Our First Christmas in the World - COMPLETED 3/26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I decided it was time to get down to business and get started on my TR for our November/December trip. Because of some crazy stuff going on right now, I wasn’t even going to do a TR, but I decided it would be a good distraction for me. I may be posting more of a pictorial report with some commentary, but we’ll see…
The cast for this trip is just DH (Jeff) and me (Donna).
This was the first time for us to see WDW all dressed up for Christmas and we were so excited! We had lots of great ADRs planned to take us to some of the deluxe resorts to see the decorations and we’d also planned a few of the must-dos for Christmas such as Candlelight Processional and the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. (But not MVMCP)
This was also our first DVC stay and we were really looking forward to staying at our home resort, BLT!
Our first trip to Disney was a day trip in 1978 when we were in FL visiting his brother. We didn’t go again until 1991 when our three kids were 10, 7 and 4. The five of us went again in 1994 and then Jeff and I went in 2004 for our 25th anniversary. In 2008 we took a family trip with the three kids who were then 26, 23, and 20. At some point we turned into Disney nuts and decided this could be a yearly thing. So, Jeff and I went again in 2009 and 2010. Then in 2011 I went with our two girls. That brings us to the present and our 2012 Christmas trip.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO PHOTOS IN THIS FIRST POST BECAUSE OF SOME PHOTOBUCKET ISSUES. PICTURES FR THIS POST ARE POSTED FURTHER DOWN.
So, without further ado…
November 28th
We woke at 5:30, showered and finalized our packing. My Dad picked us up at 6:30 and we arrived at Buffalo airport at 6:50. Check in and security were quick and we were at the gate by 7:10.
We boarded at 7:30 and then waited while they de-iced the plane.
We finally took off at 8:10, 15 minutes late. The pilot said flight time would be 2 hours and 16 minutes.
We touched down at 10:25 and were in the DME line at 10:50.
A few photos in the airport on our way to DME...
We waited a while before our line was called and finally boarded a bus at 11:05. We were on our way at 11:15.
Love to see this!!
First stop Wilderness Lodge at 11:50, then CR at 11:55.
We were greeted by a CM as soon as we got off the bus and were escorted to the front desk for check in. Our room, as requested, was an even numbered room on the north side. (7706) This gave us a view of the lake as well as MK.
The room was small(ish) but nice. We had a good view and we were looking forward to seeing Wishes from our balcony. The little kitchenette was great and had lots of storage room for the breakfast and snack items we'd packed. Can't say the same for the bathroom. The little shelf area to the left of the sink was the only place for storing toiletries but it was so awkward to get at. But all in all, we were very pleased with the room and the location.
Coming Up: Can't wait to see MK all decked out for the holidays!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
More pictures of the room that were mis-sorted in photobucket.
(I am having great difficulty getting them to sort in the order I took them. It's one big mess! Any hints would be appreciated!)
AGAIN, these photos are posted below...And I hope from now on this will be easier!
I did see your post about Photobucket, but I have no words of wisdom for you. I always go through the photos from my computer, which means I can put them in order that way, so I have no idea how to do it on Photobucket...
I really hate photobucket since they updated. I could barely even finish my last trip report it was such a mess. Had everything from sorting to resizing problems. My best advice is to hunt around for something other than photobucket for photo storage in the future.
I really hate photobucket since they updated. I could barely even finish my last trip report it was such a mess. Had everything from sorting to resizing problems. My best advice is to hunt around for something other than photobucket for photo storage in the future.
There is an option in the upper right to go back to the original photo bucket, which I did, but it didn't help with the sorting. I've taken them all from the folder on my computer, where they are in order. But when I scroll down the album in photobucket they are completely mixed up. Very frustrating.
Great start! No real words of wisdom regarding photobucket......having issues as well......although I do find that if I make smaller folders it seems to help with the sorting issues.
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Great start! No real words of wisdom regarding photobucket......having issues as well......although I do find that if I make smaller folders it seems to help with the sorting issues.
I may end up dong that! Having one day's worth in a folder will be a lot easier to manage.
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Oops! You probably can't see the pictures because I made new folders in photobucket - one for each day - to help with the sorting. And so the links were broken.
Here are the pics for that first part...
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I always go through the photos from my computer, which means I can put them in order that way, so I have no idea how to do it on Photobucket...
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