I Think We Have It All Planned: 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Plans look great. I think you made the right choice, skipping BLT for now. It's a good option when you can do a one bedroom, but might be tight with 2 adults and the kids.
Plans look great. I think you made the right choice, skipping BLT for now. It's a good option when you can do a one bedroom, but might be tight with 2 adults and the kids.
Hi all! I'm back to posting after a bit of a break. Well, so far we have no new changes! Here is our itinerary:
Day 1 - Drive from NC to WDW - We will leave home around 4:00 am. Arrive at AK around 2:00pm. Visit the park for a few hours, then check in to Hampton Inn. Have dinner at ESPN Club and go back to hotel for early evening.
Day 2 - Check out of Hampton Inn and check in to AKLV Jambo House. Visit Epcot and have dinner at La Hacienda.
Day 3 - Visit MK. Boat over to Ft. Wilderness for dinner at Trail's End. Boat over to Contemporary to view Wishes from the BLT Lounge.
Day 4 - Visit DHS until late afternoon and return to resort. We will have dinner at Mara and swim for a bit.
Day 5 - Drive to Universal Studios for our Day of Harry Potter! ( Now DS has gotten into Jurassic Park, so we will be spending time in that area also. ) One meal will be at the Monster's Cafe and we haven't decided on the second meal yet. ( Any CS suggestions? )
Day 6 - Sleep Late! This is our non-park day. We plan on swimming, visiting Community Hall and exploring the resort. Dinner will be at Sanaa.
Day 7 - AKL open to close. Dinner will be at Yak and Yeti.
Day 8 - DH and DS will be fishing in the morning. Dd and I will either take our time until the guys get back or meet them at Epcot late morning/noonish, and then a late lunch will be at Biergarten.
Day 9 - This will be a full day at MK with all CS meals.
Day 10 - We will have breakfast at Boma (yay) and drive home (boo).
As you might have noticed, there is no time allotted for DTD. The past several trips we tried to get in ( by car ) on our Friday night arrival. We will not be doing that again! After eventually finding a parking spot, the shops and outdoor areas are just too crowded to navigate. No need to start the vacation stressed! We usually have two non-park days built in to the week and spend a few hours shopping on one of those days. However, the addition of a Universal day has taken away one of those. Dd noticed that we have no plans to go to DTD and requested that we do so. I told her maybe a morning visit on our pool day would be possible, but it's kind of wait and see.
Last summer DH and DS took an early morning fishing excursion and had an absolute blast! They want to do it again and have scheduled another excursion for the morning of our second Epcot day. Dd and I will take advantage of this time to have a morning of leisure and wait for the guys to come back to the resort. We might head over to Epcot and meet them whenever they get there.
One thing we seem to neglect on most of our trips is time at the resort. AKL is such an amazing place and we usually rush to the room, rush to a park and rush to go eat. Just sitting in the massive lobby is so relaxing. Studying all the architectural details, looking for hidden Mickeys and animal watching from the common areas are activities we enjoy, but somehow decide to do them as we prepare to leave. We hope to dedicate more time for these unique opportunities. In the past, we have wandered into Community Hall, but never took the time to really enjoy its crafts and games. The kids and I plan to take advantage of this DVC perk.
A new experience for us will be watching Wishes from the BLT Top of the World Lounge. We have missed the show so many times, due to the thought of the crowds on top of our fatigue from a full day. We are just too tired to enjoy it. So, instead of going full steam all day on our first MK day, we will end our park day by boating over to Trail's End at Ft. Wilderness for a 7:00pm dinner. After dinner, we will boat over to the Contemporary to watch Wishes.
Dd will continue her pin trading this week. DS isn't as eager to start conversations with strangers. I think he's going to focus on pressed pennies this year. Both kids really enjoy the Sorcerer's of the MK and Adventurer's games. Part of each MK day will be allotted to those. We will wait to see if there is still interest in the Phineas and Ferb game at Epcot. I think they have solved all the assignments already.
So, a few more weeks and I will be able to schedule FP+s! The trip will be here before we realize!