Sarilas' O-fficial Pre-Trip Report -1/2009 (a.k.a. Vacation, Take TWO!) - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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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.

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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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Old 07-13-2008, 03:29 PM   #106
DyanKJ130
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Your ADRs look YUMMO! It's going to be hard to decide which ones to get rid of if you decide not to do the deluxe dining. I do agree that is A LOT of food also! You scored a lot of great stuff online!!
to hear about your dad!
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Old 07-13-2008, 04:11 PM   #107
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great updates
sorry to hear about your dad (sounds like my mil - w/o the colon cancer and aputeed leg - she is a hot mess too)
super cute clothes for the kids
dining sounds wonderful - I usually can't eat all that food either - but you do get hungry walking around parks all day ( just a tip)
thanks for the adr tip 2
hurry back with more please
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Old 07-13-2008, 05:37 PM   #108
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Have the most magical moments in WDW! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest. Unless you think you can eat a whole bunch, I would recommend the regular Dining plan. The deluxe one adds another snack and one bigger meal each day to your meal plan. My in-laws got by with just the regular dining plan added to their tickets and still had an extra lunch, dinner, and snack at the end of the trip. With a hopper pass, you will spend a lot of time waiting to get to the next park...trust me, I've been their waiting on buses to get to either MK/AK/Epcot/or Studios. I've had the hopper pass on two different WDW visits and really didn't like the idea, but it's up to you and your family on whether or not you want to spend time waiting for transportation to the next park. Here's a little pixie dust to help you with the excitement! It won't be long, before you are off on your WDW Vacation!

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Old 07-14-2008, 08:17 AM   #109
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Thank you, all! I can't wait for the Disney shopping package to arrive...

I'm thinking the regular plan is going to be the way for us to go. We're usually more snackers, and with so many opinions (for the 6 of us) everyone's going to be wanting to try different things! We may even keep some of those ADR's and pay out of pocket for lighter meals - we just couldn't eat that many appetizers and such in one sitting! But it would be different if we just went in for a bite and still had t he opportunity to experience the restaurants!
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Old 07-14-2008, 02:02 PM   #110
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I like the idea of paying OOP for the lighter meals. making your decision!
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Old 07-14-2008, 04:34 PM   #111
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I hope your dad is doing better. Your ADRs look wonderful!! I'm jealous of all of your beautiful princess purchases (the DSs just wouldn't go for it!! ).
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Old 07-14-2008, 05:32 PM   #112
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I love all the purchases!
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Old 07-16-2008, 02:33 PM   #113
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Well Dad's home and his doc says we can hold off on dialysis for a little while longer (thank goodness). AND I got the DisneyShopping.com box today! Everything is perfect and my oldest daughter had WAY too much fun playing with the flamingo croquet mallet!
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Old 07-16-2008, 02:54 PM   #114
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Glad that your father is out of the hospital....hope that everything stablizes with his health soon...(my grandfather was the same way, my mom used to have to fight with him to go to the hospital - even if it was for the best).

Love the purchases....I am sure the girls will love everything. Also I think staying with the DDP will work for you. When the kids are small unless they are huge eaters to me I just think that the DxDDP is just so much food....

And we also found that we could experience a restuarant using OOP and just having a little something then going with the full meal...

Can't wait to hear more...
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Old 07-18-2008, 11:03 PM   #115
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January's park hours are OUT! I am so glad... honestly it's been driving me crazy!

EMH's are still not out (though it could be because it's uber late on a Friday night and they just plain haven't gotten to them) but it's a start! And from the looks of things only Sunday and Thursday will have EMH... Guess we'll have to plan on hitting those up for sure (I wonder if ADR changes will be in order...)
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Old 07-19-2008, 02:47 PM   #116
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I am so excited for you and your family. I can't wait to see this through to the end and get everyone's reactions!
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Old 07-19-2008, 09:38 PM   #117
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I am so excited for you and your family. I can't wait to see this through to the end and get everyone's reactions!
Thank you! My husband and two youngest girls are going to be the most overwhelmed; none of them have ever experienced Disney parks! I did get the chance to take my older two children to Disneyland just before I got remarried, but they barely remember anything... I'm giddy with anticipation!
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Old 07-19-2008, 09:52 PM   #118
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Thanks for the points! The kids are going to be 1, 3, 10 and 13 when we go - the two oldest will definitely eat their weight in food portions, but the littlest two will just peck at things. I'm REALLY second guessing the Deluxe Dining Plan... I just don't know if I can swing three TS meals a day! I feel bloated just typing the words!

I really wish there was something like the family suites at one of the Delux resorts - I'd love to stay there but I don't want to be crammed into one room with everyone (even though it would sleep all of us just fine). Having the two tv's and two bathrooms at ASM is really attractive!
AKL has a 2 bedroom suite with 2-1/2 baths, a living room with a pull out sofa and frig, microwave, coffee maker. It will sleep 8 with the sofa.
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Old 07-20-2008, 09:27 AM   #119
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AKL has a 2 bedroom suite with 2-1/2 baths, a living room with a pull out sofa and frig, microwave, coffee maker. It will sleep 8 with the sofa.
I should clarify; I know they have suites/villas, but the family suite isn't like a regular suite... It's essentially just a bedroom and a sitting room that just so happens to fold out into beds! I like the idea of it just being one 'big' room (or two with a door between, however you want to see it- one bedroom with accoutrement) - so I guess what I'm saying is if the Deluxe resorts had something between a standard room and their traditional suites, like the Family Suite (not necessarily something set up for two families, etc.) Just a weeeeee big larger so we wouldn't have to jump right into that ginormous villa!
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Old 07-21-2008, 08:34 AM   #120
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So my plans to work on vacation stuff were interrupted a bit when my husband and youngest child ended up flying to Puerto Rico (where he's from) for the funeral of one of his dearest friends. This friend was living in Ohio (for more than a decade) and was tragically killed by a stray bullet in his own home. They buried him in their hometown, and my husband went and served as pall bearer. Tragic truly is the operative word.

But everyone is now home and I'm back to working on a sort-of-itinerary-thing and made some changes to our ADR's... all that hopefully coming up today!
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