A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise! TR August 21-31 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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!
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.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Great start! Good job on keeping the trip a secret! I kept mine a secret for a couple of months. When I finally told them, their reactions weren't what I dreamed of. Hope you get the reactions you're wanting! Congrats on the WL, that's quite an upgrade!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
All caught up!! Wow!! You certainly have a lot going on right now, and keeping a secret on top of it all! One day I'd love to surprise the boys as well. Because they too seem to expect Disney...of course so do I though We did manage to surprise them sort of, on our 2008 trip, my mother, and MIL and FIL and nephew came for the second half of the trip and my boys freaked out!!!
Yay for WL!! I would love to stay there one day but Craig has no desire. I can't drag that man out of the BC. (Not that the BC is such a terrible place to stay ).
Thanks everyone! I am really excited to be staying there, although truthfully, I'm not overly particular about where we stay as long as I'm at Disney
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneymom57
The Wilderness Lodge is fabulous! You might be tempted to hang out in the lodge and not get to the parks. Explore, it's a great resort.
Thanks for the advice! I've been checking out online schedules where they list activities going on around the lodge. We have one day where we are just staying there and I can't wait for the kids to do some crafts and have fun by the pool!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwonderz
Just got caught up! Congrats on WL - it's an awesome resort!!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjiboo25
Great start...your trip starts shortly after ours ends.
So sad we are missing each other by just a short time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Happy Canada Day! Congrats on booking WL! I WL!
Thanks Cam!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great start! Good job on keeping the trip a secret! I kept mine a secret for a couple of months. When I finally told them, their reactions weren't what I dreamed of. Hope you get the reactions you're wanting! Congrats on the WL, that's quite an upgrade!
I am nervous about their reactions, but I am realllllllllyyyyyy hoping they are as excited as I think they will be. Everyone who knows them keeps laughing, saying they'd pay to see their reactions because everyone's expecting them to lose their minds. We'll see though, fingers crossed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
All caught up!! Wow!! You certainly have a lot going on right now, and keeping a secret on top of it all! One day I'd love to surprise the boys as well. Because they too seem to expect Disney...of course so do I though We did manage to surprise them sort of, on our 2008 trip, my mother, and MIL and FIL and nephew came for the second half of the trip and my boys freaked out!!!
Yay for WL!! I would love to stay there one day but Craig has no desire. I can't drag that man out of the BC. (Not that the BC is such a terrible place to stay ).
Having family show up unexpectedly is a great surprise too! I'd love to stay at BC one day - I don't blame Craig for not wanting to try somewhere else!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
I've been busy, busy, busy this week - my classroom is all organized and clean , and all my bulletin board paper is up, so that makes me very happy!
We've been trying to keep cool like the rest of North America right now - it's been downright disgusting! The poor guys doing the roof on our new house - it was a balmy 101 without the humidex for them the day they did it - yuck! The kids have been splashing around in their teeny pool, but it does the trick. I duck in, then sit in the shade.
No major plans this weekend, so I'll start outlining our days in my next update. That will actually help me wrap my head around the trip; with so much going on, and the fact that we aren't telling the kids, I've focused very little on our plans....need to fix that ASAP!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
I feel for all you guys right now with those temperatures.
It's really been crazy temps everywhere! It's finally breaking here tonight - right now it's 73 degrees and gorgeous! The last few nights it hasn't gone below 80. My poor son played soccer today - it was 95 at 11am They had lots of breaks and shade, but it was still awful!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Stay cool!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Stay cool!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwonderz
Keep cool!
Thanks ladies! You do the same!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Before I begin, the secret plan was almost ruined tonight! Arrrggghh! My husband's uncle, dear sweet man that he is, keeps asking us about Disney in front of the kids. We've told him it's under wraps, but he forgets. Every time. So we've played dumb and the kids haven't caught on yet - Sabrina did ask what he was talking about tonight though, but I *think* I distracted her from the topic.....Phew!
Anyhoo, onto our plans for the first day.
August 21
I mentioned before that my grand idea is to have the kids 'camp out' in the living room the night before we leave. They love doing this, spreading out piles of blankets to make the floor more comfy and curling up in their sleeping bags to watch a movie, then off to la-la land they go.
We will be up bright and awful early - 5:00 a.m. - to wake them to get ready. Initially I was thinking we should start getting ready first, then get them up, but I think they will hear us and wake up and that would be no fun at all. So, we'll get up, grab the video camera and the camera and go tell the sleepyheads. After a much hoped for reaction, we'll all get ready to go.
I will have all the luggage packed in advance and pull it out the night before. The only thing the kids will have to grab in the morning are there 'lovies' that they want to bring. They sleep with those, so I can't pack those without them noticing I can pack the DSs and other busy toys the night before, so that will be done too.
We're not sure how we are getting to the airport yet - either my dad will drive or we will drive ourselves and suck it up and pay for parking. We always leave about 3 hours before our flight in case we encounter waits at the border or we get pulled in for a random check - that's happened before and it's always fun when they rummage through my nicely packed luggage. It's no big deal though, I'd rather feel secure crossing! When we get to the airport, we'll check the bags and head to wait.....
Fast forward to the afternoon, we will head to Magic Kingdom; this seems to always be our first park. I need to see that castle!! After a few hours of exploring - and hitting Country Bear Jamboree since it will closed for refurb starting the 22! - we will be going to Chef Mickey's for dinner. Here the kids will get another surprise, as my BF will be there with her kids for dinner. After dinner, it is off to bed for us - the first day is always a long one and we have a date with some princesses for breakfast tomorrow!
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I hope you get a break from the heat! I think we're finally getting one once the rain comes tonight. I believe we've had the most days over 100 ever on record this summer - or we're at least close.
I hope the secret remains intact and I love the reveal idea.
First day sounds great, especially with the extra surprise of their friends being there.
Love your choice of a resort, we have not made it there yet but it is definitely on the list. Day one plans sound great. Congratulations on getting the classroom all together, I am sure it looks wonderful.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Congrats on booking WL! 
I 
WL!
We did manage to surprise them sort of, on our 2008 trip, my mother, and MIL and FIL and nephew came for the second half of the trip and my boys freaked out!!! 
).
Congrats on WL!
PassPorter Guide Author
<--- Disney Fantasy 2016!
They had lots of breaks and shade, but it was still awful!
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Linear Mode
