Sarilas' O-fficial Pre-Trip Report -1/2009 (a.k.a. Vacation, Take TWO!) - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I love planning....I find that planning my trip makes it so much more real (especially when it is about Disney).
I think that the Family Suites will be perfect for you. My cousin stayed there and found that the rooms were a nice size and that having the seperate bedroom just gave them the option of putting the little ones down when the older ones stayed up (not that they spent much time in the rooms).
The Dining Plan...we love it (not becuase it is so much more the savings) but becuase it just really puts me at ease knowing the food is paid for. If you opt to try the deluxe plan you could definitely maximize the plan by enjoying many of the 2 TS resutarants (such as CRT or one of the dinner shows). I am not sure if you mentioned - how old are your kids...I know the little ones are definitely under 9 but the older kids ages and how much they eat would also be something to consider.
We love the PH's - our last trip was a gift so we had the PH's with water parks and such and did not think we would really use them...but we PH'ed many times over our 5 days. We did EMH at one park and then did another...the days we did AK and HS we ended up spending the evenings at MK....
Thanks for the points! The kids are going to be 1, 3, 10 and 13 when we go - the two oldest will definitely eat their weight in food portions, but the littlest two will just peck at things. I'm REALLY second guessing the Deluxe Dining Plan... I just don't know if I can swing three TS meals a day! I feel bloated just typing the words!
I really wish there was something like the family suites at one of the Delux resorts - I'd love to stay there but I don't want to be crammed into one room with everyone (even though it would sleep all of us just fine). Having the two tv's and two bathrooms at ASM is really attractive!
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Your off to a good start I don't have a family, but I could see how nice the suites at All Stars would be. Enjoy all the planning for your trip!! You will be amazed how quick the trip will come up!!
Thank you! The next six months are going to fly by, I know it. This time last year we were planning our trip to Puerto Rico (to visit family) and that date arrived before we knew it.
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So I'm currently in the 'must print everything out' phase of planning. All my e-books and worksheets are begging to be printed, but I'm going to have to hand this one off to my husband - and I REALLY don't like to hand over control of anything! But our printer died a noble death at the hands of our two year old not long ago. Here's a tip for you: Printers don't like to be fed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They're just finicky that way!
So yeah, I'm trying to decide whether to buy an inkjet or laser printer (like I really know the difference but I keep hearing there is one). Luckily for me, my husband is a graphic designer who has a bajillion styles of printers and paper at his disposal! Tonight I'm burning the eBooks and necessarry papers on a disk for him, and tomorrow he'll format them for to the correct sized paper, front and back - free book binding, you can't beat it!
I'm definitely a tactile person; I like the information available on the net but I NEED to have a book in my hand to highlight and underline. I've already gone through the Birnbaum guides, and am waiting on the 2009 PassPorter for later this fall. The eBooks and worksheets will help get me through!
So the papers will soon be printed. Next step: gather clip art and inspirational designs for t-shirts, journals, etc!
I'm your printer didn't like the PBJ your DD so generously offered! Glad your DH will be able to print everything for you. Not quite sure on the difference between inkjet and laser jet, but I think the lasers are much more pricey. We purchased an HP wireless all-in-one inkjet last August and it! Setup was awesome too...the only wire I had to mess with was the power cord!
I LOVE the idea of a wireless printer. Our whole house is set up for wireless so that would be ideal. Does it print nicely, Dyan? I keep hearing that some printers don't do as nice of a job (like I've every really cared about that sort of thing before, but I feel a LOT of printing coming on!)
good luck with you decisions on the park hopper and dining plan - we loved it last year before they changed the format and got rid of the appetizer - you really get hungry walking around the parks all day
also good luck on the printer - sorry it turned it's nose up at the pb&j
hurry back with more please
good luck with you decisions on the park hopper and dining plan - we loved it last year before they changed the format and got rid of the appetizer - you really get hungry walking around the parks all day
also good luck on the printer - sorry it turned it's nose up at the pb&j
hurry back with more please
Thanks! I'm still really torn over the DDP, but I think the only way to solve it is going to be to spend a bajillion hours wrangling menus and figuring how much we think we'd spend on average a day... Oh, poor me to have to spend so much time thinking about FOOD!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick and Ryans Mom
Maybe it was more of a ham and cheese kind of printer?
I'm giddy as a schoolgirl right now, and I know it's the silliest and possibly the lamest thing to be giddy over (and if not, I know I have truly found my people, LOL) but I just got my FIRST EVER PIN CODE IN THE MAIL!
To see our family's name emblazoned across the opening of the folding postcard like that, and better yet to see a deal that I WISH we could take advantage of (sadly we cannot... THIS TIME) has me doing the happy dance!
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I don't have a family, but I could see how nice the suites at All Stars would be. Enjoy all the planning for your trip!! You will be amazed how quick the trip will come up!!
your printer didn't like the PBJ your DD so generously offered! 
Glad your DH will be able to print everything for you. Not quite sure on the difference between inkjet and laser jet, but I think the lasers are much more pricey. We purchased an HP wireless all-in-one inkjet last August and 
it! Setup was awesome too...the only wire I had to mess with was the power cord!
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