Sparky's Gone to the World- A TR 9/13/11-9/20/11 - Page 45 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 wanted to get a purse but I got my earrings instead. Next time.
I still need a chain for my pearl! I need to see about taking pics of my clock, pocketbook, and pearl to add to the end of the TR. Which is coming very soon. I am eager to start my new PPTR. A pre-PTR, of sorts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Sounds like a great night at 1900 Park Fare, I love those step sisters, they are hysterical! Funny, though, how your husband was trying to warn your DD, I was doing the same thing Just trying to prepare my girls, they too can be overly sensitive at times
I was actually glad he thought of it, because I didn't and our DD can be overly sensitive. She seemed to be fine with it all though.
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.
DISCLAIMER: I have resized all the photos in the last entry to 400 x 400 or 320 x 260. It seems like every time I come in here the sizes of the pics are different...some small some large. I am sure they will all scale down to the correct resized size. Thanks!
What a nice little PPer meet. You DD must have felt pretty comfortable about Jess since she swiped a fry. Glad you liked Fantasmic, but Wishes is still my favorite too.
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.
What a nice little PPer meet. You DD must have felt pretty comfortable about Jess since she swiped a fry. Glad you liked Fantasmic, but Wishes is still my favorite too.
It was very nice and good to see them again! Yes, she must have felt comfortable. You could tell, Jess is a natural with kids. DD very much enjoyed meeting her new friend as she was saying.
Wth?? When I had posted this all the pics were the right size, then when I responded to the couple comments...now they are huge. I don't want to have to take them down...
Great times! Sometimes when I edit my posts the pictures do weird things for me, but are otherwise fine. Yours look great! Great meet up with Jess and David!
Great times! Sometimes when I edit my posts the pictures do weird things for me, but are otherwise fine. Yours look great! Great meet up with Jess and David!
Thanks Cam. It's good to know it's not just me! I know your friends with Jess too, and whenever you can meet up, it will be great! They are such a nice couple, and she is very geniune. Just love our meets we have had.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 46,162
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 94
Likes (Received): 241
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 139
Pixie Dust (Given): 3
Pixie Dust (Received): 4
Just getting caught up. Sounds like you had a great time at 1900 Park Faire. What a great meet up with Jessica and David! The pictures are fine for me!
Just getting caught up. Sounds like you had a great time at 1900 Park Faire. What a great meet up with Jessica and David! The pictures are fine for me!
We were up at the crack of dawn this morning as we had to be at 'Ohana by 8am for our ADR. We got all our stuff together and brought it down to bell services along with the scooter.
The day after our ER visit, I had gone to the front desk to let them know that they should tell people when they call to ask for medical assistance that CentraCare will pick you up...for free. I had paid $17 to get there. When I finished explaining the nice CM filled out some form, and gave me $17 in cash to reimburse me for the cab ride.
Well when I gotten our list of charges the night before check out, I had noticed that they had charged my room $17 for the refund they gave me. Wth? I was not so happy with this...if I hadn't noticed, I would have thought I had actually gotten a refund, but in the end still paid for the cab. So off to the front desk for one last problem. When I explained what the issue was they reversed the charge, resulting in a credit to use for the day. Problem solved we headed out for our last adventures. We rode the bus to MK and then the monorail to the Poly.
We were seated almost immediately when we checked in. What a great breakfast! The potatoes were so yummy, with just a hint of sweetness. Lilo and Stitch were so fun. The people at the table next to us were nice enough to get a family pic of us with Stitch.
Once we were done we headed to MK for a few hours. We rode a few things and I got DD silhouette done. A tradition started by my Gram.
We also met with Tinkerbell and Rosetta, as we have never met Tinkerbell and DD likes her.
I love this one. You can see her talking to Tink.
Rosetta looking at DD missing teeth, because DD said "Hey look at my teeth!"
After a while we were getting hungry again, I suggested trying out Columbia Harbor House for fish and chips. Both DH and DD thought that sounded great. So we used up the last of our credits for 3 fish and chips there. We managed to snag a seat up on the second floor, which was nice and quiet. We enjoyed our lunch and at the same time were sad knowing this was it. DD ate the special desert they had for the season of apple crisp. DH and I couldn't even look at our desert. Chocolate cakes.
Next to us was a couple with 2 little boys, who were obviously twins, about 3 or 4 years old. They had no deserts on their table. We went over and told them we got them with our dining plan, and couldn't eat them but didn't want to see them go to waste. We asked if the boys would like them, if that was okay with them. The boys instantly smiled big and the parents said "Thanks! That is great!" We left 2 happy chocolate faced little boys in the restaurant, a small spreading of the magic.
With one last picture taken in front of the castle to wave goodbye, we headed out.
On the way out, the wait for Mickey and the Princesses was only 5 minutes so we headed in.
As we got to the gates, I took one last look over my shoulder at the castle and said goodbye with a tear in my ete.
We begrudgingly walked to the bus stop, and the weather mirrored our mood as it started to rain....harder and harder and harder. We saw bus after bus to other resorts come and go. Finally, our bus came and as we rode back to the POP the sun came out again. Before you know it we were on the DME heading back to MCO.
On the bus there was another couple with a 2 year old boy that our DD was playing with. When we got to the airport we got our stuff and went on our way never paying any mind to them.
As we were waiting in line to go through security there was an older woman behind us, I would say in her 60's. After giving DD the whole spiel about going through the security point, she turned to the lady behind us and said "Lady, you have to take your shoes off". The woman got this look on her face like if looks could kill, and she says "YOU don't need to tell me that! I will wait for the security to tell me!" My DD is a very sensitive little girl and when the woman yelled she said "I'm sorry" and reached over to pat her arm. The woman jumped back and yelled "Don't touch me!" At this point I had my DD get in front of me in line and DH go to stand next to her. Then she says "I have enough to deal with without having to deal with HER!"
I was shocked because my DH is not one to keep his mouth shut, and he didn't say a word, thank goodness.
We made it through and grabbed a bench to put on our shoes. While I was putting on my shoes, DH says "Finally, we are away from that lady!" Only not that nice. I said to him that I was surprised at how well he kept quiet. He said, "You didn't hear what I said to her?" I replied I hadn't. That's when he says "I said to her, 'I have an aunt that is a lot like you.' And she said, 'Yeah?' like it was a compliment and I said, 'Yeah, that is why I never visit her!' and she just gave me a dirty look and didn't say anything else."
Wow! My DD is 7 years old, all the woman had to say was "Yes, I know. Thank you." And that would have been the end of it.
We finally got to our gate and got settled. DD and I walked down to McDonalds and got a snack for us all. When we got back, the couple with the 2 year old wandered into the gate. We said "Hey!" and they came over to sit near us. It worked out so great because they had a portable DVD player, so they popped in a movie and the 2 kids sat together watching and munching fries. They mother walked down and got some more for them to split. We talked about all the weeks adventures we all had and before you know it we were boarding the plane to head home.
About This Page: 
Just trying to prepare my girls, they too can be overly sensitive at times 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Glad you liked Fantasmic, but Wishes is still my favorite too.
Great updates and pictures! 
Sometimes when I edit my posts the pictures do weird things for me, but are otherwise fine. Yours look great! 
Day 8 September 20, 2011 MK and departure :(
I love this one. You can see her talking to Tink.
Rosetta looking at DD missing teeth, because DD said "Hey look at my teeth!" 
Linear Mode
