Goin' Down the Bayou, a PTR ~ November 1-10 - Page 16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Awesome savings! Does JetBlue automatically do that if you book through them? Sorry you're going to miss the FL opening
No, it's not automatic, you need to call customer service to request the credit. So, yu have to be vigilant and check the prices every so often. If you miss a sale, you're out of luck. One time when I called about a credit, the agent told me about a website, Yapta: Track flight prices and check for airline refunds. It's great! You enter in your flight info and it tracks the price. Any time it drops you are notified by email, that's how I found out about yesterday's sale
They don't advertise about giving credits on their website at all, either, so you won't find any info on it there, but I promise, they do give them
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Well, we're at a point now where nothing much can be done for our trip, so I haven't got much to share with you all. I started to make a rough packing list and I've picked up a few toiletries and other things here and there, but I won't bore you with all of that!
Last week I was rummaging around in the attic and came across a box of pictures that I didn't even know I had. I must have gotten them from my mom when she moved last fall and completely forgot about them. There were some pics of my sister and I from our first trip to WDW which was in the summer of '83, so I thought I'd take you on a stroll down memory lane with me!
I was 6 going on 7 that first trip and my baby sister had just turned 3
I think I have a few shots of my girls like this
Anyone else remember the days when the characters roamed the parks? It was so hard to get a picture without any strangers in it!
I think this one was at Chef Mickey's
I have some really great memories of that first trip! I was lucky enough to get back to WDW with my family every summer after that until about 1990 and loved it every time! I did manage to get back in 1992 for a quick trip while visiting my grandparents at their winter home in Vero Beach and again for my senior class trip in '94, but that would be my last trip for quite a while Fast forward to 2001 ... I, being the super, amazing girlfriend that I was bought Chris a trip to see his favorite team, the NY Mets, during spring training for his birthday. Sadly, a week before our trip, Chris's father passed away after a battle with lung cancer and we had to cancel. The airline was really great and waived the change fees for us, so we would be able to reschedule, the only problem was that Spring Training would be over by the time we would be ready to travel so we needed to find a new destination. Chris, not surprisingly, was not doing well after his father's passing so I wanted to take him somewhere we could escape reality and get away from all of the sadness ... Of course my head went directly to Disney! He loved the idea and we booked a long weekend trip over Memorial Day weekend that same year We stayed at the Best Western (not sure if that's what it is still called ), one of the Downtown Disney hotels and had a fabulous trip!
I think we were there for one of first SWW, but had no idea
We both knew that we wanted to return to WDW when we were finally married and had a family of our own, but that would be a long time coming. We returned 8 years later, again over Memorial Day weekend, for our first family trip in 2009. We didn't know if we'd ever get back again, so we spent 15 nights off property so that we could take our time exploring everything that WDW has to offer. It was a fabulous trip!
Well, obviously we were bitten by the bug that year, we've managed to return every year since then and I couldn't be happier about that!
80 Days to Go!! Tiana:There is no way I'm kissing a frog and eating a bug in the same day.
What wonderful photos through the years! I envy you that long history at WDW, as I was over 40 on my first visit. I do, however, remember when the characters just roamed around. It was fun to spot them, but, as you say, much harder to get good photos.
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Have been following along, so thought I should comment . Your trip is coming together so well. You've certainly done a great job tracking savings opportunities. Sending you good vibes for great weather during your stay.
nice trip down memory lane. I can remember when the characters roamed around and there was no order to it, no line just kill the man. On my Sr. Class trip I can remember Mickey greeting people out by city hall. It was organized and thought this is great. they should do this all the time - Well Disney knows what they are doing - don't they.
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Sorry about missing FL! 
Holly: 
I started to make a rough packing list and I've picked up a few toiletries and other things here and there, but I won't bore you with all of that! 
I must have gotten them from my mom when she moved last fall and completely forgot about them. There were some pics of my sister and I from our first trip to WDW which was in the summer of '83, so I thought I'd take you on a stroll down memory lane with me! 
bought Chris a trip to see his favorite team, the NY Mets, during spring training for his birthday. Sadly, a week before our trip, Chris's father passed away after a battle with lung cancer and we had to cancel. The airline was really great and waived the change fees for us, so we would be able to reschedule, the only problem was that Spring Training would be over by the time we would be ready to travel so we needed to find a new destination. Chris, not surprisingly, was not doing well after his father's passing so I wanted to take him somewhere we could escape reality and get away from all of the sadness ... Of course my head went directly to Disney! He loved the idea and we booked a long weekend trip over Memorial Day weekend that same year 
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