A 40th celebration to end the world! PHOTOS ADDED 1/1 - Page 22 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Maybe you can fill me in a bit. I'm an event planner and at our last event we had a Welshman and a man from Britain speak. They had a bit of a playful rivalry going based on their nationalities with the Brit really zinging the guy from Wales (all in good fun.) I would have expected it to be the other way around. Is there a sort of rivalry between the two countries?
there's a rivalry between the English and the Welsh, the English and the Scots, the English and the French - you get the idea! I guess it's down to centuries of battles with just about every nationality over the years..
OK, I'm finally caught up now! That's a lot of planning. A. LOT. But I really wouldn't expect any less from you.
FWIW, I've rented with Dollar many, many times and have never, ever had any issues. OK, except once when they started my car rental at 1AM instead of 1PM, so the cost was higher than I expected it to be. However, I did not look over the paperwork at the start of the trip, so I neglected to see their error. So let this be a lesson to always look over your car rental contract before you sign it! But I got that squared away upon my return home, and got $50 refunded. Other than that, very easy to deal with in my experience!
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So pretty! Wasn't there a Lord Snowden who was famous for something? I'll have to look that up...
And congrats to your country for its new heir! So exciting!
you're spot on - Lord Snowdon is a famous photographer if I'm remembering right and he was married to Princess Margaret.
It is sort of exciting news about William and Kate, but honestly, I'm not going to get too excited until she's past the 12 week limit, which she isn't yet. I hope it'll be a girl, as another Queen would be neat.
Pre-trip report – part fourteen: wow, now that’s what I call a stunning sunrise!
Sunday 2 December – t minus 4 days
We left my parents fairly early in the morning, as we had a lunchtime appointment with an old friend on the way back down to ours, and we needed to get back at a reasonable time, as we still had loads to do at home.
We woke up to the most spectacular sunrise.
I headed outside and grabbed a few photos around my parents’ house and it is a big place.
The field is part of their land:
However, this isn’t – although it’s a stunning view.
When we got back home, I spent some time checking emails and catching up on the boards. There was an email from Barb waiting for me with the designs she’d done for our magnets. I don’t want to give too much away, but oh my goodness, they are just amazing. Barb – you are seriously the best. I’ll be sure to post photos when we get to that part in the trip report, but until then, you’ll have to wait to see them…
I did a quick check of the DVC Member website. Still nothing showing up anywhere. However, there was better news to come on Accuweather. The temperatures are much more where I’d like to see them, with overnight lows again back into the 50s (thankfully no sign – at present (touch wood ) of the low 30s I’d seen forecast a couple of days ago) and daytime highs in the 70s. Very nice! Now please just let it stay like that for us…
The evening was spent doing some serious packing – finally! I always feel better when we can get into it. One case is now finished off, a small case, that comes in way below the weight limit, which is always a good start. I’ve packed my half of the second case, but until Mark works out what he plans on wearing for the flight out on Thursday, that’s as far as it goes. Hopefully we’ll manage to get the vast majority of the rest of it sorted out tomorrow….
Another job ticked off the list was the cell phone. Thankfully it’s still fully charged from when Wendy charged it, which made life a lot easier. I went through and checked that I had people’s cell phone numbers in the phone and there were a couple of people whose numbers had changed, so I updated those. I also added in a few people, both PassPorter friends and family at home, who’d changed their numbers, so that’s all done and we’re set with that.
When I logged back on to the boards later this evening, I found this private message from Heather:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Fabulous news! I'm off on your arrival day! I'd love to join you at Beaches and Cream on Thursday so I can officially welcome you to Orlando!
What a great start to our vacation! I cannot wait to see her again.
I also checked out the Virgin Atlantic website, as with it now being December, they had the full list of movies that would be shown on our flight. Well, there’s no worry about us getting bored during the nine and a half hours out to Orlando, because there’ll be plenty to keep us both occupied, which is great news.
Monday 3 December – t minus 3 days
I didn’t get a chance to do much before we had to head out, as I had to take Mark to work, as he’d left his van at work to catch the train over to me on Friday afternoon. However, after I’d dropped him off, I did have time to come back and sort out his Christmas card and present. You’ll find out in due course what I got him, but I’m not saying anymore here, as he does have a tendency to read these reports from time to time…
I did get a lot out of the way today. All the work Christmas cards were handed out (and I realised I’d forgotten one! ) and all the British (and German ) Christmas cards went in the post, so those are all done now. The American ones I’m sending are all in the cases (I hope!) ready to send when we get out there.
