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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Oh my goodness, that really was the sweetest conversation ever - I loved that!
I was seriously wanting to pinch his cheeks or something, he was so adorable!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad the baby is doing so well after surgery!
How great you were finally able to get your cheese and pretzel! Dinner looked yummy!
Dinner was delicious, and that cheesy pretzel was amazing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Sounds like a good day! Your conversation with the little boy was so cute! First of all - how nice is it that he was concerned that you were sitting alone? Secondly, the Dad letting him come over to talk with you was pretty special too.
Glad you finally got your pretzel WITH cheese!
Dinner looked yummy - even without knowing exactly what things were!
I thought he was so sweet. I should have asked him his name, but he never asked mine, so I didn't think about it until he left.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Glad your nephew made it through the surgery. Pixies for his recovery.
That conversation with the little boy was the cutest thing EVER!!!! Aside from the pretzel episode, sounds like a much more enjoyable day in the wheelchair.
It was definitely less painful, I should have listened to reason earlier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad Toby is doing well! Sending lots of long-term do-well Don't fret over the lack of notes. I had trouble taking any at all during this past trip as my family was along and I didn't want to neglect them. Then I was too tired at night to do much more than a brief outline. I'm so glad you got that pretzel with cheese. Stefanie once got a bit grumpy because we also were having the same trouble getting the pair. I had to laugh at your description of David's dinner at Tutto Italia.
Your comment about laughing at the description of David's dinner had me cracking up laughing. I hadn't realized how vague I had been when I wrote that last night, as I was pretty tired. I went to allears.com and I think David had this:
Polenta Valsugana - Traditional Northern Italian creamy polenta, melted Fontina served with braised short ribs, meatballs
That was the cutest conversation you had with that little boy outside of Star Tours. Sweet little boy was worried about you
I'm glad you finally got your pretzel with cheese!!
He was a cutie pie! And that pretzel was amazing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coop
I'm glad Toby is doing well! That conversation with that little boy was so sweet!
Thank you! And he really was.
Toby Update:
He has been moved out of the ICU and is now in a regular room where we can go visit him whenever we want between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM without a parental escort to get in to see him. His room has been decorated with Iron Man since Iron Man has a heart condition (of sorts) and another aunt of Toby's decided that he was the perfect Superhero to have around Toby right now.
All of Toby's IV's have been removed, and the only thing he is hooked up to right now are an oxygen line, a feeding tube, and his vital signs monitors. He should be able to go home within two or three weeks.
And I got to hold him today, and I cried, because I was so happy that he's okay, and he's so beautiful. Briana met him too, but she wasn't so impressed, lol.
So glad to hear about Toby! Continued for him and his family. I know you mentioned Bri was unimpressed, but if she's anything like my kids that won't last long. She'll soon be obsessed with babies. And poking them in the eyes - because well they have eyes and she'll need to tell you about that fact. Happens all the time with my kids and other babies.
A quick Toby update: he had been moved out of ICU, and my brother and his wife were supposed to be able to bring him home this past weekend. Unfortunately, he is now back in ICU as he has fluid in his lungs and was unable to breathe properly. I am sad that he is back in ICU, but I am so glad that Seattle Children's Hospital is giving him the care that he needs. This is a setback, but his continued health is the ultimate goal, so we're on his schedule, not ours! Thank you EVERYONE for your continued pixies. Our whole family appreciates it.
Okay, not so quick...but it IS shorter than it would have been if I had notes!
Since I have no notes, and pretty much only took pictures of our food, I decided to combine the last two days of our trip, since I have no idea what we did, other than telling you what was on my little touring plan. I think we followed it pretty closely on Friday the 14th, so I'm hoping I'm not giving you totally false information here!
According to my Touring Plan, we spent the morning in the Magic Kingdom, and we would have arrived at about opening time. We were supposed to ride Pirates but I do remember that we skipped it due to it being down or having a long wait. We did ride Haunted Mansion again, and snagged a Dole Whip from Aloha Isle. Then we went to catch a bus to Hollywood Studios.
David rode Rock n Rollercoaster one last time, and then we headed over to the Backlot Express to get some lunch. I know that the QS dining choices aren't great at DHS, but we've always enjoyed our meals at this one, so if you're in a bind and don't want to leave the parks, check it out!
