Confessions of a WDW Addict (Pre-Trip 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
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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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I am 104 days out and thought that a great time to start a pre-trip report. We are scheduled to June 8-15, 2014. It will be just the wife and I -- NO Kids. Let me say that I am so excited about this trip, it has been sooooooooooo long in the making. For the 1st entry I thought I might talk about how it all came about.
The Birth of an Addiction . . .
I grew up as the planner in the family. My dream was always WDW. It seemed that every year my mom and aunt would bring up WDW, but the cost to go from our home in northeast Arkansas, just never allowed for it. So we settled for Branson, Missouri; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; and Great Smokey Mountains. They were all within a 6-7 hour drive and was reasonable for a 3-4 night vacation.
Even as a teen, I was the ones making the plans. My mom and aunt gave me a general budget and I was on the phone ordering planning guides and calling to get hotel prices. There was not internet until I was in college, so I had to do it the old fashion way. Spending hours reading everything I could get sent to me in the mail. I consider myself a Branson, MO and Silver Dollar City expert. After several dozen trips, that just happens. My family always had a great time, so they were happy to let me do the planning.
In 2009 I lost my father and my family (me, wife, and two small kids at time) moved back to “home” from central Missouri. Mom really needed us, and especially the grandbabies.
That same year, my mom announced she was taking us all the WDW – no baking out this time. She cut me lose to make the plans and it was like a narcotic. I have been addicted to the Disney Juice ever since. That trip consisted of my mom, sister, my wife, two sons and me. You can read that trip report from the link in my signature if you would like.
I knew I was hooked from that trip and told my wife, we WOULD be back. I made two attempts since that trip to go. Even had reservations at POP made once, but it fell through. After settling for Silver Dollar City last summer, I told the dear wife that was it. We were going to spend our 15th Anniversary trip in WDW in June of 2014. Do not get me wrong, SDC is the closest thing I ever found to WDW. It is awesome, but it is not the Magic Kingdom.
We are timeshare owners, but not DVC. But realized that we could trade our week through RCI and get a week at a WDW resort. So in August of 2013 I put in my RCI request. I did not care what resort we got, just wanted ANY summer week in 2014. I am a teacher and also a preacher, so summer is our only option. With the request it, there was nothing to do but wait for the call. The RCI rep said that DVC resorts are some of the hardest to get and he could not guarantee anything.
Stay Tuned . . . . Will I get a call?
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Click Here or on the picture above to read by personal travel blog.
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