Mom still has a trick or two up her sleeve PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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On Monday, the plan is to head over to DHS. Since it is early in the trip, I don’t expect to be too tired, even after our late night at MK the night before. My kids have always been early risers. Even on days they stay up late, they are still up no later than 8am, so the excitement of WDW will probably not let them sleep in too late. We have lunch at 50’s PTC and if too tired, will head back to the resort in the afternoon so we can come back to enjoy EMH that night.
(Note: I don’t know that we have ever stuck around for an evening EMH, so this will be new for us. We have done morning EMH before and enjoyed it and not had an issue with the crowds. Even though I’ve noticed the crowds getting bigger in the last 4 years we’ve gone, I still say they’re better than in June or July!)
Tuesday will be a “down” day. Kind of. DH and DS have been asking the last couple of years to go to the water parks. We will head to either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon on this day to satisfy their curiosity. Luckily, they don’t open until 10am, so no one will feel like they are missing anything by sleeping in and being lazy that morning. (I'm a "swim when it's in the mid 80's or 90 degree girl though, so I am a little iffy about this day... what we moms do for our kids!)
Wednesday is back to MK with an early morning breakfast at Crystal Palace. This is tradition and I always try to snag a reservation no later than 8:15. We are up anyway (see above where I said the kids are early risers – try by 6am most mornings!) so getting over to MK early is not a problem. We will then hang out in this park the rest of the day with no set plans. We have our favorite rides, and will definitely hit them. It is also the birthday of one of our CM friends, so we will try to hook up with her to give her Birthday cards and wishes.
Thursday is Food and Wine day. We love to eat and love our wine, so this is always a fun day. The first couple of years, we had to remind the kids that this was parent day and that we had spent some time on their fun, now it is ours. Last year, they got into trying the new foods, so it went much smoother – although it meant we got less to eat! They don’t get to try the wine, but both like to sniff – so if you see two kids sticking their noses in their parents’ wine cups – that’s probably us!
Friday and Saturday are up in the air. We will have one day left on our tickets (Undercover Tourist buy 3, get 2 free), so we may head to a park, or we may head back to a water park. Our flight on Saturday isn’t until almost 7 pm, so we will have time if we decide to hit a park early. We usually have earlier flights, so have never been able to stick around this late on our last day.
I'm in packing h-e-double-hockey-sticks tonight. The kids are pretty much done. Mine is pretty much done. But, DH, not started. At all. I do still have to do all carry ons, but of course, that is a lot of last minute stuff that I'll use between now and Saturday.
I usually ship a box of breakfast/snack foods down, but decided this year to pack them in a carry on size suitcase and check it. I hate trying to cram everything in when its time to pack for home, so I figure this will give me plenty of spare room.
For our family of 4, I can usually get by with 2 semi-large suitcases four our week in the World. If I go for the largest one I have, I fear I will go over the weight limit. (Have only gone over 50 pounds once, but was using FF points to upgrade to first class, so it didn't matter. And I had to get my stuff home – the suitcase was packed with ½ case of wine! ) With Southwest, it's not like adding a 3rd bag will do any harm! Heck, I could add 3 more if I thought DH wouldn't kill me!
Tomorrow's plan is to get nails done after DD gets done with swim practice. Then, I will get as close as I can to finishing packing. We'll leave for Nashville on Friday after swim practice and the relaxation (yeah right!) begins!
DD and DS are still into autographs. DD moreso than DS. I have usually tried to do something different than the traditional autograph book. I've made them customized books a few times. Last year, DD took a pillow case and DS had a hat. This year, we are going to try a canvas tote bag for DD. DS still hasn't said what he wants. But, again, if he doesn't have anything, I don't think he'll be too upset. We can buy (gasp! ) one of the Disney books once we get there.
I am getting my own set of autographs though. But, not for me. One of my closest high school friends is going through chemo right now for breast cancer. I saw a hat at Walmart last night that is white with the pink ribbon. I plan to have at least the princesses sign the hat and I will send it to her after the trip. I'm sure I'll add more characters to the list to sign, but the ladies are the top priority.
I read on someone else's report how good WCC was for breakfast. I haven't looked, but may have to see if we can eat here one morning since we'll be right upstairs. Just thinking about it is making me hungry!
Only 2 more days of work! They'll be stressful. The IT department is doing an upgrade to one of our systems so that we can test it before going live. I get to work on testing plans for others and there are three of us that have to get our testing done on Friday because we'll all be out next week. At least it is in the testing environment, I don't think I'd be so calm if it was in the actual live environment.
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DH decided to start packing about 15 minutes ago. Of course, he takes khaki shorts and golf shirts, so he’s pretty easy. Just makes me crazy because I’d love to have it done. (Update: DONE!! ) Now, the "Crap, I forgot ..." and the "Did I remember..." starts.
DD and I went to get nails done this evening after swim team practice. Apparently, everyone was getting ready for break because we waited forever. I was really tempted to get red nails with black tips, but chickened out and did my usual French manicure.
DS went to bed talking about how we get to leave tomorrow. He’s all worried about whether he gets to be a car rider or go to after school. We won’t leave until after swim team, so it’s after school for him. I have a couple of things to do during practice. Need to go by Walgreens and get Disney gift cards for each of them. DH wants to work on the yard and get things ready for our possible first frost over the weekend.
So, in less than 24 hours, vacation starts! I’ll do our Southwest online check in tomorrow at work (shhh). My assistant has already said she will stand guard so no one will bother me. Love that girl!
Almost here!!
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Pixie Dust
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We always take the park and fly option as well - it's a nice, stress-free start to a vacation.
) With Southwest, it's not like adding a 3rd bag will do any harm! Heck, I could add 3 more if I thought DH wouldn't kill me!
for finishing the packing! 
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