Still Crazy After All These Years? A Reunion 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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So nice how it all came together in the end. I'm sorry your son's opportunity to play with his band was squashed. Boardwalk is dd's choice whenever we don't stay at AKLV. We have always enjoyed our stays there. I love walking to Epcot! Hope you two have a great reunion trip!
He was disappointed, but hopefully they will have another chance. -3 more years of high school, so maybe. Glad to hear you love Boardwalk. AKV is our home resort and we do love it there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Nice start and this could be one amazing adventure with two best frinds hitting it in WDW after so many years!
I am hoping it will be an amazing adventure. We had some pretty good adventures when we were teens so hoping this will live up to those. Maybe even surpass them. It is Disney World after all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Well, it all worked out even with the kinks in the best laid plans. Congrats on getting a boardwalk view at the Boardwalk.
I'm glad it worked out. I'm so excited about Boardwalk! I do love AKL, but it seems fitting that we chose a resort that will be new to both of us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Alaska
Awe! A girlfriend trip will be so much fun! Your school year must start much later than ours. I'm a teacher and our first day back is August 8th!
~kim
I am so excited for this trip. I have only gone to WDW once without my son, and that's because it was years before he was born. I'm sure it might feel strange at first, but looking forward to it.
Our school year starts later than usual this year. I'll have a week of summer still after I return from this trip. I usually choose mid-late August for our summer trips specifically because I know many schools across the country are already back in session. But I still have 2 full weeks of school left right now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I'm glad it all worked out. Sorry the band trip didn't work out.
I think I was as disappointed as he was that the band trip didn't work out. I learned that they were ONE performer shy of meeting the requirement! Talk about a bummer.
We had our resort reservations, now we needed flights, tickets, and ADRs.
For me, the flights were somewhat easy –I always take the first non-stop flight from whichever of our 2 local airports is cheaper. I take the last non-stop home, if possible. I might choose a flight with a connection going home if it is late in the day and cheaper than a non-stop. But as Tracey was coming from the opposite coast, flights could be tricky. If she took a red-eye, she could arrive early on Monday but wouldn’t be functioning very well that day with so little sleep coupled with the time change. A flight leaving at a more reasonable time would get her in by early afternoon, making my usual flights somewhat impractical as we had decided it was easiest to meet up at the airport and take DME together. She finally decided to fly in on Sunday, stay overnight at a hotel near MCO and take the hotel’s shuttle back to the airport to meet me Monday morning. My flight gets in at 9:35 am so we should have plenty of park time on our first day. She says it doesn’t usually take her more than a day to adjust to east coast time so we should be good there.
We would need 5 days of tickets. I was debating on whether or not to get park hoppers when I saw a post on FB announcing that Disney was offering Military Salute tickets, 4 day hoppers offered at about half the price.. I sent the link to Tracey asking if she qualified for these tickets. Sure enough, she did! She sent her husband to their local base to buy them. The only caveat is that you can't add days to these tickets. We still needed another day, so I purchased 2 one day tickets (DHS, AK, Epcot only). I figured we could use those on either our arrival or departure day, depending on how the plans shake out. I saw some ticket price increase rumors and didn't delay. I was able to get the one day tickets before it happened. We saved over $200 on tickets going this route.
It’s real! We have hotel reservations, flight reservations and tickets!
Before our 180 day window, Tracey let me know some restaurants that she wanted to try. Again, I was interested in what she wanted and didn’t want to add my 2 cents to sway her. On her wish list were: Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre, Be Our Guest, and either Coral Reef, Le Cellier, or San Angel for lunch at Epcot on our last day. I had a couple I wanted to fill in: Crystal Palace breakfast (before the MK opened), Garden Grill breakfast (before the park opened) and Sanaa. Now I knew that I would likely change some of these, but this is what I got.
Monday: Sci-Fi for dinner.
Tuesday: Crystal Palace for breakfast (earliest time), Sanaa for a late lunch.
Wednesday: Garden Grill for breakfast (earliest time).
Thursday: Be Our Guest for dinner.
Friday: San Angel for lunch.
Friday was the hardest day. Which to choose? I have been to both Coral Reef and Le Cellier before. I’m not crazy about seafood, and Coral Reef doesn’t have much on the lunch menu that appeals to non-seafood eaters. I do like Le Cellier, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that kind of $$$ for lunch. I had never been to San Angel, and while I have heard mixed reviews, I figured that the atmosphere was pretty neat and it would be great to experience something new, so that’s what I chose.
Up Next: Trying To Plan When There Are Lots of New Things and a Cool Idea.
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Loved the back story. It made me tear up thinking of a friend I grew up with that I've lost contact with. Ive tried but with no luck so far. You guys are going to have so much fun. Haven't tried Boardwalk but we love AKL. Sounds like it's all coming together.
Nice going with the airfare and some nice dining choices as well!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Congrats on getting a boardwalk view at the Boardwalk. 
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