Me, Muffin and the Oasis of the Seas!! - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Well, the time is fast approaching for our upcoming cruise!! We are down to just 25 days!!! I'll get back to that in a minute but I wanted to share a little bit of life first!
On the bright side, I just had an awesome birthday!! Katie and Megan had a surprise party for me and, for once in my life, I really, truly was surprised!! It's not a big number year so I certainly was not expecting much fanfare (except from Muffin, of course )
Muffin bought me a beautiful Pandora necklace with floating charms and I'm sure you can guess that they were Disney themed!! I love it!! He also took me out for lunch one day, dinner the next and breakfast the next!! Then on my actual birthday, he gave me tickets to see Aladdin in NYC!!! So, we are headed to the Marriott Marquis for a weekend in New York on February 16th!! I had a whole birthday weekend going on and I felt like a princess!!
I also received a hot stone massage gift certificate from Sean, Jane and Finn and a bottle of champagne from Katie and Andy!!
Also!! Most of you know how I feel about the Eagles!!!!!!! I cant even put into words how incredibly happy I am about the Super Bowl!! :Insert dancing giraffes!!!!:
On the very sad side, Lilly is sick. Terminally sick. She has a large mass on her liver which they don't think is cancer but is pressing on her other organs and causing her chemistry to be whacky. She is eating, drinking and eliminating fine and her behavior is normal so they asked us if we wanted a biopsy on the mass and we said no. She is 10 years old and we are just going to spoil her rotten until she becomes symptomatic. The vet told us it could be months or even a year or two so I am trying to look on the bright side.
Also, it appears that Katie and Andy will have to move in with us for a bit. They are having some issues and we have lots of extra space, so we are trying to move things around to accommodate them. At least Lilly will have built in babysitting.
On the up and down side, I started my Invisalign treatment two weeks ago and it has truly been an up and down experience so far. It's weird getting used to something in your mouth all of the time. The first few days my mouth was super sore and I had an ulcer under my tongue but it got much better and today I start a new tray. You use the trays for two weeks taking them out only to eat and drink. You can only have water with them in. They are a bit annoying to take out and put in and ideally you wear them for 22 hours a day. They don't bother me at night but when I wake up, my mouth is dry and my lips are chapped, especially in the corners. All I can say is I sure hope my teeth look beautiful when this is all said and done!!
I asked my Orthodontist what to do about vacation and he said to just wear them as much as I could. So!! About vacation!!!
Despite all of the stuff we are dealing with or maybe because of it, we are so looking forward to our upcoming cruise!!!
We head down to MCO on the afternoon of March 3rd and should arrive at the airport around dinner time. We will be staying overnight at the airport Hyatt, which we love. Depending on how we feel, we may eat a nice dinner or just grab some fast food when we arrive. Orlando is one of my favorite airports to just walk around and browse in as well. I am more than sure that we will do some of that!!
I'll leave off here for now. I am off today, thankfully. The weather is absolutely gross!! It was snowing and now it's sleeting and I think it is supposed to freezing rain all day. It's a good day to just chill, so I hope to get some more of my PTR done while doing so!!
Sounds like a fantastic birthday!
So sorry to hear about Lilly. I still miss Rory every single day.
You’ll love Alladin! We saw it in London and enjoyed it so much. The original Genie, James Monroe Iglehart is now in Hamilton as the Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, so we saw him Sunday. He was great!
You were the first person I thought of Sunday with the win (was actually thinking how excited you must’ve been during the game - and how stressed for the 3 minutes the Pats went ahead)!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Sorry, Tara, that it's going to rain for the big parade.
The parade will be tomorrow!! It is supposed to be sunny. We'll see. I can't go anyway but we are allowed to wear our championship gear which, of course, I have!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry about Lilly! I hope she stays comfortable and non-symptomatic for a long time.
I loved Aladdin! I hope you really have a great time in NYC!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Thanks, Pam.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Sounds like a fantastic birthday!
So sorry to hear about Lilly. I still miss Rory every single day.
You’ll love Alladin! We saw it in London and enjoyed it so much. The original Genie, James Monroe Iglehart is now in Hamilton as the Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, so we saw him Sunday. He was great!
You were the first person I thought of Sunday with the win (was actually thinking how excited you must’ve been during the game - and how stressed for the 3 minutes the Pats went ahead)!
Thanks, Colleen. The game couldn't have been more exciting but you are right!! I was a wreck until the last play!!!
What a wonderful birthday you had with such thoughtful and special gifts. And, the Eagles win was fantastic!! I'm so sorry to hear about Lily's illness. I'm glad she is still symptom free and hope she stays that way a long time. Our furbabies are so much a part of our lives. Your trip is really getting close and I know you are so ready for it.
It sounds like a wonderful birthday and how great to have a trip to NYC to look forward to but I am so sorry about Lilly.
Thanks, Cheryl.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
No problem! We've got 5 to go around!
Glad you had a great birthday! Sorry to hear about Lilly!
That's the spirit! Thanks, Marnie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
What a wonderful birthday you had with such thoughtful and special gifts. And, the Eagles win was fantastic!! I'm so sorry to hear about Lily's illness. I'm glad she is still symptom free and hope she stays that way a long time. Our furbabies are so much a part of our lives. Your trip is really getting close and I know you are so ready for it.
It was a terrific birthday! The Eagles ROCK!! Lilly will continue to be well loved! I can't wait for the cruise!!
You're trip is coming up fast and not long now! What a great birthday with such a great time and amazing gifts! Nice job by Muffin with the various restaurant experiences prior to the big day! Very sad about Lilly as only ten and hope you can appreciate her while she's still with you. Glad to hear you'll be staying at the Hyatt as I loved by stay here back in 2015 prior to my cruise.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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