A DREAM is a wish your heart makes...Halloween on the High Seas edition - updated 09/14/2014 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Finally caught up! Seems like you're having fun, despite a few scares. Glad everything worked out well. Hope there are no more issues! Legoland looks like fun. I'm fascinated by miniatures and would probably spend hours looking at the mini lands! Glad you got to spend some time with Cam and Luke. It doesn't seem like you're missing the parks at all!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
I'm glad the pump arrived, that had to be a relief. It sounds like this was a great non-park day.
Pretty good day overall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Finally caught up! Seems like you're having fun, despite a few scares. Glad everything worked out well. Hope there are no more issues! Legoland looks like fun. I'm fascinated by miniatures and would probably spend hours looking at the mini lands! Glad you got to spend some time with Cam and Luke. It doesn't seem like you're missing the parks at all!
It's funny you say it doesn't seem like we were missing the parks and in a way we weren't. It did seem strange to never get on a bus while we were there and I think not going to any park helped - at least for now.
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You're updating this thing pretty darn quick now! I've been holding off and holding off for you. I just love all the activities they have for the kids there. I think that's a nice little day away from the parks if people want to try out something new.
You're updating this thing pretty darn quick now! I've been holding off and holding off for you. I just love all the activities they have for the kids there. I think that's a nice little day away from the parks if people want to try out something new.
I'm only doing this for you, you know. That and I've had time at work. Almost caught up with you now!
Glad you got your pump. I agree about the dining plan. With two little kids it's too much food. Actually DH and I used it on our honeymoon and I still thought it was too much food. We're going without on this next trip (after getting it for free on the last one). I know I've said it before, but reading all the things you guys did at AKL/AKV I am so excited to stay there. I think Cameron would just love the activity your boys participated in.
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I got way behind on this TR. Glad you got your new pump so quickly, I know that was a scary thing. Other than the pump incident everything else sounds great! Love the blanket Cam brought you! My daughter would love a Minnie blanket like that. I'm going to have to go look for some material like that for her.
Glad you got your pump. I agree about the dining plan. With two little kids it's too much food. Actually DH and I used it on our honeymoon and I still thought it was too much food. We're going without on this next trip (after getting it for free on the last one). I know I've said it before, but reading all the things you guys did at AKL/AKV I am so excited to stay there. I think Cameron would just love the activity your boys participated in.
Cameron's going to love it! Some of the things were a little difficult for Lukas to grasp but he seemed like he was interested and liking it. The CMs were great about making sure everyone had a turn to do something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tabitha34
I got way behind on this TR. Glad you got your new pump so quickly, I know that was a scary thing. Other than the pump incident everything else sounds great! Love the blanket Cam brought you! My daughter would love a Minnie blanket like that. I'm going to have to go look for some material like that for her.
The pump incident was definitely the worst thing that happened and I was glad to put it behind me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Glad everything worked out with the pump in the end and you got some great shopping in!
I was glad I found something to get otherwise I might have felt it was a waste of time.
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Cameron's going to love it! Some of the things were a little difficult for Lukas to grasp but he seemed like he was interested and liking it. The CMs were great about making sure everyone had a turn to do something.
I wondered if Lukas really "got it" with most of the activities, but as long as they have fun it doesn't really matter if they "get it". Besides Cameron's a few months older than Lukas and there's a few more months before the trip yet so who knows what he'll be capable of grasping by then. I just think it all sounds like fun. And Mallory is going to FLIP OUT about seeing all the animals. My girlie is going to fill our house with strays someday.
We went straight to the Contemporary from my cousin’s place. And finally got to drive through the magical gate! We found our way to Chef Mickey’s easy enough. We checked in and then waited in line to have our picture taken with the plate, which we hadn’t done on our previous time here. There was a family a few in front and I think the Grandpa was a little over the top – wanting every grouping imaginable with his family. I was hoping they wouldn’t be near us, but I didn’t have that much luck. Our buzzer went off while we were in line so once we had our photo taken we were sat at once. We sat pretty much directly below where we had sat on our first visit here. Mike & I sat on the bench side so the boys would be out for the characters. The characters weren’t close so I had Mike get the boys some food while I waited at the table. Once they had food Mike went to get some for himself and while he was gone they had the napkin waving. I then got some food and soon the characters were visiting. First up was Donald, then Pluto followed by Minnie & Mickey.
Love Lukas' face in this one!
Had to get a hug!
the boys!
the whole fam - and yes I matched us with the restaraunt
Mike took the boys to get dessert since Goofy wasn’t close yet and while he was with them our waitress brought the boys birthday cupcakes! There was more napkin waving and Lukas’ candle went out right away and I had to do all I could to protect the flame on Dylan’s.
Lukas had missed his hug from Donald earlier
Goofy finally arrived and fun was had. I had gotten my own dessert by then too. I decided to try and be a good diabetic and get the sugar free brownie, but as you can see got some other goodies too. The brownie wasn’t that good so I’m glad I had the others. Minnie came back for another visit and this time I wanted a picture with her, of course Lukas couldn’t let a character by without a hub so he essentially photobombed Minnie & I.
After dinner we looked around the gift shop and Lukas decided he needed a Stuffy from Doc McStuffins which I let him get. I looked at the MagicBand accessories and made a mental note to get some later for some boys stockings. Before heading back to AKV we decided to take a spin on the monorail which the boys loved of course!
Lukas with Stuffy
Then it was to bed as we had a big day tomorrow!!!