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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
Love the view from your room, the "snacks" in the concierge lounge and a great night at MK. My girls would go straight for the brownies and cupcakes too I'm sure. Vonnie sounds so delightful. What a special lady.
Hi Jill - I haven't been on the Boards in a few weeks but I was so thrilled to see that you had started another TR!!! There is nothing better than being away from the Boards and coming back to find a Jillybean TR waiting for you I love that you surprised the girls again. It was one of my greatest joys when my daughters were younger to wake them up and surprise them with a trip to WDW!!! I love the view that you got in your GF room! It's so wonderful to wake up to that scene in the morning! How absolutely sweet of Vonnie to surprise your girls with the perfect gift. They must have been thrilled to find the stuffed animals waiting for them. Sure sounds like you had a very full first day. I can't wait to hear more.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
I love that each of your daughters got her own special day.
I do have to say that Thom definitely won out on the 'feeding my child' award.
Your room is just lovely. I think they look even nicer than when we stayed there in 2003. I really liked the room....it's decor made me feel cozy.
Looking forward to the rest of your weekend!
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.
As usual, Maddie and I were the first ones awake that morning and out the door. Before you get too impressed with us, it was after 8 a.m. by this point so it wasn’t like we were up with the birds. I had a latte while Maddie went with a normal bowl of fruit loops. After a few bites, she was done and ready to go back to the room. This girl has turned grazing into an art form. I fixed myself another latte and a glass of juice and we were off.
Thom was just about to jump into the shower when we got there, so I broke in line since I take longer. Before long, we were all dressed and ready to head out for breakfast part II. For some reason, Thom had me take a picture of him to send to Eileen before we left the room. Not really sure why.
On my first visit to the lounge this morning, I had only indulged in a latte but this time I planned to make up for lost time. I had my normal raisin bran, but then I also spied a sticky bun which was dee-licious (said in my best Mushu voice . . . or rather my best Maddie impersonating Mushu voice )!
When Eileen texted back that Thom’s black socks had to go, Thom took it upon himself to send her a picture of his black tennis shoe followed by another picture of him posing with his black pullover. I guess he was trying to pull the entire outfit together for her. When a man in the lounge saw me taking a picture of Thom, he asked if we wanted a picture together. How embarrassed was I having to tell him “No, my husband just wants a picture of himself.”
After a relaxing (and slightly odd ) breakfast, we took the resort monorail to the T&TC and then switched to the Epcot monorail. Standing on those platforms, we immediately realized that today was going to be a chilly one. It was a gorgeous day though - - I’ll take chilly temps without rain any day.
We were soon at Epcot where Thom went ahead to grab FP’s for Soarin’ while I took the girls on to Nemo. Maddie had been emphatic on our ride over that she didn’t want to do the ride with the dinosaur. At first, I thought she meant Ellen’s Energy Adventure, but as we made our way to Nemo, she pointed to the Figment ride and said “That’s the dinosaur ride that I don’t want to do.”
I assured her that we would not ride the Figment ride and then she was happy again. When my little girl gets something on her mind, she will not let it go until she makes herself understood. I don’t have to look too far to figure out who handed down that trait to her.
Not too long after we had parked Maddie’s stroller, we spotted Thom in his red hat. The girls began screaming “Daddy! Daddy!” so he took that as his cue to totally embarrass us and sprint towards us with his arms wide open. Then he ran right past us.
We walked quickly through the line and were soon in our clam mobiles. I don’t think that either of my girls will ever outgrow this ride (and I doubt if I ever will either ). As soon as we stepped off the moving sidewalk, Maddie took off for the gift shop. She found a Webkinz dolphin that she wanted, but just like our trip in September, we asked her to think about it in case she saw something that she liked better. With a down and out “okay” she put back the dolphin and we went outside where the girls wanted a photo shoot with Nemo and friends.
We next decided to check out the standby line for TT since we couldn’t get FP’s yet . . . or could we? My AP apparently has been overworked because the day before I could not get it to work in a FP machine. A CM had given me a FP card to use instead. When Thom tried to use my AP at a Soarin’ FP machine this morning, it once again would not work but this time the CM just went ahead and gave him 4 FP’s. So . . . we soon had 4 FP’s for TT in our hands too.
