Home for the Holidays: A Thanksgiving and Christmas Mashup (A Cam and Luke PTR) Updated 11/4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Home for the Holidays: A Thanksgiving and Christmas Mashup (A Cam and Luke PTR) Updated 11/4
I’m starting this pre-trip report a little differently. I thought I would give you all a backstage pass into the planning of a Matthews Disney World trip. Our first family trip was in 1997, so we have had two decades to perfect our planning strategy.
In July of 1997, Luke came home from work one day and announced that we were going to Disney World the week before school started. That was a mere three weeks away. At least, he brought home a Disney World guide book he had borrowed from a co-worker. Initially, I was going to take care of everything because Luke was working, and as a teacher, I was off during the summers. The next morning I called the Disney World resort reservation number to learn what I suspected would be true -- there was no room in the inn, not in any of the inns on Disney property. Later that day when Luke came home, he took over finding a room at a hotel in close proximity to Disney property as possible. We wound up with a room at a Days Inn, very economical but just a basic barebones room. Unfortunately, the bathroom in it sprung a leak one day that was quite inconvenient, but it was a clean place to lay our heads at night. We weren’t even in this room much as it was Disney World’s 25th anniversary celebration, so all three parks (Animal Kingdom would not open until 1998) were open every single day until midnight. Cool! We left our room very early to take a shared resort bus to one of the parks and then rode the last bus back to the Days Inn each night.
In addition to making the hotel reservations, Luke took care of the airfare because as a computer tech he had access to a computer at work all day. But my work also began in earnest. I read that guidebook from cover to cover, mapping out our park days along with selecting our dining choices. Over the next few days, I ironed out which parks we would visit on which days and where we would be eating on those days. With only three weeks to plan, I was still making touring plans as we flew from Nashville to Orlando. Back in 1997, a Disney World trip was a mite bit easier to plan. Thank goodness, I have more time to plan our trips today.
From that first Disney World trip, our division of labor was established. Luke makes the travel plans, including airfare, car parking, Disney Magical Express, and resort/DVC reservations. I design all the day-to-day plans, including making dining/tour/party reservations, packing lists, and touring plans. Since we are both retired now, the jobs have morphed some as we are together while working on the trip details, so we can easily seek each other’s advice and assistance. A couple of examples: Luke pulls up potential flights on the computer, and we discuss which of the options we like best while I get his input on where he’d like to eat, something he didn’t get on that first trip.
Now the impetus for this backstage pass came the other day. We were sitting on the couch working on our laptops. I told Luke that the Rivers of Light dining packages for November had still not opened up. He said he had been checking every day, too. He gets up much earlier than I do, so I told him if he saw that packages were available to book one for Sunday, November 12 for an early supper. He replied that if he noticed that the packages were available, he was just going to get me up. LOL The division of labor for trip planning remains as it ever was.
I love hearing how other couples plan! I'm doing good to get a grunt from my dh when I mention Disney. I'd pass out if he actually planned something. (Sorry for the mini rant there, that must have been buried in me, lol.)
Great start Cam!
I think we stayed at the same Days Inn in 1994!
We liked it because it was close to McDonalds and Goodings!
That was our one and only off site stay.
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.
I can't believe I've just finished reading your trip report for the summer and now you are starting another one! Exciting!
For the record, if DH ever planned or booked anything for our trips, I would fall off my unicorn in shock (who says I don't live in the real world?!)! Maybe I'm just a control freak though and don't let him even try .......
__________________
Silvercat
(Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels Parts 1, 2, 3 & the new volume 4" - available now as e-books)
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.
Great start and I love how that division of labour hasn't changed to this day!
I guess, if it works, there is no sense in changing it. And it does work well for us!
Quote:
Originally Posted by wheezie
I love hearing how other couples plan! I'm doing good to get a grunt from my dh when I mention Disney. I'd pass out if he actually planned something. (Sorry for the mini rant there, that must have been buried in me, lol.)
I know I'm very lucky that Luke enjoys helping with the planning.
Happy to see another PTR, looking forward to following along.
Thanks! I really like your new signature picture!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Great start Cam!
I think we stayed at the same Days Inn in 1994!
We liked it because it was close to McDonalds and Goodings!
That was our one and only off site stay.
That was our one and only off site stay, too. The next trip we would decide 6 months out we were going, which made reservations and planning much easier.
I can't believe I've just finished reading your trip report for the summer and now you are starting another one! Exciting!
For the record, if DH ever planned or booked anything for our trips, I would fall off my unicorn in shock (who says I don't live in the real world?!)! Maybe I'm just a control freak though and don't let him even try .......
I can't believe we now within 65 days of that next trip.
Thanks for the laugh! Take care not to fall off that unicorn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great start Cam!! Can't wait to hear your plans.
Thanks! I've started writing and some of the plans are still not finalized.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I'm doing good to get a grunt from my dh when I mention Disney. 
)
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
Linear Mode
