The "Hold On Harry; Hello Mickey!" PTR ~ Sept 10-17th - COMPLETE 9/4!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 The Boy Who Lived Lost to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
For those of you who are not Potter-maniacs, please bear with me for a bit. (We thank you for your patience.) For those of you who ARE, you’ll understand where I’m coming from…
To say we are a family who is obsessed with the World of Harry Potter would be pretty accurate. We all love it, most especially the girls and I. To us, it’s a world just as real to us as the one we live in during our day-to-day lives. We’ve attended every book release party and every movie premiere. We’ve read the books over and over and listen to MuggleCast and watch our DVDs whenever we feel the need to visit Hogwarts. At times it feels like we eat, drink, sleep and breathe the wizarding world.
At the 2005 Book Release Party
And yes, we still love all things Disney with an equal passion. Case in point is Cory’s latest dream that Voldemort (excuse me; He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!) was attacking Mickey Mouse at Epcot, firing off spells at each other while her dad was running around taking videos of them and trying to get them to pose for a photo! Or the dream where Prof. Umbridge was issuing ‘Educational Decrees’ for the Magic Kingdom with one that said, “There Shall Be No Water on Splash Mountain.”
So you can see why we were over-the-moon when we heard of Universal Studios plans for the creation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Alexa and I vowed that no matter what, we would be there on opening day.
As soon as it was announced that WWoHP would be opening in 2010, we knew where we would be spending our vacation that year. It felt a bit sad on our last WDW stay, knowing it would be awhile before we would return, especially since that trip had turned out to be so fantastically full of fun and surprises.
Realistically, we knew getting there for Opening Day was not going to work with our busy schedules. So we sucked it up, and decided to go to US/IOA in September when we normally go on vacation. Even though we were all totally, 100% excited to see WWoHP, it would feel so strange to be in Orlando - that close and NOT go to WDW… I didn’t know if I could do it.
We had absolutely loved MNSSHP. And the girls and I had experienced an evening of fun on our own at Epcot when Kevin tired out and we convinced him to return to the resort without us. I kept thinking how neat it would be to have a Girls-Only trip with my daughters. (I did mention it to Kevin once, but he looked so hurt I didn’t mention it again!)
However…what if the girls and I could slip in an evening of MNSSHP while we were at US/IOA??? That seemed like a distinct possibility.
We kept an eye on the progress of WWoHP; watching the castle go up, seeing photographs, listening to all the rumors of what was going to be included – and getting more and more thrilled by the day!!! It was just too good to be true, too fantastic to be missed! We just couldn’t wait for the park to open!!!
But the more and more we read about how amazing WWoHP was going to be, the more and more all of us in the family began to realize that every other Potter-fiend in the country (and out of the country!) felt the same way. How crowded could it possibly be? How much were we actually going to be able to enjoy it if we were elbow to elbow with hundreds, possibly thousands, of other guests; how long were we going to have to wait in lines? Would I be able to stand in the middle of Hogsmeade and soak up the atmosphere and really be there?
We all sat down and talked it over (several times, in fact) and came to the very heartbreaking conclusion that we would enjoy ourselves much more if we waited for things to settle down and visit US/IOA in 2011.
Now I was really depressed. Not only would we miss going to WWoHP, but I would also miss an opportunity to have a Girls-Only time with Kelley and Corinne…
Kevin didn’t understand. “Why don’t we just go to Disney again?”
I tried to explain that 2 days at US/IOA and a couple days at the beach would be a lot less expensive than a week at WDW. I didn’t think we could do it this year as we had not planned for it.
But Kevin had a brilliant budgeting plan and by this spring…I made reservations for another vacation at WDW!!! Although I wanted to see WWoHP with all my heart, I knew that sometimes in life, the best things are worth waiting until the time is right. If I couldn’t be with Harry, at least I could be with my other ‘most favoritest’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
So now I have two trips to plan; one to WDW this year and one to US/IOA the next!
UP NEXT : The Details of When and Where..and what about that third trip???
