The Sunshine Family (and Little Dude) Does Disney Again! - PTR - Sept 2011 UPDATED 7/25 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Just joining in - great PTR so far. I'm curious are you able to bring Little Dude into restaurants and stay at the hotel but just not AK?
You might be able to contact Best Friends and tell them you are across the street, maybe they have a shuttle van that could pick you up.
Just joining in - great PTR so far. I'm curious are you able to bring Little Dude into restaurants and stay at the hotel but just not AK?
You might be able to contact Best Friends and tell them you are across the street, maybe they have a shuttle van that could pick you up.
We can bring Little Dude to AK if we want to. The problem is that because of the animals there, there are certain diseases that he would be vulnerable to and a few areas of the park that are off limits. Combined with us wanting to do the roller coaster means it would be easier to board the dog.
We were debating about Jellyrolls last time because we were right there at the Boardwalk, but I've heard that it's so crowded. And since crowds are an issue, it's something that I try to avoid. Especially at the end of a long day, defenses are down, everyone is tired, and it's easy to get triggered. Then again, with the longer trip, maybe we won't b so tired each night because we won't be trying to squeeze in so much Thanks for the info
Now, why didn't I think of that??
Of course! Instead of renting an ECV for the whole trip, use a wheelchair, take a cab that morning (leave the wheelchair behind), drop off the dog, take the cab to AK, and then rent a ECV for the day at AK. At the end of the day, take a cab back to the kennel, and then to the hotel. Wow, that would really work and make several items so much easier. We really only need the ECV for AK because the park is so huge, we can do a wheelchair everywhere else.
What a good brain you have!!
Glad to be of help! The Best Friends staff is absolutely wonderful!!
If you do decide on Jellyrolls, try a weeknight - we went on a Tuesday one day and sat right down at a table. We got there late too (around 11pm) since our afternoon nap at the Boardwalk turned into a 3 hour sleepfest!!
Hey Pam, Stitch made one last time. I'm not sure what she's doing for this trip, must add that to the to-do list. Either she needs to add more pages, or needs to make a whole new one I'd love to do one of those spiral ones that Lisa had for her trip with the three Lisas! But I don't have that kind of equipment. Thanks for the reminder though, I'll add it to my list to ask her.
We always run into the problem of DD not having enough pages in her autograph book. This time, I found a 6x6 spiral sketchbook with a plain black cover at Hobby Lobby. I used some of the scrapbooking stickers I have for making autograph books for clients and I decorated her book and then used a gold paint pen to write her name and the year on it. I think I spent about $10 total for the book and the stickers. But it has like 80 individual sheets, so LOTS of room for autographs.
I did something similar to that, only I made the entire thing on my own. I downloaded and printed out several small disney coloring book pages onto several sheets of card stock, cut the pages down, punched a few holes in the sheets and used a few ring clips from staples to hold the pages together. (As seen below)
I used clear packing tape on the cover to make it more water resistant
Here are a few of the pictures we colored
and a sample signature!
This time around, I may take this idea one step further and instead of using plain paper use post cards.
I brought a big birthday card one year and had everyone sign it. It was just a simple card that said Happy Birthday inside so it left lots of room for signatures. I even had CMs from World Showcase sign in native languages. I cherish that card!!
When you called about sending LittleDude to CAMP for the day did you ask if they might have a pickup service ? What about asking the resort if they can help ? You never know unless you try
I brought a big birthday card one year and had everyone sign it. It was just a simple card that said Happy Birthday inside so it left lots of room for signatures. I even had CMs from World Showcase sign in native languages. I cherish that card!!
Now that is a beyond cool idea!!!!! I think we'll be doing that, and then saving the cards to mail later in the year!! Sweet!
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When you called about sending LittleDude to CAMP for the day did you ask if they might have a pickup service ? What about asking the resort if they can help ? You never know unless you try
We have been, not a question on that To the point where on my list for to-do tomorrow is to call the hotel directly and see if they can even drive us over in a golf cart or something! LOL
But the cab idea might really work out well, though. If we use a wheelchair for the trip, take the cab (leaving the wheelchair behind) to drop off Little Dude, then the cab to AK, we can rent a ECV - which is really where we need the ECV. Then cab it back to Little Dude, then to the hotel and the wheelchair. While the cab would cost money, it would be cheaper than a 9 day ECV rental I'd think....
and since this is my trip report, I am going to derail it here to just rant about work for a minute because I am STRESSING OUT TO THE FREAKING MAX!!!
Ok, so I have less than 8 hours now to test with a user on a server that I have been waiting *weeks* for. I was supposed to have this server signed, sealed and delivered yesterday AM, it was turned over to me in an email. Except the guy forgot to turn on the services, so I couldn't access it. Come in this morning, the server is up, but now none of the passwords work, there are no shared drives and my user is coming in in one hour to test. And this is my only day to test with him as he is going on vacation for two week. And if we don't test today, I have no idea how we are going to make our go live of July 30.
Yep...work is definately a BIG STRESSER!!! I would be much happier if I didn't have to work. Which means I need to really get a jump on finding that Sugar Daddy or winning the lottery (which I never play!). SIGH.
Yep...work is definately a BIG STRESSER!!! I would be much happier if I didn't have to work. Which means I need to really get a jump on finding that Sugar Daddy or winning the lottery (which I never play!). SIGH.
Ha! I hear you - I've been all over the boards for the last hour because I have nothing to do while I wait for everyone else to do their damn job. Nothing is working, my user is in (oh did I mention that the man is working nights right now, so he was here until 2am, came in at 11am for testing, and is supposed to stay until 2am again tonight?) and I can't get anything to work as it should. The person who is an expert on these items is on vacation and I'm finding out that there is NO documentation on his pieces. WTF!?!?!?!??!!?!!??!
Yeah, I'm having a complete and total meltdown here, and about ready to start crying. Bonus, I have my period and it's so not helping.
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Nothing is working, my user is in (oh did I mention that the man is working nights right now, so he was here until 2am, came in at 11am for testing, and is supposed to stay until 2am again tonight?) and I can't get anything to work as it should. The person who is an expert on these items is on vacation and I'm finding out that there is NO documentation on his pieces. WTF!?!?!?!??!!?!!??!
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