Four Days Off Christmas Edition Complete 1/13/11 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Airfare and room booked--check
Days off request submitted--check
ADRs booked--check
Keys to the Kingdom booked--check
DME paperwork--check
Owner's Locker delivery--check
Packing . . . haven't even thought about starting, the weather is so variable I'm going to have to wait until the absolute last minute! I hate the idea of having to carry around a huge jacket all day until it gets cold. And miser that I am I hate renting a locker. SO I bought a long underwear shirt at Sam's. Hopefully that, and a turtleneck topped with a T shirt will be enough. I'm going to have to throw my scarf and hat in my bag too!
Looks like you're all set. I'll be there in 3 weeks and am worried also about the weather. I hate to be cold, but also hate packing and carrying winter gear.
Sounds like you about set to go, except the packing. I know what you mean. I have no idea what to pack. Every time I check the weather down there it changes. I'm not going to complain because the temps. keep getting higher.
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AHHHH! Disney changed their park hours . . . MK now opens at 8am everyday that week. As a result my 8:20 CP reservation is after the park opens. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not. I'm going to guess that sometime this week I'll decide to cancel it. I checked to see if they had opened up earlier reservations, but it doesn't look like it.
I also decided to book a Candlelight Processional lunch package because I really want to sit down and watch it this year, Trace Adkins is the narrator on Monday and I'd like to be close enough to see him. I managed to score a 2:05 ADR at Biergarten with a 5pm Candlelight Processional viewing. (I had three choices for a reservation around 2:30pm so there are still spots available--Tokyo Dining and Marrakesh also had availability.) Sounds good to me. It probably also means that I'll cancel my Hacienda reservation and plan on a Counter Service dinner. Maybe I'll give the new and improved Cantina a try closer to Illuminations. CP packages also include VIP viewing for Illuminations, which is great. Undiscovered Future World had VIP viewing near Italy that was a pretty good spot.
I'll be racing to get to Epcot from All Star Sports. This might be a situation where a cab is the best bet . . . a cab to the Boardwalk and an speedy entrance into the International Gateway. It all depends on how long it takes me to get from the airport to Sports. (Which I started to make into an acronym and then thought better of it.) If I have at least 45 minutes before my reservation I'll take the bus. If I have less time than that I'll take a cab. I figure I'll be okay as long as I arrive close to 2:05 even if I'm a little late.
After lunch I should have about 1.5 hours before I need to be seated for the CP. I'm going to plan on seeing the Mexico Story Teller at 3:20 and the Norway Story Teller at 3:50 before heading back to the American Garden theatre for 4:30. The CP should be over at about 5:40 so I'll be off to hear the 5:45 Hanukkah story and 6pm Kwanzaa story outside the American Adventure. I'm going to try and make Morocco for 6:35. I've seen the storytellers at China, Japan, Germany, and Italy. I'm going to skip France, the UK and Canada as France and Canada's last tellings are at 5:15. Besides it leaves something to do next year!
I should have about 1.5hrs before I need to find the Illuminations viewing spot.
After Illuminations I'll be heading back to Sports to get a good night's sleep! Tuesday morning I have to be up early for my KTTK tour!
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Your timing of everything reminds me of my solo trip! I had everything down to the minutes as to what to do. But hey, you're by yourself so there's nobody there to roll their eyes at you!! Keep your eye on that watch and you should be just fine!
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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