"Yes, The Past Can Hurt, But You Can Either Run From It or You Can Learn From It" - PTR - COMPLETED 9/20 #184 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel 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
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.
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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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Be Prepared –The PTR saga continues:
Well after I called my TA to make the reservations and secured the ADR’s for our character breakfasts, it was time to tell Joshua about our upcoming trip. My son’s autism can sometimes make certain situations difficult for him especially when it comes to communicating. I use a lot of social stories and videos to get the message across and to establish a clear understanding. So getting out the handy dandy Pass Porter Book, I first showed him the four maps of the theme parks. Next, we watched videos of the different rides on the Undercover Tourist website. The first ride my ds wants to go on is Splash Mountain. He hates getting wet, but he really loves this ride and would go on it all day if allowed.
Joshua also loves going on all the other fast thrill rides so I had to explain to him about where they were in each park. We also talked about going to see some shows and the parades. Right now Joshua seems more interested in the parades, but is still unsure about watching the shows since their sound system is a bit on the loud side. I’m thinking of purchasing a set of noise reduction headphones and teaching him on how and when to use them, so that way he could enjoy the shows too. Otherwise My DH and I will have to play take turns in seeing the shows separately, which is kind of a bummer.
One small problem we kept running into is when my DS would start watching POV rides from other theme parks in Florida such as IOA or Universal Studios. So using a little bit of fun paraphrasing I would tell him: Me: Look, Joshua. (Showing the Disney Map) Everything the light touches is our kingdom. DS: What about that shadowy place? (Pointing to Universal Studios) Me: (Shaking head) That's beyond our borders.
At this point here is where will be going for each day:
· Sunday September 22nd: Relax and explore the resort and if not too tired go out later and play a game of miniature golf.
· Monday: The only thing I have so far planned is the breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. We might be going to EPCOT this day.
· Tuesday: Have breakfast at Chef Mickey, than head off to Hollywood Studios for a few hours. Afterwards come back to POR for lunch and head out in the evening to MNSSHP.
· Wednesday: Have an early (before the park is openedJ) breakfast at the Crystal Palace and spend the day at the Magic Kingdom.
· Thursday and Friday: Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and then we’ll be visiting Animal Kingdom. With the shorten hours we know it will take us two days to cover this park.
Right now I’m still debating on whether or not to upgrade our current MYW passes to hoppers. Last time we did have the hopper pass but never got to use them. We are using the car this time for the parks versus the crowded standing room only buses. Joshua hated riding on them since people were a little too close to him and disrupted his comfort level. I’m currently checking the forums and other websites to see how difficult is it to park hop when using the car. We are using AAA for our booking so we will be receiving the Diamond Parking Pass. Hopefully we’ll be able to find good parking if we decided to park hop. Any suggestions would be great here since this is the first time driving. TIA.
Great way to help Joshua understand what to expect! Great plans!
I'm really hoping the activities and videos help him to be more prepared. I just need to remember to show them right before he goes on the ride so he doesn't become anxious.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plans!
Thanks! As we get closer I'm going to start making them more indepth.
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Originally Posted by mcc0313
Your plans sounds great.
Thanks! I'm now trying to get my DH involved in the planning too. It's no fun doing it alone
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Originally Posted by DMA
Great plans so far! You will love POR!
I can't wait to go this resort. As much as I have enjoyed POP, I have a funny feeling this is going to be our new home. I'm already looking at the possibility of booking on the bounceback offers and upgrading our tickets to an Annual Pass.
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I can't wait to go this resort. As much as I have enjoyed POP, I have a funny feeling this is going to be our new home. I'm already looking at the possibility of booking on the bounceback offers and upgrading our tickets to an Annual Pass.
Have you checked out the Unofficial PO website? It is filled with lots of great information and pictures!
Yes I have...its a great website. As a matter of fact their website helped me in convincing my DH to switch from POP. . He can't wait to go cane fishing and lounge around. Ohh how I wish I could speed up the countdown clock.
You will love the resort, so quaint and quiet and laid back... This should be a nice place for all of you to relax after all the stimuli of the parks!!
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Just signing on... great plans! There is nothing more valuable than learning from past experiences. We try to make improvements each trip, too! Sounds like driving is a good choice for your family, as well as the relaxed eating and touring schedule. Look forward to reading your next update!
You will love the resort, so quaint and quiet and laid back... This should be a nice place for all of you to relax after all the stimuli of the parks!!
