The Great Procrastination PTR--Trip in Aug. 2011 - Page 7 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I've spent more time on the boards today than I usually do as this is a good, positive place. You are all so kind and caring towards one another; I always get a happy feeling reading your interactions. Your kindness to one another has helped me deal with these past four days that have gone from inconvenient to worse.
I'll include a link to my blog which explains the absolute worst of it, but the rest just piles on top of it. http://arewethereyet-j.blogspot.com/ (Of course I'm having a problem with this link. If it tells you that this doesn't exist, click on the "Are We There Yet? link. That should bring you there...figures)
Everything else pales in comparison to this, but...
Work! I'm in the middle of my summer vacation and I'm working on work stuff. I was invited to put in 2 1/2 days helping with aligning the curriculum to the common core. That's not so bad--I actually find all that stuff fascinating, but only a handful of people were invited and so the people who weren't invited to participate are crabby about it. Then there are some staffing changes. This can mean that what I teach in the fall will not be decided until the fall. Who knows what's going on? I don't. I had wanted to get all my planning done because I'm going to Disney two weeks before I head back to school and I DON'T WANT TO BE (RE)WRITING CURRICULUM when I get back!!! It wouldn't be so annoying except for the reason for the shift has nothing to do with city-wide staffing problems so much as the principal trying to get her friend a job. Getting this guy a job affects what three separate teachers (myself included) will be teaching in the fall. He knows what he'll be doing and I was asked to put together materials for him to use, but I have no clue what I'll be doing. I kind of wish that was a little more fair. And everyone complains about it to me. I'm not sure why, but they do.
Oh. And dd was sick last week and now ds is sick today. Hopefully he didn't catch what she had because she was sick for about 5 days straight with a virus that caused really high temperatures. And since I'm whining...dh went off to the track today to help out a friend, so I've got the two kids by myself. One in my room with the AC, the other in the living room, both calling to me to be with them. Thankfully, Jack agreed to come downstairs with his puke bowl.
How am I cheering myself up? I think I'm going to make a list of things I need to pack. After the funeral, I will take out the suitcase and start to pack the things we aren't using.
Suggestions for packing? What is something you absolutely cannot live without when you travel to the World?
Thanks so much for your goodness to everyone. It really has helped me out today!
I am so sorry for your loss! Brian sounds like an incredible man! Many for you, his family, and his friends. More pixies on the way for your kiddos! And yet more for your work situation: It has to be difficult having all of this coming at you at once. with the packing.
My deepest condolences to you and your family and to Brians family as well. Hearing that a fellow Officer has stood his /her last roll call allways fill me with great saddness
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Thanks so much to everyone for your support. The wake is tomorrow and the funeral is on Wednesday. Dh and I grappling are with whether or not we want to bring the kids to the wake. On the one hand, ds understands that his friend is gone and might need some closure. On the other hand, it's going to be an absolutely emotional event. There will be police and army there as well as the enormous number of friends and family. It might be too much for both kids. In all honestly, it might be too much for me.
We'll sort it out. We don't have a choice.
On the planning front, I decided to go ahead and link our dining reservations to the room reservations and to the Grand Gathering--finally. Unfortunately, the system is down. They can only make new reservations at this time, not modify existing reservations. I wish they had a recorded message when people called in to tell them about this issue because I sat on hold for about 10 minutes on hold only to be told that I couldn't do what I wanted to do.
So, I emailed our AAA representative with a spreadsheet of our ADR's along with number of people who will be attending each meal and the confirmation number for each. We'll see how that works out. I don't know if TA's have a special hotline to Disney or if they have to use the regular number like the rest of us do.
I figured it would just be easier if I did it, but I don't really want to deal with it. It's something I should have done much sooner, but...
DS is on the mend, but he's still a little whiney. No fever though in about 20 hours, so that's a definite plus.
I also requested the TA call and request some extra pillows. We're all pillow hogs in my family .
I'm heartbroken for your family and all of Brian's family and friends. He sounds like he truly was an amazing man.
Planning wise, don't forget the child care centers! Even though your kidlets are potty trained 'big kids' now, there's no reason you can't pop in there with Anna and let her sit and color or watch a movie if she gets overloaded. We still use them, and Joc is 4 1/2 now.
__________________
Disney World Trips So Far: 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2016a (2016b in planning)
A small recommendation for your kids. To cut down on packing torture. Pack each of the kids their outfits in ziploc bags with the day labeled on them. Socks, underwear and cloths. DS and DH both love this....we all coordinate in a fashion...or with the theme of the park or characters we are seeing that day and it cuts down on having to get two kids their clothes in the morning and makes it not so rushed for Mom and Dad.