You’re Driving Straight Through? No Thanks…I’ll Stay Home - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I guess they had the slowest waitress ever and they had been there for a long time. They paid their bills and I went to get my luggage and we all headed to our rooms.
I didn’t take pictures of the room this time (at least I don’t think I did). So I will post ones from last trip since the room is pretty much the same. You will see my dad….but he did not come on this trip.
I don’t remember exactly what we did, but I think we went and got some cheesecake at Juniors (soooo good) and hung in Aunt Mary, Geoff, and Amanda’s room. I know we did some giggling and just had some fun. Mom was tired and always went to bed early.
We had decided that Claire and Mom were going to sleep together as Claire and I don’t do well together in a smaller bed together. We kick and move too much and drive each other crazy.
We got back to the room and Mom was out…and totally stretched out across the WHOLE bed. Claire was like…Um where am I going to sleep? LOL. I told her to just hop in with me. You are probably wondering why no one is using the pullout chair….well Claire slept on it last trip and said it was horrible. We had promised she would not have to sleep on it this trip.
So we laid down and I tossed and turned all night. Claire was actually fine and didn’t bother me one bit…but the bed was hard as a rock. I woke up super early and just couldn’t take it anymore. I got dressed and went for a walk and also went outside to get some fresh air. When I came back in Mom had gotten up to use the bathroom and I told her I was going to pull out the chair bed and give it a try. I slept soundly for about another 2 hours. It was soooo much better than the bed. Perfect! We each had our own sleeping spot now!
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Oh wow, that is an awesome view from your room! I'm glad you got some sleep in the end.
yes, we had wonderful views this time around.
I was very happy on the sofa/chair bed. I am glad I gave it a try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crythomas
Trip sounds cool and can't wait to hear more and I don't blame you for not getting in the van.
It's such a short trip and we try to cram in as much as we can. I still have a long list of things I want to do on a future trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Incredible view from your room!
It was great! We luck out since Geoff has stayed there so often and he knows a lot of people He had put in a request of an area and floor and they do their best to accommodate.
We were staying on Geoff’s Marriot number and received his perks….which included access to the perks club room and breakfast, which is typically in the club room….but with so many people there for the Holiday they actually serve the breakfast in a conference room. We headed down there and got some pastries, fruit, sausage, eggs, etc. It hit the spot!
We then all gather in the hall once we were all ready to hit the town!
We walked by the Today Show in progress. Now the side we were on was not the fenced side, so we peeked in the windows and saw that Ohio University was in there and I took a couple quick pictures through the window….not more than 3 seconds.
And I was yelled at by a guard to keep moving. Seriously? If he had blink he would have never even known I stopped and I was not blocking the flow of pedestrian traffic.
Our first stop was at Rockefeller to go underneath and eat while watching the ice skaters. In theory this was good…except they made it at a time that could be breakfast or lunch. Most of us wanted lunch, but unfortunately they were only serving breakfast. I think if we had come just an hour later we could have had lunch.
Some ordered food, but many of us just ordered juice or coffee or soft drinks.
Someone had an accident and when we went to the bathroom you could see the person getting medical attention. I think he fell and hit his head and it was bleeding….but we later saw he walking so he was fine in the end.
The kids then wanted to go skating. Gail looked up some options and put it on hold for now. It was too expensive to skate at Rockefeller compared to other options, so we decided if we had time later she would go to Bryant Park.
We finished up and headed out….except we lost the family. We were confused on where they said they were and where we were, but eventually found them. We separated a bit and Gail took Abby to the American Girl Doll store.
We spent some time in the Kate Spade store and some purchases were made by a few. Amanda got a really pretty sparkly purse but within 3 weeks the handles were peeling off. She took it back to a local store and they exchanged it for her and she got to pick a different one out. I guess the one she got was a holiday purse not meant for every day….which I thought was pretty stupid since she paid quite a bit for it.
You're bringing back such fond memories of the Rockefeller Centre during the holiday season. I'm so glad we got to see that and how neat that you can grab a meal (even if it wasn't the one you wanted ) and watch the skaters.
Yes, everything is bigger on TV for sure. I've lost track of how many times we've seen someone and gone "wow, they're so small in real life". Margaret Thatcher, our Prime Minister in the 1980s was definitely one of those. Someone had to point her out to me. I'd never have spotted her otherwise. She was tiny, yet I was convinced she was 6 feet plus!
You're bringing back such fond memories of the Rockefeller Centre during the holiday season. I'm so glad we got to see that and how neat that you can grab a meal (even if it wasn't the one you wanted ) and watch the skaters.
Yes, everything is bigger on TV for sure. I've lost track of how many times we've seen someone and gone "wow, they're so small in real life". Margaret Thatcher, our Prime Minister in the 1980s was definitely one of those. Someone had to point her out to me. I'd never have spotted her otherwise. She was tiny, yet I was convinced she was 6 feet plus!
Yes!!! People always seem taller on TV too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by purplegal
Everything looks so nice decked out for the holidays.
it really is beautiful during the holidays!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Great start to your day! I thought the Today show studio was much larger.
It always seems like they are walking far distances to each set...and they really are only taking a few steps!
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I'm glad you got some sleep in the end.
) and watch the skaters. 
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