Thanks!. I'm hoping will be able to spend more time in the parks this time around.
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Originally Posted by mousestruck
Just signing on... great plans! There is nothing more valuable than learning from past experiences. We try to make improvements each trip, too! Sounds like driving is a good choice for your family, as well as the relaxed eating and touring schedule. Look forward to reading your next update!
Welcome aboard. I don't think there's ever been a trip to Disney where I too didn't try find ways to improve it or come up with different strategy plans. In fact it's my little secret of how I keep convincing my DH to go back again. Otherwise how would I know what works and what doesn't?
This week I’m slowly starting to plan out the other areas of the trip. While the main part of the trip is taken care of there is still so much more to be done before we leave and this year I’m trying my best to pay cash for everything and leave the credit cards alone. So I’m trying to budget different items for each week. So far I decided this year we would wear matching shirts for the day we go to Magic Kingdom. Since we plan on dining at the Crystal Place for breakfast I picked out a very cute Winnie-the-Pooh and friends shirt and had it customized for a decent price of $47.13 for the whole family. So I’m currently waiting for the first lot to arrive and if they meet my expectations I plan on purchasing one more lot for the MNSSHP, which I'm still in the process of designing.
I’m also putting money aside for the Photo+ Pass. Last year was the first time we ever used one and to me it was worth every dollar. While I still enjoy taking my own pictures and videos it will came in handy when I went on my adventure of doing Character Meet and Greets. I was able to meet up with and say “Hi” to 65 of my closest friends. I’m looking forward to adding to my autograph book and picture portfolio during the upcoming trip. The longest wait for a meet and greet would have to go to seeing the Seven Dwarves during MVMCP. I arrived at 5:30pm and sat down in line with everyone else, while Joshua and Will went on Splash Mountain. I know Joshua doesn’t like lines that don’t move, so I was a little worried when he came off the ride and came running up to me. I was starting to think he was going to want me to leave to go walk with him to another ride. Instead he sat down next to me and at this point the line had started to slowly move and during the next 45 minutes he just kept moving along with me. Just as we get to the front of the line, Joshua looks up sees the Seven Dwarves and runs to the other side and refuses to sit for the picture, so much for getting a nice family picture. I’m hoping to try again though since I hear they will be back for Halloween.
Later on that evening as we were making our way to Adventureland, I noticed the meet and greet for Aladdin and Jasmine, who were both meeting separately with their sidekick Abu and Genie. Just as I decided to get in line, Joshua starts to sit down right in the middle of walking. He tells me he feels sick and that his stomach hurts, but doesn’t want to leave. I have Will take him over to a bench to sit down and rest and told them I would call it a night after getting Jasmine autograph and picture, since we couldn’t get Joshua to move from the bench. Usually rides don’t affect him, but there’s always a first time. So I got inline and looking at the time, I knew I probably was going to miss meeting with Jasmine and would probably meet with Aladdin and Abu, which would be fine with me too since Abu is considered a rare character. However this was not the case, as I got up there I noticed Aladdin, but where’s Abu? Aladdin of course was wonderful to meet, but I really wanted to meet Abu. It turned out that Abu was busy trying to help Rapunzel that evening. So, after only being there for about 2 hours we had to call it a night. On the way out we manage to catch a little bit of the parade and the snow on Main Street, which cheered up Joshua and Will before we made our way back to the hotel.
Will knowing how much I had been looking forward to attending the MVMCP and how the trip had not been what I had hoped it would be, decided that he wanted to do something to cheer me up, so he went down to the front lobby and brought me another ticket for the following evening so I could go back and get some more rare character autographs and pictures. That night I was able to meet up with Jasmine and Genie. Afterwards I got back in line to meet with Aladdin and Abu. Aladdin actually remembers meeting with me the night before and started looking for his autograph in my book. He then asked for the pen and started writing in it. He gave it back to me with a smile and as I looked down I couldn’t help but laugh.
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my TA to make the reservations and secured the ADR’s for our character breakfasts, it was time to tell Joshua about our upcoming trip. My son’s autism can sometimes make certain situations difficult for him especially when it comes to communicating. 
I use a lot of social stories and videos to get the message across and to establish a clear understanding.
So getting out the handy dandy Pass Porter Book, I first showed him the four maps of the theme parks. Next, we watched videos of the different rides on the Undercover Tourist website. The first ride my ds wants to go on is Splash Mountain. He hates getting wet, but he really loves this ride and would go on it all day if allowed. 
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