PTR: The Dunning Family's Triumphant Return to the World - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Sorry to hear about your budget changes and with your work clients! Hope all goes well and at least you're going to WDW!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Happy to learn source of David's Migranes has been uncovered and is beeing dealt with.
Hopefully all will work out in terms of room sit. . Either way your family will be AT DISNEY
Thank you! I was very relieved that the migraines had a simple, if irritating for David, explanation. I was going to worst case scenarios, because I am anxious like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Have you thought about the suites at All Star Music? They're a bit cheaper than AoA.
I looked into them, and while they were cheaper, they still weren't in our budget. Thanks for the suggestion, though, I always forget about those!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oddboysmum
I hope your clientele pick up and that things will just work themselves out.
Thanks. I'm a freelance editor, mainly for Indie authors, but also for a few bloggers and students. My rates are cheap, but most of my clients are living paycheck to paycheck and have to have priorities. I completely understand, but until I get a wider client base, each loss really hurts, haha. I'm working on getting my name out there in the writing groups so that I can hopefully get some more regular or semi-regular clients.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Hope you get everything all worked out!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Just got all caught up and joined in here!!! Your plans sound great - hope you can keep your AoA room
We didn't, but I feel much better about my decision after I saw just how much money it would save us. We are basically PIF now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Sorry to hear about your budget changes and with your work clients! Hope all goes well and at least you're going to WDW!
Thank you! I'm still very excited about the trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Hope everything from ADRs to resort changes works how well!
Sorry to hear about the budget issues - seems to have hit so many people including us. We actually have now postponed our trip twice & possibly we may need to add another 6 months in addition to severely scaling back but like you said YOU ARE STILL GOING TO DISNEY!
So so glad the migraines have been sorted out...sinusitis & sinus infections have such a broad range of symptoms that they are sometimes overlooked. Hoping that some pixies & antibiotics solve his problems.
Keep your chin up regarding your clients - perhaps if you keep in touch even just a casual email they will use you again in the future. Have you considered a payment plan?
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Sorry to hear about the budget issues - seems to have hit so many people including us. We actually have now postponed our trip twice & possibly we may need to add another 6 months in addition to severely scaling back but like you said YOU ARE STILL GOING TO DISNEY!
So so glad the migraines have been sorted out...sinusitis & sinus infections have such a broad range of symptoms that they are sometimes overlooked. Hoping that some pixies & antibiotics solve his problems.
Keep your chin up regarding your clients - perhaps if you keep in touch even just a casual email they will use you again in the future. Have you considered a payment plan?
Sorry to hear about all of the postponements to your trip! Hopefully you will be back in the World in no time at all.
I am SO relieved to know the cause of David's migraines. I was so worried. He was super annoyed that it was a sinus infection, but I told him to be grateful it was an easy fix.
I do touch base with my clients every few weeks to see how their writing is going! I like to know what's happening and how they're doing. And I also offer payment plans, as well as really competitive rates. But, budgets are being cut everywhere, not just for vacations. We will get it figured out. I'm looking at some other work from home options to help bring in more money.
I went ahead and called Disney to change our resort reservation from the Family Suites at AoA to a preferred room at Pop Century. I was pretty bummed about the loss of space until I saw the savings we were going to be looking at. We went from still owing 3600 on the room to only owing 1758, and all but 700 of that was AJ's portion. If they offer free dining for September, we will be getting money back.
Even though it will be a bit more cramped (okay, a lot more), the savings made me feel like someone had lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I hadn't realized just how stressed I was about the amount of money we were spending until we were suddenly not spending near that much!
My mother in law has kindly offered to pay to ship our pack n play down to the hotel (because I am weird and want to use ours instead of the ones the hotels have) so we don't have to drag it through the airport. And Briana has a little travel cot that will fit nicely folded up into one of our suitcases...and she loves sleeping on it, I have to hide it from her at home so she won't ask for a "camp out" in her room. That takes care of where the kids will sleep, and both are easily folded up and put away during the day so that we aren't tripping over them and the Mousekeepers can do their jobs.
The part I'm most worried about is squeezing into a double bed. David and I sleep on a king sized bed at home, and I know we will feel so uncomfortable and squished. AJ, ever the gentleman, offered to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag so that I could have a bed to myself instead of having to share with David, but I of course told him that was ridiculous.
Our 180 day mark is coming up fast, and I'm very excited to make those dining reservations!
I think it was a good move to switch resorts, those were quite some savings. Fingers crossed they offer free dining so you can save even more.
That AJ is sure a sweetie! Offering to sleep on the floor so you could have the bed.
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