Ditching the Hubbies for Mousefest - Final Thoughts COMPLETED 3/4/08 - Page 9 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Thanks for sharing the pictures of the BC. I wanted to make it over there to see the decorations, but ran out of time. I met so many PPers at the MF kick off. It was so much fun! and Karen - you look just fine from the back!
Phew! I just did a marathon catch-up on this report. Glad you liked the visors! Even more glad there's no embarassing phot of me handing them out... I see how you all are about photos! Can't wait to hear about the parade - I had so much fun sitting with both of you!
Once we made it back to the Magic Kingdom via the bus from the Boardwalk, we decided that it was time to get something to eat. We headed to Casey’s Corner to get us some hot dogs, fries and drinks. Tiff and her hubby always come to Casey’s on their trips as a tradition, but this is the first time I had eaten at this CS. I will be returning most definitely!! We sat outside and people watched and enjoyed our yummy dinner. After a quick bathroom break, we made our way into Liberty Square, as the Haunter Mansion with the new enhancements was calling our name. Along the way, Tiff indulged me in taking some more photos of the Castle from a different vantage point.
(I actually just got this pic enlarged to an 11x14 for my scrapbook room! Looks awesome!!)
We made our way to the HM and there was about a 15 minute wait. No biggie! We got in line and just chatted to pass the time. Once again, we were asked by some people in line what Mousefest and PP were. We were more than happy to fill them in. The wait time was pretty accurate and we finally made it into the stretching room. After repeating the script word for word, we got into our doom buggy. We loved the new updates throughout the ride. The Imagineers did an awesome job!! After HM, we headed into Fantasyland as Wishes started. We watched for a bit and then headed into It’s a Small World. Even though the song will get stuck in your head, I always have to ride it at least once. It’s just a must in my book. We took a ton of pictures like always but will only share a couple.
Now after hearing the story from Eileen the previous day, we paid close attention to the bagpiper to see if he was playing his own little tune. Tiff and I both heard it, and I texted Eileen afterwards to tell we would back her up. Next on the agenda was Mickey’s Philharmagic. We had a little bit of a wait, but we were soon enjoying Donald’s adventures in 3-D. As we were leaving, I called Eileen to see where everyone was and she told us that they were sitting at a table by Casey’s. We headed in that direction.
We found them easily and sat down to chat for a bit as we were waiting on a couple of people. Lesley and Terri were there as well. We talked about the Merry Mixer. I forgot to mention in my previous update that as we were leaving, they gave each of us a DVC pewter Christmas ornament. After we mentioned it, Terri said she wished she would have gone. I still had mine in my bag so I gave it to her since I wasn’t really a DVC member and she was.
Eventually everyone arrived and we headed over ot see the first showing of the “Twas the Night Before Christmas Show. I didn’t get to see it the last time I did MVMCP so I was pretty excited. Tiff and I both took a ton of pictures. Don’t worry, I won’t post them all. The show did use the animated characters even with Chip and Dale.
We saw Karen (mattnkatsmum) and her DH Steve as they were leaving and we stopped for a minute to talk with them. We headed over to get some cookie and cocoa afterwards and to get a game plan on what to do next. We saw Robin (RobinKay6573), as well as Yvonne (TinkerBelz) and her family while we were there. We were headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic, and they tagged along. While we are waiting to enter the theater, Yvonne and Sam wanted to do go see the Castle Show and asked if Kassie could hang with us. Not a problem.
After the show, we walked back into Fantasyland and saw one of the dance parties going on with the step-sisters. We decided to stop and watch for a bit. First, we noticed that Anastasia from dinner the night before was the same. Second, they were playing some good tunes and we were all doing a little boogie on the sidelines. Well Drizella saw the group of us dancing and called us out into the dance floor. Karen, Tiff and I went out and were just dancing and hopping around like fools but we made that dance party rock!! Now Eileen was the photographer for this little event and we are just waiting for those to make an appearance in Karen/Sharon’s trip report. So….stay tuned!!!
After finishing our little dance party, it was time to head to find a spot for Holiday Wishes. We headed toward Main Street. Tiff took Kassie to find Yvonne and Sam and we got a spot smack dab in the middle of Main Street and waited for the festivities to begin. Tiff arrived just in time, and we were all mesmerized in the spectacular fireworks. Now I am still working on using the DSLR with fireworks but here are some that didn’t turn out too bad.
Now after the fireworks, Tiff and I had to head over to the Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade to co-host the MVMCP PassPorter Parade Mingle with Jennifer and Dave. Along the way, we ran into Sue and Steve, as well as Bill. We stopped to chat for a minute but then headed onto our original destination. Little by little people began to arrive. Dave arrived and started handing out PassPorter Pal pins. We finally met up with Jennifer and gave her a hug. I didn’t take any pictures as we were just mingling, introducing ourselves to people and just chatting away. This guy and a couple of buddies showed up to entertain our group while we were waiting for the parade to begin.
Soon we heard the beginning music of the parade and Tiff and I grabbed some pavement next to Sara and Terri. Had a great time as the sideline commentary was hilarious.
After the parade was over and finding a way off the pavement, we spent some more time mingling with the group. A few pictures were taken, and a group of us headed off to catch the last show in front of the Castle.
After talking for a bit a longer to the CLT and others, Tiff and I headed out as it was just a little before midnight. We knew the wait for the bus would be long. I grabbed a couple pictures of the Iced Castle, and we headed back to the resort.
Coming Up: Yuletide Fantasy and Wandering Around the Resort
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Dawn - thank you for refreshing my memory about the trip to Philharmagic - and thanks again for the lovely ornament!!! That was so sweet of you to give me that DVC ornament.
I just read your report from the start. I'm really enjoying it and all your pictures. It sounds like you had a great time meeting all the passporters. Can't wait to read more.
Liz
Dawn - I still haven't eaten at Casey's, but the location as a meeting place. I've sat outside there so many times in my last 2 trips with fellow PPers. One of these days I need to actually eat there!
Just got caught up on your TR! What a great time you're having! The MVMCP sounds and looks like so much fun!! Hope to be able to enjoy it some day. Hurry back with more!
P.S. I love the pic of the castle you enlarged and put in your scrapbook room!
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Lots of terrific characters, Passporters galore --- can't wait to hear about MVMCP! 
MVMCP PassPorter Style
Tiff and her hubby always come to Casey’s on their trips as a tradition, but this is the first time I had eaten at this CS. I will be returning most definitely!! We sat outside and people watched and enjoyed our yummy dinner. After a quick bathroom break, we made our way into Liberty Square, as the Haunter Mansion with the new enhancements was calling our name. Along the way, Tiff indulged me in taking some more photos of the Castle from a different vantage point. 
Now Eileen was the photographer for this little event and we are just waiting for those to make an appearance in Karen/Sharon’s trip report. So….stay tuned!!!
Fantastic pictures too 
the location as a meeting place. I've sat outside there so many times in my last 2 trips with fellow PPers. One of these days I need to actually eat there!
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