PTR: Spring Break in the Bubble (Updated 4/10/15) - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Well considering this trip is coming up fast, I guess I better get this PTR started!!!
Sorry for not much creativity in the title, but this trip is coming so fast and we have been so busy here at home, that's what I got for ya!!!
This trip came to be when we returned from our last trip (July 2014) and of course we were sad to return home, but knew having annual passes we would try to return before they expire! When the school calendar was released and I realized that spring break was an entire week AFTER Easter, I thought it could be bearable!!! I checked the predicted crowd calendar and it was showing moderate to low crowds for our week!! Okay - we'll take it!! So Scott and I started looking at specific dates, and points (DVC) and knew we wanted to do just a studio in a low point resort (we are also doing a trip in August for our daughter's 16th birthday!!!). So with that, this trip quickly blossomed! Then sitting at happy hour one Friday evening with one of my best friends and her fiancé, she asked when we were going back - I told her both dates - and she said she and her daughter would like to go in April also. So we explained to her that we were doing this budget friendly, low point friendly - as we were splurging in August! She understood and was all good with it. If you have read my TR's in the past, this is the same friend who introduced us to DVC and Disney, as well as the same one who "rents" her extra points to us (since her divorce, she only goes to Disney every few years now). So I was the lucky one to wear the planning crown and plan most of this trip!
Now for some of the details:
When: Sunday, April 12th through Sunday, April 19th (although my friend and her daughter will leave on Friday, April 17th).
Where: Each family will have a studio (hopefully very close to each other) at Saratoga Springs (my home resort)
Cast of Characters:
Myself - Lisa, 40-something Disney ADDICT!!! Love all things Disney!!! Especially Disney trips! Favorite characters are Tinker Bell, Stitch, & Goofy!
Scott, (DH), almost 46 (will probably celebrate his bday as it is next month!), also that kid that refuses to grow up! Can't wait for retirement, as he would really love to move to Orlando and be a bus driver or monorail driver!! His favorite characters are Tigger and Captain Hook.
Emily, (DD), 15 (will be 16 in August!!! ). Another huge Disney fan - especially trips to Disney! She is also an avid dancer, and has even been able to tap dance with Mr. Penguin with Mary Poppins watching! Her favorite characters are Stitch, Ariel, Anna, Elsa and the Frozen gang, and Flynn, Rapunzel, Terrance, etc. her list could go on forever!!!
Joie, (Best Friend), 40-something. She loves Disney, especially Eeyore! We have known each other since 1988. We became super close when we were both planning weddings around the same time, then ended up pregnant at the same time! And since the birth of our daughters, we have become like sisters, as well as our girls. It's a bond that is so strong - going through first time parenthood together, both being married to firefighters, and both being working moms!
Caitlin (Joie's daughter), also 15, turning 16 in September! Caitlin is an avid swimmer, and lives in the pool! She made varsity team in Freshman year! She loves visiting Disney and is super excited for this trip, as it's been a few years since she has been. Her favorite characters Stitch, Belle, and Nemo. Caitlin was born 18 days after Emily, although she was not due for another 4 weeks, but apparently she was a bit impatient to meet her lifelong friend! Em and Caitlin met officially the day that Cait came home from the hospital! And they were pretty much inseparable through infancy, toddler and preschool years. Then of course, as they got older their interests change and both are very involved in their activities, but when they get together, watch out!!! They are still very much like sisters and love each other to death and are looking forward to having each other for a week!
This is a photo of the 5 of us on our last trip together in 2010!
UP Next: Day 1 Plans
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Sounds like a lot of fun will be had with such good friends going. Having just finished your other TR the other day, I'm looking forward to reading this one too.
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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.
What a great start....I wish the girls had the week after Easter for their Spring Break, the crowds are much more bearable then. Every time I think hey we will go for Spring Break I think of the crowds and I cringe (their Spring Break always falls from Holy Thursday and then the week following Easter - so no Spring trips for us.
So great that your friend can join you and that Emily will get to spend time with Caitlin on this trip.
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). Another huge Disney fan - especially trips to Disney! She is also an avid dancer, and has even been able to tap dance with Mr. Penguin with Mary Poppins watching! Her favorite characters are Stitch, Ariel, Anna, Elsa and the Frozen gang, and Flynn, Rapunzel, Terrance, etc. her list could go on forever!!!
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I am very much looking forward to reading your new adventures!! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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