The Trip with Tinkermoms Touch--Pretrip Report - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Hi everyone! I'm not much of a poster, and this is my first TR, but I'm so excited I decided to give it a try, so bear with me please!
The Cast:
Tammy--me, 41, home health care CNA and RN student
Lori--DGF, 47 (soon to be 48)--a first timer, we'll be celebrating her birthday on the trip, she's a senior network engineer
Jessica--DD,13
Jason--DS, 12
Thomas-- 59, my father, the generous man who is funding premium annual passes, plane fare, the house, HDDMR cat. 1 seats, rental cars, a WC meal and assorted other misc. costs for the lot of us (like 100 trading pins each!), he works for good old USPS.
Cindy--I'm not too sure, but over 60 now, my step-mother, as generous as my father.
They don't go into the parks too much because of health issues and the heat, but they catch up with us here and there.
Dawn--30,my cousin
Kayleigh--10, Dawns DD
Riley--6, Dawns other DD
When: June 25-July 15
Where: A five bedroom rental home in Davenport
I've been planning this trip since we were on our April '07 (2 1/2 weeks) trip, when the rest of us went but Lori had to stay home. (BTW, Dad also took us for 3 weeks in '06, and we're hoping for another 2 1/2 in April '09). Lori watched me plan all of these trips (we've been friends for years, but got together just before the '07 trip) and yak, yak, yak about Disney non-stop. Luckily, she's very indulgent. I wanted to make this a trip of a lifetime for her since she has never taken a vacation in her life, has never been made to feel special, and we'll be celebrating her birthday during our trip. There's a few little special things I have planned which most of you know about being done, but she doesn't, and I won't include them now--I never know where she's lurking, lol! Here's the quick version of our plans:
June 25-- Our Southwest flight leaves from Providence, RI @ 7:45am (man, gotta get up at like 4:30!), direct to Tampa-landing at 10:45. We'll eat lunch around the airport, perhaps with a cousin of mine who lives in the area. An hour drive to the house to unload, and we're off to Walmart to stock up. I don't know if we'll eat dinner on I 192, or if we'll just go to MK to eat. We have to stop at City Hall to get our DDE, first timer button, birthday button, and see if we can schedule Lori for the veterans flag ceremony. I want to go to the Main Street Jewelers to get our exclusive passholder pins, and as tempting as it may be to stay, we need to go back and get some rest....it's gonna be a busy trip!
June 26--We have lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe, Dawn's crew will be coming with us- I figured since this park closes early, it's a good way to ease everyone into it.
June 27--My crew will be going to DisneyQuest (a first for us), going to the Prime Outlet, and taking the kids to their beloved CiCi's Pizza Buffet. I'm psyched, we'll be able to hit the pin trading at the Contemporary that night. Again, I'm going to call it an early night because tomorrow.....
June 28--We have reservations at CRT at 8:05! This is also a first for me and the kids. I may call an early day, we'll see how it goes.
June 29--Today we'll be going to HS, Dawn & co. will be with us--we all have reservations at Sci-Fi--the kids think this is so cool, I know Lori will be amused. We'll be staying for Fantasmic.
June 30--We'll be spending the day at Epcot today with Dawn. My family has reservations at Coral Reef for lunch, yet another first for us. We'll stay for Illuminations.
July 1--Jessica and I will be going parasailing today, after which the four of us will be renting SeaRaycers.
July 2--Today is Lori's Birthday! There are three phases to the plans, but I can only tell you phase 3---that she and I will be having dinner at the Yachtsman, then perhaps going to the Poly to stroll the beach and watch Wishes from there.
July 3--Dawn and I decided to go to MK. We've got lunch reservations at Crystal Palace. Dad and Cindy will be joining us.
July 4--Lunch reservations at 50's Prime Time today for both families.
July 5--Another cousin works as Scooby Doo at Universal Studios, and is getting all of us in for the day! We'll be closing the park, so we're getting the Meal Deal.
July 6--Gotta take a break sometime, so today we're getting up late. The kids have been dying to see Ripley's Believe it or Not and Wonderworks, so that's what it'll be. Maybe back to the house for a swim, I want to go to MK for SpectroMagic and Wishes.
July 7--Waterparks, here we come! We'll be hitting Typhoon Lagoon, my family will be doing the scuba assisted snorkling, and then meeting up with my parents for dinner at Whispering Canyons.
July 8--Everyone is coming to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. Then I think I want to take Lori on a tour of some of the resorts.
July 9--Dawn and I have reservations for Akershus Princess Breakfast, the rest of the day in Epcot. We'll also be going on the Behind the Seeds Tour.
July 10--My crew will be finishing up Animal Kingdom.
July 11--I have given this day to Lori to browse (and boy, can she browse!) the World Showcase. Dawn refuses to come with, she's not that much of a shopper!
July 12--Blizzard Beach and Summit Plummit today (WHEN am I going to realize that I'm getting older????) We haven't been to this park before. Meeting Dad and Cindy for the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review. I haven't seen this since I was a kid.
July 13--Dawn and I have reservations for 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. My crew has never been here before.
July 14--OH NO!!! Last day!! The kids and I have started a tradition of the O'Hanas Friends breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, and Dawn is coming too. We spend the last day at MK, finishing, of course, with crying during Wishes.
July 15--Our SouthWest flight leaves at 1:00 from Orlando, nonstop to Providence, lands at 3:50.
Well, I guess that wasn't so 'quick', sorry. I hope to be able to post some pics during the trip report, I'll figure it out. I so enjoyed the food pic thread, I'll make sure to take pics of the food and get them in there too! Thanks for listening, I'll have more in a week!