Just Keep Swimming - Our First Disney Trip TR - COMPLETE 3/21!! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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I really have to get better at this whole updating thing. But we are in the home stretch. Only two more days to go including this one.
I woke up on Thursday morning early and feeling like I got hit by a train. Remember how I didn't feel well before my Cinderella dinner? Well it hit. I figured I had my usual vacation cold that I tend to get. Not to mention all the emotional trauma between having had almost all my money stolen and turning down a proposal. Yeah, it wasn't a good feeling.
Zac got up and we got dressed planning on going to Hollywood Studios. But I just didn't want to go anywhere. I was ridiculously anxious and sick feeling. Zac tried to convince me that we'd just have fun and deal with things when we got back. In the meantime he was nice enough to go get me some oatmeal from the food court. I talked to Mom on the phone while he was away. More getting upset and her trying to convince me not to let this ruin the rest of my trip. I knew she was right, but it was still so hard.
Zac came back with my oatmeal and I got off the phone. It took a few spoonfuls because I knew I had to eat something. It was about 10 AM at this point and I felt like I was wasting away the morning. But there was a knock at the door. Which was very curious. I hoped it wasn't the police coming back about the theft. I looked through the peephole and saw a cast member with a large box and balloons. I opened the door and let her in.
She said that she had something for me and went over to the table in our room. She unpacked the box. There was a big Port Orleans cooler bag stuffed with candies, two rice crispy treats, a Princess photo frame, a Princess Minnie plush, a signed photo from Mickey and Minnie, and I'm sure other things I can't recall. She also unpacked two large Mickey mugs with more treats in them and of course the balloons. I wish I had remembered to take a picture but I was so stunned that I forgot.
I asked the cast member who it was from and she said it was from the resort staff. I was so touched. This was real Disney magic and it came when I most needed it. When I checked my bank account afterwards I also noticed they credited my account for the resort portion of the fraudulent reservation as well as another hundred dollars. I called the front desk to ask what it was and they said it was to make up for my trouble. Well, I still couldn't access the money because my card had been deactivated, but it was good to know that something was being done.
I decided that I was brave enough to venture out of the room and we decided to go to Downtown Disney before Holllywood Studios because we wanted to see the Lego store. We waited for a boat which wasn't far from our room. It was nice to get some warm air. When we got to Downtown Disney we wandered through the different shops before getting to the Lego store. I had to stop often because my cold was making me dizzy.
The Lego store was really cool. I liked seeing all the different lego sets and the Lego Woody and Buzz. We decided to take a break and build Legos. I'm not sure what I built but it looked pretty cool and helped take my mind off my anxiety. I remember being hungry afterwards but I can't remember what we got to eat, if anything. This day was really fuzzy because of the cold and the emotions so please bear with any inconsistancies you read.
When we were done looking around Downtown Disney we decided to head back to the resort and then to Hollywood Studios.
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We stopped in our room before going to Hollywood Studios. I can't quite remember why. I think it might have been to have lunch and take a break before HS. I'm fairly certain that was it. When we got to the room I saw that we had a towel animal waiting on the windowsill for us! It was of a Scottish Terrier. I was really touched because we had a Scottish Terrier named Jill and she passed away February 15th of that year. I know it sounds silly but I felt as if Jill was trying to cheer me up in her own way.
When we were rested enough we got a bus for HS and made in there in good time. I really wasn't feeling well but I wanted to make our dinner ADR for 50's Prime Time and see Fantasmic. We wandered aimlessly for a little bit before finding the Muppets area and going to see the Muppet 3D show. It was so funny! We went into a gift shop afterwards and I bought some pin backs for my pins because I have my Magic Music Days one at home that lost its backing.
I said that I wanted to see the Beauty and the Beast show next so we went over to that area. At this point I really wasn't feeling well and was looking forward to the sit down. Even if the show was outside. We managed to get a decent seat and see the show. It was pretty good although I'd have loved to see the original on Broadway. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was well.
It was getting pretty late at this point and we had an early dinner reservation. We decided to head over. PTC was absolutely mobbed. I couldn't have picked a worse time to make an ADR. I knew it wasn't an ideal time but I didn't want to run too close to Fantasmic. We must have had a half hour wait and I needed to sit. Every seat was taken so I sat on the floor by the television. We finally got called and were taken to our table.
We were seated by a large family with a small child and a toddler. The toddler kept screaming and all his parents would do would be to give him his pacifier. They didn't even try finding out what he wanted or needed. I'm not a parent, and I don't pretend to be, but if I had a kid I'd try to talk to them, not just shove a pacifier in their mouth. Our server was nice enough but didn't play the part of cousin at all. Maybe because he saw how miserable I looked. I should have asked him to be more in character because that really would have helped me feel better. But I was just feeling really awful. Instead I got the Tinkerbell punch because I really wanted the souvenior cup and light. I also did the kid's coloring page because it helped me keep my mind off how I was feeling.
I got the chicken caesar salad and I can't recall what Zac got. It was yummy, but I didn't get through too much of it before I was full. We decided to get dessert to go because I just wanted to go back to the room and lay down. We got the smores to go because they sounded really tasty. As you could probably guess, I decided to skip Fantasmic. It really disappointed me but I was half asleep at this point and wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway.
I can't quite recall what I did when we got back except for packing. I remember the anxiety coming back. Tomorrow would be our last day and we would be flying home that night.
Up Next: This is what happens when I get the camera...
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