Your Key to Happiness . . . might not work - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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.
So glad you're filling us in on all the details of this trip. Off to a great start, but it sounds like things began hectic and will be so a bit from here on out.
The Ralph runner story made me laugh. I'm so sorry you lost your dear furry family member. That's never easy. I know. I'm glad you three ladies have begun your trek to Orlando and I can't wait to read all about the fun and not so fun times
As usual, Maddie was the first one up. She didn’t say a word, but I could feel her crawling back and forth to the window and peeking out. At one point, I felt her reach over my head and I finally asked her what she was doing. She said that she was reaching for the newspaper that had been pushed under the door.
I finally opened my eyes to see her sitting on the bed with a sheepish on her face. We chatted for a little while before we decided to wake Mary Devall and head to the dining car.
Once seated in a booth, we opened the menus only to find that this was “pancake” train instead of a “French toast” train. Although Maddie loves both, this totally threw her for a loop and she looked like a deer caught in the headlights when the server came to take our order. The man was very patient, but her lack of a decision was creating a very awkward silence. I was just about to order for her when she finally decided on the continental breakfast that I had suggested earlier. Once she finally made the decision, she was a happy camper once again.
She ended up loving what she ordered because it was perfect for her “grazing” eating habits and allowed her to eat a little yogurt, a little fruit, a little cereal and a little toast. In addition, she ended up trying my pancakes and eating all of my bacon.
Once we had eaten all we could (or whatever Maddie didn’t eat first ), we went back to our room to relax a bit. Our attendant, Isla, met us there and offered to convert the bed back into a couch. She correctly assumed that we wanted to keep the upper bunk as is. It was obvious that she was a grandmother and understood children.
When she finished with the bed, I asked her if there was still coffee at the drink station in our car. I didn’t ask this expecting her to get me coffee, but she asked how I wanted it and was gone in a flash. She soon returned with a piping hot cup that I know she must have snagged from the dining car. What a sweetheart!
While the girls played on the upper bunk, I sat on the couch relaxing and sipping . I slowly started getting ready when we were about an hour outside of Orlando, but there definitely was no rush in doing so because the train stopped outside of Sanford and then the power turned off.
Thankfully, the power turned back on after about ten minutes and we were soon on our way again. Other than that little bleep, the train made up good time and we were only about ½ hour late into Orlando after leaving an hour late from Columbia.
As we pulled into Orlando, Isla insisted on helping us with our bags. With a sincere “thank you” and a nice tip, we said to her train side and each rolled a suitcase to the station. It is so much easier traveling alone with the girls now that they are older!
As we approached the station, I spotted the shuttle driver and walked right up to him. He asked where we were going and, when I said BC, he gave me a big grin and said “perfect!”
He loaded our bags in the back of the van and then helped us in the van where I immediately discovered that we got the last seats on the shuttle. Whew! Another family was already in the van, so I assumed that his “perfect” reply meant that they were also going to BC. Seconds later, we were en route to Disney. That was perfect timing on our part because we would have been cabbing it if one more family had beaten us to the van.
Now that we were on our way, I sent Monica a text to let her know. I had just assumed that they would already be in a park, but Monica responded that Macy had insisted they stay in the room until we arrived that morning. Is that sweet or what? I would need to pick up our room keys from the concierge desk in the lobby, so Monica said they would meet us out front to help with our bags while I grabbed the keys. Well, I wasn’t going to say to that offer!
I was surprised when we dropped off our fellow passengers at Pop since I thought they were also going to the BC, but when the driver got back in the van he explained that he had a pick up at BC. So that was the reason for his “perfect” reply!
In a matter of minutes, we were turning into the BC although a line of cars asking for directions from the guard tried to hold us up! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to not only see the Mitchells again but to have their faces be the first ones we saw when we pulled up to the BC.
After were given all around and we had met Macy’s friend, Lucius, I returned to the van to settle up with a driver. For all three of us, it was only $35! Even with a nice tip included, a taxi would have been considerably more.
Charlie, Macy and Lucius took off with our luggage and the girls while Monica and I went inside to the concierge desk to pick up our keys. As the CM was printing our room keys, Monica told me that she had been charged again yesterday for her portion of the dining plan even though she had paid for it a couple of months before.
I let her know that I had paid for our last three days earlier in the week and I even checked my credit card account while we waited to make sure that my card had been charged. Monica mentioned this to the CM once the keys were printed, but we got nowhere with her. She called DVC, but no one could figure out what had happened to the earlier payment.
Monica finally gave up and figured that she would just call her credit card company when she returned home. Little did we know that this would not be our last trip to the concierge desk . . .
We took off for the villas and entered the lobby only to hear a big booming voice announce “Ya’ll aren’t supposed to be in here!” We were startled for just a second until we turned to see Charlie standing behind the DVC desk. He is so crazy!
We laughed all the way to the elevator and up to the second floor where our room was about midway down the hall. The villa was absolutely fantastic.
It was a dedicated two-bedroom and the studio side, where we were staying, was the largest studio that I’ve ever seen. Although I had already seen a picture of the balcony, I still couldn’t believe how large it was. And the view of the pool couldn’t be beat. There was absolutely nothing that I didn’t about this villa.
Once I had checked out everything, Monica got the party started and poured us a celebratory margarita. We even talked Mary Devall into taking a picture of us to send to Thom to show him what he was missing. Now I felt like I was truly on vacation!
__________________
Sometimes words aren't needed . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 08-07-2013 at 02:42 PM..
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I was just thinking yesterday that I hadn't seen a TR from you guys in a while, and then I find this today Great start! I'm sorry about Ralph, he sounded like a wonderful pet.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Awesome start to the vacation! So sorry about your furbaby I have always wanted to travel by train, and your photos make me want to do it even more. But I think the best thing so far was your celebratory drinks! I may just have to do this same thing in a few days!!
Can't wait to hear more
__________________
-- Beth
"There are moments of life worth purchasing with worlds."
About This Page: 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
She didn’t say a word, but I could feel her crawling back and forth to the window and peeking out. At one point, I felt her reach over my head and I finally asked her what she was doing. 
She said that she was reaching for the newspaper that had been pushed under the door. 
on her face. We chatted for a little while before we decided to wake Mary Devall and head to the dining car. 
The man was very patient, but her lack of a decision was creating a very awkward silence. 
I was just about to order for her when she finally decided on the continental breakfast that I had suggested earlier. Once she finally made the decision, she was a happy camper once again. 
), we went back to our room to relax a bit. Our attendant, Isla, met us there and offered to convert the bed back into a couch. She correctly assumed that we wanted to keep the upper bunk as is. It was obvious that she was a grandmother and understood children. 
. I slowly started getting ready when we were about an hour outside of Orlando, but there definitely was no rush in doing so because the train stopped outside of Sanford and then the power turned off. 
to her train side and each rolled a suitcase to the station. It is so much easier traveling alone with the girls now that they are older! 
I would need to pick up our room keys from the concierge desk in the lobby, so Monica said they would meet us out front to help with our bags while I grabbed the keys. Well, I wasn’t going to say 
to that offer!
were given all around and we had met Macy’s friend, Lucius, I returned to the van to settle up with a driver. For all three of us, it was only $35! Even with a nice tip included, a taxi would have been considerably more. 
We were startled for just a second until we turned to see Charlie standing behind the DVC desk. He is so crazy! 
We even talked Mary Devall into taking a picture of us to send to Thom to show him what he was missing. Now I felt like I was truly on vacation!
PassPorter Guide Author
Linear Mode
