REALLY, Another Change PTR Oct 5-16 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Courtney is our cousin/niece except she is more like our adopted sister/daughter. She actually calls my parents Mums & Pops. Let me tell you about Courtney. First off she is WDW Virgin. That’s right people we have a virgin going with us. She is 19y.o & graduating from nursing school on Oct 1st just 4 days before we leave. I will give you a little background of her. Courtney mom/my favorite aunt was killed in a tragic accident at our county fair 8 years ago. Her dad remarried a couple of years later and lets just say the situation with the new wife/stepsister is not good. In Feb. Courtney had about all she could take & moved out. She is now living with her brother & his wife. We tease back & forth all the time that we joint custody with him. She has put herself through nursing school & we are very proud of her. This trip is a graduation present to herself. She has never been to WDW & her extent of theme parks are Cedar Point & Universal for a couple of days in between races at Daytona 500 a few years ago. We are so excited for her to be going but the excitement is just starting to kick in. I think a lot of that is she is almost done with school. We are hoping that the WDW bug will get her while we are there. She says it has bitten us bad. Only problem I can foresee with her is she likes to sleep in I am talking about 11:30-12:00 sleep in.
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Sounds like you'll have quite a group going - and I loved your photos!
Thank you. I think with all the changes that went into this trip it will be one of the best that we have taken
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Congrats to Courtney for joining the trip!
We are so excited for her. Starting today I will be giving her wake up calls. So we can get her on a regular schedule. She finished all of her classes on Tuesday. We just have her graduating next week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BettyBeBop
That's so cool that Courtney is going with you guys!! Traveling with all of you, I am sure the bug will bite her also.
Past Trips This will be our fifth trip to WDW in the past 5 years.
2005 Pop Century (April) 5 days/4nights it all started with that little trip 2006 CBR (Sept FREE FOOD) 8 days/7nights went with family 2007 CBR (Sept FREE FOOD again) 12 days/11nights 2008 POLY (Sept/Oct FREE FOOD again 13 days/11 nights
The first year (2005) we went for 5 days & 4nights. It was our first WDW experience we booked through a TA at AAA, which we loved. It felt so rushed. We only really had 3 days at the parks because of the 2 days of traveling. It was pretty much go, go, and go for morning to night. There was not a lot of down time. They didn’t even have magical express yet. We had a driver pick us up & take us back to the airport. He asked us if we enjoyed ourselves & my dad said yes. He also told him we would probably be back in the next couple of years. Well that planted a seed for my mom & me. So I don't know where the photos are from this trip.
Well my mom & I got Disney in our blood & we wanted to go back. Therefore, we decide if we could come up with most of the money my dad couldn't say too much. So they put in some of their income tax return & I put some of mine. Then my mom & I make out weekly payment books & put that much money in the bank a week. My mom & I pay for quite a bit of our trips. We were able to go to the CBR (2006) for 8 day & 7 nights. My dad's 2 sister & mom stayed at the Pop Century & went the same time that we did. So we meet up with them time to time. My grandma had past away in December that same year. We were so lucky & for my aunts to have that time with her. We had a great trip we some down time to relax & enjoy our hotel some. I fell in love with the CBR.
2007 it was just the 4 of us. We love the weather in Sept./Oct. that is why we went again but added extra days to our trip 12 days/11 nights. In addition, FREE FOOD helps decided when to go. There were so many twist and turns in our plans this year. As soon as we found out, we were going to WDW again we usually book the week after we got back. We decided that we wanted to try 10 days/9nights. Well I started looking around the WDW site. That is scary to go to when you have a trip planned because you see all these prices. My mind started turning that for a little more money we could stay at the WL. So as soon as we were able to book our TA was on the phone at 7:00am from her house & couldn’t get through. She called us at a little after 8 & told us to get up there as soon as possible because there was no room at the lodge for us. We went back to Sept 12 & all the way up to the end of Sept. They still didn’t have anything for free food except concierge. Therefore, mom made an executive decision & decided we would go to CBR but add 2 more days on. That was how the 12 day/11night trip was born. We had such a great time. There was lots of R&R on this trip but there was also some rain. The first time we had that much rain. Our first whole day last year we schedule the Mickey Milestone tour. I got up in the morning around 6:00am & was going to walk around while to take pictures it was raining. It rain 6 hours straight. I could not believe it. Many of our pictures last year have a dark gray sky instead of the pretty blue we are use too.
2008 trip came about because of the bounceback with free dining last year. We were original going from Sept 23-Oct 4. We love going during Free Food because we can get more for our buck. Last year when we there we went to explore some other hotels. We thought we would like to stay at a deluxe this year but wanted to check them out. We looked at the WL & Poly but for the money we could stay longer at a moderate. We also went & checked out the POFQ but still loved the CBR. So before we left we booked our trip for Sept 23 to Oct 4 at the CBR. We went for 12 days last year & loved it because it gave us some R&R time. With stimulus package for Uncle Sam handed us this money & said here use this for your trip. Well Thank You Uncle Sam. Then as my dad would say my mom used her creative disney financing she came up with a way to be able to stay at the Poly. Since this has always been a dream for her. We weren’t sure if we could switch to the Poly. We called to see if we could & after some looking around we could change it. So now we are going to the Poly. When we first changed we thought just 10days was all we could do. I offered to help pay for some. Then we up to 11 well we just couldn’t get our schedule to work out. So my dad offered to put the extra in so we could stay another day. Well then there was airfare & that is a whole problem on its self. So we end up adding yet another day. So we got a Dream Trip at the Poly for 13 days/12 nights.
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to Courtney! Neat review of your past trips! 
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