An Island Frame of Mind (A Cam and Luke PTR) Updated 5/22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Your gardens are so pretty! Ours in Upstate New York are finally thawing out and blooming I can't wait to hear all about your trip to our favorite resort, the Poly!
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your yard is just lovely. I wish I could spend the time and money to have my yard look nice. I barely have time to get the grass cut and with the dogs and the kids - what is the point of anything else, I'm just fighting a losing battle.
Oh my goodness, I love those little tulip trees! I so hear you on sweaty workout clothes smelling up the laundry room. You guys had another fun, productive day. Soon it will be time to get those suitcases out!
Such a pretty yard! I'm very envious and can't wait for things to really start growing here--
I'm with you about wanting to come home to a clean house. Unfortunately what I want in my head and what (mostly) happens can be two very different things.
Have a wonderful weekend!
You really do learn something every day - I'd never heard of tulip trees, but I went and looked them up on Google and I'm familiar with them, I just never knew any name for them.
I'm not sure anyone could tell what our little trees are right now as the leaves or so tiny the distinctive tulip tree shape isn't visible yet. My dad had two large tulip trees that were beautiful and quite shady.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Love your garden Cam! It's coming along nicely! Glad you've been able to get out for your walks in the mornings!
I leave most of planting to Luke and I do the weeding. We joke that if I touch a plant before it really takes off I have a black thumb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
We're seeing Avengers tomorrow! And the boys all say Thor is my 'boyfriend'.
I can't believe it's almost time for you to go! Just doesn't seem possible. I think we went straight to summer from winter. Im seriously considering turning on the AC! I love the 'this time next week stage'!
I was just saying to Luke today that our part of the country doesn't change weather gradually but by extremes -- 60s one week followed by mid 80s the next.
Beautiful Garden. I wish I had your green thumb. I can't wait to hear about the trip. You always have a FABULOUS time.
I'm not the one with the green thumb that is Luke. We joke that I have a black thumb. I doing the weeding and some watering, but I don't plant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nursemom
Your gardens are so pretty! Ours in Upstate New York are finally thawing out and blooming I can't wait to hear all about your trip to our favorite resort, the Poly!
Glad yours are finally thawing. I won't believe I'm actually getting to stay at the Poly finally until we walk into the lobby.
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Originally Posted by Roxie2006
Love all your landscaping, it beautiful. I am a garden person and love planting. for less rain and more sunshine.
I love gardens and flowers, but I wouldn't be so good without Luke's help.
your yard is just lovely. I wish I could spend the time and money to have my yard look nice. I barely have time to get the grass cut and with the dogs and the kids - what is the point of anything else, I'm just fighting a losing battle.
We are doing so much better with the yard and flower beds now that we have time. When I worked, I would pull into the driveway after work, and realize I had forgotten about the plants on the front porch. We'd just be too tired after to work to even give them a thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amy L
Oh my goodness, I love those little tulip trees! I so hear you on sweaty workout clothes smelling up the laundry room. You guys had another fun, productive day. Soon it will be time to get those suitcases out!
Your yard looks beautiful! I'm very impressed and a little motivated by how productive you two are! You always seem to get so much done!
Being retired does help in the getting of things done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Baloo
Such a pretty yard! I'm very envious and can't wait for things to really start growing here--
I'm with you about wanting to come home to a clean house. Unfortunately what I want in my head and what (mostly) happens can be two very different things.
Have a wonderful weekend!
With the two of us here all day, we do a pretty good job now of keeping things picked up and put away, so cleaning doesn't seem to take so long.
Today found us taking an early morning 4 mile walk through our neighborhood. With the weather much warmer now, early morning walks will probably be the routine. We didn't stop when we got home. First, we pulled out and organized CDs that we'd like to listen to on the road trip. Some of you may remember that we tried to get through all our Christmas CDs on our December drive to Orlando and back. Luke has pulled several oldies, mainly a Canadian band called Klaatu, Styx, and Boston. I've dug out a bunch of Disney CDs that I've had trouble listening to since my little partner left. Some of you may remember that Stefanie and I listened to Disney CDs for about 3 months prior to each trip.
Then we pulled weeds, watered our little trees, and picked up willow branches before we moved inside to clean the hardwood floors, tile, and carpet. Luke does all the vacuuming as he is much better at wielding the vacuum than I am. I do the steam mopping of the tile floors and wet mopping of the hardwoods.
