Oh Toodles - We leave this Saturday 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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A couple of nights later I get an email that DGpa thought about it and wants to come along! Ohhhhh kay. While I should have been happy that at 86 he can still do these things with us, I thought instead "Oh no, all of my reservations will be ruined!" Well then, I pulled up my big girl pants, called them up and said "We are delighted with the news. Glad he's coming." That's when my DM sprung the next bit of news on me.............my DN, who is like a daughter to me, will be down south and can spend 2 nights with us. Since she'll only have a short time, can we change the MVMCP tickets to Sunday rather than Tuesday, and on and on.
Well, how do you say no to family? I just can't. Fortunately, I had not bought the tickets for MVMCP, so that wasn't bad. The hard part for me though was having to cancel our CRT reservations and Crystal Palace reservations. We just love these places, but I love my family more. I will have to find Eeyore somewhere else during the week for a hug from my favorite character.
On a positive note, since there are a few extras along for the ride, we will now have two rooms. This will give us a bit of extra space and then maybe we will still be speaking when the trip is all said and done. With Thanksgiving the following week, we'll be together again for several days, so it's best to keep the peace. The other positive is my DD is acting very brave and willing to ride all of the coasters and Tower of Terror. If she changes her mind, she will now have someone to hang out with, DGpa.
It is kind of sweet that DGpa is coming along. He said he wanted to make the trip because riding Soaring is on his bucket list, and if not now when? I know the parents will not be up early to make a 7:45 breakfast every day, so we will be sure to get fast passes to Soarin for them. We'll ride it first thing and grab fast passes for later that we can give to them.
I have to go bright and early to pick up a rental car. My DH and DS are away fishing for the weekend (and they are freezing!) so the rental is our airport transportation.
Of course, I am doing the last minute packing and up later than I care to be. We will head out about 5:00 giving us plenty of time to get to the airport and have dinner on the way.
We have a direct JetBlue flight leaving at 7:30. I was checking the flight earlier to see if it was full or not. To do so, you have to go through as if you are buying a ticket. The ticket price today for one person is MORE than the cost of three of us flying! The plane is not sold out, and most of the people are sitting in the front of the plane. My Dad was an aeronautical engineer and insisted the back of the plane is safer. I honestly don't know if it is true, but I always book our seat behind the wings. We arrive in Orlando around 10:30.
Our original plans were to ride the ME, but after realizing Disney transportation would be difficult for our early breakfasts, I decided to rent a car. $107.00 for the week would be less than several taxi trips. It should be easier to get around for my parents rather than waiting for buses.
I'm guessing we will be very lucky if we are able to get to our hotel, Caribbean Beach, before 11:30. I've requested connecting rooms on the first floor, which I hope they will accommodate. I am truly hoping to be in bed and asleep by 12:30, which is less than 24 hours from now.
Before I can head off anywhere, I have to go back to the lobby to check us in for our KTTW cards and to pick up MVMCP tickets. Our first night is booked room only. I'm thinking that I could have checked us in online, but I forgot about doing that. I expect there will be hardly anyone checking in at 11:30 at night or 6:45 in the morning.
Bright and early Sunday morning, we (myself, children and niece) will be having breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We've been there for dinner but not for breakfast. I am looking forward to a yummy breakfast with Mickey waffles. We'll go back to our resort to pick up my parents. We will then head to the Magic Kingdom for an extremely full day. My kids are commando travelers at this park. In the past we've been on Splash and BTMRR several times each, POC, Aladdin, a character meet or two and HM within an hour of the park opening. DGpa will be renting a scooter so he can keep up.
Our first year without a child in a carriage and now we'll have one in a scooter. We try and get a couple of rides in Fantasyland under our belts before going into the future. As much as we have always traveled the off season, we have never ridden Dumbo because of the lines. We have decided we will wait on line for a ride, before it closes. We'll do the same for Snow White.
Our touring style is generally an early breakfast in the park and then an early dinner to carry us through the night. Since I had to cancel our res at CRT, we're not able to do this. We have secured a 1:30 reservation at Liberty Tree. I guess we'll have a decent lunch and rely on cookies and apple dippers to sustain us until midnight.
My DD is excited to ride Space Mountain, and we hope to ride this a time or 2. We'll make sure to hit the teacups, the speedway, Buzz and the people mover before heading over to the hall of President's. I'm looking forward to seeing President Obama this trip. If we're tired, we may go through 2 shows, once in the back, just for a rest!
We've never been to MVMCP, so we are looking forward to some character experiences. I'll fill you in on how this goes for us. I've been complaining that our local stores all are ready for Christmas, but I really am glad we will be in Disney to see it decked out for the holidays.
I hope we make it to the end of the party, but if we are pooped out, we will catch the parade and head out after the fireworks.
Up Next: Celebrating my birthday around the world!
I decided to spend the day at Epcot. Touring with youngerchildren, I have never fully experienced this park. Now that the kids are 8 and 13, I expect to really get my monies worth today.
We will be heading to Ohana for breakfast. I've always had a fun time here. The characters seemed to take their time and interact with us in a great way. I could drink a gallon of the juice and wish I could have a large cup to go. We'll take a little time wandering around the Polynesian, as this is where we have stayed our last trips. Since it is my birthday, the kids will have to cooperate when I want them to pose for pictures. With the rumors surrounding the Poly, I have to get my fill.
Back to pick up the folks and off to Epcot. If they are not up and moving after a late night, they will meet up with us later. Soarin is our first stop and then over to Test Track. We will hit as many of the rides in the morning that we can. I've booked the Coral Reef for lunch because the giant tanks are so peaceful to me.
When we are finished with lunch, we will start to make our way around the world. Most likely, we'll split into smaller groups depending on people's interests. My DD wants to visit China since they'll be studying it in school. DS and DN want to do a Kim Possible mission. I want to see everything and take a ton of pictures. We have reservations at Via Napoli. With the mixed reviews I am slightly concerned, but the Zeppole's look delicous and that is a great treat to finish before watching Illuminations.
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I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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
I've just added the Dessert Party to our MVMCP party. By that time, we will be ready to sit down and relax for a short time.
Tuesday we are spending the day at Animal Kingdom. Breakfast first at Cape May Cafe. We hope to see LaurieP over by the Vets window, conquer EE, take a 2 week safari and the Jingle parade.
Dinner at 7 at Grand Floridian Cafe. I have to see the lobby and the gingerbread house.
Wenesday - Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Over to Hollywood Studios for the day. The folks are going to the Brown Derby for dinner and we are going to the Aloha show at the Poly. We hope to make it back to HS to see the Osbourne Lights.
Thursday - Parents head home. We're having breakfast at Crystal Palace - it somehow just had a reservation and morning at Magic Kingdom. Afternoon horseback riding for my son. 4:00 dinner at Hoop Dee Doo. Final fireworks at Magic Kingdom. Quick change then Cirque de Soleil at 9 pm.
Friday - Breakfast at Cape May. Sadly checkout. Then we are heading to Orange Co Convention Center for time at the IAAPA conference (which makes it a business trip for me!!). Airport by 4:30 for flight home.
I will sleep next Saturday morning!
Thanks all for following along and answering all of my crazy questions over the last few weeks.
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. We try and get a couple of rides in Fantasyland under our belts before going into the future. As much as we have always traveled the off season, we have never ridden Dumbo because of the lines. We have decided we will wait on line for a ride, before it closes. We'll do the same for Snow White. 
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