Making Lemonade out of Mousefest **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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In the next two weeks I have to figure out how to get Brandon packed. He's flying to the Virgin Islands so everything he wants to take with him has to fit in a couple of suitcases and a carry on bag. Wow! I can't imagine fitting my whole life into a suitcase, but he's going to do it.
I suppose I can ship almost anything he might forget or decide later that he does need. I also have to figure out where I'm going to put anything he wants me to hold onto for him as his room will soon be occupied by Les. I'm guessing its going to end up stacked in my mini walk in closet. (Its not really a walk in, its just big enough to stand inside.) I still haven't completely unpacked from our hurricane evacuation.!
I purchased 25 leaf sized trash bags. Some people do spring cleaning. I'm going to do fall cleaning. Everything I don't use on a regular basis, that doesn't have a specific specialty purpose is getting thrown away. The pack rat is going to unpack. I'm going to try and do it before Christmas. My goal is to get the house completely clean and organized by Christmas.
This update has absolutely NOTHING to do with Mousefest, but I promise the next one will!
If you are planning on going to Mousefest and haven't registered yet TOMORROW is the last day to be official!
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You have questioned using PP at Mousefest. I am in the same quandry. Looks like I may be pre-ordering the cd. I just have to remember to get it all uploaded and looked at before the deline for the refund. Mousefest is only the start of the trip for me as I will not be leaving until the Friday after it closes. My wife cannot go with me this year so I am going solo. I guess the pix will allow her to be there is spirit. The main character meet she would want to go to is the new Tink one. Not sure that I will be doing that one alone. How would that look for a grandpa to stand in line without his favorite girls (DW and DGD)? I have done this before in Epcot. Perhaps next time. Looking forward to the rest of your story.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
Children? My roommate is asleep on the couch, but I don't think that counts. I don't have any children . . . so I'm just going to skip that line all together because I'm pretty sure my cats have no idea what sugar-plums are!
I on the other hand am quite ready for some sugar-plums! So lets talk about food.
I decided way back when I made my reservations in August that I was going to do at least one sit down meal a day. So I made a bunch of reservations including:
Hollywood Brown Derby, two dinners at Artist Point (I couldn't make up my mind which night I wanted, lunch at Le Cellier, Tutto Italia, and Flying Fish.
I changed my mind completely when I was looking at what Mousefest Meets I wanted to go to.
I canceled ALL of my reservations . . . all of them except 1. I kept my 11:40am reservation at the Brown Derby. Why? Sugar-plums of course . . . okay not sugar-plums, but close! I really want a piece of grapefruit cake! I'm not usually a huge dessert person, but I really like pink grapefruit.
Yes you are reading correctly I canceled a reservation at Le Cellier. No I'm not nuts . . . I just don't want to be tied to anything.
I do have some dining plans.
On Dec 11th I get in around lunch time and will probably grab a snack on my way to the bus to get to the Mousefest kickoff party and then a Dole Whip at Mike Scopa's meet.
I'll have dinner with Duck Addict and the rest of the PP gang before MVMCP that night!
On the 12th I'm keeping that HBD reservation! for lunch! I think I'll be grabbing a bite at the Back Lot Express for dinner . . . the veggie sandwich sounds good.
The 13th I'm going to try and grab breakfast before the MMM and skip lunch all together.
I'll have dinner with Deb and the gang at Yorkshire County Fish Shop after my Mexico Margarita Meet.
On the 14th I'll grab lunch at Casey's . . . I am a hotdog junkie . . . yes its true! I'm not sure where I'll be at the end of the day.
On the 15th I'm not sure where I'll be at lunch time, but I'll probably show up at dinner at the ABC Commissary, but I really want to see Spectromagic on Monday night. I haven't seen it in the last three years.
I leave on the 16th, but thanks to a great Southwest sale today. I managed to cancel my flights and rebook at HALF PRICE!!!! I also changed my flight back to a later flight . . . I'm going to take Tuesday off of work after all. I'm probably going to hit Epcot morning EMH and then go back to the MK . . . I'll probably grab lunch at either Pecos Bills or get some Figgaro Fries!
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Great start, Heather (I'm just catching up ). You've got some great meals planned, and Mousefest is a great way to try your first solo trip! You'll run into Passporters everywhere (even me ). And if you're still deciding about the Photopass, I'll put in my 2 cents. If you're thinking of ordering the CD just because you're not sure you'll get pictures, don't. It's easy to get plenty of pictures with your camera (if there isn't a CM handler there, I usually ask the family behind me). However, if you want to do all the magic shots offered with the PP CD and all the borders and stuff, then I say go for it! Hope that helps!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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Great start, Heather (I'm just catching up ). You've got some great meals planned, and Mousefest is a great way to try your first solo trip! You'll run into Passporters everywhere (even me ). And if you're still deciding about the Photopass, I'll put in my 2 cents. If you're thinking of ordering the CD just because you're not sure you'll get pictures, don't. It's easy to get plenty of pictures with your camera (if there isn't a CM handler there, I usually ask the family behind me). However, if you want to do all the magic shots offered with the PP CD and all the borders and stuff, then I say go for it! Hope that helps!
Thanks Sharon! I think I'm going to preorder! I'd like to have the holiday borders! I have six full days I should be able to get my money's worth!
Thanks for reading everyone else! I should have the next installment sometime tomorrow!
Okay I haven't disappeared. I've been trying to spend as much time with Brandon as possible before he leaves, which is now in 2hrs. He's up and packing and I'm getting ready to take him to the airport. I'll be back soon. I promise!
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with the fall cleaning!
). You've got some great meals planned, and Mousefest is a great way to try your first solo trip! You'll run into Passporters everywhere (even me 
). And if you're still deciding about the Photopass, I'll put in my 2 cents. If you're thinking of ordering the CD just because you're not sure you'll get pictures, don't. It's easy to get plenty of pictures with your camera (if there isn't a CM handler there, I usually ask the family behind me). However, if you want to do all the magic shots offered with the PP CD and all the borders and stuff, then I say go for it! Hope that helps!
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