Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising LIVE TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 3/8 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
With each of our Memory Maker orders we have received the card, not sure why unless Disney sees it as a back up if bands aren't working. I have added mine to our travel documents each trip, just in case.
The parade is so awesome....You are going to LOVE it!
I'm sure we will!
Quote:
am loving this style of pre trip report and I think I am going to use it as I start to make plans for our trip. We have started talking...nothing set yet or even destination or dates, but we know we want warm weather!
Do I dare ask how cold it's been for you and how much snow you've had? I assume you've had snow, as most of America seems to have done!
Being gone for such a long time, I think I'd start packing a week or two in advance! And that is very odd that Disney mailed you a memory maker card. Wonder why - as I thought all memory maker things are associated with your magic band? And why can they mail that but not the bands? All these questions that you can't answer.
I know, weird huh?
Quote:
Tomorrow!!
Well, yes, that's when the journey starts, but only as far as the airport. Sadly we won't be in Disney for another 50 plus hours yet...
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
"Then I opened up my email to find a message saying our Magic Bands would be waiting for us when we got to our resort. Er, I’d hope so, as presumably you’re not sending those over to us? It was at this point that I realised I don’t think I ever customised our Magic Bands. Oh well, no big deal, except if we mix the two up, and no doubt we’ll end up with different ones for each of our resort stays, as that’s what happened last time, so the mix-up opportunities are endless! "
Your names should be printed on the inside of the bands, so mix-ups shouldn't be a problem. Also, the second set of bands won't present a problem either as all of the bands will be active and either will get you into the parks, your room, etc. I sometimes take back bands from previous trips to have a variety and all work.
Ah, now that should help having the names printed on the inside of the bands - I don't remember them doing that the last time we were in Disney. That sounds like a great step forward!
Quote:
And, speaking of bands, our Magic Bands arrived yesterday!!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
With each of our Memory Maker orders we have received the card, not sure why unless Disney sees it as a back up if bands aren't working. I have added mine to our travel documents each trip, just in case.
Maybe that's it - and perhaps they know we're planers and we need a back-up plan?
Sorry about your sunglasses. What a great gift to get Mark for Valentine's Day. I don't remember getting a card with my Memory Marker. It might have been in my packet of information, but I don't remember. We used our bands and had not problems! Only a few days and you're on your way!
Too bad you didn't get to customize the bands as we really enjoyed having different colors... but as someone mentioned- your names are on the inside so you could take a quick look at them before putting them on in the mornings
I just finished you entire PTR! Whew! So excited for you as you will be in Orlando in two days. I hope the weather will be warmer for you but as a massive cold front is diving down on us here in Atlanta tonight I just hope it does not get any colder for you in Disney. I totally understand the Disney Sunglasses hunt, as my pair just bit the dust last week. I told my husband I guess we will be getting me a new pair or perhaps two while we are down there in May/June. Have a wonderful and safe trip and I can't wait to read all about it!
I'm pretty much all packed over here in New Hampshire. Shoveled off my roof for 2 hours today, got my nails done and did a little shopping. Tomorrow I am back to work but only for one day and then trying to sleep before the alarm goes off on Friday morning at 4:00am.! I'll take 40 degrees at night any day of the week! See you there (hopefully) safe travels
Do I dare ask how cold it's been for you and how much snow you've had? I assume you've had snow, as most of America seems to have done!
We are not near as bad as some of the states but we have had at least 12 inches or more over the past month or so, Some will melt and then the new stuff comes. Our issue is the winds as it blows what we have all over and drifts on the roads. it didn't snow today but was super windy and I am half expecting school canceled tomorrow because the roads are pretty bad now. Temps have been 15 degrees to negative 10. plus windchills. I am so done with winter.