Our First Trip, MY First TR!!! (Dec. 2010) - Page 14 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 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.
Thank you! It's great to be in a Disney mood again!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Welcome back!
We'll be here!
Thanks1 Always nice to have people around to talk Disney with!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TinkBrat
Congrats on the new apartment!
Thanks a ton! It was a big surprise when it happened, so we've been slammed with packing and unpacking and setting it up. I think we're finally ready to just start living in it, and it's been 3 weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
back! Congrats! We'll be here when the next update hits the boards!
It's coming up right after this! I finally figured out the photos and linking to full sizes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
Congrats on the new place! We'll be waiting when you have time to update!
Thanks! I finally found the time! Don't Tell my Boss. LoL
Quote:
Originally Posted by lonereb
looking forward to reading more about your trip.
I'm looking forward to writing about it. I just finished the initial post which is coming up next, and I'm remembering each and every moment of the trip.
Day 1 of our trip started bright and early at 4:30 AM with a hustle and bustle to get up and ready for our flight which was leaving at 6:10AM. Luckily we don’t live far from the airport, and Mom and Dad drove us to the airport from home. We got to the airport, and instantly I made a rookie mistake. I didn’t have ANY cash on me, as the ATM was inside, so I couldn’t tip the Sky Cap at all. I felt so bad! He seemed peeved, and I was afraid of our luggage not making it to the plane. I was really
stressed out.
I tried to forget about it as we waited for the gate to open and we got some pretty good seats. Beth let me have the Window seat, and we both spent much of the flight sleeping. I’d say I woke up just as the plane flew over land on final approach to Orlando, I think we were near Daytona, but I can’t be sure of what I was looking at out the window. We tried our darndest to find Disney World on the ground from the air, but never really had any luck. I’m not sure you CAN see it from the air on the approach we took. Oh well.
We landed without incident and were FINALLY in Orlando! More than six months of waiting and we were FINALLY there. It felt surreal. Beth and I had talked about going to Disney way back when we dated just after high school. I never thought we’d get the chance, but we were there! It truly was a magical feeling and we weren’t even out of the airport.
I’m not sure, but on our way to the Magical Express, I think I was skipping. I know that once I saw this sign I was grinning like an idiot!
Waiting for the bus only lasted about 10 minutes, and then we were off! It seemed a much shorter ride than I had remembered, but then again, we didn’t have to wait for a rental car, then pack all of our luggage ourselves, then get lost leaving the airport, then get lost finding the hotel… It was much simpler than that. Remind me not to let my Dad navigate during our next trip. I had to take a picture of the bus once we got to the resort, since I didn’t get a good one at the airport.
What a fun Bus!
When we got to the resort the first thing I saw was this giant wreath on the open front door. I had to stop Beth and take a photo. Disney World Decorated for the Holidays? Oh yes! They do it right! I felt like it was Christmas Morning, even though it was just the 2nd of December. I was such a little kid.
Then I turned around and saw the walkway decorated with garland and white Poinsettias. I think Beth got about 15 photos of that front walk welcoming area. I know I took some later on in the trip. But I got one from right in front of the doors just before I got bowled over by a group of Cheerleaders.
From the front door we went straight to the Check in desk, and had no lines No waiting since we did online check-in. The gentleman who helped us out at the desk was great and he explained that we were in the Casitas section of the hotel, which was not originally what we wanted, but once he showed us the map, and explained why we were moved it was ok. He showed us on the map how close we were to el Centro and showed us how to get to the room. We wandered around for a minute or two and then went to find this room. On our way to the room, I took a Panoramic shot from the edge of the lake looking across towards the pool area. You can see the Casitas on the left and the Cabanas off to the right side, as well as the marina area.
It’s a really big resort!
We wound up meandering over to our room and when we walked in to see that they had given us a two room suite, we both nearly fainted. One room of the suite had the couch, chair, table, giant flat screen TV, and a bathroom. Through the double door to the other area there was a giant King size bed, desk, another giant Flat Screen TV, and yet another bathroom. We each got our own. And there were about 10 “towel animals” sitting in the room. In the bathrooms, on the counters, on the bed on the couch, on the table, there were a ton! Beth set a bunch of them on the couch and took a few photos of them.
The Bed even had Hidden Mickeys on it! The pillow did, and the accent piece did too. (click for full size)
We decided that since we weren’t going to get many chances on this short trip that we’d wander the resort before heading to the park. What a great decision. The place is truly massive. We wandered around the Casitas section, which they were busy painting. Check out the Wet paint signs.
We found the pool where Beth indulged me and stood by the open air shower so I could take a silly picture. Thanks Babe!
We found a hammock by the lake, which looked really serene with the Pyramid in the background. We knew we’d be heading over to the pool to take a look after we got this shot.
We wandered around the Casitas some more and soon found ourselves walking into a whole new area by the Ranchos. We didn’t explore them though, just took a couple of quick shots of the grounds.
They look really cool, but may be a bit too far away from El Centro for our tastes. Especially after getting so spoiled by our room placement on this trip…
After a quick look at the Ranchos we were actually getting a bit bored of wandering the grounds, so we hit up the Pool area, where I got this nice Close Up shot of the Pyramid. If you look close, you can see a large bird of prey on the upper right corner of the pyramid. I think it was a falcon. (Click the pictures for a larger version)
I got a photo of Beth on the bridge over the Waterslide, which we never even used, but next time we sure will. I can guarantee that.
We made a quick walk past the Cabanas where I took another Panoramic photo. We were told that many of the Cheerleaders were staying in the Cabanas so this, along with how close to El Centro we were, made us pretty much OK with our move to the Casitas.
From here, we headed back to El Centro to wander around the shop before we picked up a bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for lunch and our afternoon of fun.
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.
For the life of me I cannot figure out why my name and Blog's address are on these photos. I know I set that up for images I use on my blog, but I removed all of those from m account. So it's possible that these images may go down for a while as I fix that.
After my last update on this TR, I lost the Thumb drive which contained the Word File with all of my notes, and I've been too depressed about it to start compiling from memory.
At least the photos are all safe, but all of my notes about where we went and what we ate are all gone.
I know I could go from memory, because I can still recall the trip when I close my eyes, but it has seemed a daunting task. It makes me want to go again (can't afford it) and it makes me want to cry, because that's not all I had on that thumb drive.
Thanks everyone for reading my first try at a TR, but it just didn't work out for me.
Perhaps next trip I'll have better luck with notes.
About This Page: 
TinkBrat
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
back! Congrats! 
We'll be here when the next update hits the boards! 
PassPorter Guide Author
I'd be so upset if that happened to my notes as well. 
Linear Mode