Hmm I figured that was what was coming! We decided the same thing--we love HP, but can't stand waiting in crazy lines--so we've put off WWoHP for some time in the future! I can't wait to see it, but I'm not willing to brave the crowds! Fortunately mestitch is reporting on it in her TR!
Cathy I am so excited to see you started your report . Jasmine was a big Harry Potter fan, it has died down a little but she was still anxious to see WWoHP and really wanted to add a day in during our August trip but after talking we came to the same realization as you and decided to hold off until our next trip when the "thrill of opening" died down. So glad that Kevin suggested Disney again (I know that put a smile on your face). So looking forward to hearing all the details.
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What a great start Cathy! I love all of the pictures of your children!!
I am sorry you won't be going to the WoHP....but I completely understand why you are waiting! I want to go so bad myself, but continue to tell myself it will be worth the wait when I finally do get to go!
I am really impressed that your hubby suggested going to WDW again!
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I know where you are coming from! I LOVE all thing Harry Potter. Even though I'm too old, I still wait for my letter to Hogwarts. My sister and I really wanted to be there for opening day, but then reality sets in and we couldn't go. I'm hoping to go in October 2011. Hopefully it won't be so crazy. Sorry you have to wait too, but it sounds like you made the right decision.
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We had thought about going to WWoHP this June, too, but Luke convinced me that the crowds would be overwhelming and there might be glitches that still needed working out once lots of people invaded the place. We're planning a day there this next June if everything works out. So I understand your choice to wait, and know it wasn't an easy one. I love your costumes for the release party!
Hmm I figured that was what was coming! We decided the same thing--we love HP, but can't stand waiting in crazy lines--so we've put off WWoHP for some time in the future! I can't wait to see it, but I'm not willing to brave the crowds! Fortunately mestitch is reporting on it in her TR!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Sorry you've got to wait to see Harry Potter, but we're hoping the same thing - that by 2011, the initial frenzy will have died down somewhat....
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
I know where you are coming from! I LOVE all thing Harry Potter. Even though I'm too old, I still wait for my letter to Hogwarts. My sister and I really wanted to be there for opening day, but then reality sets in and we couldn't go. I'm hoping to go in October 2011. Hopefully it won't be so crazy. Sorry you have to wait too, but it sounds like you made the right decision.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
We had thought about going to WWoHP this June, too, but Luke convinced me that the crowds would be overwhelming and there might be glitches that still needed working out once lots of people invaded the place. We're planning a day there this next June if everything works out. So I understand your choice to wait, and know it wasn't an easy one. I love your costumes for the release party!
You know, I'm having this vision of a bunch of us PPers storming US next year! Maybe we can bring some of that Disney Magic with us.
Cathy I am so excited to see you started your report . Jasmine was a big Harry Potter fan, it has died down a little but she was still anxious to see WWoHP and really wanted to add a day in during our August trip but after talking we came to the same realization as you and decided to hold off until our next trip when the "thrill of opening" died down. So glad that Kevin suggested Disney again (I know that put a smile on your face). So looking forward to hearing all the details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luvsun
What a great start Cathy! I love all of the pictures of your children!!
I am sorry you won't be going to the WoHP....but I completely understand why you are waiting! I want to go so bad myself, but continue to tell myself it will be worth the wait when I finally do get to go!
I am really impressed that your hubby suggested going to WDW again!
See - he's finally 'getting' it!! Sometimes he'll just knock me off my feet when he'll say something like, "I just wish we were at Disney right now..."
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Or the dream where Prof. Umbridge was issuing ‘Educational Decrees’ for the Magic Kingdom with one that said, “There Shall Be No Water on Splash Mountain.”
Not only would we miss going to WWoHP, but I would also miss an opportunity to have a Girls-Only time with Kelley and Corinne…
. Jasmine was a big Harry Potter fan, it has died down a little but she was still anxious to see WWoHP and really wanted to add a day in during our August trip but after talking we came to the same realization as you and decided to hold off until our next trip when the "thrill of opening" died down. So glad that Kevin suggested Disney again (I know that put a smile on your face). So looking forward to hearing all the details.
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I'm sure you'll have at great time at Disney! 
Susan
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