The Great Big East Coast Adventure - PTR - Page 12 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Just got caught up after a few days being unable to read the boards. Love the updates and photos! Meri sounds like such a great kid! Full of spunk and spark and sweet and smart! I love that SHE hailed a cab in Chicago and that she tells you her "sins" every night. That's a fantastic habit for her to have-- just being used to telling you when she's been "bad" will provide some great teaching moments. The beach on LI looks so beautiful.
Love the beach pictures, but then again, I love the beach Meri is hysterical!!! My brother and I used to streak around my grandparents house when we were little a long, long, long, loooong time ago.
What a whirlwind couple of days you both have had. Just getting to catch up, so sorry to hear about your friends loss , glad you were able to be there for her and also have the ability to modify the trip a bit so you could be with her and also enjoy the rest of your trip.
Love all the pictures
Thanks. I'm glad I could be there for her. It definitely was more important than going to Boston, though I admit I am still a bit sad at missing out on that. We have been having a great time, though, so I can't complain!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Meri cracks me up! Can't wait to meet her! (hopefully she'll have all her clothes on!). Both my kids used to like streaking naked thru the house but I am happy to report they do outgrow that.
She'd BETTER have her clothes on, since we'll be in public, lol! Look forward to seeing you! And I'm so glad they outgrow it! Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrappyjae
Okay, jumping in on this very late, but still in time as you aren't home yet. Meri sounds like a great kid. Jeez, if my kids confessed their "sins" every night, I would never get any sleep!! Just kidding, a little, they are good kids, not perfect kids.
I think you will have some great weather for your NOVA part of the trip, as it really has been sunny and warm down here and they are calling for the same.
LOL, yeah, it can get kind of lengthy here when she starts "confessing". Sometimes I think, "I just don't want to know!!!" LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I agree - I think it's a lovely idea to confess the "sins" every night.
I hope she keeps it up, though I'm anticipating this fizzling out - definitely before the teenage years. Not sure I'll WANT to hear those "sins"...
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great pictures. The story about Meri running around naked, priceless
Yeah she's a piece of work, this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Just got caught up after a few days being unable to read the boards. Love the updates and photos! Meri sounds like such a great kid! Full of spunk and spark and sweet and smart! I love that SHE hailed a cab in Chicago and that she tells you her "sins" every night. That's a fantastic habit for her to have-- just being used to telling you when she's been "bad" will provide some great teaching moments. The beach on LI looks so beautiful.
She's definitely full of spunk. A real handful, and boy does she keep me on my toes... but she's a joy as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
Love the beach pictures, but then again, I love the beach Meri is hysterical!!! My brother and I used to streak around my grandparents house when we were little a long, long, long, loooong time ago.
Uh huh... loooooooooong time, huh? You know it was just last summer.
We're about to head out on the boat... it's the maiden voyage of the boat, so it's exciting, but the prep takes a little longer. I'm hoping we'll be in the water by 1130am! Of course, the water itself is freezing... so I'm not sure if I will be tubing or not, lol... but maybe it will be worth it. LOL!
I'm particularly enthusiastic about the fact that there's a bathroom on the boat. It's not a large boat, but it's got a potty, so that's something. I just cannot imagine where this bathroom could possibly be. I'll take pictures of everything, of course!
We ended up getting out on the water just after noon. Getting the boat ready for its maiden voyage took a little longer than anticipated. Of course I had to check out the boat, and I took pictures of the bathroom for you to see. I actually used it twice. It was awkward, and I'm 5'1". I cannot imagine anyone taller than me using it. Awkward.
It was overcast and a little chilly by the time we got out on the open water... and we froze. We got almost out to Sag Harbor, when the clouds started looking pretty ominous, and we felt some raindrops. So, disappointed, we turned around, and figured we'd head back to the dock, and just wait it out a little to see if the skies cleared.
brrrr
Fortunately, as we got further along, the clouds started dissipating and the sun came out. We ended up having a lovely day, and we warmed up enough for me to get a minor sunburn on my shoulders and face. Figures. I also have ridiculous raccoon eyes, lol. Lovely. Oh well!
We went tubing, and that was a lot of fun. Meri was a great sport about it, and she laughed and carried on as we bounced over the waves.
This is one of my favorite shots of her.
Later, the kids played in the water on a beach on Shelter Island while we relaxed on the boat. It's a famous beach or something (maybe called Paradise Beach or something? Heck if I remember, I'll have to ask my cousin).
There's also a famous restaurant on it where famous people go eat overpriced yet unimpressive "froo froo" food. LOL! Again, missed the name. LOL. Here's a pic though...
I love this shot - it shows how pretty the day turned out.
The kids had fun playing with the tube, and then we toodled on in to the dock and called it a day. All told we were out on the water about 4 hours. It was wonderful and relaxing!
After that, we went to "downtown" Greenport, to the merry go round.
The kids rode that, and then we got some snacks at the local grocery, and headed back to my cousin's house to have a cook-out. After dinner, we roasted marshmallows (yum) and the kids ran around like nuts.
Then it was time for us to say goodbye to the horses (and chickens), and we headed out to Queens, to stay with my best friend overnight.
Tomorrow morning we'll get up and go to breakfast with my best friend and my Goddaughter, who turns 11 tomorrow (well, today, actually, since it's after midnight). I'm so glad I get to be here for her birthday. After breakfast, they'll drop us at the LIRR, and we'll head into Penn Station. We'll grab lunch at Penn Station, then get my paper ticket, check one suitcase, and get situated in our seats for the 3.5 hour train ride to DC! So exciting!!!
I promise to take lots of pictures on the train / from the train... it's going to be an interesting experience! Heaven knows I have plenty of snacks for the trip. Caramel popcorn (my favorite), fritos, fruit roll ups and Smartfood cheddar popcorn (yummy!) so we're all set. I need to get some juice boxes or something, though. *note to self*
Sounds like a wonderful day out on the water! Meri looks like she's enjoying feeling the sea breeze on her face. A visit to your cousin's is better than a resort-- boats, beaches, farm animals, roasting marshmallows!
What a great day out on the boat!! How cool to have that little potty on the boat... although I can certainly see how it would be awkward for anyone other than a really short person!
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What a great day on the boat! That is a really great shot of Meri in her life vest. She's just so photogenic. And hey, a potty's a potty when you need one.
PHEW! I have two updates to do (and I'm sorry to say they will NOT get done tonight, but I do think I'll get them done tomorrow afternoon / evening). On Monday we hit Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and that was fun. Today we spent four hours in Washington DC, and we hit a bunch of stuff and took some fun photos!
We are exhausted but having a blast! Tomorrow we're going to work until around 2pm'ish, then we have a few hours free (to veg) until we go to dinner with a friend. Then it's an early night for us as well!
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Meri is hysterical!!! My brother and I used to streak around my grandparents house when we were little a long, long, long, loooong time ago. 
, glad you were able to be there for her and also have the ability to modify the trip a bit so you could be with her and also enjoy the rest of your trip.
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