Forums Closed
|
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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
|
|
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
|
05-01-2003, 01:32 PM
|
#1
|
Community Rank: Adventurer 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Drexel Hill, PA USA
Posts: 739
|
Our first trip west
Okay, here goes. My first-ever trip report.
A little background...
I (Margaret-35), and my DD(Meaghan-16), and Meg's best friend(Kelly-16), had planned this trip to CA for a few months. We were practically jumping out of our skins to get there. I think that Meg and Kelly were secretly hoping to meet Brad Pitt and run away with him. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
Our trip dates were Sat April 12th to Thur Apr 17th. Now, we can finally start...
Friday April 11th -I left work at 3pm, my normal time. I am usually home by 3:30 at the latest. Using this time frame, I made myself, and Meg, a 4:15 hair appt. Of course, on the way home, there was a horrendous accident. Since I was running so late, I decided to go right to the salon, and have Meg meet me there. When I got to the salon, there were about a million girls in there. There was some kind of prom that night and all the stylists were busy creating up-dos.(Fancy hair styles). I called Meg from there to see where she was. This is when she informed me that Kelly's mom had called and said that Kelly was too sick to come with us. 12 hours before our flight leaves, and I am just hearing about this. [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] I was a little stunned to say the least, so I just said to forget about that right now, and come to meet me.
Because of all the people in the salon, my haircut appt was a tad late(over an hour). No big deal, I guess. I left there and decided to go to the mall to get some last minute clothes. I drove all the way to the mall and discovered that my MAC card was MIA. I had just used it to pay for my haircut. I was near panic, but decided not to scream at the mall, rather to wait until I got to the privacy of my own home. I went home and looked everywhere, to no avail. I drove to the salon(now closed). I looked everywhere and it was just gone. The problem with this is, that I use my MAC card for everything. I NEVER use cash. My MAC has the VISA symbol on it so that it can be used just like a credit card. Okay, I call the bank to see if I could get an emergency replacement sent to my hotel. Sure, she says, it will be there in 5-7 business days. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Duh, doesn't she realize that I said "EMERGENCY"? I say, forget it just send it to my house. I will go to one of your branches in CA to cash a check tomorrow. Oh, did we forget to mention that First Union doesn't have a branch on the West Coast? I know what you are thinking. Why doesn't she just use a credit card? Well, I specifically got rid of all my credit cards so that I would always have to use cash, and not get into debt. My hubby has some, but I always use my MAC/VISA.
Now is an excellent time to panic! [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Thank God for my DH. He has the brilliant idea of taking his credit card to the bank(Sovereign Bank is open till 8pm) and getting a cash advance, and I would just pay him back when I got my MAC back. One fire out..
Now on to the Kelly fiasco. I called her mother, and it turns out that Kelly has a throat infection, and an ear infection, and some flu symptoms. She has already been to the DR's and has been taking antibiotics for 2 days. The mother apparently thought that she would be an inconvenience to us. Heck, I love this kid! Plus it is not like she is 4 and would want her mother to be there. I reason with the mother and assure her it is not a problem, and voila another fire out. We go get Kelly.
We come home and now it is late. The girls go to bed, and I stay up to do wash, write out itineraries, and print out our tickets for the airlines. Oh did I mention that I have been having problems with my computer? I had to wait until 3am to finally be able to log on to the comp. to print out our tix. Now, I can go to bed for 3 hours to get some rest. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
Saturday April 12th
6am, is everybody awake? Or at least moving around? Off to the airport...
It is a new day, and I refuse to let yesterday's events get me down. We got to the airport, checked our baggage, got on the plane, flew to Ca, and landed early. NO PROBLEMS!!!! This is how a vacation should be.
little side note--the view of the Grand Canyon from the plane was incredible! I had no idea how beautiful it really was.
Okay, now we have arrived in CA. I head straight to the baggage claim and you guessed it--no luggage. Apparently, USAir has somehow not loaded an entire cart of bags, causing 1/3 of all the passengers to not have their bags when arriving in CA. Oh JOY! The fun has started again. I wait in the enormous line, and fill out a claim, and am assured that my bag wiil be in my hotel by 10:30pm.(it is now noon)
OOOOOOOKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY...off to the Hertz counter to claim my car. Everyone there, from the shuttle drivers to the ticket agent to the men who cleaned out our car, were all very nice. We got this beautiful Buick Regal, and off we go for my first drive in CA. We only got a little lost, once, and then we arrive at the hotel. Embassy Suites Anaheim North. I have to say that I was not terribly impressed with any part of that hotel. The people at the desk were not the slightest bit friendly(only a little polite). The room was okay, but not great. There were stains on some of the furniture which kind of creeps me out. The pool area was littered with trash. (Of course, this has more to do with guests than staff, but still...)
I collapse at the room, and decide that this day is a total wash. I had originally planned to head to DL and do some things before going to Downtown Disney for dinner. Kelly is too sick, so we just order pizza and some soup and hang in the room. After dinner, the girls decide to go the hot tub and see what kind of boys are around. Like a miracle, Kelly comes back from the hot tub and says that she feels 99% better. Believe it or not, she is okay for the rest of the trip! Another fire out!
I fell asleep before 10pm, and still no luggage. It finally arrived the next morning (10am). Now I can begin my vacation with some clean underwear!
Here is where I will leave off. I figure clean underwear is a good ending point. I will return later to finish up.
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Threaded Mode