Without notes, sadly, I cannot tell you what we ate. I do distinctl remember being very irritable with some children sitting near our table...or rather with their parents for not making a bigger effort to restrain their children. Those kids were throwing french fries and ketchup all over the floor, running around all the tables (bumping into people and chairs with equal abandon), and smearing ketchup across the table. Here's the kicker: they left that mess for a CM to clean up! They didn't even take their trays over to the trash can to dump the garbage.
I asked David to do that after they left, and he did, and we were going to wipe up the table with napkins, too, but a CM saw us and told us not to worry about it. I told the cheerful man that I was horrified that people acted like that. He shrugged as he started cleaning it up, and said he'd stopped dwelling on it. He had a very positive attitude. I would be furious if I were him! (Have I mentioned I do not have the temperament to be a CM? )
Anyway.
The next thing on the touring plan is "Do anything else we feel like doing." I think that included going over to check on the wait time for the Animation Academy, but we decided there were too many people, and the wait for the Backlot Tour was too long as well. So we meandered back to the front of the park (with me still in my wheelchair of course) and caught a bus back to the resort for a nap.
We headed back to Epcot in the evening, where I dragged David on Soarin' again. (Limited ride choices can lead to getting tired of even the best rides, I've discovered.) I was getting frustrated by my wheelchair confinement, so David suggested we head straight to the UK pavilion for our dinner reservation at the Rose & Crown.
We really enjoyed this restaurant! It was the first time we had eaten there. My only complaint is that there were some pretty drunk guys over in the bar who got progressively louder as the night wore on, and were hitting shamelessly with every girl who walked by, even some underage ones headed for the bathrooms. But that's not really the restaurants fault, so I let it go.
And while Raglan Road's bread pudding still holds my top dessert of Disney spot, the toffee pudding at Rose & Crown holds a VERY close second. Yummy!
We headed back to the resort to pack and get some sleep after that, if I remember correctly.
The next day, Saturday the 15th, was our last day, so we finished up with the packing before we headed out of the room. I am always so afraid we will forget something, I double and triple check every drawer and nook and cranny.
We were running late, as per usual, for our breakfast reservation at 1900 Park Faire, so we took a cab.
Now, here's something I do remember. I had it in my head that our reservation was at 9:30. We got to the Grand Floridian at 9:45, and I was thinking "Hey, 15 minutes isn't so bad!"
But when we got up to the counter to check in, she was having trouble finding our reservation. She kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling...and then she found it. "Your reservation was at 8:35." Ugh! I was SO embarrassed. Pregnancy brain had done it to me again!
I apologized profusely and said that we could just go eat at the parks, but the CM said that if we were willing to wait for a half hour, she could fit us in. I thought that sounded fair, given my mistake, so we settled into the lobby with our little buzzer thing and I tried not to let my memory snafu get me down.
Soon enough we were having our picture taken and being seated. Breakfast was very good, our service was not. I think we were at the very edge of our waitresses responsibility zone, and most of her tables were in another room. We were finished with our meal for a full fifteen minutes before she got around to bringing us our check, and I had to ASK someone to GO FIND HER so that we could leave. It was frustrating, especially since it was our last day at the parks and we were running late already because of my earlier mistake.
Once we were finally on our way, our first ride (other than my "snazzy" wheelchair ride anyway), was Pirates of the Caribbean.
We were just exiting the ride (via the special elevator for wheelchair users) when my phone rang. It was my dad. As soon as I saw his name on my caller I.D., my stomach flipped over, and I had this overwhelming sense of dread. I knew what this phone call was about.
My great-grandmother had passed away in the early hours of the morning. My dad apologized for "ruining" the last day of my vacation, but felt that it would be better to tell me now rather than waiting and telling me as soon as we stepped off the plane that night. I told him not to apologize, and thanked him for calling. David had heard, and as the phone call had gone on, had put his hand on my shoulder and steered the wheelchair into a semi-secluded area so I could talk to my dad without an audience.
I held back the tears until I hung up, because I knew if my dad heard me cry, he would cry, and then that would make me cry harder.
I took a moment after I hung up and let the tears go free, but only a moment. I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself. I knew that it had been coming, so it wasn't a shock, but it's still hard to lose a family member, especially when you're 2500 miles away from the rest of your family and feel like you should DO something.
Once I had it together, David asked me what I wanted to do. We had planned on riding Buzz Lightyear and the People Mover, and David was supposed to ride Space Mountain one last time.
I looked around Adventureland, at all the smiling people, and my heart just felt like a stone, and I couldn't muster up any enthusiasm. "Let's go to Epcot. I don't want to ride anything here."
I needed a few minutes to re-group, and I figured the relatively empty bus would give me that time.
