Partners in Crime do Food and Wine! A PTR - Page 3 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Hey, guys. Long time no post. I've been in that in-between phase of planning where a lot is done and it's not quite time to move onto the next planning phase (*cough* Fastpass+ *cough*). However the day before yesterday brought me an e-mail from TouringPlans.com noting that they have updated their crowd calendar. As it turned out, the crowds are predicted to be higher on every day we'll be there. That's ok, though. That's what touring plans are for! I did decide to shuffle some plans around, however, so that we aren't going to any park with a predicted crowd level over 5/10.
So, we're now going to Epcot the afternoon we arrive (instead of Hollywood Studios) and Hollywood Studios Thursday morning. I also switched our full AK and Epcot days, so we're going to AK on Wednesday and Epcot on Saturday. I only had to switch one ADR (our lunch at Tiffins) and that was easily done.
The only real bummer is that I heard about these changes AFTER July 21- the first day you could book Food and Wine Festival Events. We really wanted to do the Mix it! Make it! Celebrate it! Mixology workshop on Saturday, but it was fully booked. We'll try the night before/day of in case there are any cancellations but it's ok if we don't make it.
I'm actually happier with these plans because I think we definitely needed some more time at Epcot and it has spaced out our TS meals a little bit. I've kept the Saturday Beaches + Cream ADR since we'll be in Epcot. Despite all of the F+WF noshing we're planning to do, I think taking a break at B+C and maybe splitting a sundae will be refreshing.
Other than that, there hasn't been a lot of planning to be done. We're leaving in 86 days (YAY!), so the next big step will likely be making FP+ reservations in 26 days. Still no word one way or the other from Marq about staying CL but I'll obviously have to change our reservation if he decides to upgrade. The only other thing going on is me thinking about a nice little surprise for him. I was going to order a pair of ears with his name on them and give them to him on the train, but it doesn't seem like you can customize ears purchased through disneystore.com. I know that the Disney Florist is an option but that is SO expensive. Likewise, I can't see spending an extra $22 using Memories by Betsy when the only thing I want is the ears (or maybe an autograph book).
Hope you're all doing well!
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"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life...They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures..." --Walt Disney
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Well, it's been quite a ride! Sorry to keep you all waiting (as I know you have been, with bated breath ). Part of the reason for my absence was that, for awhile, it seemed like we might have to cancel our trip!
Marq's health issues have flared again- badly enough that he's had to take another hiatus from work. Unfortunately, fatigue is a major symptom of what he's dealing with, in addition to other mobility issues. For a few months, now, we've been wondering if he'll have the energy to make the trip. Our reservation is room-only, so I told him that he had until 6 days before we were to check-in to make his decision if he wanted a full refund.
Yesterday (the 11 day mark), however, he messaged me and said that he is determined to go. I, in turn, am determined to alter our plans so that they're feasible and flexible. Here's what I've done for that, so far:
1. We have a room request on file (using the TouringPlans.com tool) for a room close to the central elevators. We're renting a scooter but I would still rather he didn't have to go all the way to the end of the resort to get to our room.
2. I actually tried to book Club Level, but we were way too late for that. The cast member I spoke to on the phone yesterday actually said there are no CL rooms at ANY resort available for our dates. I've instead promised to be Marq's concierge, myself. I'm planning on bringing some treats (and alcohol ) to keep in the room. I'm also going to bring some Disney movies (and request a DVD player at the front desk, as I now see you have to do) for extra downtime.
3. I've built breaks (as in: go back to the hotel room and nap) into every day except our first full day. That's a MK day and I figure we'll do what we can, take a break when it's needed, and anything we've missed can be done before MNSSHP on Thursday or Sunday morning.
4. Speaking of Thursday, I've also cleared that morning for us. Even for me, trying to tour in the morning and then do MNSSHP in the evening was crazy exhausting last time. I want to make sure we really enjoy it because it's an event I truly love.
5. I had changed where we were going on arrival day but now it's back to Hollywood Studios, despite high crowd predictions. I think Tower of Terror has the potential to be Marq's favorite ride ever so I want to get that in ASAP so he doesn't end up missing it if he's tired later in the week. In fact, that's literally the first attraction we're riding.
Aside from juggling days a bit to appease the crowd calendar gods, though, the plans for where we're eating and what we're doing at the parks are pretty much the same. Here are our Fastpass+ reservations:
Monday, 10/24: TSMM 3:25p; ToT 4:30p; Star Tours 5:55p
Tuesday, 10/25: PPF 10a; Space Mt 1:05p; 7DMT 2:25p
I think there'll be a couple hours here and there where I stay at some parks later than Marq does but I want to be really careful to strike a healthy balance weighted in favor of time together. I have a tendency to tour until I drop and this leads me to miss out on some of the genuinely fun, more low-key stuff at Disney. Except for dining. I never regard time in a nice restaurant as time I should be riding rides! But I often miss out on the finer points of my hotel or the luxury of a morning spent sleeping in. I want to have the discipline to enjoy my trip WITH my friend instead of feeling anxious about what I'm not "getting done." Though it's somewhat embarrassing to admit that that is difficult for me at WDW, it is nonetheless true. Am I the only "grown up" (if I can really be called that) who struggles with this?
As always, if any of you lovelies has ideas about what I might be able to do to make the trip more magical, I welcome suggestions and constructive criticism. All in all, though, I feel proud and happy of the plans we've made. I can't believe we leave in ten days! The 23rd can NOT get here fast enough.
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"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life...They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures..." --Walt Disney
Just signing on but sounds like the makings of a great trip for the two of you! Those are some great ADRs you have!
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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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Long time no post. I've been in that in-between phase of planning where a lot is done and it's not quite time to move onto the next planning phase (*cough* Fastpass+ *cough*). However the day before yesterday brought me an e-mail from TouringPlans.com noting that they have updated their crowd calendar. As it turned out, the crowds are predicted to be higher on every day we'll be there. 
That's ok, though. That's what touring plans are for! I did decide to shuffle some plans around, however, so that we aren't going to any park with a predicted crowd level over 5/10.
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). Part of the reason for my absence was that, for awhile, it seemed like we might have to cancel our trip!
) to keep in the room. I'm also going to bring some Disney movies (and request a DVD player at the front desk, as I now see you have to do) for extra downtime.
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