Things don't always go as planned trip report - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Okay, I've recovered and have reconciled the trip in my mind. So, I'm ready to start this trip report!
Who am I: Pinkyt of course, I'm pretty much like all of you, a disney freak! I am 40 years old, a wife and a mom. I am a nurse, and I am a director of a busy Home Care Agency.
I took this wonderful trip with my husband (aka: PricklePants; or Pat), and my daughter Lily (aka the Brains).
Please see my pretrip report if you are interested: Prickle Pants, Pinky and the Brain Party in the World Pre Trip Report. But, not much went as planned so!
We left on Thursday, December 2nd. This was two days earlier than originally planned, we had hoped to catch a planned shuttle launch. Our flight was great, it was great, we ended up doing a business class upgrade, so bonus, yummy cocktail! I sat alone and Pat and Lily sat together, again bonus! Uninterrupted reading.
We arrived at MCO ahead of schedule love Airtran and just a hop skip and a jump we were headed to cocoa beach in our wonderful Kia Sorrento. We were staying at the Ron Jon Cape Carribe Resort, which is no where near the Ron Jon Surf Shop. We arrived hungry, we hadn't eaten since 9am and it was now 230pm. We hit this wonderful Italian place by the beach and had the yummiest Italian food ever. It was one of those hole in the wall local joints that rocks. Love, Love, Loved the Manicotti. We finally found the resort and had a great 1 bedroom suite overlooking the pool. Ah the pool, beautiful, but basically unusable because of the temperatures. It was 60 degrees. We still hit the hot tub. Prickle Pants and the Brain braved the heated pool but it was too cold for me! Little did I know but, this would be the warmest day of the trip! After the pool we decided to head to titusville to have some dinner at Dixie Crossroads. Great Seafood. I got crab legs and taught the Brain to open crab legs. It was awesome, I felt like a princess being fed mannah from the seas! When we got back to the room we got to our floor and looked straight into our hotel room. The room was wide open! Nothing was missing but we were kind of spooked. Needless to say, I slept rather lightly that night, as did Lily.
Up next: The Space Center, The Beach or The World oh my!
Photobucket is slow tonight so I'll add pics next post
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Good start.. can't wait to hear more. I know what you mean about going into the heated pool , when the air temps are chilly... not for me. Looking forward to hearing more.
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Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
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WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
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Yikes! about the room being wide open. Wonder if it was one of those doors that you have to double check to see if it latches. We've had that experience with doors on a couple of occasions. Glad nothing was taken. I wouldn't have slept well either.
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Location: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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Been waiting for this!!! Yes!!!! Scary about the room, glad everything was secure! Can't wait to read more.....the princess were sufficiently warned, correct?
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Looking forward to the next installment.... (glad you are feeling better!!)
How scary about your hotel room being left wide open. Stefanie and I would not have slept well either.
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Scary about your room being open... 
Glad that everything was okay!
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