My Revamped, Reorganized & Rejuvenating Reunion with the Snowbirds - Page 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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I stayed at CSR on my first trip (2010) and it was great! Really liked the pool and the feel of the resort. There were a few bus stops but didn't share a bus with another resort. We ate at Pepper Market a couple of times and usually got coffee and a bagel or muffin at Rix before heading out to the parks. There was a convention of nursing students when we were there but it still wasn't a problem. (only once were they obnoxious on a bus coming back from DTD late at night) You will love the resort. But I don't like the sound of your teaser!
I'm glad to hear you liked CSR. I think I'm mostly excited to try something new.
Hi Marnie,
I 'm guessing that you're not going to finish off your last TR . I hope you have a new holiday in the works
I obviously lack computer skills. I can't seem to figure out how to multi quote. Or get my pictures to be full size. But I'll muddle along
So a bit of background on my folks Bob & Jackie. They lead a very simple life both at home or in Florida. They walk a couple of miles together nearly every day. They rarely eat out and share kitchen duties. They are voracious readers & do daily crossword puzzles. They golf. My dad is somewhat obsessed with golf & plays sometimes 5 times a week in Florida and usually 2-3 times a week back home. My mom has some back troubles and it varies how much she can play. But never more than twice a week. When dad's golfing , she's quilting.
Life for them is a rarely varying routine.
This is their reasoning for NEVER calling. "there's nothing new to say, we do the same things all the time " Which for the most part is true. If I was ever to surprise them with a visit , I would show up on Thursday because that's spaghetti night
So when I get a PHONE CALL just a week or so after the hotel reservations were confirmed, I feared the worse. I was sure they had changed their minds. But it thankfully not the case.
Dad " so I'm looking through the Disney brochures and they have a Cirque du Soleil show there and we want to go. Can you get us tickets ?"
Me " sure but they can be expensive"
Dad" well that's okay, I'm only going to do this once"
Me" let me just pull up some info on the computer & I'll call you back in a couple of minutes"
LOOONG pause from my dad before my dad says " We're just heading out for a walk"
Right how silly of me it's almost 1:30... wouldn't want to throw the schedule off .
Me: I'll call you later then.
I do my research and then it hits me . I can call back and leave a message!!! You see my parents have finally moved into the 80's a now have a new fangled answering machine. I will be able to leave a message for the first time ever!
My dad decided to go all out with the front and center tickets and offered to pay for the 3 of us as well But when I realized that it would be about $700. I opted to just ordered tickets for the 2 of them. My dad seemed disappointed but I assured him , he might need the break from me .
This also worked for me because it was the only non party night I could get to MK to see the regular wishes show.
Wow! What a beautiful quilt! It looks like a lot of work. I tried quilting (by hand) once, bought alllllll the supplies, and only finished about two squares! LOL! I hope your folks enjoy Cirque du Soleil!
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Wow! What a beautiful quilt! It looks like a lot of work. I tried quilting (by hand) once, bought alllllll the supplies, and only finished about two squares! LOL! I hope your folks enjoy Cirque du Soleil!
Donna,
My mom quilts all the squares using a machine. For her first 2 quilts she did the finishing touches by hand. She's a perfectionist with her sewing and didn't like that her hand stitching wasn't always even ! While only another quilter looking CLOSELY would ever notice , she now has the final quilting stitches done by another lady with some fancy machine. So while my mom considers this a cheat, I still find them beautiful.
It turns out I was a little hasty in getting my park tickets. We had enough Airmiles for us to get 3- 7 day non hopper tickets. Which I ordered as soon as I decided we were going. When my parents joined I was happy to discover we had enough points to cover 7 days of park tickets for them as well.
But what I didn't realize was with "Free Dining" you have to buy 2 day park tickets.
Had I known that I would have opted for 5 day tickets with Air Miles. So I sent a PM to Caldercup and asked some rambling questions about the ticket use. I just couldn't bear to waste 2 days of tickets. Eileen gave me great advice. I will just not activate the 2 day park tickets and we will come home with 6 days of park tickets for next time. And possibly my parents 4 if I can the tickets transferred to generic tickets and not just put on the KTTW card. If my parents decide this isn't just a one time trip, I will happily give them their tickets to use
DAY ONE
So day one is just getting to the bubble. There was only a late afternoon flight and sadly we won't arrive until 9pm or later My folks will drive down and likely arrive around 4 depending on how many coffee stops they make.
For some odd reason I'm very unsettled about the fact that I won't be there before them. I know they can handle checking in and finding their way around but I feel like I should be there to greet them. I considered changing flights to Friday but it would mean another lost day of school for Rachel and I think we're pushing it on that front already.
DAY TWO - SUNDAY
The first thing Mike did when we decided we were going was to check the schedule at the House of Blues for concerts. There is nothing while we are there but he did mention Gospel Brunch and that Aaron Sanchez from the Food Network has a menu there. I have to say that I did not want to have to worry about getting to brunch on our first full day in the parks and we couldn't go on our final Sunday without being rushed.
