Make your choice Adventurous Stranger...A Goin Solo PTR - Page 19 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Dinner sounds AMAZING!!! And, guess what? This morning I check my email and the Groupon of the day for my area is for Pasquale's! I think that's a sign I need to try it out!
I did not know that there was a 2:30 that occured when it's dark !
Back when I lived in NJ, I would close the restaurant, do the books, go home to shower and do last minute packing THEN get ready to leave for Disney. Out of the house at 3am for a 6am flight! You see, all my "wee hours of the morning" memories are of Disney!
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Originally Posted by MikeL
NY style Italian food can't be beat and the rest of the country doesn't know what a real pizza is
One of the restaurants I work at is owned by a former Bostonian and we make the closest to real pizza that i know. We've got Yankees running thru the door for pizza, fried clams, haddock, etc. Now if we could only get Pork Roll, egg & cheese down here...
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Wow, that dinner sounded AMAZING!! (but no agreement from me on NY pizza being the best. That would be Chicago!)
I've never had a true Chicago pizza but since I am a fan of the thin, crispy, cracks when you fold it in half pizza, I have been told I would not like it. Hey, if it's good - I wouldn't pass it up!
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Originally Posted by Angela1312
kjgtyjtrxkfuedcglnljvfdxgfhcv ---- that's me wiping drool off my keyboard! That was one amazing dinner!!!
It sure was! Some say it's in the water however, Greenville County, SC just won the "Best Tap Water in the US" award a few weeks ago over in D.C. I don't know what it is, food just tastes better closer to NYC. I met a chef that worked for Emeril in Vegas & NOLA and he said New Orleans has some fantastic food. I WILL get there one day...
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Originally Posted by Sunshine Family
That's a common joke at home and at work since I work in the newspaper business. "The other 10 o'clock"
Growing up in the restaurant business, life didn't begin until 11pm. I still get my second wind around 11, even if I've been up since 6am working all day & nite.
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Originally Posted by JKnott17
Dinner sounds AMAZING!!! And, guess what? This morning I check my email and the Groupon of the day for my area is for Pasquale's! I think that's a sign I need to try it out!
Without a doubt, if that's not a sign, I don't know what is!!! Say hi to Sasha for me!
Sorry, no post on the final day, tomorrow. However, I got a new baby today!! Her name is Mushu and she's a 1.5 year old cat. I found her on www.petfinder.com and she was at the local Humane Society. I knew she was for me when, after playing with her for an hour, I realized her name was from Mulan AND when I went to put her back, there was a towel in her cage with Mickey & Pluto on it!!!! We were meant for each other. She's home right now playing with her WDW cat toys and drinking out of her WDW kitty bowls which are on her WDW kitty placemat. Yep, I was prepared!
Wow, what an adventure in that heat. I am a wuss...we hid out in our house during the heat wave.
Dinner sounded awesome. I am sitting at my desk just about drooling....
Hope the cat works out. I used to have cats, but they were never very social and we are pretty social people. We now have a little Shih-Tzu and you should see my DS19 with this dog, it is just too sappy! That is one spoiled dog.
Hey I just some rapido math and realized that when I get back you have less than 2 weeks in your count down Gonna have to real rapido do a TR so you'll have details or wait till you get back and we do dueling TR's
Hey I just some rapido math and realized that when I get back you have less than 2 weeks in your count down Gonna have to real rapido do a TR so you'll have details or wait till you get back and we do dueling TR's
Sounds like a plan!!! We could fill in all the gaps with everything the other didn't do. Well that would mean you would have to talk about everything but the F&WF!!
Yummy! After that description of dinner I can't wait to read about your reviews from the F&WF!
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Originally Posted by WeRDisneyFanatics
What an amazing dinner! I think I might've just drooled a little on my keyboard!
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Originally Posted by mommapants
It all sounds so yummy
I was dreaming about that meal the other day - while eating 4 chicken nuggets. Uh, no comparison.
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Originally Posted by MikeL
Congrats on the cat hopefully she'll be better than our two.
I have discoved she's a klutz. She's fallen off the counter once, the bed once and the table too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrappyjae
Wow, what an adventure in that heat. I am a wuss...we hid out in our house during the heat wave.
Dinner sounded awesome. I am sitting at my desk just about drooling....
Hope the cat works out. I used to have cats, but they were never very social and we are pretty social people. We now have a little Shih-Tzu and you should see my DS19 with this dog, it is just too sappy! That is one spoiled dog.
Dogs are easily spoiled, big puppy dog eyes work don't they? I must have a social cat. I actually spent over an hour in the adult cat room at the shelter spending time with several cats until I found the one I clicked with.
I like the saying, Dogs have owners, cats have staff!!!
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Originally Posted by dsteiny23
I am thinking that I'm going to have to look up Pasquale's and insist upon a date night in the near future!! That sounded delish!
Cute cat...and a Disney cat to boot!! Awesome!
Pasquale's would be an excellent choice for date nite! We were the only three top in there, every other table was a couple. They all were enjoying their meals as well - lots of head bobbing and wide eyed agreement going on!
