TO GO OR NOT TO GO, THAT IS THE QUESTION!! - Page 10 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great start Cheryl!! Sounds like you have been through a lot, but this trip sounds like it is going to be amazing and well-desserved!!! We are quite spoiled to be able to fly out of Akron-Canton airport, it is so convenient and small!!
Great update! Glad you were able to locate Stitch! Sounds like your car could be featured on Pimp My Ride with all of the electronics you're going to have on board!! It's great to have all that stuff though to keep the boys busy. The conversations you have with your DH are totally cracking me up!! it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick and Ryans Mom
Then I could save his TS credits and use them on some of the other meals we are paying OOP...
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
I was really impressed by Amanda’s (amandal) efforts to make the magic happen for her trip. She was really going to a lot of trouble to make things special. On our last trip we were on a Disney bus on the first day and Ryan heard someone talking about the Lilo & Stitch breakfast. I knew nothing about it, I really hadn’t been on the boards much and was obviously out of the loop. I enquired at POR about getting Ryan a signed card from Stitch but was told that was a Poly exclusive. I called WDW Dining every day trying to get an ADR and was shot down. Finally we were going to spend the day at BB and I said lets drive to the Poly and see if we can get in if we do great, if not we’ll just drive to BB. We got there and I told a small fib to the parking people at the Poly (I told them we had dining reservations). I know some people probably don’t approve but I figured if we ended up eating there it wouldn’t be a huge lie and if we didn’t eat there we would leave right away and only “steal” a space for a brief period. We went in and were told they could seat us, but it would be a 45 minute wait. I had Eric take the boys to the bathroom and I zipped to the front desk to get one of the “exclusive” Stitch Poly cards! They gave me one no problem. I met the boys back upstairs where we were immediately taken in for pictures and then seated. I snuck the card to the waitress at one point while Ry was busy and she had both Lilo and Stitch sign it. After we ate I purchased a Stitch plush in the gift shop while Eric entertained the boys. It was easy to hide my treasures in the car. When we got back to POR, after BB, I took my goodies to the front desk and arranged to have them leave it in the room while we were gone later. They added balloons and made it very festive, I’ll never forget how happy Ryan was when he walked in and saw his surprise from Stitch.
Reading Amanda’s pre-trip report got me thinking about my past trips and the magic of WDW. The magic is there, but sometimes you need to help make it happen. I loved the baskets she and Danny had Betsy make for the families they were traveling with. SO…. I emailed Betsy (betsy@memoriesbybetsy.com) and started working with her to create a basket for Nick and Ry. I told her they loved Stitch, Pirates, and Star Wars. She went to work and we emailed back and forth quite a few times before we settled on the basket contents. She was so patient with me! Thank you Betsy and thank you Amanda!!
Nick and Ry's basket has 2 Stitch Pirate pins, Stitch as Yoda Action Figure, Stitch as Evil Emperor Action Figure, 2 Stitch Light Chasers, 2 Stitch Racers, and a Stitch magnet.
Then I started thinking about Eric…. He is so good to indulge my love for Disney. Someone had mentioned a food “tour” at AKL so I called the AKL. The CM who answered the phone was clueless but she did connect me to the Disney tour office. The CM there was AMAZING!! She knew about the tour and had taken it herself. You don’t sign up for it, you just show up at 3:30 at the Boma podium. They’ll take you through both restaurants, discuss the African foods and wines, and you may get to sample the appetizers. It is free so that appealed to my frugal nature! Eric will love this. Ryan might like it since he is a little foodie, but I’ve decided to give Eric a little bit of adult time. I’ll take the boys and wander around the hotel so he can just enjoy himself.
While we were chatting I asked about the snorkeling experience at The Living Seas. For $117 Eric would be able to snorkel in the tank for 30 minutes. It is a 2 ½ hour tour and you get a picture and a shirt. We would be able to wave at him and take pictures from the portholes (they tell you what time to watch for him). Cool!! Eric has a brother who scuba dives. He and his wife have 2 nice incomes and no children (don’t want any) and they travel all over the world scuba diving on their exotic vacations. I know Eric is a little envious (who wouldn’t be - they just had a fabulous trip in Venezuela). I really think Eric will love this, I had mentioned it once a while ago (we were watching a WDW show on TV that talked about the scuba experience, Eric was really interested but you have to already be Scuba certified – I told him about the snorkeling one and that perked him right up). I LOVE to read trip reports where parents surprise their children with WDW. I can not do that, Nick has to be fully prepared. But I can surprise Eric!! So the CM and I checked the availability of the snorkeling. We have Epcot planned for Wens and Friday the week we are there but there is nothing available. Hmmm… Well, on the last day (Saturday) we have Chef Mickey at 9:30 and Spoodles around 7:00, is there anything available that day? YES!!! So I have Eric booked for the tour!!! I paid for it with my Disney Visa and got the discount so it was only $92.
