Making Lemonade out of Mousefest **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Making Lemonade out of Mousefest **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE
'Twas the Month Before Mousefest Pre Trip Report
Chapter 1 The History OR “Twas the Month Before Mousefest
Some of you may remember this from my last trip “Of Mice and Margaritas” PTR, but for those of you who missed that absolutely riveting adventure, I'll give you some background.
I started planning a December trip to Disney in September of 2007 when Brandon and I got back from out first trip together. Brandon had fallen in love with the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I wanted to see Disney at Christmas and go to Mousefest. Then everything changed, but actually didn't at all. Brandon thought he was going to transfer to the US Virgin Islands and I was talking about going with him. We would have been gone long before December, at least that was the plan. Well plans fell through, but I had already called my travel agent and changed the game plan. I got us a room at the All Star Music during free dining for four nights and upgraded us to the Deluxe Disney Plan.
Well we're not in the Virgin Islands. Brandon may still go, eventually . . . okay I say eventually I mean the end of this month. Brandon has FINALLY gotten to talk to the chef down there. It looks like right now that Brandon will be offered a job next week, but nothing is certain. The economy is putting all kinds of hiring restrictions on different markets. Marriott seems to think that a lot of their tourist destinations will be hard hit, especially the Caribbean and Southern Florida. I was looking at Miami . . . nix on that right now too. We're still in New Orleans for the moment and we're doing okay for the time being.
Some things have changed. We came back from our August trip new Disney Vacation Club owners. Our home resort is the Animal Kingdom Villas. Our first trip to our home resort won't be until October of 2009 because we have developer points to use.
When we signed the DVC paperwork back in August I asked Brandon if it was okay for me to use some of the points to go to Mousefest in December. He was okay with this, I put down the deposit . . . I get some extra benefits . . . right? Brandon at the time was planning on traveling with his family to Jacksonville Beach around the holidays. I think that trip is canceled, but he is still planning to go visit his family for Christmas and can't take off that much time so close together. I usually skip the parents for major holidays.
So the trip that was to be our ten days at the AKL for Christmas and Mousefest 2008 has become my first ever solo vacation. Instead of ten days its 6 days and I am staying on developer points at SSR. I think I'll address that in the next chapter.
(Coming Up: And All Through The House)
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Great start on your PTR. I will be at Mousefest along with about 2000 more also. Congrats on your DVC purchase. Bring on some more. I went back and finished reading your lst TR. Glad you made it back home after the storms.
All through the house . . . the Carriage House that is! I have been looking at all of the pictures and maps of Saratoga Springs Resort and I am a little overwhelmed. I have stayed at several Disney Resorts, but I've never been by myself before and I've always had someone else to think about when I made my room requests.
Caribbean Beach Resort, where we stayed two years ago is big. I've stayed at the Pop . . . also big, even the All Star Resorts are big. I don't think any of them are as spread out as Saratoga Springs. At this very moment I'm trying to decide what is the most important to me . . .is it being close to the Carriage House? What floor would I like to stay on . . . in the Springs? In the Grandstand? Do I even care? The general lack of planning for this trip on the whole leads me to believe that I should just let fate take its turn and things will work out just fine. I mean how bad could it be? Its Disney right?
Chapter
Here's what I do know!
I actually had my DVC guide book this room for me as we were signing the paperwork in August. I called Member Services two days later and confirmed it. Very handy . . . apparently studios are fairly popular during the pre-Christmas period . . . wonder if that is because so many DVC owners participate in Mousefest.
I have a studio room all to myself somewhere in the Saratoga Springs Resort from December 11th through December 16th. I am very excited! I was actually thinking that Brandon and I would buy in at SSR because I thought the incentives would be better, but I was wrong . . . AKV was way better by the time we got there. I did notice in the registration area on the MF page that a lot of Festers are staying at SSR . . . yea!
This stay is a kind of a trial run for our visit in May for the International Flower and Garden Festival, when we will use up our developer points in a one bedroom villa!
Yes, Saratoga Springs is a huge resort and that can be daunting. Personally what would be important to me is being near the Carriage House, as then you're close to food and the main pool.
This is a mini life update . . . my roommate got his job offer today! I'm so proud of him. He's been offered a cook II position at the Ritz Carlton St. Thomas. (Interestingly enough its a position step down --he's a cook I now, but a pay step up . . .apparently Ritz pays better than Marriott, but its really all the same company.) They have initially asked him to be there Nov 18th, but he's going to try and push it back a little. He has to at least give two weeks to Chef Lou. I'm very sad, but SO proud!
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