A Disney Trip 10 Years in the Making. PTR 10/14 - 23/2011 - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Hope you and Evan enjoy the show! Is this Evan's first theater visit?
Quote:
Originally Posted by shanmac
Hope you enjoyed your Jolly Holiday! Love that show!
Thanks Everyone. We had a really nice time at the show. There were a few things I liked better in the movie (how could anyone compare to Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke?) and some of the story line was a little beyond Evan.
Spoiler Alert - stop reading if you don't want to know about the show
.
.
.
.
.
Evan was pretty much mesmorized by the show. He has never been to a play before. At the end he was dancing and hooting and hollering and clapping.
When Bert sings "Step in Time" he actually climbs up the wall, then onto the ceiling and does a tap dance up there. - Way cool. Evan's jar dropped.
But the true beauty was at the very end when Mary Poppins flys out over the audience. You could just hear the excitment in the building. Evan was like "Look Mommy she's flying" and he was pointingand standing up. "She Magical". "Is she going to fly over us?" Mary flew about 5 feet away from us. I just had tears in my eyes - He was so excited and so totally believed.
I thought to myself "THIS" is why the performerd do what they do, for moments just like that.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
We only half day kindergarten so it won't go down much but once in 1st grade I'm hoping the before and afterschool program will help a lot. I don't know how you do it with 2. I had considered a second child but honestly couldn't afford day care for both (not to mention college when that comes around) Hey at least we don't a wedding to pay for.
It's tough, but we manage. If it wasn't for needing my health insurance to pay for my medication I could probably stay home with them.
So glad you had a great time seeing Mary Poppins. Maybe I'll take Dylan to see The Little Mermaid at The Muny (outdoor theater) this year since you had such a good experience with Evan.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Glad you enjoyed MP! We saw it in NY shortly after it opened and all LOVED IT! I remember how magical Mary flying over the theater was. Great memory for you & Evan! And certainly a sign of many memories to come on your WDW trip - he'll love all the magic there!!
Little more introductions of all my traveling companions
Today’s date: 04/12/11
Pre trip report Part Seven
Well I haven’t had time to look for the old and I got slammed at work for a little bit but I didn’t want to hold this up any longer so here we go…
I thought at this point I’d pause and properly introduce all my traveling companions.
Besides myself – Holly and my Son Evan 4 ½
There will be my mom – Janet.
Also traveling will be my sister Jill, her husband Steve, and their 3 children Aaron, Megan and Eric.
After we made all the plans I said something to my mom about inviting her boyfriend’s family along too.
Her boyfriend Alvin, is NOT a Disney person, or a travel person in general. He hates to fly, can’t stand the heat, has trouble walking or standing, doesn’t enjoy rides, has no interest in going someplace new and is claustrophobic. He has never been to Disney and doesn’t care about ever going (poor man). About 7 years ago his wife died and his adult daughter, her husband and their 2 sons moved back into his house to “care” for him. Well as time went by they have all stayed there. Her name is Christine and her boys are Bryson and Gunnar. This past winter she went through a tough divorce and is a newly single parent.
Anyway, I said something to my mom about inviting Christine and the boys with us and she spoke to Alvin. He offered to pay for them to come with us and no doubt they said yes.
Some other possible traveling companions might be my best friend and her husband. He is in the Air Force Reserves and usually has his two week duty in October so she may be coming along. Her name is Beth and her husband is Bill. If they come I’ll update you all about it.
So a little bit more about me, I first went to Disney World when I was about 5. I don’t remember too much about the trip except I almost died. I actually look back on it now as an adult and realize how serious it was but as a child, I had no clue.
My mom, sister and I were on the sky ride from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, my Dad brother and sister were in the cart behind us. So we get out of our cart and sorta hang around the exit area waiting for them to come. The ride stopped for some reason or another and my Dad’s cart was about 5 – 10 feet from the platform landing. I was like “come on Dad, what are you doing” and I just start running towards him. I can only imagine what my mom must have thought ; you know how kids can just bolt. That is what I did. I had no idea he was stuck in his cart and I had no idea I was on top of a ledge that was …I don’t know how high off the ground. I was just running like crazy and would have just run right off the end. (This was back in the 70’s and not as safety conscious as things are now). Thank the sweet Lord above that there was a cast member at the end of the platform that practically tackled me. I remember him just grabbing me and locking me in his arms. Again as a child, totally oblivious, but as an adult and now as a parent – very scary indeed, I look back now and wish I knew the cast members name.
I was terrified of the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean on that trip and now they are two of my favorites. The Haunted Mansion was my favorite ride up until my 2006 trip when Soarin’ took my top honors.
Also one of my memories from that very first trip was a Donald Duck change purse I bought. It was made of vinyl and was in the shape Donald’s face and when you squeezed his bill it squeaked. The bill also zippered open/shut. My mom purchased a coffee mug as well and I always liked it so when I moved out – I “borrowed” it.
Since that first trip I’ve been back to “the world” numerous times. I’ve been to Disneyland twice and just booked a Disney Cruise. One of the new weekend trips from NYC in 2012. I’m very excited as this will be a great test to see if I like cruising.
This trip will be Evan’s first and hopefully more eventful and in a better way, than my first trip. He is most looking forward to riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, or as he calls it the “run away train”.
That’s it for today folks.
Coming up next ADR’s and special happenings and park hours, oh my!
I'm all worked up about you almost falling even though it was so long ago and you're fine now. How scary!
Congrats on the cruise! I wish we lived closer to any of the ports, but since I'm stuck in the middle of the country - any of them are too far.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Have a great time at Mary Poppins.
Holly: 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Deb
and I got slammed at work for a little bit 
but I didn’t want to hold this up any longer so here we go…
I actually look back on it now as an adult and realize how serious it was but as a child, I had no clue.
; you know how kids can just bolt. That is what I did. I had no idea he was stuck in his cart and I had no idea I was on top of a ledge that was …I don’t know how high off the ground. I was just running like crazy 
and would have just run right off the end. (This was back in the 70’s and not as safety conscious as things are now). Thank the sweet Lord above that there was a cast member at the end of the platform that practically tackled me. I remember him just grabbing me and locking me in his arms. Again as a child, totally oblivious, but as an adult and now as a parent – very scary indeed, I look back now and wish I knew the cast members name.
Linear Mode
