FIRSTS, BIRTHS, and GIRTHS…A September 2013 PTR - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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 have every other Friday off and for 6 months there hasn't been a Friday yet that I haven't spent the entire day running errands. I feel your pain! Congrats on the pool deck, perfect timing since it's supposed to get even hotter here the next few days.
Whew! It's exhausting! I'm really looking forward to the finished pool deck so I can try to soak up some vitamin D before I miss the opportunity!
Summers always seem to operate differently than the rest of the year.
No joke! This half of the year is particularly birthday heavy for us too. It's about once a week through October, then a break until mid November and they pick back up until the end of December!
Summers just get crazy. At least your daughter got to watch a movie. The trip will be here soon and then you won't have to worry about fitting in dinner and a movie night. One less thing to try and do during the week. I can't wait to hear about the surprise and how it goes. I'm struggling to keep my own surprise. I'm hoping hearing about how well yours went will keep me motivated to keep mine!
Summers just get crazy. At least your daughter got to watch a movie. The trip will be here soon and then you won't have to worry about fitting in dinner and a movie night. One less thing to try and do during the week. I can't wait to hear about the surprise and how it goes. I'm struggling to keep my own surprise. I'm hoping hearing about how well yours went will keep me motivated to keep mine!
OMG it's so hard! I want to tell her so bad!!! I have to keep reminding myself that I put so much work into making it a surprise that I would really be disappointed if I spoiled it.
OMG it's so hard! I want to tell her so bad!!! I have to keep reminding myself that I put so much work into making it a surprise that I would really be disappointed if I spoiled it.
I love that everyone in your family is doing such a good job with helping keep it a surprise. We wanted to surprise Sean, but my MiL looked at him and said, "you're going back to Disney!" I wanted to scream, Chris and I both sighed and decided next trip, they'll find out when Sean finds out! Oh and yes, we did mention that HE didn't know and we were waiting to surprise him...
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I love that everyone in your family is doing such a good job with helping keep it a surprise. We wanted to surprise Sean, but my MiL looked at him and said, "you're going back to Disney!" I wanted to scream, Chris and I both sighed and decided next trip, they'll find out when Sean finds out! Oh and yes, we did mention that HE didn't know and we were waiting to surprise him...
Oh Lord help me, I would've lost my marbles! Actually, two weekends ago, I almost gave the surprise away! I wanted to run to another room and cry! I received an email from DFiL and DSMiL about the plans they finally made to join us in Disney. I said to DH, "Oh look! They just sent us an email about their plans for Disney!" DD was in the room and watching a show on TV and stopped and looked directly at me! I quickly recouped and said, "Not our plans honey, someone Mommy and Daddy know from work." She went back to her show without argument and DH and I looked at each other with OMG faces!!! Now, everyone in the family calls it Dairy Queen (mostly so I don't screw up again)!
Oh Lord help me, I would've lost my marbles! Actually, two weekends ago, I almost gave the surprise away! I wanted to run to another room and cry! I received an email from DFiL and DSMiL about the plans they finally made to join us in Disney. I said to DH, "Oh look! They just sent us an email about their plans for Disney!" DD was in the room and watching a show on TV and stopped and looked directly at me! I quickly recouped and said, "Not our plans honey, someone Mommy and Daddy know from work." She went back to her show without argument and DH and I looked at each other with OMG faces!!! Now, everyone in the family calls it Dairy Queen (mostly so I don't screw up again)!
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We had to do something...some of us were forgetting to spell it out so DD would be left in the dark!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Love code name of Dairy Queen. Good Luck keeping the secret!
Whew! We are surely trying! I'm getting excited because DD leaves with my parents on Sunday to spend a week with them so DH and I can get some things done around our house and finish the pool deck. I'm planning on spending a couple days setting up our packing area and washing the new clothes to try and get an idea on how I want to pack everything. With our new "code word" I'm feeling more confident that the surprise will still happen!!
Okay, I'm gonna quickly blow over the fact that our weekend was a bit of a whirl wind and we did not have a Dinner and a Movie night; however, DD went with DF and DM (Poppy and Gammy) and she will be on vacation with them this week, which means...........I get to start my Disney preparations!!!
Yesterday I went to work sorting and reviewing the items I've purchased to make sure they make it to the right bag and to take notes on what I'm missing, which thankfully, isn't a lot. I may need to get a couple extra pairs of shorts for everyone but that's no big deal. Once I finished sorting, I washed the new clothes and then re-sorted the toiletries, first aid kit items, and park bag items separate from the carry on items. I actually finished packing the toiletries and first aid kit! DH used the carry on over the weekend for his annual golf trip with my DF, so he will actually empty that today so I can put my sorted items in there for now.
I also completed my instructions sheet for the house/dog sitter (DH's younger brother) and printed out the information for parking and shuttle service at the airport.
And my favorite part of the weekend.....I ordered the surprise welcome/birthday gifts!!! I had to scale down my original plans because the delivery charges were pretty hefty. But all in all, I'm genuinely satisfied with my selections. I ordered the singing Mickey balloon bouquet for DF's birthday, the regular Mickey balloon bouqet for DH's birthday/first visit, the Snow White balloon bouquet and doll for DD's birthday/first visit, and the insulated cooler filled with snacks for DSFiL's first visit. I'm SO EXCITED and I can't wait 'til they receive these gifts from "Mickey and the Gang!"
So this evening's plans include sorting the washed clothes to see which shirts match and to create outfits for DD to go into ziplock bags. I wanted to try this idea so she can be involved in picking out her own outfits (she just grabs a bag containing a complete outfit) and then DH and I will just grab the matching shirt. OH! I almost forgot! A few weekends ago, I ordered two pillowcase dresses from Etsy for DD for travel days so she can be comfortable. One is the standard black, white, red, yellow for Mickey Mouse and the other is bright pink, white, and black for Minnie Mouse; both are incredibly adorable! I'm tossing around the idea of purchasing a couple sundresses for myself because I know I feel more comfortable traveling in them as well.
Whew! I hope everyone else had a great weekend! I'm sure I'll be back to update more this week since this is the time I'll be able to work on the preparations. It's just so hard when DD is home because she likes to follow you around the house or help with whatever you are doing. No complaints! I love that! Just makes it difficult when you're trying to keep it a surprise!
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I wanted to scream, Chris and I both sighed and decided next trip, they'll find out when Sean finds out! Oh and yes, we did mention that HE didn't know and we were waiting to surprise him...
She went back to her show without argument and DH and I looked at each other with OMG faces!!! Now, everyone in the family calls it Dairy Queen (mostly so I don't screw up again)! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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