By the time we arrived at Epcot, I was still sad, but I had gotten it under control enough to want to do a couple things before we left. We went into Club Cool and David brought me the drinks he knew I liked, letting me be quiet and giving me space while staying close for emotional support.
We rode Spaceship Earth one more time, and got our traditional last day lunch of fish and chips at the Yorkshire Country Fish Shop. And by then it was late enough that we needed to head back to catch the bus. David did his best to keep me smiling. He did a good job. They were sort of sad smiles, but they were smiles.
Not that I need an excuse to be sad for my great grandmothers death, but I was especially heartbroken because I had been holding out hope that she could hold her great-great granddaughter just once before she passed away. That's probably selfish of me, but it's what I had been hoping for, because my great grandma Betty loved babies, and toward the end, that's the only thing she would show any sign of life or recognition for.
Anyway, we caught the bus back to the airport and made it through security without incident. And then my pregnant brain did another number on me and we took the wrong little monorail train to the wrong terminal and had to turn around and go back to catch the right one. Luckily we still had plenty of time to make it to our gate.
The airport was uneventful other than the plethora of phone calls and text messages I was fielding from The Kaiser Clan (as my family cheerfully refers to themselves as) and friends of the family giving their condolences and asking when I would be home. It was an emotional journey home, and the tears crept up on me more than once as I rubbed my pregnant belly and thought of Briana never knowing her great-great grandmother.
But we made it, safe and sound, other than my stupid ankle. I am going to post a quick wrap up here in a couple of minutes where I explain what all of that was about and sum up the trip.
First of all, thank you all so much for sticking with this trip report. I know it took me forever to finish it, and that it wasn't always the most interesting or cheerful report, so I appreciate you slogging through it!
Second of all, we really enjoyed this trip. There were bad moments, but in a two week vacation, of course there are going to be a few bad moments. They're far outweighed by the positive and magical ones!
I think my favorite part of this trip WAS being pregnant. The PhotoPass Photographers were great about getting us in good poses that showed off my pregnant belly, which will be awesome for the photo book I plan on doing later on of all of Bri's pre-fifth birthday Disney trips. I had wonderful conversations with CMs and other guests alike about my pregnancy and when I was due and whether I was having a boy or a girl.
I'm a middle child, and cursed with the affliction people joke about with never feeling as if I got enough attention when I was a kid. So I'm not going to lie: being pregnant in Disney World did me a world of good. I felt special, because everyone went out of their way to make me feel that way. Little comments that made me smile made this trip just perfect, flaws and bad moments and all. And if that is egotistical and self-centered...so be it!
Some people have asked me if I would ever do Disney pregnant again. My answer? Absolutely! For two weeks? Don't be crazy! My cap is ten days when I am 30+ weeks pregnant. If I was only 6 months along, maybe. My reasoning?
My ankle. When I got home, I was told that I had:
Plantar fasciitis. Apparently that is basically pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue (the plantar fascia) that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes. It's common in runners...and in pregnant women! Ugh. Pain. Severe pain! The doctors orders were just what I expected: REST UP. See, I'm not completely dim. I knew what I was talking about! (The fact that I knew what I should do and didn't do it is another case entirely, but I digress.)
Once I was home and not waddling around Disney for twelve hours a day, it mostly got better. There are days when it hurts when I first wake up in the morning, but the doctor told me the pain will fade completely as my body gets back to normal. Which I think is his nice way of saying "when you aren't fat from being pregnant anymore." Ha! (I reached my pre-pregnancy weight this week, but I'd still like to lose 20 more pounds!)
Our resort, Pop Century, was, as ever, perfect. Our Mousekeeper was a delight. Nearly every CM we encountered (aside from the grumpy one who didn't like my belly pin) were wonderful and kind and enthusiastic. Our trip was pretty great.
I love that when Briana is older we can show her the pictures that we took and tell her that we loved her even then, before she was born.
And yes, our trip ended on a very sad note, but, as I said before, it was not unexpected, and I'm glad my dad let me know what had happened before I logged onto Facebook at the airport, because otherwise that's how I would have found out.
I am not great at summing up these trips in neat little wrap-ups like some people, so I'll leave you all here...at least until my next installment of my pre-trip report on my other thread!
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Pixie Dust
Dinner looked yummy! 
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Holly: 
Deb
Ugh! I was SO embarrassed. Pregnancy brain had done it to me again! 
If I was only 6 months along, maybe. My reasoning?
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