The "Thank Goodness for Normal" Trip PTR - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Today we had an ADR at LeCellier at 5 so there was no rush to get to the park. We got up and had a nice relaxing breakfast at OPR. Everyone was happy and well fed. In retrospect...we might should have called it a day there. This would not be our best day...but live and learn.
Somewhere between CBR and the entrance to EPCOT DS went from loving carefree child to demon spawn. I suspect it had something to do with his big brother torturing him, but SS is getting good at it and it's hard to catch. Gotta love brotherhood. DS did bring his medium sized Stitch with him so at least he was talking to someone. DS is a HUGE Stitch fan. Just when I thought we were going to have to take DS back to the hotel and let DH and SS have the day to themselves DS runs off. I'm about to have a classic mom meltdown when I see him run into the alien bad boy himself and give Stitch a huge hug.
Now that all was well with the world it was off to SE. We had a good time playing with the games after but it was off to MS and TT. Last trip we had skipped both...not this time. We got a FP to TT and were off to the Green version of MS. I can now say with absolute clarity that there is a really good reason I didn't become an astronaut. I will probably never do this ride again. And I don't think DH will either...but it was fun. Just not fun enough to do again. Then it was off to TT, but before we could get there SS and DH had to take a bathroom break. DS and I sent them off and decided to get a snack.
Why, you ask, would she bother to start a new paragraph here? Because this is where I was reminded why I go to WDW. DS and I sat there with a couple of pretzels and a soda and talked. Just talked, at least as much as we could in between him feeding his alien. But it made me slow down and just smell the roses so to speak. I should probably go during the flower show to do that but oh well. So DS and I were just enjoying being and then SS and DH came over and asked for the rest of our pretzels. DON'T THINK SO...they can get their own peace of mind.
DH decided he wasn't up for TT since he couldn't actually drive a car. DS, SS and I had a blast...especially comparing the ride to DH's driving.
We were off to Innovations. We did both east and west. DS got to learn all about recycling and build a baseball field. SS got to ride the segway and loved it. And DH, DS, and SS did the piggy bank game.
Then it was off to another DS favorite....Figment. And who doesn't like a purple dragon. On the way over we ran into Chip and Dale and DS head butted Chip by accident. It's great the way the characters play along.
We hit Figment and enjoyed the fountains. Then it was a leirsurely stroll over to Canada. SS took the camera over and I have about 40 photos of the monorail going through EPCOT.
You know this just made his day!!!! Nathan's Fav character too!
Yahhh for your Magical Moment.....your little quiet time pretzel break with DS!!!!
We all 4 Test Track!!!! Can't wait to read all about your dinner @ LeCellier (especially since we may try it next trip). We were at Epcot that day too! We ate at CR.
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Sounds like a great start to the trip. Dinner at O'Hana sounded delicious, we are trying it for dinner for the first time in August. Love the pictures of your son and stitch, glad that put a smile on his face. Looking forward to hearing all about Le Cellier.
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