Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue **Updated 12/23~~2 Times** - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Well - I would have originally qualified until Matt made it a requirement to drink ALCHOLIC beverages in WS - since I am unable to do that.... I am not sure if I can join - but I want to!!! Pretty please? Can I get a AB waiver??
By the way, I think we've derailed Andy and Melissa's thread so much they've lost it. Loflins come back! I have big pretzels, FAB, and Stitch pins to curry your favor!
No no no we've haven't completely lost it I've been busy this week with the Book Fair here at school, so by the time I get home I'm POOPED! I'm here till 8pm tonight because it's our Christmas Program and the bookfair is open during it. We'll shoot out a lot of updates this weekend I promise!!
I'm so bummed I was hoping for an update before I left for The World on Saturday, but I guess I'm going to have to do all of my catching up when I get back! You just better be working hard on this TR while I'm gone
Just getting caught up. How that Angie surprised you! You guys sure had a great time at the MVMCP. Boy was cold that night. That's the night we did the Illuminations cruise, and it was freezing, but we still had a great time. We also had our share of the hot chocolate and cookies at the party the Sunday before.
Our second morning we woke up to our anniversary day
Andy was up first after the wake up call. He went over and opened up the curtains which blinded us both because it was BRIGHT out there! Andy took this picture of the sun coming up over Bay Lake.
We had gone to bed at like 2am, and now we were up at 7, getting ready fairly quick for DHS EMH
Who was it that said "I can sleep when I'm dead"
I'm pretty sure that was Eileen, and she was right
On the way out I asked Andy if he wanted his present now or if he wanted to wait until later that day.
Of course being the people that we are, having no patience whatsoever when it comes to giving gifts, I said "uhhh YEAH!"
So we grabbed the gift bags and decided that since I needed some coffee really bad to get going that we'd head downstairs, grab coffee and exchange presents and then grab a cab to DHS. We stopped at Contemporary Grounds for our coffee. I just got a plain coffee with the intent of sweeting up to my level of liking (which is basically coffee cake). Andy had a mocha. While it served it's purpose of waking me up, and I did finish it all by the time we got to DHS, it tasted like poop. I mean, it wasn't THAT bad, but compared to our usual Starbucks (or even my coffee here at home, with my international delight flavoring), it was not very tasty.....
So we sat and sipped our coffee, and exchanged our presents
Andy and his card....
I had gotten him a little digital recorder so that he could use it with his music, but also, as a gag gift of sorts, so that he could try to catch some EVPs when we went to the St. Augustine Lighthouse later in the trip I also gave him a new necklace b/c his had bit it in the ocean a few years ago. It's leather and has a shamrock pendant since Andy's part Irish.
I loved my gifts I've already gotten many compliments on my necklace.
Then it was my turn....
I read my card first and then pulled out a jewerly sized box from the bag
I was totally not expecting what I got! It was a very very pretty and shiny diamond pendant necklace. I've never had a diamond necklace like this one before. AND it matches my earrings that I got last year!!!
Your Casey's earrings???
Yes yes I also got a cute CM pin from Andy. It's the one that CM's receive after so many years of service, and this particular one was for "five" years of service.... very cute right?? (This was our 5th remember? ) It has Donald on it who ranks up there behind Stitch as one of my favs
So after exchanging presents we went out and grabbed a cab. I continued sipping my crappy coffee and admiring my presents The cabbie was very nice (as they always seem to be) and pointed out some wild turkeys on the side of the road. One of us, I think it was me, made the comment that those birds should have more sense than to be out trotting on the side of the road mere days before Thanksgiving!!!!!
We made it to DHS right as they were letting EMH folks in, and this time I don't think we got behind any morons at the ticket thing!! We headed straight back to Toy Story Insania. We decided to just go through the stand by line b/c it was like 15 minutes or so....and we knew we wouldn't have time to use a FP b/c we were heading out in about an hour.
In line we talked trash to Mr. Potato Head... Hey............................................... WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME???
We were in our little car fairly quick and headed off to win some beavers!
We got stuck a couple times and when you get stuck on Toy Story Insania the screen just puts up 0 point items, but everybody, for some reason, including me, continues shooting. I mean, really, aren't our arms already tired enough as it is???? This time Andy was able to beat me. That turd! He got a cat and I got a beaver.... no comment
After Toy Story we went over to RnRC. The FP return time was too late for our plans, but the standby was NOTHING! I think this was the first time we've ever gone through the standby line for this ride.
I took this shot of the Tower from in line....I like seeing it from different perspectives.
Once inside I looked up and really liked the ceiling...
And then I noticed they've added these tshirts....
I really wanted to break glass and get this one.....
Then I made Andy take my picture with the poster.....
Since I'm a dork like that
When we got in our car, we didn't have much wait time...
It seemed like the second we pulled up, we left! I guess the traffic had cleared in front of us!
Seriously though, we stopped, and the next thing I knew, Stephen was counting down!! The first like 3 seconds of that ride are the BEST! And I forget how much I do love it!
After RnRC we walked over to the TOT and walked right on to it, too!
We had some newbies, but I wouldn't let Andy scream out b/c there were newbie kids.
We had a great bellhop, too. He was always giving weird looks and stared people down while the speech went on before you board. He was creepy!
I hate when you get a dud. What's up with that!?!
After the Tower we decided to head on out to the MK. On the way we took a few more photos.... We were taking a self shot when someone spotted us and took a couple for us. He was all into it too. Like turning the camera this way and that... I was reminded of Austin Powers!!!
My pictures...
And then the Austin Powers fellow
All we needed was him saying "No no, YES!"
At the exit we had to take a pic at the tree, as well
And again, our ploy worked, as someone took a picture for us!!!
Hey I don't feel bad for that b/c I offer all the time when I see folks trying to take a picture or that one person the only person not in the picture...
That's why you have a kid. "Take our picture kid"
You joke, but I've seen people do that
We had to sprint to the bus, it always seems to happen at least once. But there was a MK bus waiting to leave So we hopped on, and rode to the TTC....
The necklace was such a great surprise! Sounds like a great beginning to your anniversary! I agree the coffee lacks...it lacks so much i had to bring an extra big creamer from home to be able to drink it!
Yea i noticed those new shirts this last trip too and the whole time i was thinking...those are new right??? *L*
Cant wait to hear more about your anniversary day!
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I can't wait to hear about the rest of your anniversary day! Great start so far. And I also hate when you get a dud on ToT. I always like to ask the bellhop for extra towels or an extra pillow for my "room".
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No no no we've haven't completely lost it 
I've been busy this week with the Book Fair here at school, so by the time I get home I'm POOPED! I'm here till 8pm tonight because it's our Christmas Program and the bookfair is open during it. We'll shoot out a lot of updates this weekend I promise!!
I was hoping for an update before I left for The World on Saturday, but I guess I'm going to have to do all of my catching up when I get back! You just better be working hard on this TR while I'm gone 
that Angie surprised you! You guys sure had a great time at the MVMCP. Boy was cold that night. That's the night we did the Illuminations cruise, and it was freezing, but we still had a great time. We also had our share of the hot chocolate and cookies at the party the Sunday before.
Can't wait to hear more!!!!
Looking forward to more
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