If "Two's a Party", the Three is just right! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Hello All!! I know I haven't even been on my next vacation yet (43 days!!!), but if you have been reading my last PTR (Mission: Family Vacation), you would know that my husband has very graciously let me start planning next years vacation!!! This year we are going with DH family, which I am super excited about. Next years vacation, though, will be just us 3. Hence the title of this PTR. It should be a year to celebrate for us, and while I'm not going to get my hopes up on a year that hasn't even come yet, I am very optimistic and hopeful. But I will explain that in a little bit.
Let me introduce you to the cast:
Me: Shellie-I will be 26 at the time our of next vacation, and I am a HUGE Disney fan!!! My DH says I obsess, which I probably do. If I could live inside the parks, I would in a heartbeat!!!
DH: Mike- He will be 27 at the time of our next vacation. My DH is a big Disney fan too, but not as much as me. We started the beginning of our lives together at Disney so, he knows it's importance to me!
DS: Aiden: He will be 4 almost 5.. My baby is getting too big too fast!!! My Aiden is getting to be a HUGE Disney fan too! He has already been more times in his 3 almost 4 years than I was in my entire childhood, and I consider that a pretty neat thing.
Where will we be staying?
We Will be staying August 6-August 11, 2012 at the POP! Century resort. Dates are subject to change if need be but that is what they are tentively. We will be getting the Regular Dining Plan as well. I just LOVE the DDP. Makes things so much easier.
Since we live in good ole' sunny Florida, we will be driving the 30 minutes it takes to get there.
I have no ADR's yet, but I plan on making quite a few. I know we definately want to eat at Chef Mickeys, Le Cellier, Via Napoli, Donalds Safari, and I'm not sure where else.
Next Up: Our schedule (rough draft) And why we choose to stay at a Disney resort when we live so close by!!
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.
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.
:Thanks: He is a cutie! He is the light of our lives!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Off to a great start! I would stay at Disney even if I lived close by too! Especially with a little one!
Yeah, that is a big reason why we stay. Or just the excuse I use right now lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by toddjodybrent
Your enthusiasm is showing! You are well on your way to a great trip and a great trip report.
How lucky you are to live so close to the mouse!
Hahah yes we are very lucky to live so close, but sometimes that just makes it harder for me to convince my wonderful husband to stay on property, rather that just stay at home.
Now, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, our schedule.
I know I mentioned why I said we were going to be celebrating next year and I don't want to leave anyone hanging. A little background will be needed first. My DH and I met when we were 13. We became best friends
and then we became a couple a few months later. We have been together ever since. Mike asked me to marry him the summer before I went to college at UCF, at Disney, in front of the Castle in the rose garden.
And up to that point, it was the most magical day of my life. We were married 3 years later, the summer before I was a Senior in college. But God must have had something else in mind for us because a month and 13 days after we were married, we found out we were pregnant! For my DH it was mixed emotions for about 10 seconds and then that quickly passed. Me? I was excited from the moment I found out! So, I kept going to school and then there was an outbreak of a really serious and contagious illness that had already claimed the lives of 2 students on the campus and the school was not sure where they contracted it from or what buildings they had been in after they got it. So, my professors told me it would be best if I didn't come on campus until this was cleared up, because I was pregnant. I still did some work and was fine but fell behind when it came to the things I had to physically be there for. So I took a medical leave of absense and found that juggling a new marriage, a new baby, and college, and bills was not easy. So I haven't been back to school since 2007. My DH was never able to start school because he had to work full time to support our family. Now, here is why we are celebrating. My DH is starting college this fall for his very first year and by the time we go on vacation next year, he would have completed his first year of college and will be preparing for his second year!! I am so very proud of him!! We will also be celebrating my baby, Aiden, going into to Pre-K after we come back from vacation. Time flies !!
Now that you have the background on our reasons for celebrating, here is the rest of my PTR!!
Our schedule (tentively) will go as follwed:
Monday-6th- We will check in and possibly try to get the Fantasmic! Dinner reservations at DHS so we can see Fantasmic and eat to celebrate our first night of vacation!
Tuesday-7th-This will be AK day. We will be eatting breakfast somewhere in the park and then spending the day here. We will leave in the afternoon to go back to the resort to go to the pool and freshen up, maybe squeeze in a quick nap, and then head back to AK. Since the park closes so early, we will probably end up going to DTD and shopping and just having a good time!
