Forums Closed
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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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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07-09-2006, 10:47 AM
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#1
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RED SOX NATION!!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Connecticut
Concierge Level: 9
Posts: 136,854
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The Grand Fiesta 10th Anniversary Trip - Pre-trip Final Update 8/10
<font color="blue"> Okay, since I'm now down to about 31 days (from 500 [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img] ) I thought I had better start this now (since it's a long pre-trip [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] )! And away we go.........
The Travelers:
Marnie: Age 37, 13th trip to Disney (hopefully not unlucky 13), 1st Disney Cruise
DH Matt: Age: One Month Shy of 40, 7th trip to Disney with me, 1st Disney Cruise
DD Alexa: Age 7, 6th trip to Disney, 1st Disney Cruise
DS Colin: Age 4, 6th trip to Disney, 1st Disney Cruise
Pre-Trip Report:
I’m trying to think back as to how this whole trip came about, as it’s been in the planning for years. We made our first trip to Disney in May 2003 and really caught the Disney bug. We’ve taken 4 additional trips since the first and have become Disney addicts! Of course, I can’t think of a better place to spend a vacation when you have kids. Luckily Matt feels the same way! We were looking to do something BIG for our 10th Wedding Anniversary [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] Yes, it was 10 short years ago that we were married [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] Where did the time go [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img]
Since we had Disney fever we decided to do Disney BIG TIME for our anniversary. Of course when we go to Disney it’s for 8 to 10 days, and we could never leave the kids for that long. Since they are now both Disney freaks themselves, we’d never get away with it either [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] Almost every day, Colin asks me if there are people at AKL right now and he gets very distressed when I tell him yes [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Apparently he thinks it opens just for him [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] And then there’s Alexa……who mopes when she can’t stay at the BC. Such monsters we’ve created, and so young [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Since this was going to be a Grand Fiesta, we really wanted to try a cruise. What a perfect opportunity! I was nervous going with a 7 day cruise since we’ve never cruised before, and having read that the 3 night cruises are really too short we settled on a 4 night cruise. With that decided, we needed to figure out what type of cabin to choose. Matt would have chosen the Walter E. Disney suite if I’d let him. That’s why I control the finances in the family [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] We (Matt) decided a category 6 stateroom so we (he) could have a verandah. Matt had two other requests: a room that didn’t connect and the verandah had to have a plexi-glass railing and not steel all around. I read thru my Passporter Cruise Guide and checked some sites online so as not to disappoint him. After checking the calendar to figure out when we could cruise, as well as checking costs, we settled on late August. Right in the smack dab of hurricane season [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rain.gif[/img] Hopefully this summer won’t be a repeat of the last two years (a girl can hope, can’t she [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] )! Maureen booked the cruise for us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thanx.gif[/img] and she got us everything we (rather Matt) asked for. We ended up with cabin 6562 and booked it in February 2005! Only 500 days to go [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Thank goodness I had other Disney trips in the works to keep me busy!
Little by little I started paying off the cruise during the summer of 2005. I was debating whether I was going to quit work completely or go to 30 hours (in which I’d lose all my benefits) so I wasn’t sure what our finances were going to be like in the next year. I wanted the cruise paid off because I was not going to cancel or skimp on that! Since we were also planning 8 to 10 days in the parks I bought Annual Pass vouchers that summer as well. Matt was none the wiser since I pay all the bills [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I had two big chunks of the trip paid off a year in advance [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] Now that’s planning [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] At the end of August my company announced it was closing our office and relocating to Greenville, SC. Ah, no thanks [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] Actually not bad news for me because I would get a nice big severance check instead of walking away with nothing! My job was supposed to end June 2006, but has been pushed out until December (and now thankfully brought back in to the end of September). At least I’ll still be working when the big bill comes in for this vacation! I decided to go back to full time (part time wasn’t due to take effect until September anyway) so that I could get a bigger severance and I’d be able to keep my benefits (health and dental) for a year after I’m severed. The benefits part was worth more to me since I carry them right now for the family at a much cheaper rate than Matt’s company.
Coming up Next……….Will I ever get motivated to plan the rest of the trip?? </font>
<font color="blue"> I've started the official trip report. Here's a link to the first thread http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ed-9-11-a.html
Here's a link to THREAD 2 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ed-9-28-a.html
Here is the link to THREAD 3 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ed-11-6-a.html
Here is the link to THREAD 4 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...d-10-18-a.html
</font>
Last edited by Colexis Mom; 03-18-2007 at 01:11 PM..
Reason: Updating Links
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