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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Cast of Characters: Me age 42, dd age 14
Resort: All Star Music
Base tickets with the QSDP
My dd & I went to WDW for my 40th birthday which happened to fall on Easter Sunday in April 2007 and had a blast. During that trip my dd asked if we could go back again the following June since she would be turning 13 and of course I said yes. We had such a fun time on both birthday trips that we started to make mental plans for going back in June 2011 when dd turns 16. We figured we would stay close to home in 2009 and 2010 to save money to do a big blowout trip in 2011 as we like to stay in Deluxe resorts for birthday trips (stayed at Beach Club for my 40th and split a stay between CSR and Poly for dd's 13th). Well I was getting sadder and sadder that the summer of 2009 would come and go and I would not be at WDW. Then one day my dd said "I just can't skip a year, can we go to WDW next summer if we do a cheap trip?". Well believe me you don't have to ask me twice and we instantly got on the computer to price out a trip to All Star Music. We have already stayed at Sports and Movies and loved them both so we knew a trip to Music would be just fine. I have no problem staying at a value resort if that is what it takes to get me to WDW. We took a look my dd's softball schedule and realized that if we headed down on 8/9 softball would be over and that was the first day of value season. Can't beat a value resort during value season. Once our dates were set I emailed our travel agent and she booked me a room only ressie and we waited to see if any deals were offered. As my luck would have it Disney extended the 4 + 3 offer and we booked a package using that deal with base tickets and trying the Quick Service Dining Plan for the first time. The base tickets are a first for us too. We have always had hoppers but we figured with the heat of August we would head to a park, leave mid day to have a nap/swim break then head back to the same park at night. We can add hopping if we want once we get down there but I figured I'd give the base tickets a try. Then the hardest two parts of the trip happened . . . saving the money to pay for the trip and waiting for the trip to actually happen. I also had to wait until the 90 day mark to make my 2 adr's that we were adding even though we had the counter service plan. We are not patient people but wait we did and now the trip is 2 days away.
Unfortunately last night I finally had to admit that I'm going to have to find a support group for a problem that I have. I'm an overpacker and I've passed that trait on to my teenage daughter. We packed last night and it wasn't pretty. Today she has the assignement to take two outfits out of the suitcase. We are hoping to get away with 1 big suitcase and 2 carryon wheeled suitcases. We are flying AirTran who charges $15 each way per suitcase so I'm determined to only check one suitcase. We are taking DME to and from the airport so they will handle the bag and dd & I will just deal with our carryon bags.
Last night before we started packing we got a phone call from our friends who live about 25 minutes from Disney and we made plans to see them when we are down there. Our friends have a 6 yr old dd who we can't wait to see again and spend some time at Disney with. Our friends teach and don't go back to school until after we go home but K works for Disney so I hope she doesn't have to work the entire time we are there and that we get to see her a bunch. We will definately be seeing S & A and will see all three of them on Sunday after we arrive.
Next up: Can we actually get to Florida with only one checked bag
I'm so glad you decided to start this Kris!! I hope you'll finish it unlike some people you know
My friend, haven't you learned anything from me?? Do you need to pack 10 pairs of shoes? Do you really need the full size shampoo/conditioner(yes, probably like me you do). You CAN do laundry while there you know! I honestly think you guys can get there with just carry ons!
I'm so happy for you!! I still wish I was going to be there next week with you like we had planned......but of course things change!!
I'm glad you're going to get together with your local friends!! You guys always have a great time together.
More please. If you need help with the photos, let me know and I'll take care of it for you!
Great start Kris. I'm also an overpacker, so I won't be able to help you out with that. Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Hope you have a great time.
Great start. Hope you make the one check bag thing.
I am trying that in Sept. I am also going to look at each of us doing one carryon first and see how that plays out. We will be in a villa so I will have access to washer/dryer and plan on doing laundry, so maybe carryons will work. My parents are driving down and she will bring all our toiletries.
Hope you have a magical trip.
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Great start! I have faith you can check one suitcase - if I can do it for 2 adult a 20 month you can surely do it for the 2 of you. Good Luck!
And have fun on your trip!
Great start ! Congrats on being able to go back without skipping a year. I too am a confirmed over-packer. I thought it was bad when we flew to WDW, but it was worse when we drove. I guess I thought I had all the space I needed and then some. I discovered how wrong I was the day we left . It won't be long now and soon you'll be there. I can't wait to hear all about your trip!
I hope that you and your dd have a magical time at the world
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Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
We fly out very very very early tomorrow morning so today's plan was to sleep in since we would still have plenty of time to get everything we needed to do done. Of course though since I could check in with the airlines at 7:00 am I woke up at 6:57 am and just had to get up and fire up the computer. Check in is done, boarding passes are printed and luggage is paid for. One suitcase. My dd and I went thru yesterday and each removed 2 outfits then we rolled a bunch of the clothes that are in the checked suitcase and was even able to zip the section closed that I had opened the other night. You know the section, the one that gives you like two extra inches of room in your suitcase. Yes I even had that part unzipped and still couldn't make it work. But now I'm back to my budgeted checked luggage fee of $30 roundtrip and I'm very happy. Plus some of the items in my suitcase won't be coming home so there will be room for souvineers.
I cleaned my house last night and it's looking good. I have to come home from vacation to a clean house. Now all we really need to do today is a mani/pedi and we are pretty much ready. When I booked this trip I booked it for Sunday August 9th because that is the first day of value season and I thought it would be nice to have Saturday to pack and clean and get ready but now that it's Saturday morning and I'm already done packing and cleaning I wish I was flying down today instead of tomorrow. I'm sure I'm going to wish we were flying home on Sunday too instead of late Saturday night when I get home and I have an entire day before I go back to work. The practical side of me told me I would need that day as down time plus you never know if something will delay your trip home. So now I sit here in my quiet house (dd is still asleep) and count down the hours and minutes until I'm in WDW. Time is dangerous too as I don't want to overthink things - like the packing. I should have set up a support person, someone to call if I feel the need to put more stuff in my suitcase.
Next up: Will everything go smoothly at Philadelphia International Airport
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
My friend, haven't you learned anything from me?? Do you need to pack 10 pairs of shoes? Do you really need the full size shampoo/conditioner(yes, probably like me you do). You CAN do laundry while there you know! 
![[SIGPIC]](signaturepics/sigpic27594_7.gif)
Liz 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
! Congrats on being able to go back without skipping a year. I too am a confirmed over-packer. I thought it was bad when we flew to WDW, but it was worse when we drove. I guess I thought I had all the space I needed and then some. I discovered how wrong I was the day we left 
. It won't be long now and soon you'll be there. I can't wait to hear all about your trip!
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