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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well that was nice that you were able to have extra time at home the day before. I think before our next trip I will fit in a mani/pedi, sounds like a nice treat!
Sounds like a great start! I also start my vacations with a mani/pedi. There is nothing like fresh color on your nail to start a Disney trip. Where I go, they usually turn my big toes into a design that looks like Mickey!
Glad you were able to work from home the day before your trip. I always get so much more done when I work from home than when I'm in the office with the phone ringing and people stopping in to talk.
Sounds like a great "before trip" day. I think they should always start off with a mani/pedi.
It was a nice day. Although, it could have been nicer if I didn't have to work. Next time I think I'll take the day before off too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Great start!!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
Well that was nice that you were able to have extra time at home the day before. I think before our next trip I will fit in a mani/pedi, sounds like a nice treat!
It was a lovely treat! You should definitely go get one before your next trip. It really helped me relax a bit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlhill4444
Sounds like a great start! I also start my vacations with a mani/pedi. There is nothing like fresh color on your nail to start a Disney trip. Where I go, they usually turn my big toes into a design that looks like Mickey!
Thanks. I'll have to remember to ask for a Mickey design for our next trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great update!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Sounds like a great start to your vacation! I love getting a mani/pedi before a trip!!
Thanks! I think I might start all of my trips with a mani/pedi. Although I had intended it to take just an hour and it took 2.5 as they talked me into the "deluxe" pedicure. I probably shouldn't have done that. I didn't work as much as I was going to and I spent more than I was planning. Oops.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great start!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linnynad
Whoo hoo.............you started this thing, can't wait to hear more!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneyfreeeak
Great start!!
Thanks guys!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shnewell
Glad you were able to work from home the day before your trip. I always get so much more done when I work from home than when I'm in the office with the phone ringing and people stopping in to talk.
Can't wait for you guys to be on your way!
It's amazing how much I get done at home. Probably only because I sent my toddler to daycare. If he had been home I'm sure I would have gotten nothing done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
Great start! Glad you were able to work from home and take care of a few things along the way!
Thanks! I was thankful to have the time at home to wrap things up.
Day 1 – Part 1 – Can we leave yet?
January 28th, 2012
Today’s the day. We leave for Disney World! At times it seemed like the trip would never get here and other times it seemed like it was just around the corner. This day the trip was REAL. We were going to hop on a plane and in 3 hours or so we would be in the Disney bubble.
Cameron cried a little bit at about 4 AM. I went in to check on him and gave him his monkey blanket and he calmed right back down. I, however, was too excited and restless to actually fall back asleep. I think I dozed here and there, but I know I looked at the clock several times and kept saying to myself “You can’t get up yet it’s too early.” By 5:45 AM I finally gave up and decided to just get out of bed. My alarm would be going off at 6 AM anyways. I was hoping to be able to get myself cleaned up and ready before Cam woke up. I managed to get my contacts in, teeth and hair brushed before I heard him screaming.
I was a little disappointed as I wanted to get a picture of him waking up in his crib ready to go to Disney World, but he woke up earlier than I thought he would and I wasn’t prepared with the camera. Nate was still sleeping so I sent Cameron in to wake him up:
I don’t think Cam was really with it yet as he went to the wrong side of the bed. That and he just looks groggy. Nate did get up and then the first order of business was putting the last stickers on our countdown calendar:
It’s not the most crafty countdown calendar, but Cam had fun putting the stickers on just the same. Nate and Cameron took a shower while I started to put my makeup on. Then Cameron decided he didn’t want to take a shower with Daddy today so he fussed and I quickly washed him up and took him into the other room. Once Nate was ready I sent him and Cameron downstairs to go have breakfast while I finished beautifying myself. After which I finished packing up all our stuff and had breakfast myself.
Nate loaded up the car shortly after breakfast. I think it was a little challenging to fit the HUGE stroller and two large suitcases in the trunk, but he managed. Good thing I got a small SUV last year or we never would have gotten all that crap in the car!
Once all of that was done we looked at the clock and it was only around 8 AM. Maybe 8:30. I guess we overestimated how much time everything was going to take in the morning. Cameron had been crabby the whole time we were getting ready and continued throwing little tantrums so we turned on Maters Tall Tales and Nate and Cameron sat on the couch watching it:
I love how Cam’s little belly isn’t covered. Silly boy. I think Nate and I were shocked that we were ready so early. We both thought it was going to take us a lot longer to get everything taken care of. We were itching to leave, but there really wasn’t any point as our flight wasn’t going to leave any earlier. I poked around on the internet a bit and then called my mom. My dad ended up answering the phone and talked to Cameron a little bit. He said my mom was just finishing getting ready and was about to leave.
We also called Nate’s parents and they said they were on schedule to meet us at the airport by 10:45 AM. They had a cab picking them up, but it sounded like Breanna would be getting a ride from her boyfriend and would meet up with us later.
I think my mom ended up arriving at our place about 9:30 AM. Earlier than we had talked about, but she had to spend that extra time with Cam as she wouldn’t be seeing him all week (she does daycare for me so she sees him almost every day). Once grandma got to our house Cameron was instantly in a better mood. Funny how that works. We showed my mom how the auto-cleaning litter box works and the cat food as she would be taking care of our cats while we were gone.
Even with my mom getting to our place early we didn’t end up leaving the house until a little after 10 AM. Pretty good considering our goal was to leave at 10 AM. As Nate was buckling Cameron into his car seat I ran down the driveway to put some bills in the mailbox. We had gotten a little rain/snow mix the day before and Nate had “cleared” the driveway as I asked, but he failed to do the whole driveway. As in down to the street. When he came back in the house after shoveling I asked him if he had gotten down to the end of the driveway to where the plow comes and he told me no as he didn’t think it mattered. I disagreed, but didn’t want to argue about it. I wish I had as when I went to put the letters in the mailbox I slipped and fell hitting my knee on the pavement. Considering we were going to be spending the next week walking in Disney World I was not happy about hitting my knee. I bit my tongue and said nothing to Nate about how I wasn’t happy about him not clearing the WHOLE driveway. I wanted to start this vacation out on a happy note.
We arrived at the airport around 10:45 AM as planned so things in that department were looking good.
I would have been so upset if I had fallen because of something I asked DH to do...MEN! Anyway, at least you weren't rushing around so that was a good thing, and I totally agree that there's something about grandparents that can change a child's mood from bad too good.
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