The standby line was showing 30 minutes, so we decided to jump in line. It felt good just to get inside and warm up for a while. Apparently, the ride had just come back up because we heard an announcement about “testing resuming.” The line ended up taking every bit of 30 minutes, but we had no where to be and the girls were behaving.
I rode with Maddie and she loved this ride as much as she had in September. An older man was our single rider and he seemed to enjoy watching Maddie as much as he enjoyed the ride. She absolutely loves whipping around the building outside and just screams with joy.
Once we met up with Thom and Mary Devall, the girls enjoyed sitting in different cars. They worry me already because they seemed to like the sportier cars in red.
Instead of waiting around for our FP’s to ripen, we decided to venture over to WS and use our FP’s that afternoon on our way out of the park. We took the Odyssey walkway from TT to Mexico, but neither girl was interested in riding Gran Fiesta nor Maelstrom.
When we reached the Outpost, Thom suggested that they burn off a little energy beating drums which they were quite willing to do. Maddie was back in her stroller for just about five seconds when we passed a display of Webkinz and she spotted a hippo that she just HAD to have. Once again, we asked her to think about it to which she finally agreed.
As we approached Germany, Thom suggested that we eat lunch there. He said it with a smile, so I’m pretty sure that he knew that our last visit to the Biergarten in September would do me for a while. It’s not that I dislike the food there - - it’s just not my favorite. Since Italy was the next country, I suggested eating there so he ran ahead to check on availability. By the time that the girls and I made it to the courtyard, he was waving us inside.
We were led to a table on the far right hand side with a banquette for the girls to sit on and chairs for Thom and me. Thom loves anytime that we can pin the girls into a table and they can’t easily escape. Our server brought out bread and olives for an appetizer, so that served as a great starter for us. I ordered a glass of prosecco while Thom had a beer.
For our entrees, I had Panino dell 'Ortolano (grilled vegetable sandwich, Foccacia bread, zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, roasted peppers, Taleggio cheese) while Thom had Spaghetti (with veal meatballs and pomodoro sauce). Maddie had cheese pizza while Mary Devall went with plain pasta, but they ended up switching halfway during their meal so they had both.
My sandwich was out-of-this-world delicious! The vegetables were marinated and grilled to perfection and the thick slab of cheese added a cool creaminess. It was so good that Thom finished off the half I left after he ate his spaghetti with meatballs. There was no way that we really needed dessert, but we ordered it anyway. Thom ordered the profiteroles while I went with a trio of chocolate cake, cheesecake and tiramisu thinking that the girls would help me out. They did steal my little chocolate cup of tiramisu, but they mainly stuck with the chocolate sauce on Thom’s profiteroles.
This was such a great lunch. The food was delicious, the laughter and conversation were abundant and it was nice and toasty inside.
__________________
Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 03-02-2010 at 03:45 PM..
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.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
*Ginger*
Suzie
Dora
I love that you surprised the girls again. It was one of my greatest joys when my daughters were younger to wake them up and surprise them with a trip to WDW!!!
I love the view that you got in your GF room! It's so wonderful to wake up to that scene in the morning! How absolutely sweet of Vonnie to surprise your girls with the perfect gift. They must have been thrilled to find the stuffed animals waiting for them.
I had a latte while Maddie went with a normal bowl of fruit loops. After a few bites, she was done and ready to go back to the room. This girl has turned grazing into an art form. 
I had my normal raisin bran, but then I also spied a sticky bun which was dee-licious 
(said in my best Mushu voice . . . or rather my best Maddie impersonating Mushu voice 
). As soon as we stepped off the moving sidewalk, Maddie took off for the gift shop. She found a Webkinz dolphin that she wanted, but just like our trip in September, we asked her to think about it in case she saw something that she liked better. With a down and out “okay” she put back the dolphin and we went outside where the girls wanted a photo shoot with Nemo and friends.
There was no way that we really needed dessert, but we ordered it anyway. Thom ordered the profiteroles while I went with a trio of chocolate cake, cheesecake and tiramisu thinking that the girls would help me out. They did steal my little chocolate cup of tiramisu, but they mainly stuck with the chocolate sauce on Thom’s profiteroles.
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Linear Mode