Wow, Cheryl - I am so honored and had no idea I had any influence in your trip planning!!! I think you have me beat now with the magic - A basket full of goodies, a scuba tour and a food tour!! That all sounds unbelievable. And yes, I really can't say enough good things about Betsy. I recommend her every chance I get. She has the patience of a saint and was so appreciative that I was having her make 3 baskets for me Can't wait to hear more. I just love when I make "appearances" in peoples reports . . . . .
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What great surprises....I love Betsy - her baskets are amazing, the girls loved getting theirs. I just ordered another one from her for my neice and nephew who arrive on Friday....she just sent me the picture and it is so cute, I can't wait till my brother calls to let me know how they like it....
The food tour sounds great....my father would probably love that (I definitely have to look into that).
Can't wait to hear how they all enjoyed their surprises....
Cheryl,
So glad you found Stitch. How awesome that you now get to leave a day earlier than planned. Love the baskets for the boys-I am sure they will love their surprise. What a great surprise for Eric too.
__________________
Margaret
I am not a Disney employee. The postings here are my own and do not represent the positions or opinions of the Disney Company
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It's great to have all that stuff though to keep the boys busy. The conversations you have with your DH are totally cracking me up!! 
it!
That's what we did! Signature dining, anyone? 
PassPorter Guide Author
She was really going to a lot of trouble to make things special. On our last trip we were on a Disney bus on the first day and Ryan heard someone talking about the Lilo & Stitch breakfast. 
I knew nothing about it, I really hadn’t been on the boards much and was obviously out of the loop. I enquired at POR about getting Ryan a signed card from Stitch but was told that was a Poly exclusive. 
I called WDW Dining every day trying to get an ADR and was shot down. 
Finally we were going to spend the day at BB and I said lets drive to the Poly and see if we can get in if we do great, if not we’ll just drive to BB. We got there and I told a small fib to the parking people at the Poly (I told them we had dining reservations). 
I know some people probably don’t approve but I figured if we ended up eating there it wouldn’t be a huge lie and if we didn’t eat there we would leave right away and only “steal” a space for a brief period. We went in and were told they could seat us, but it would be a 45 minute wait. 
I had Eric take the boys to the bathroom and I zipped to the front desk to get one of the “exclusive” Stitch Poly cards! They gave me one no problem. 
I met the boys back upstairs where we were immediately taken in for pictures and then seated. I snuck the card to the waitress at one point while Ry was busy and she had both Lilo and Stitch sign it. 
After we ate I purchased a Stitch plush in the gift shop while Eric entertained the boys. It was easy to hide my treasures in the car. 
When we got back to POR, after BB, I took my goodies to the front desk and arranged to have them leave it in the room while we were gone later. They added balloons and made it very festive, I’ll never forget how happy Ryan was when he walked in and saw his surprise from Stitch.
SO…. I emailed Betsy (
I told her they loved Stitch, Pirates, and Star Wars. She went to work and we emailed back and forth quite a few times before we settled on the basket contents. She was so patient with me! 
Someone had mentioned a food “tour” at AKL so I called the AKL. The CM who answered the phone was clueless but she did connect me to the Disney tour office. The CM there was AMAZING!! 
Ryan might like it since he is a little foodie, but I’ve decided to give Eric a little bit of adult time. I’ll take the boys and wander around the hotel so he can just enjoy himself. 
Cool!! Eric has a brother who scuba dives. He and his wife have 2 nice incomes and no children (don’t want any
I can not do that, Nick has to be fully prepared. But I can surprise Eric!! 
Hmmm… Well, on the last day (Saturday) we have Chef Mickey at 9:30 and Spoodles around 7:00, is there anything available that day? YES!!! 
That all sounds unbelievable. And yes, I really can't say enough good things about Betsy. I recommend her every chance I get. She has the patience of a saint and was so appreciative that I was having her make 3 baskets for me 
Can't wait to hear more. I just love when I make "appearances" in peoples reports . . . . . 
Margaret
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