We Definitely Need a Vacation - PTR - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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This time next week I’ll be in the air on my way to WDW!!!! So stinking excited!!!! Anyway, here’s some more of the excitement we have planned:
5/9 – Day 4: We will be spending this day in the parks J We’re gonna start the morning at Animal Kingdom and take in some of the attractions we haven’t been on in awhile (It’s Tough to Be a Bug & Kali River Rapids hopefully). Depending on how the day goes, we may or may not stay for the Jammin’ Jungle Parade. At some point in the afternoon or early evening, we’re going to head to MagicKingdom. DH wants to check out MSEP that night and they have EMH until 2:00 am!
5/10 – Day 5: This is the other day we will be spending off-property. We’re driving over to CocoaBeach. DH wants to visit the big Ron Jon shop and just hang out on the beach. Can’t complain about that!!! (Any suggestions of good (local) places to eat in CocoaBeach would be appreciated J) We likely won’t visit any of the parks unless we just get back to Orlando extremely early.
5/11 – Day 6: EPCOT, EPCOT, EPCOT!!! We are so stoked that we will be here for the Flower & Garden Festival!!! We were able to attend in 2009 also and loved it, so it’s amazing that the timing worked out so that we’ll be there for it again this year. DH is especially stoked to see the Toy Story topiaries. We have an ADR at Garden Grill for dinner which we’re pretty excited about. We tried to get into Garden Grill while we were at WDW in December but could never get in.
5/12 – Day 7: The start of the Scavenger Hunt! I’m a wee bit nervous about this. I think it will be completely awesome, but of course it would be nice to do well too. We have a breakfast ADR at Kona Café since it’ll be a busy day, and we have to check in for the Scavenger Hunt at MK at 10:00. Once we finish MK we’ll head to another park to complete another part of the hunt…but I think 2 parks is the max for us in one day when it comes to the Scavenger Hunt J. Depending on how tired we are, we may try to visit a park this night…but I doubt it!
5/13 – Day 8: Day 2 of the Scavenger Hunt! We have another breakfast ADR (this one’s at Kouzzina—never been here, so I hope it’s good) since time is of the essence with the scavenger hunt. We’ll finish the last 2 park hunts this day and probably go to the awards ceremony at 8:30. EPCOT has EMH until midnight, so we might try to end the evening there depending on what our energy levels are like.
5/14 – Day 9: This is the first day of Destination D, so our whole day is basically planned out for us. I’m really looking forward to the programs about “Weird Walt Disney World” and the “Disney World that Never Was.” We have breaks at lunch and dinner time to eat, so I think we’re going to head over to MK during these times to eat and walk around some (the Destination D event is at the Contemporary, so it’s a quick & easy trip). If we’re feeling particularly crazy, MK is open until 1:00 am…don’t see that happening!
5/15 – Day 10: Last day of Destination D! Again, our whole day is basically scheduled for us, except for our lunch/dinner breaks, which we’ll probably take at MK again. There is a program about Disney Music on this day that I’m really looking forward to. Should be super fun! Again, MK is open late (EMH until 2:00 am) so we’ll see if that factors in at all…probably not likely!
5/16 – Day 11: L This is our final day…our flight leaves around 5:00 pm, so depending on how exhausted we are, we will either have a leisurely morning of packing at the resort or get up early and try to get in one last hurrah at one of the parks…we’ll just have to see how it goes.
WOW! Now that I’ve typed all that up it seems a bit overwhelming! We’re really looking forward to it though and I know we’ll have an AMAZING time.
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Countdown:
7 - 7 lands are in both the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom
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*Shena & Ryan*
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Thanks for the tip! We are looking into that right now....definitely sounds awesome! Today is our first major packing day, so chaos is reigning supreme in our house
Today's Countdown Link:
6 - 6 dining options can be found on Main Street USA
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*Shena & Ryan*
Check out our PTR for our upcoming Christmas trip to see Mickey!
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