The Good , The Bad of not telling the kids about a trip - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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How old are your kids? I know that between all of us PP we can make sure they have another wonderful time with Dad at WDW. (If you want our help that is.)
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We surprised the kids for our last trip and are doing so again this trip. however the oringinal reason for surprising them last time came because two years prior our first trip, (2005)they knew about and helped plan the older two anyway
(3 1/2yr old twins and the youngest was 11 mos) was postponed last minute due to illness. The disappointment was heartbreaking. however we told the kids we couldn't go because the plane was broken and the pilot would call when the plane was fixed. 3 weeks later we woke them up in the morning, rang the house from the cell phone, answered, pretended to talk, hung up yelled get moving that was the pilot, were going to disney! I guess you could say that was the first mini surprise trip.
In 2007 I wasn't going through that again, but I new that i wouldn't be able to pack without them finding out so we surprised them 1 week before the trip. this was perfect! We did a scavenger hunt that ended with a picture itinerary cut into a jigsaw puzzle. When the put the puzzle together they could see eveything we were doing and on what day they were doing it in pictures (they were 5 and 3). the screams and hugs and smiles will never be forgotten! Still brings tears to my eyes. We will surprise again this year, again about 7-1o days ahead. It allows for ease of packing and the kids can still have some input and time to talk about what rides etc they want to do. Of course park days and ADRS are already set, but they still get the fun of anticipation and surprise. Could your surprise be let out of the bag a few days early to allow for some of that input and excitement you are missing?? the surprise was still wonderful for us doing it this way. however you surprise her, she will be excited, you will have wonderful memories and are going on a fantastic vacation!!! hang in there!
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~Kelly
***August 2013 Kidani Village/ BC Club level***July 2012 BLT 1st stay as DVC members***January 2012 Poly Club level, grandparents first trip to WDW EVER! ***July 2011 BC DS 7th bday and our 15th anniversary celebration *** Aug 2010 bonus trip, we usually go every other year woohoo!!***July 2009 Beach Club *** August 2007 2nd family vacation Sheraton Vistana Resort for 7n & then 3n at POR!! *** June 2005 POFQ 1st Family trip
We are surprising DD4 and DS7 this year! We did not surprise them in 2007 - but it was a trip we still talk about on a regular basis!
We are going with a plan similar to NYKELLY. We aren't sure of exactly when we will tell them but we know that we need to set some expectations for our kids. We want them to "help" with planning - even though ADRs are set. We want them to know which resort we are staying at, and which parks we are visiting. Our budget is much tighter than it was 2 years ago, so compromises had to be made. We are staying one night longer but at a value resort. I don't think they will care at all - and I won't even say that part - BUT they LOVED the POFQ waterslide and ASMV doesn't have one. It will be fine though. We also won't be doing the Hoop Dee Do or CRT. But, we are trying some new character meals, since they dining plan is free again!
I love the Mickey Head ideas and the Scavenger Hunt! How cool!! I have already bought Mickey and Pals balloons. I can't wait to suprise them with the news! (DH is way worse at keeping secrets - so far so good.) We will do a short countdown and they can help us pack.
DH and I are both teachers and DD is starting Kdg Sept 9th so this trip ends our summer and celebrates her upcoming big day. We did the same thing for DS 2 years ago, at the same time. They will both be wearing new Disney outfits for the first day of school!
A little background on our surprise trip, we go down to WDW about once a year our last trip was in Nov of 08 and we flew SW airlines and they lowered their prices an I ot a credit on the flts. We told the kids we were going to use these to visit our friends in GA. what we didn't tell them is that we were going to WDW and our friends were driving to Disney to join us on the way across the airport I handed the phone to my oldest so he could call their daughter and tell them we were on the way, she found out about the trip the night before when they were packing the car. LOL
We surprised our boys on our Aug '07 trip. Keeping the secret was REALLY hard, and we had a couple of close calls where the beans were almost spilled. But DH and I just woke them up early on departure day, wearing mouse ears, asking, "Who wants to go to Disney today?" It was pretty cool!
So now it's almost two years later, and I asked them if they liked being surprised with that trip, and they both said absolutely, YES!!! I think they will remember it forever.
How old are your kids? I know that between all of us PP we can make sure they have another wonderful time with Dad at WDW. (If you want our help that is.)
molly is going to be 8 and phillip is going to be 3 while we are there .
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How old are your kids? I know that between all of us PP we can make sure they have another wonderful time with Dad at WDW. (If you want our help that is.)
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