1 Mom, 2 Daughters and 3 Days of Wonder! **Completed 6/29!** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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1 Mom, 2 Daughters and 3 Days of Wonder! **Completed 6/29!**
Cast of Characters:
Me, Maureen, age 35
DD, Katie, age 12
DD, Emily, age 7
The beginnings of our most magical adventure (at least I hope!) go back to a few days before Christmas. My MIL Beverly and I were scheming to plan a most terrifically awesome Christmas and 40th birthday gift for my DH Kevan. On Christmas morning, he would awaken to discover he would be cruising Alaska with me, my BIL Aaron and our son Matthew in July. He’s wanted to see Alaska since he was a kid and we figured turning 40 was a good enough reason to go. We are also celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary this year so there’s another. If I sit here long enough I can probably come up with more. When it comes to travel, I would celebrate cleaning my bathroom or balancing my checkbook if it meant I got to go somewhere.
One night right before Christmas Eve, my MIL Beverly and I headed up to Books A Million to plan Alaska armed with a latte and my laptop. She was giving Kevan his portion of the trip for his birthday, so she wanted to be in on the research and planning. We were surfing the net and pouring through Fodor’s guides when Beverly said, “You know, Matt and Aaron are getting a really nice trip somewhere with you and Kevan to Alaska- what about Kevin, Katie and Emily? Where would they like to go?” I agreed with her, but I couldn’t think of a destination that would really make the remaining three happy so I began to think of that in parts. What would make Kevin happiest? What about Katie? Emily? So we began to brainstorm.
Kevin, our eldest son is a train fanatic so we hit the Amtrak website and checked out on a weekend ride later in the summer. It was inexpensive and would be perfect for him. It would also make a great Dad and son trip. Perfect. Don’t you love it when stuff comes together like that?
That left Katie and Emily. And right away, I knew the answer. DCL. Both of the girls have asked several times to go aboard through the years and I have never taken them on a Mom-Daughter adventure- it all seemed to work. MIL offered to help with most of the cost, since she was doing the same for the others in the family. How could I say no?
We booked the Amtrak tickets and then I hit the Disney travel agents site. I priced it up and using the Kids Sail Free Offer, got a great rate for the three of us. As much as I ached to be in a verandah (that sounds so dramatic but you get the idea- I really wanted to have one…) it was just too much- more than we wanted to spend. So I booked the three of us in a Category 12 guarantee and decided to hope for the best- perhaps the cruising powers that be would move us up but if not, it was all good. In this day and age, we all were extremely blessed to be going anywhere on vacation. We paid the deposit right then and there and would do the rest a bit later. My heart was racing as we did it too. I book cruises a lot but rarely for myself! It was thrilling. I would soon be back aboard the Wonder and this time with my precious girls all to myself.
We left Books A Million with Alaska guidebooks, a few magazines and a whole bunch of travel memories in the making.. for the entire family!
It’s a little sad that our big family vacation this year is sort of broken up and we aren’t all traveling together at the same time- but it does have some pros-- it allows everyone to do what they like. And even more, it gives some of the numerous Austin children more one on one time with one or both of their parents. That’s a special thing when you have four siblings. The only person in the Austin family who did not open up a trip on Christmas morning was Connor. He was clueless as to what was in the packages he opened up Christmas morning. Actually, forget that. He was most impressed with wrapping paper and tried to eat it several times. Isn’t that a sign of genius?
We are actually ending up getting some nice family time together this summer- we’ll be spending a few days in the Ozark Mountains in a cabin after we move back to Arkansas in June. Now Connor can say he went somewhere at least. Actually, what he would say would sound something like “ goo goo bla abl Mama Dada.” But you get the idea.
I woke up Christmas Eve Day thinking I had better find a nice roll of duct tape for my mouth. The reason for this being I might need it to cover my mouth until Christmas morning- so as not to reveal some wonderful surprises.
Coming Up Next: Trips Revealed and the Anticipation begins!!
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was a good enough reason to go. We are also celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary 
this year so there’s another. If I sit here long enough I can probably come up with more. When it comes to travel, I would celebrate cleaning my bathroom or balancing my checkbook if it meant I got to go somewhere. 
and my laptop. She was giving Kevan his portion of the trip for his birthday, so she wanted to be in on the research and planning. We were surfing the net and pouring through Fodor’s guides when Beverly said, “You know, Matt and Aaron are getting a really nice trip somewhere with you and Kevan to Alaska- what about Kevin, Katie and Emily? Where would they like to go?” I agreed with her, but I couldn’t think of a destination that would really make the remaining three happy so I began to think of that in parts. What would make Kevin happiest? What about Katie? Emily? So we began to brainstorm. 
I priced it up and using the Kids Sail Free Offer, got a great rate for the three of us. As much as I ached to be in a verandah (that sounds so dramatic but you get the idea- I really wanted to have one…) it was just too much- more than we wanted to spend. So I booked the three of us in a Category 12 guarantee and decided to hope for the best- perhaps the cruising powers that be would move us up but if not, it was all good. In this day and age, we all were extremely blessed to be going anywhere on vacation. 
We paid the deposit right then and there and would do the rest a bit later. My heart was racing as we did it too. I book cruises a lot but rarely for myself! It was thrilling. I would soon be back aboard the Wonder and this time with my precious girls all to myself. 
He was clueless as to what was in the packages he opened up Christmas morning. Actually, forget that. He was most impressed with wrapping paper and tried to eat it several times. Isn’t that a sign of genius? 
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