Disney cat rules! She is crazy!!
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Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Congrats on your new baby!
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Originally Posted by mommapants
Congrats on the new addition
Thank you! She gave me a guilt trip everytime I left for work. I'm such a sap.
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What was that!?!?!?!? Oh My Gosh, it's the alarm!
Yeah, 2:30am. Not cool, not cool at all. Luckily I had slept most of the day on Saturday and we went to sleep super early. I actually felt like a human being. For those who do not know me, I am NOT a morning person and I don't drink caffeine so I typically don't get around to speaking for at least two hours after waking.
We packed up and were on the road at exactly 3am. It was already in the 80s. I took the first shift in the driver's seat while Jennie #1 and Joe slept. I made it til a little after 6am before our first pit stop. There was a serious rumbly in my tumbly and we pulled over to get gas. Panera bread was shut up tight and we weren't feeling gas station food so we headed back onto the road in search of a Cracker Barrel because it isn't a road trip without CB.
I ordered the Rise & Shine?? - some kind of sampler that allowed me to have eggs, bacon, hashbrown casserole (!) and grits (!). There were biscuits and gravy too but I am not a fan of biscuits - too bad since that gravy is groovy! I think that was the first time I've been in CB and sat immediately, no wait!
With the sun up, Jennie #1 assumed Gowalla check in duties and Joe went back to sleep. Jennie #1 and I played a mean game of Punch Buggy to pass the time and I realized cruise control is not a good thing when hauling a full trailer. Each time we went up a hill (and there were lots of 'em) the cruise would rev the engine so high it would sound as if the truck was going to blow up! Yeah, I'll keep my foot on the gas. Speaking of the trailer, it didn't sway as much as when it was empty but you could def tell it was there. I kept the speed around 65mph - I tried 70 and it felt dangerous. Not to mention, we kept passing broken down trailers along the road with blown out tires. Excellent idea to go with the trailer with four tires.
After passing the fourth trailer on the side of the road, my panic attacks kicked in. I've held them at bay for a good while but with the stress of moving, lack of regular sleep, a breakup, working three jobs - they have returned. Not to the level they used to be, but I know the feeling and they typically occur while driving (awesome huh?). I quickly decided I had driven as far as I could, we were already in NC, probably 8.5 hours straight. I didn't let on about the panic attack and just tried to control my breathing while I sat in the passenger seat.
We made it into Greenville around 4pm and although the temperature was 96 degrees, it felt refreshing! Humidity was significantly lower too! DexBF Scott met us at the apartment and with the four of us, we unloaded the truck & trailer lickity split. Then we hussled back to Scott's house to pick up the bedroom set and cornhole boards (can't forget them!). Once everything was unloaded, we devoured the pizza I had ordered over the phone and Scott picked up on his way over.
Jennie #1 and Joe took the Uhaul home with them since it contained the hand truck they had purchased before the trip and a dresser I no longer wanted but was in fine shape. She'd bring it back Monday morning when we would return it to the rental center and finish unpacking. Scott stayed a little longer to hook up my home theatre and tv. After he left, I unpacked as much as I could until I was too tired to see straight. I was out cold by 11pm.
It was done, I FINALLY got my belongings out of storage. It had been a heck of a weekend. I actually took Monday off from my full time job along with Jennie #1 and we got all the items we had hastily disassembled back together. The cable guy, George, came by to hook up my internet and tell me the modem I had purchased wasn't working and I had to buy the one he had. yes, it was less expensive but I can't find the reciept for the orignal modem anywhere which means store credit, no cash back. Poop.
I REALLY should have requested off that night from Carrabba's but I didn't and of course, we got really busy and I had to do the books and didn't get out of there until midnite. I haven't had a day off since with the exception of a 6 hour photography class last Sunday. I'm beat, I'm broke, I'm tired and I'm cranky. This all added up to a breakdown last Thursday. I didn't go into work and stayed in bed all day with mini panic attacks. My mini attacks last about 10-30 minutes and I'm afraid they will turn into a full blown attack. I am one of the lucky few that has a panic attack that can last over an hour. I used to have my Dr. laughing that it qualified for a cardio session since my heart rate was so high for such a long period of time. Gotta laugh about it right?
So I'm glad I picked up the cat Wednesday night. She definitely helped keep me sane. Unfortunately, I recieved the cc statement and passed out when I saw how much moving cost me!! Looks like I'll have to postpone picking up my AP for a few weeks and pray I can't still get tix to the special events I planned on attending at the F&WF (which go on sale next Tuesday) unless I buy tix now and try for a refund once I get the AP. Ugh.
Any ho, I'm feeling better and back to working seven days a week at three jobs and put myself on financial lockdown to pay off the cc and start paying towards my trip. It will all be ok, I'm quite determined when it comes to Disney. I've even decided to forgo the Savannah Beer Festival in Sept in order to concentrate on Disney. No brainer there right??
Thanks for following my mini TR, I now return you to your PTR.....