Our "30 Year Anniversary" Disney Vacation 2014 [February 7-14] - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Loved the "we hit quite a bit of traffic"! I'll say!!!
The room looked really nice!
Glad you found somewhere that had an opening that you wanted to eat dinner.
Glad you are all checked in and ready for some Disney fun! We love Grand Floridian Cafe as well. We've eaten lunch and breakfast there and had good experiences both times.
It really is a great dining choice!
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Originally Posted by KMB733
Glad you made it and got all checked in!!! Can't wait for the fun to begin!!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Nice upgrade for your extra night! Dinner sounded wonderful.
It was delicious!
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Nice to get an upgrade for the extra night!
We have enjoyed stays at the values just as much as our deluxe stays - it's Disney!
We loved the value resorts and planned to return before we ever left!
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
The room looks nice! And dinner sounded good too - always good to be in the bubble!
There's just something about being on property!
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Originally Posted by MosyBliss
Great start so far! Mosy
Quote:
Originally Posted by lissybri
Great start. The room looks very nice. I've always wanted to try Grand Floridian Cafe. Glad to hear you like it.
I think you will love it!!
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Originally Posted by shazza
Your room upgrade for the night looks like a nice way to start the trip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Loved the "we hit quite a bit of traffic"! I'll say!!!
The room looked really nice!
Glad you found somewhere that had an opening that you wanted to eat dinner.
Day 3: Saturday, February 8, 2014 We got up early, packed up, and made the quick drive over to ASMovies. I had done online check-in, so everything was ready. We activated our Magic Bands, which would get us into our room, into the park, pay for meals, and access Fast Passes. It was our first trip using them, and overall they worked very well.
I had added a special occasion to our reservation. We have never done the pins {except for Senior Trip}, and since we have been married 30 years (we didn't make the trip last year) I thought why not? We were given our pins and a fresh flower, along with all of our paperwork. Our room wasn't ready, but we could begin using our dining and park tickets any time. We put everything in the SUV, and headed for the bus to Magic Kingdom. The weather today was partly sunny/cloudy and it spoke of showers, so we packed our ponchos just in case.
{side note: we loved the bus set up at the value resorts. I had dreaded this the most, due to the number of guests (can you say cheerleaders) that stay at values, but the bus system ran very smoothly the entire trip.}
We got on the bus and ended up being the only two people on it! This rarely happens.
There are few things more exciting than walking down Main Street and seeing the castle {even with a crane next to it!}.
Then, something truly magical happened........
We ran into the Dapper Dan's as we walked down Main Street. As we passed by, we were stopped by these guys who spotted our pins and wanted to give us a special anniversary wish.....with the help of Peter!
Normally, Peter would never have done anything like this, but today....well, he put on a show!
They asked us how many years, then asked Peter to join them in a song to me.
The Dapper Dans sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". All Peter had to do was the "you" part, and they sang the rest.
He actually got into it....
What a magical start to our vacation!!
side note: I highly recommend getting pins and wearing them during your stay if you are celebrating a special event. We had many anniversary greetings, a fresh flower at check-in, and a message from Mickey himself waiting on our phone wishing us a Happy Anniversary when we arrived!
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Dinner sounded wonderful. 
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Mosy and Meander and our three princesses
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