First dilemma of the trip. Mike was really talking up the Aaron Sanchez menu & I realized that his menu is not the brunch menu. So with Mike's okay I booked us for dinner & promised HOB gospel brunch would be on the next trip for sure.
So now where to take my parents for their first look at the world ?? I know my dad will be tired from the drive so I need to keep it simple and maybe plan out time for a nap in the afternoon.
After much debate with myself and consulting Touring Plans, I decided that we would go to Epcot for opening. So I would like to do Soaring, Test Track, Living with the Land, Turtle Talk, Spaceship Earth and the Nemo ride. Hopefully walk from Canada to France with counter service lunch in France which is Rachel's request.
I am not sure if this is too ambitious. We have been there at opening before and done a number of attractions and we were done before the World Showcase opened. So we'll see.
Any opinions on hitting Test Track and then going to Soarin' ? Some days I lean towards leaving TT & SE for our 2nd time at Epcot.
We'll exit the park around 1:30 and go back to the hotel. We have dinner at HOB for 5:30.
I have recently decided to upgrade everyone's tickets to park hoppers even though we won't make much use of the hopper. Sunday is late EMH at HS. So I plan to get everyone there after supper mainly to see Osbourne Lights taking our time to enjoy them . HS closes at 8 while we are there and with a 6:30 showing of Fantasmic, I was a little worried about being rushed seeing the lights. Also this way Rachel and I can ride RnR coaster and ToT at least 2x on this trip.
Congrats on the tickets! We usually get a FP for one (Soarin' or TT) and then ride the other. With the revamp, TT might be busier than Soarin so heading there would be my first choice.
Congrats on the tickets! We usually get a FP for one (Soarin' or TT) and then ride the other. With the revamp, TT might be busier than Soarin so heading there would be my first choice.
Good advice My only hang up is TT being the folks first ever ride at WDW. I guess I can't really go wrong unless I put them on Mission Space Orange
DAY THREE
Before I get to day 3, I should mention that my dad didn't think I needed to get them park tickets. Which was met with a LOOOOONG Silence from me while I picked my jaw off the floor. He then said well, I don't need to go everyday.
Which puts us at DILEMMA #2
Dad apparently just wants to hang out at the hotel ???? I'm not really sure why he said that but I think he thinks the parks will be like a 6 flags. Just ride after ride. So I think he'll be pleasantly surprised.
I want to see as much of the Christmas decor and do whatever activities that can only be done at this time of year. Disney at Christmas has been on my bucket list for a couple of years. When we first booked I thought that I would stop the commando touring and try to take in all the Disney touches. Stop and smell the roses a little
Rachel (DD) : When I told her we were booked she burst my roses agenda by saying " We're going to ride EVERYTHING" So her bubble was burst when she found out the folks were coming. My in-laws suprised us by showing up on our last WDW holiday for 2 days and we were slowed down quite a bit.
So this dilemma is not as easily solved and I have spent a lot of time trying to balance time and activities for all Only time will tell if my planning skills are a good as I think
So DAY THREE is DHS
Straight to TSMM and then I'm hoping my folks will go on ToT but if not we'll move over to Star Tours. Muppets is a must, my dad the muppets. I'm going to make sure I'm sitting beside him for this one. Also the Indy show and stunt show for my dad. I think I'll have Mike & dad take in the stunt show while we girls check out Rachel's favourite princess, Belle. I would also love to do an animation class with my mom. Fantasmic & maybe another swing by the Osbourne lights to finish off the night.
We have Sci-Fi reservations at 11:15 . I will try to find a gap in times that my folks could head back to the hotel for a break if they need it.
I was on easy wdw last night and Josh thinks that there maybe 2 showings of Fantasmic on DAY 2 which is late EMH and we're showing up to see the lights. So as plan B we could see the second Fantasmic and take our time with the lights and then Day 3 could be much shorter.
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Right how silly of me it's almost 1:30... wouldn't want to throw the schedule off .
But when I realized that it would be about $700
. I opted to just ordered tickets for the 2 of them. My dad seemed disappointed but I assured him , he might need the break from me .
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They'll love La Nouba I'm sure... 
LOL! I hope your folks enjoy Cirque du Soleil! 
My folks will drive down and likely arrive around 4 depending on how many coffee stops they make.
and consulting Touring Plans, I decided that we would go to Epcot for opening. So I would like to do Soaring, Test Track, Living with the Land, Turtle Talk, Spaceship Earth and the Nemo ride. Hopefully walk from Canada to France with counter service lunch in France which is Rachel's request.
. He then said well, I don't need to go everyday.
Only time will tell if my planning skills are a good as I think 
the muppets. I'm going to make sure I'm sitting beside him for this one. Also the Indy show and stunt show for my dad. I think I'll have Mike & dad take in the stunt show while we girls check out Rachel's favourite princess, Belle. I would also love to do an animation class with my mom. Fantasmic & maybe another swing by the Osbourne lights to finish off the night.
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