A trip of Firsts, Seconds, and Thirds 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Now, I know people are going to look at the title of this post and think, "what kid wouldn't like Disney?" Well, with these boys, Nick and Alex, it is quite possible since they've never been exposed to ANYTHING Disney, unless Mike, Aiden and I have said something. They don't even watch the Disney Channel! My mom was a little worried about how they would react when we went. Would they like it? Would they have fun? I assured her that no child would ever spurn Disney World but, to ease her mind, I happened to have a Disney Vacation Planning dvd for 2012 at my house. I told her when the time presented its self, I would show the boys a bit about what Disney has to offer. Sure enough, Alex's birthday was yesterday and the time presented its self then! I put in the DVD and those boys could not have been more excited! Nick, who is the oldest, kept telling Mike and I he wanted to go on the log ride (Splash Mountain) and Space Mountain and ToT. My parents won't go on those rides, so Mike and I get to be the Aunt and Uncle and take the boys on all the thrill rides. I'm pretty excited about that. But those boys couldn't be happier to be going. They keep asking when we get to go now. so I will make some sort of countdown for them after the holidays, which I will post on here so everyone can see.
Nothing else has changed really, except that Aiden wants to stay in the Lion King part of AoA now. That's fine with Mike and I, as we think the showers in the LK buildings are awesome looking
I've go to make this short. Have to get my little one up and ready for school. Everyone have a great day!!
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Uh oh - I almost missed this PTR! But got caught up real fast!!! How exciting!!! I would LOVE to take my neice along with us to WDW (especially with all the craziness going on right now) but she won't leave her mothers side!!! UUGGH!! 16 and never slept over any where other than my house!! Tried to get her away with us this past weekend - nope - wouldn't go! I guess I will have to live it through your TR!
Can't wait!!! Hope your little guy is having fun at school!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
So, nothing really new with the planning. I will make my ADR's soon. I'm finding that to be the most difficult part of planning this trip for everyone. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm in my glory planning a Disney vacation, but my parents and nephews are such fussy eaters and aren't willing to try new things. So coming up with dinner options is proving to be most difficult. I try to tell them whats on the menu and my mom says she trusts me and just to pick places, but thats a lot of pressure. What if they don't like where I picked and in essence, waste a dining credit eating something they aren't thrilled with...ughhh THE PRESSURE!!!!!!!!
My parents are kind of scaring me on IF they are going to go at all now. I told them the prices for everything a very decent amount of time before anything needed to be booked or payed off. But my mom and dad are, well, cheap. I'm not saying you have to blow your wallet up to have a nice vacation at Disney, but you also can't get a Disney vacation for $1000 which is basically where they would be "comfortable" spending, staying in a resort on site, buying park tickets for 2 adults and 2 children for 5 days, and have a Deluxe dining plan. They ask me what we are doing and I tell them. They want to do what we are doing. That's great for them, until I tell them how much I am spending. Then it doesn't seem so great to them. My parents never were really big on family vacations. Neither was Mike's family, which is why I think we make a HUGE deal out of our annual family vacations. I save and budget so that we can have a great vacation. Well, I wasn't too surprised when my mom mentioned how to make it cheaper and Mike wasn't too happy about her possibly changing her mind. My parents have been known to back out of things at the last minute. Mike wanted to make it VERY clear to me that even if my parents backed out at the last minute, we would still continue with our plans. Hey, no arguments from me! So, other than that, nothing really new. Mike and I are renewing our AP's next month, so I can't WAIT for that!
That is really and truly it. I will keep all of you updated on any changes that may occur!!
Great plans so far! My parents & sister are just like yours. They are kind of cheap when it comes to vacations. Growing up I was just like you, my parents never went anywhere. So now I try to give my kids what I didn't have.
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
Well, my parents never cease to amaze me. My mom and dad came over yesterday for a visit and dinner. We had a great time and, of course, we talked about Disney. My dad kind of has the "whatever you guys want to do" attitude with no real input lol but that is how he has always been. My mom on the other hand, I think I have a new Disney Fan in the making here. I just have to continue to work my magic So, my parents, still on the never ending quest to be cheaper asked me how they could cut some costs. I told them that we are getting our AP's this month (yay!) and because of that, we will get a room and dining discount. My mom was interested in that, so I showed her the price difference and all that jazz. It didn't take much convincing on my part to get her to see the light about getting passes that will last her all year long. So, now my parents are getting AP's and will be able to get their room discount AND be able to come to WDW with us whenever we go. YAY! I am good! hahah
I also wanted to treat my mom and myself to a Mother/Daughter tea time at the Garden View Tea Room. I loved it when I went with my SIL on our whole family vacation, and I've always wanted to go back. But it's not easy trying to convince DH and DS to sit quietly and drink tea with me : haha so I never really have anyone to go with, which means I don't get to go But this year, since my mom will be with me, I can go and share the experience with her! I think it will be nice I originally wanted it to be a surprise, but as previously mentioned, my parents are fussy eaters and I didn't want to take her there if she wasn't going to enjoy herself. So I showed her pictures and found some menus online and she was all for it! Yay! So, I'll add that to the list of ADR's to make and we will be great! I told her it was my treat and that I didn't want to hear any arguments about it. She reluctantly agreed
Well, it seems my updates are coming more rapidly than I anticipated so, look out for my next one, when ever that may be !!
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My mom was a little worried about how they would react when we went. Would they like it? Would they have fun? I assured her that no child would ever spurn Disney World but, to ease her mind, I happened 
to have a Disney Vacation Planning dvd for 2012 at my house. I told her when the time presented its self, I would show the boys a bit about what Disney has to offer. Sure enough, Alex's birthday was yesterday and the time presented its self then! 
I put in the DVD and those boys could not have been more excited! 
Nick, who is the oldest, kept telling Mike and I he wanted to go on the log ride (Splash Mountain) and Space Mountain and ToT. My parents won't go on those rides, so Mike and I get to be the 
Aunt and Uncle and take the boys on all the thrill rides. I'm pretty excited about that. But those boys couldn't be happier to be going. They keep asking when we get to go now. 
so I will make some sort of countdown for them after the holidays, which I will post on here so everyone can see.
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Thank
Pixie Dust
I guess I will have to live it through your TR! 
So, other than that, nothing really new. Mike and I are renewing our AP's next month, so I can't WAIT for that! 
with the ADR's!
: haha so I never really have anyone to go with, which means I don't get to go 
Linear Mode