When we'd finished the floors, Luke checked the weather and decided to mow one more time before we leave. We have a nephew who owns a lawn service/landscaping company who mows for us when we're gone, but he only services our neighborhood on Thursdays. Luke was afraid our lawn would be looking pretty scruffy before next Thursday. While he was sweating away outdoors, I called my dad, cleaned the kitchen, dusted, and vacuumed the Edge again (we must have the dirtiest feet ).
I had also eaten lunch while Luke was mowing and checked my e-mail, but I sat back down with him when he got done. Afterwards (around 1:30), I sat down to read and finish e-mails. I remember around 2:00 thinking I'd just shut my eyes for a little while as I suddenly felt so tired. Next thing I know I'm having a crazy dream that Luke has gone out to get the mail and come back in with to upper elementary age kids. He keeps telling them to be quiet as his wife is asleep. The boy begins opening and slamming shut cabinets on our desk right behind where I'm sleeping on the couch. Our desk does NOT have any cabinets, but this dream seems so real. I try to open my eyes but they won't. Finally, Luke takes them to our candy jar in the kitchen and gives them some treats. They then walk behind the couch where I am again and head out of the house by themselves. But they have trouble with our front door not staying shut (this is a real problem unless you know the trick). Now I'm frantic that our front door is going to remain open. I again try to open my eyes and even to call for Luke, but neither my mouth nor my eyes will open. I'm getting scared when I finally manage to wake up completely though still feeling a bit scared. Weird dream!
I check the clock; it is 3:00! So much for a few minutes nap. I've been asleep for an hour. Suppose I had worn myself out. Luke was already done with his shower and was shaving when I came in to the bathroom to share my nightmare. He had gone to get the mail while I was asleep but didn't see any children.
Once we were ready, we headed out for Friday night date night. First stop, Hallmark to drop off my Wish List for ornaments. At this point the skies were threatening a storm. We managed to drive across town to Cheddar's and get inside before the rain came. Our dinner took much longer than normal as we had a brand new server who had to ask for help several times. But he was exceptionally courteous. Now for task three -- Target. I know I said earlier this week was our last trip, but that was before I realized I'd forgotten to get another travel size Clear Care for cleaning my contacts and before I knew that Luke had eaten all but one of the Fiber One breakfast bars, and he had checked his toiletries to discover no shave gel. We had also run out of yogurt at lunch today, and we both love our yogurt, so we picked up one each for tomorrow. I also wanted to check out the C9 active wear for a few more tank tops, which are much more comfortable for hot, humid walking. I got very lucky as usually I find only one I like, but tonight there were three (which you will probably see in some pictures. We've talked about visiting the fitness room some, especially at the hotel our first night as we won't have walked in the morning, but who knows if we'll actually do this.
We also stopped at Ulta, which is just down from Target for us. I wanted another one of my Chi hair sprays but they don't carry the particular kind I use. My hairstylist was out of it. So hopefully, what I have will last until I get back home. By the time we get back home it is 7:30. So just a bit of TV while checking out the boards.
Plans for tomorrow finally include packing.
This time next week we will experience the first day of Star Wars Weekends and dinner will be the Jedi Star Wars Dine In at Hollywood & Vine. By the way, I decided after checking accuweather tonight that there is no knowing what the weather will be like each day until we live them. The rain on Wednesday I saw earlier this week has been replaced with sunshine, Monday which was to be sunny now has storms predicted, and on and on.
See you for one last update tomorrow. Will we get packed???? Of course, we will because we're going to Disney.
Your yard looks so beautiful with all your trees and lawn decorationsWith all your walking that you've been doing, you're both going to be ready for those long days of walking around the parks! Don't worry to much about the weather forecast at Disney because when I was there a couple weeks ago, it was suppose to rain every day and we didn't have any rain except for when we flew into the Orlando airport!
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I wish I had your green thumb. I can't wait to hear about the trip. You always have a FABULOUS time.
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You guys had another fun, productive day. Soon it will be time to get those suitcases out! 
- I'd never heard of tulip trees, but I went and looked them up on Google and I'm familiar with them, I just never knew any name for them.
It's coming along nicely! 
I leave most of planting to Luke and I do the weeding. We joke that if I touch a plant before it really takes off I have a black thumb. 
So much for a few minutes nap. I've been asleep for an hour. Suppose I had worn myself out. 
Luke was already done with his shower and was shaving when I came in to the bathroom to share my nightmare. He had gone to get the mail while I was asleep but didn't see any children. 
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