"This is Not the Trip You're Looking For" TR May/June 2011 - COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
Hi, just caught up on your report. So sorry it wasnt all that you had planned it to be but there are definately some magical moments in there. Great writing. Looking forward to your next post despite the air of foreboding
Glad you were able to meet up with other passporters to honor Lorie and Glenn; and dinner sounds great having met Remmie. Too bad Kevin was still not feeling well...
Wow, the highlights of your trip sound really nice. I'm new so by seeing all the different places you went look really nice. I'm like you....I'm a planner! If I'm off a bit I do get a grumbly myself. My husband doesn't like to be on a time schedule but we all know that if you are not then things don't get done or happen. I can't wait to hear the rest of your story.
All caught up again! How wonderful to get to meet up with other fellow PP's for the memorial for Lorie & Glenn. That was a nice tribute to them!
Sorry Kevin isn't feeling well.
Sorry Kevin's mood didn't improve, and dinner was a bit of a disappointment! Great pictures from your day and glad you and the girls got to ride some things at Epcot!
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.
All caught up! Sorry things are going downhill. The pictures from WS are gorgeous!! Look at that sky! Wish I was there right now!
That's one of the things we kept mentioning during this trip; look at the sky! It was almost always amazingly beautiful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
Funny story about the Segway Pin - When our guide gave them to us she said "Do not put them up on ebay. Every time I see one on ebay a little piece of my heart dies." My DS10 thought that was the funniest thing and reminds me of it a lot! And that was 2 years ago! (He wasn't on the tour, he just liked the story when I told it to him.
Awww - I love this story! I haven't had a chance to share it with Kevin, but I will. He has decided when he retires, he's going to work at Disney giving the Segway tours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT4WDW
Just caught up on your TR. Sorry to hear about the bad weather on your way to WDW. Nice how a negative thing (running behind & got discount at hotel) turns out to be a positvie you don't expect. I remember how it downpoured on New Year's Eve when we were with Chezp and her husband, Mark at the Rose & Crown Pub to celerate the upcoming new year. The rain just didn't let up. Of course those drinks (I can't remember the name of them, but bet Chezp does) we were having helped make the night alittle more fun, as we were all waiting for our dinner reservations, ours at RC and theirs at Le Cellier. The night ended up great because Cheryl and Mark asked us to join them for dinner and we had a delightful time. After dinner, my husband wanted to go back to resort, he was cold and tired. As we got back to Port Orleans and was crossing the bridge to go to our room, the rain stopped and the fireworks brought in the New Year. It was not as we had planned but beautiful and a memory I'll never forget!!. Sorry to hear Kevin is not feeling well. Sounds like maybe a sinus infection? Hope things get better.
Another wonderful story! And you are absolutely right; I love it when serendipity makes things even more special. Of course, having dinner with Chez and Mark on New Year's Eve would make ANYTHING better.
And you on on the right track about Kevin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjiboo25
Just reading through the first page (I have been too busy in life lately to allow myself to be distracted by my WDW obsession...) I will eventually get through every word...
I noticed your new countdown before I started reading through the TR so I figure that is a story that goes along with your experience.
There is, and I'll be getting to that in the next installment.
Quote:
You are right about so many overly magical TRs here. I was amazed by the feedback I got about the "honesty" of my first TR...I thought we could not possibly be the only family to ever have a trip with more stress than magic...but then I figured that most people with trips like our first were not planning a return to WDW and would not be obsessively following WDW message boards...so we probably have a biased bunch Can't wait to keep reading...
Your first TR is the one that gave me the courage to be honest with this one. Not that we want to dwell on the negative or complain - but I think it's important for people who are planning to visit "The Happiest Place on Earth" to understand that sometimes things aren't always perfect and that's okay. It's what you make of it and what you learn from it that counts.
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.
Sorry this trip was bittersweet and not at all what you had planned. The memories you caught "on film" do show the wonderful things that you were able to be a part of and hopefully writing this TR will help you get it all out.
Love reading about your adventures this trip and the girls seem to be having a good time...
You are absolutely right, Donna. The photos show some happy, smiling faces.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofysdtr
Oh no! The day you were most looking forward to is the day you don't want to talk about. I'm so sorry, Cathy! I'll admit I still want to hear about it, though.
You had me laughing at this. "Gimme the juicy, horrible details, hehehe!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Glad tha that you were able to meet up with Judi and the group and raise a toast for Lorie and Glenn, sorry that you missed Illuminations but sounds like you and the girls had a great disstressing hour before heading back to POR.
That is one thing I'm sorry about too; I would have loved to have been at Illuminations with everyone. But I know in the grand scheme of things, it worked out for the best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyboysmama
uh oh!
(BTW - the BREAD looked sooooo good...)
Uh-oh indeed.
And yes - the bread was fabulous. I know I sound like a food geek, but it's one of my favorite photos, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
So the day you were most looking forward to was the day from H***, isn't that just a kick in the pants. If you had known Kevin was sick it puts things is an entirely different perspective but when you think they are just grouchy then you get PO'd.
I hope there was some joy during the day
Holly - you have such a straightforward way of expressing exactly what someone's feeling! You got it on the money, girl.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Bistro has a much nicer, quieter atmosphere than Chef's. I haven't eaten there in years, but have had some good meals there. Glad you got to meet the PP group to celebrate Lorie and Glenn, but sorry you had to skip Illuminations. The anticipation of doom increases....
We had read reviews about Chefs and knew about the close eating space - but weren't prepared for the noise level. But then again, it's WDW - where is there a quiet restaurant? I think I'd like to try Bistro next time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamgrumpy
ALL caught up and I'm sorry that you had such a rough start. It was so nice to finally meet you and your family. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.
Me too, Amy! Just wish we could have spent more time talking. Your mom was a lot of fun.
Wow, the highlights of your trip sound really nice. I'm new so by seeing all the different places you went look really nice. I'm like you....I'm a planner! If I'm off a bit I do get a grumbly myself. My husband doesn't like to be on a time schedule but we all know that if you are not then things don't get done or happen. I can't wait to hear the rest of your story.
Nice to meet you, fellow planner! If there'sone thing I've learned so far (at least on trips when you only have a few days) is that making a plan and following it is essential to a happy trip. I've learned to leave room for some spontaniety and some relaxation - but our family functions alot better when we know what to expect.
I have a dream....that someday...our family will get to spend an entire 2 weeks at WDW, so we don't have to plan so much. Or maybe a dream that we can go to WDW even for a couple shorter trips each year, so we don't feel like we're missing something if we don't get everything done.
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.
Wow spending 2 weeks at WDW would be a Dream come True. I'm sure one day that will happen. Also, in planning I've learned I can't do everything but I can sure try. LOL
Oh no! Not the most looked forward, reason for the trip = worst day! But I like the new countdown. I calculated that date - and we would have been there at the same time, but we had to push it back a week because of our DVC points.
About This Page: 
Great writing. Looking forward to your next post despite the air of foreboding
Sending you fairydust!timers
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
You had me laughing at this. "Gimme the juicy, horrible details, hehehe!"
I think I'd like to try Bistro next time.
My normal everyday computer routine!
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Linear Mode
