Getting Our Geek On & A Trip of Many Firsts PTR June 2012 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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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.
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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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Signing on, you're off to a great start! I love the countdown, and I'm sure your kids will be super exited about the surprise on the last day of school! You're dining plans look great, you're making me hungry over here. Looking forward to hearing the rest of you plans!
Tickets: We ordered our tickets the other week and our Premium Annual Pass exchange certificates arrived last week! We've got another trip planned for December and the kids want to visit water parks and DisneyQuest so we decided to just go with the PAP's.
Pirates: Ariana and Ethan both wished to become pirates for a day, so reservations were made for Pirate's League. Phoenix wanted to at first, then changed his mind. I made an appointment for him as well, Jason will take his place if Phoenix chooses not to take on another personality that day. Ari wanted to dress the part and we had many a discussion about just what she'd like to wear that day and we settled on this....
I ordered it off Amazon and got a great price!
DisneyQuest: DQ will be another FIRST for us. In all of our trips, we've never visited. The kids, especially Ethan, want to give this a try. I'm not huge into video games, but this should be a fun time.
Water Parks: Typhoon Lagoon is on the schedule for this trip and the wave pool is a must for each kid. Ari and Ethan really want to try the slides and because of that, Jason will finally have someone to experience them with as I'm a big chicken when it comes to that stuff. The lazy river is more my style, same with my inlaws.
Parasailing: My MIL and I will be viewing WDW from above this trip as Mother's Day gifts. I have a fear of heights and this is something that has been on my To Do list for years. My MIL saw a video of parasailing and she loves stuff like that, so a plan was crafted for the two of us to go. We are going as single riders on the deluxe flight. I've been watching videos online to help prepare myself and I am very excited (yet ) about this adventure.
Golf: Jason and Dave are hoping to hit the links for a round of golf this trip. Dave will be going for sure and we are trying to figure out a day/time that Jason can go out too.
SWW: When we were first planning this vacation, it was scheduled for August. Then we move it to the week after school lets out and I realize I will be able to enjoy Star Wars Weekends again!! And since my kids have been born and raised on SW, they will get to have fun as well.
They are in love with watching Hyperspace Hoopla videos and that is what they really want to do at SWW.
For the weekends we will be there: Weekend III (June 1 -3)
Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker – Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace)
Silas Carson (Nute Gunray/Ki-Adi-Mundi – Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace)
(Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice talent – currently TBD)
Weekend IV (June 8- 10)
Michonne Bourriague (Aurra Sing – Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace)
Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett – Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi)
Daniel Logan (Boba Fett – Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones)
Nika Futterman (voice of Asajj Ventress – Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
We saw Jake Lloyd years ago at SWW, so it'll be nice to see him again. Phoenix loves Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress, so he is super happy with the news that the ladies behind the voice will be there. Jason's fave character is Boba Fett, so he's happy as well.
Next Up: Transportation
__________________
Denise
Counting down to....
May 2017 - Poly (Grandma's 1st Trip to WDW)
Sept 2017 - DH's bday celebration
Aug 2018 - DCL Family cruise on the Dream
Last edited by wdwlovers; 04-08-2012 at 10:23 AM..
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Transportation: We are flying Airtran for the first time. Flights are out of MKE, so we will be driving (3 hours) on Fri. June 1st to stay in a hotel overnight. Our flight out is at 6:40am. It had been after 7am, but they bumped up the time. We were hoping to avoid before 7am, but oh well. That gets us into MCO at 10:19am.....I think that is the earliest arrival time we've ever had in Orlando. Even though it will be an early morning, that butt crack of dawn flight gives us a TON of Disney time that first day! Our flight out on Sat. June 9th doesn't leave MCO until 8:40pm, so that is another nice Disney day for us.
We are renting a minivan for this trip. Jason and I prefer to have a car at our disposal. We tried the buses last year and quite honestly, it's just too claustrophobic for me at the end of the day. And my patience is saved for waiting in the queue at attractions, not 20 minutes for a bus.
Other updates:
I just added the dining plan to our stay. This will be the first long vacation we've had the DDP, so looking forward to it.
Our DME tags arrived on Thursday! Very exciting mail day.
And while I have yet to officially pull out a suitcase, I did start the Disney bin the other week.
And I saved photos of yesterday's countdown check in my phone:
This trip seems sooooo far away yet, but I know May will fly by. Both kids have birthdays and the parties that come along with that. Mother's Day. Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in the middle of the month. We do not have a single free weekend until the vacation.
We will be making our donations to the Disney Wildlife Fund in Stephanie's honor while we are on this trip and are hoping to snag a quick meet with Cam and other PP's there.
I'm also getting ready to change over our December trip plans. We are booked at SSR for Dec, but can switch to AKV on Tuesday. Trying to decide yet on Jambo House or Kidani Village. Also trying to come up with dining selections for that too since I'll be making ADR's while on this June trip.
Well, that's it for now folks.
__________________
Denise
Counting down to....
May 2017 - Poly (Grandma's 1st Trip to WDW)
Sept 2017 - DH's bday celebration
Aug 2018 - DCL Family cruise on the Dream
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Ari wanted to dress the part and we had many a discussion about just what she'd like to wear that day and we settled on this.... 
Ari and Ethan really want to try the slides and because of that, Jason will finally have someone to experience them with as I'm a big chicken when it comes to that stuff. 
The lazy river is more my style, same with my inlaws.
and this is something that has been on my To Do list for years. My MIL saw a video of parasailing and she loves stuff like that, so a plan was crafted for the two of us to go. We are going as single riders on the deluxe flight. I've been watching videos online to help prepare myself and I am very excited (yet 
) about this adventure.
And since my kids have been born and raised on SW, they will get to have fun as well. 
Holly: 
Our flight out on Sat. June 9th doesn't leave MCO until 8:40pm, so that is another nice Disney day for us. 
Also trying to come up with dining selections for that too since I'll be making ADR's while on this June trip.
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