We both got back from work quite early because we had a few things to do. Now that brings me to something I should tell you before we head out. Yes, all the plans are in place for our vacation, but there’s also going to be work done at home while we’re gone. Thanks to the money my grandmother left me, we can finally do something that we’ve wanted to do for many, many years, and that’s get a new kitchen.
When we moved in 10 years ago, the kitchen was about five years old, and it’s been Ok, but we really need want a new one. The floor is terrible in it. It goes up and down, and it’s a complete nightmare to clean. The units are now really getting past it, and Mark desperately wants a new cooker, as the one we’ve got is nothing special.
We managed to find one that we really liked, and from the designs, it looks superb. We knew that we wanted to get it fitted while we were gone, as when we had a new kitchen put it in our last house, it was a complete and utter nightmare. I hated every moment of getting it installed, although it was great when it was done. So it was instantly no choice for me, let’s have it done while we’re away.
Now while some of you may be thinking that’s nuts, we’ve been there, done that before on a few occasions. We had our old bathroom ripped out and a new one fitted while we were away one Christmas, while on another occasion, the central heating was re-done, and on each occasion it’s been absolutely fine. It’s easier for the guys doing the work, as they don’t have to worry about us being in the way or having to get things put back into a reasonable state every day when they finish. Equally, the work won’t be unsupervised either, as Mark’s middle sister will be popping in to keep an eye on the house, and his dad will be signing the work off, as someone has to sign it all off.
The only thing is the plans have all gone slightly wrong in the last few weeks. Work was due to start just as we flew out of the country, but we got a call to say that the plasterer wants to go away for Christmas, so now work is starting two days before we leave – otherwise known as today! It’s not the greatest situation, but it’s only for a couple of days. The only real pain is going to be packing. The plan had been to pack everything in the back room that’s part of the kitchen, then take it with us. Now that packing is going to have to be done somewhere else. Oh well, we’ll roll with it.
It’ll be really nice to have a brand new kitchen to come home to, although of course all the work will really start when we get home. After all, everything then needs to go back into the kitchen. Oh and there’s a small matter of a new carpet being laid in the back room the morning after we get home.... At least it will keep us occupied... and expect to see photos of the new look when we return....
In the meantime, here’s the range that we’ve bought, so you have an idea of what we’re getting:
As you can see, the colour does vary in these photos – I think the truth is probably a bit in the middle of the two… And the tiles we’ve got – but without the leaf design ones, they were stupid money!
And, for comparison purposes, here’s what it looks like now – albeit with the place pretty much stripped out – but you get the idea.
The back room – our kitchen is open plan and goes straight into our back room The kitchen itself
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Wow, it'll be so exciting to return to a whole new kitchen! Not so exciting to put it all together, but well worth it to not have to deal with the mess while it's being installed. Can't wait to see you both on Saturday. Maybe our paths will cross before that as I'll probably be in Epcot Thursday and Friday evenings.
Gorgeous sunrise. Sometimes it's worth it to be awake early.
I think it's a great idea to have your kitchen changed out while you're away. Brilliant!
And I'm glad you get to have your first WDW meal with Heather! And at Beaches and Cream no less. That's the right way to start out a trip!
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there's a rivalry between the English and the Welsh, the English and the Scots, the English and the French - you get the idea! 
I guess it's down to centuries of battles with just about every nationality over the years.. 
I hope it'll be a girl, as another Queen would be neat. 
I’ll be sure to post photos when we get to that part in the trip report, but until then, you’ll have to wait to see them… 
) and all the British (and German 
I hated every moment of getting it installed, although it was great when it was done. So it was instantly no choice for me, let’s have it done while we’re away. 
It’s not the greatest situation, but it’s only for a couple of days. The only real pain is going to be packing. The plan had been to pack everything in the back room that’s part of the kitchen, then take it with us. Now that packing is going to have to be done somewhere else. 
At least it will keep us occupied... and expect to see photos of the new look when we return.... 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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