Wednesday-8th- This will be EPCOT day!! This is DH favorite park! I love it too but MK will always have a special place in my heart. We will probably eat at the resort and then head on over to the park. We will explore FW and then head over to WS as soon as it opens. Probably grab a CS lunch, then head back to the resort for pool, nap, and freshening up. Head back to EPCOT and ride some rides, get some drinks, and then hopefully have an
ADR at either Le Cellier or Garden Grille. Then we will grab a good spot for Illuminations and then head back to the resort.
Thursday-9th- This will be MK day!! Yay my fav!! We will eat breakfast at the resort, and then try to get to the park to see RD. We will start in Tomorrowland like we always do and go from there. We will grab lunch at CS and then go back to our resort for our routine (caught on by now what our routine is?), then head back to continue our day. I hope to have an ADR for LTT or CP. Then ride some more rides, get a good spot for MSEP, Wishes!, and the new picture show on the castle. Then head on back to the resort.
Friday-10th- This will be our last night at the World. We will be going to DHS. I hope to have breakfast at CM and then head on over to DHS. We will ride all of our favs and come back for our routine, then come back and
do some more rides and shows. If we were able to do Fantasmic on our first night, we will go back to the resort early and relax so I can pack and maybe head to the pool. If we didn't get to do Fantasmic the first night, we will wait in line and stay to watch it, then go back so I can pack.
Saturday-11th- We will check out and pack up the car to go home. Maybe hit up a park (EPCOT most likely), stay for a little while and then head back home.
So, we will see if that all pans out with the ADR's that I want!!
Next up: Why we stay on property when we live so close!!
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Hello again everybody!! Sorry, it's been kinda crazy here. I was so sick the other day and couldn't get out of bed and then as soon as I was better, I had to go running around with my DH because he usually works nights so when he has a day off, it's usually spent doing errands.
So, where was I? Oh yes, why we stay on property when we live so close. Well, that tradition probably started when my DH (who was just my DBF at the time) and I went on our first vacation together. We didn't have a ton of money to spend on plane tickets or hotels, or food in another state. But we knew we wanted to get away with each other. We had been to Disney on day trips, mostly when our anniversary came. So, we decided we'd stay at a Disney resort and go to the parks for a couple of days. The very first place we ever stayed together was Coronado Springs Resort. The room was beautiful but for whatever reason, SOMETHING in the room kicked up Mike's allergies. It was ridiculous. When we were in the room, it was like he couldn't breath, but the moment we left, he was fine. Then it started happening to me, and I don't even have allergies!! We were only there for 2 nights so we didn't make a big fuss. But I figured after that whole fiasco, Mike would never want to stay at a Disney resort again. How wrong I was. The next time we went was 4 months later, and this time we stayed a whole week at Caribbean Beach Resort. We LOVED it, and I loved it even more because that's when we became engaged
Now we can skip ahead about 6 years. We had a couple of weekend trips to Disney in between our engagement vacation and last year when we went on our first Family Vacation. I thought it was going to be a fight to get my DH to want to stay at Disney for our son, Aiden's first vacation to Disney. After all, we didn't know how he'd react to sleeping in a strange bed, or getting up early to get to the parks, or riding a bus, ect... But, I was able to convince my DH we SHOULD stay because then if Aiden got cranky in the day, we could go back to the resort and rest and let him take a nap, instead of driving all the way back home or dealing all day with a cranky kid. Well, that convinced him and ever since, when we wanted to go on vacation to Disney, we MUST stay at a resort.
Next Up: Free Dining dates announced for 2012..Do passholders get to take advantage of this??????
So, there is actually a change of plans for next years vacation. It will not be at Disney BUT it will be in NYC! My DH and his family are all from NY and I have never been. DS hasn't been either but that's a give in. So, we are currently cooling our heels, waiting until I can start looking for and booking air fare and hotels. It will definitely be in August or September, and it will be for a whole week (7 nights and 8 days). The cast that will be going is the same going on our trip coming up in August (See my PTR Mission: Family Vacation for details on who they are)
My DSIL and I have been looking up things to do and we will be taking the Sex and the City tour!! So excited!! We will be doing normal touristy things: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, ect... And it will be DS first time flying!! He should love it.
But Disney isn't lost for us after this coming vacation. My DH, DSIL, and DSILBF are all getting a room for a weekend during the F&WF. We will be staying at the CSR and just having a really great time. My DMIL will watch our son (hopefully) and then it will be an adults only trip.
So, that is what is going on with us and the changes that were made. Stay tuned for more as it comes!!!