"Are you going to do this every year?" A 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Where are you flying from? Do you know what what your daily plans are?
I'm flying from Puerto Rico and for my family of 5 it was $1,600. A lot more than last year.
I do know what days I'll be at the parks. You can go to my PTR (the link is in my signature) and read the plans. Maybe we can bump into each other.
I'm flying from Puerto Rico and for my family of 5 it was $1,600. A lot more than last year.
I do know what days I'll be at the parks. You can go to my PTR (the link is in my signature) and read the plans. Maybe we can bump into each other.
I'm sorry your ticket prices were so high, ours too, $1,879 for the 3 of us. I checked out your PTR and looks likes a great trip!
#3 rental car up, up, up & can't pick up WDW tickets until check in? Crud...
47 days to go, or 7 weeks, which sounds shorter somehow. I had daily plans all worked out and ADR's made and just marking time. I was checking car rental prices again and was knocked because previously price had been steady at just over $400 for the entire vacation and was now $280 more. Definitely had to do some adjusting to the budget.
2 days later I was reading PP and someone had asked if they could pick up their WDW tickets before checking into their resort. The answer was not if they had purchased a package. I went what? I reread the question and answer because we had never stayed on site before or had a WDW package. I had only gotten the package because DD begged and said it was the one thing she reaalllly wanted. To sweeten the deal I managed to snag free DDP. I was thinking that the tickets were separate from the rest and I could pick them up. We are staying off site the first 8 days and I was planning on spending 1 day at MK, 1 at AK and 1 at Typhoon Lagoon during the first week.
I called WDW to confirm and was told since we had a package that was correct although we could pick up our cards as early as 7am. So back to the drawing board to revamp daily plans.
Currently am feeling pretty good because got all ADR's we wanted, airplane tickets paid, WDW pif, off site hotel pif, and car ressies made (before price went any higher! ).
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.
Of course Bro & I work and DD has school so these help pass the time. Life stuff helps, you know sleeping, eating, dishes, and all that fun stuff. Bro has been putting together a slide show of all Disney trips from as far back as '73 that he's going to show either tomorrow or next Sunday afternoon. He wanted to show pics before DSisIL leaves on her trip and nephews girlfriend is stopping by WDW on a Habit for Humanity trip she's going on in June and of course us in May/June. So that helps him pass the time and gives us something to look forward to and do together.
I dug out my video of our 1995 WDW trip and we've been watching it, nephews were 2 and 6 and cute as all get out.
DD and I have been watching more Disney videos, we have a bunch! Also we've been watch rides/parades/shows on Utube to know how high interest level is for all the things at WDW which helps with planning.
We have a countdown vacation planner from WDW that we check frequently because it has videos and links to the blog, info, the latest news etc. DD wasn't too excited at first because when we got the countdown we were like 140 days out. Once we got under 100 days she got more interested. Now we do a little Disney dance every time we drop 10 days because we are in a new number set. Like from the 50's to 40's.
Now DD will ask me "can you tell me more about the disney trip?" which I am very happy to do because I love planning, it's a form of relaxation for me. Of course, another of my favorite ways to pass time is on PP reading questions & answers - I've gotten so many of my own questions answered and answers to even things I hadn't thought of. I love trip reports!
Another thing that is helping me pass the time, my Dson-in-law applied for a new job and just got the official offer this past week at double the yearly salary of his current job. The only down side is the job is in Washington. Now there's nothing wrong with Washington and this is a great job opportunty for him but it's a 4 day drive or a $450 plane trip. My DD (27) and 2 grandsons of course are moving with husband/daddy and granny is still in Alaska!
I offered to help DD drive down, moving all their belongings when I got back from WDW. (My DSOL is traveling by plane on April 23rd to start work.) Of course this means I also get to stay with them for a couple of weeks down there which makes me . So we are also planning the drive from here to there and making lists, and and did she/me think of this or that. All of this means that I get home from WDW on Tuesday, June 7th at 7:25pm and Wednesday, June 8th hop in a U-haul late morning and head for Canada.
My poor DH is going to think I abandoned him.
I study places to eat QS and snacks since our table service is set. I am always looking for options, things to see and do that I might have missed. I've checked out every WDW/Florida book that the 2 libraries closest to me has and read all of them.I went to Barnes and Noble and bought 2 WDW books and a 2nd hand bookstore and picked up 3 more and have read all of them! I got Ridemax and play with that, I am waiting till April 15th because June dates will be up and then I can plan the days I'll actually be there. Too much? Naaah, I am considering purchasing the Passporter book, but wish I could see one before I buy to know if it would give me more info than I have or be helpful soooo if anyone has one or has used one in the past and can tell me how it helped you or what you really like about it. That could help me decide and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
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Welcome to the board! All your plans sound great and you're a terrific sister to include your Disney fanatic brother. Hey, if you get too bored waiting for time to pass until your WDW trip you can always do what I do and start packing NOW.
Sharon
I am a definite user of the PassPorter Guide to WDW. It's a great organizer, too, and I love being able to put receipts and menus in the PassPockets (in a lot of the table service restaurants it is possible to get a paper copy of the menu to keep as a souvenir; I put initials next to what people order, and then I can reconstruct things for the trip report).
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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
The Passporter guidebook is great! Lots of great information and colorful pictures. I highly recommend it. And by the way, June hours for the disney parks are already out, you should check them at the disney site.
Welcome to the board! All your plans sound great and you're a terrific sister to include your Disney fanatic brother. Hey, if you get too bored waiting for time to pass until your WDW trip you can always do what I do and start packing NOW.
Sharon
Actually, yesterday I was sorting/spring cleaning my closet and starting to set aside things that I wanted to include
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.