That Time I Booked Two More Trips: Holidays, Birthdays, Mom and More - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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OMG! 3 resorts in 4 nights! That's crazy!! I hope it all works out well and your Mom is able to enjoy this one more than the last one. Although, in all honesty, she did seem to enjoy the healing powers of the World a lot on the last trip as well.
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Holy Moley!!!!! I think is completely justified & understandable. I'd also be using . I'm impressed but I'm not sure if it's something I want to attempt.
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Well, a few words of amazement that aren't allowed here, but WOW!!!! So excited for you!
You're budget trip sounds good (work? paid work, I hope? but getting there on your own dime stinks, that's when I jack up the per diem...) and terribly similar to the reasoning I'm using for top secret trip in April...points, credits, miles and proximity all make for defensible travel.
Can't wait to read more!!!!
paid work? ha. you're funny. no. i've not yet figured out how to get paid to do this yet (the blogging/social media thing). i don't actually believe anyone does. but i managed to make the trip totally free (which it had to be because i'm BROKE). so there's that. well, free minus my MVMCP ticket. which is my christmas gift to myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
OMG! 3 resorts in 4 nights! That's crazy!! I hope it all works out well and your Mom is able to enjoy this one more than the last one. Although, in all honesty, she did seem to enjoy the healing powers of the World a lot on the last trip as well.
i hope she will have a blast!
Quote:
Originally Posted by revral
Holy Moley!!!!! I think is completely justified & understandable. I'd also be using . I'm impressed but I'm not sure if it's something I want to attempt.
ooooh--that's a good face! i'll have to use that one! thanks!
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great plans! But oh my, three resorts for a four night trip!! Yikes!
yeah well. we pack light. and don't really 'unpack'. also, mom traveled for work before getting sick. and i traveled for work like a crazy person--she would spend a week in dallas. i would spend monday in boston, tuesday in miami, wednesday in charlotte, thursday in boston again and friday back in charlotte. this is just an example of course. there was also albuquerque and south texas and la and chicago and nyc....
I think there should be some kind of award for you and your mom for planning an entire trip in one day, and then another award for 3 resorts in four nights.
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I think there should be some kind of award for you and your mom for planning an entire trip in one day, and then another award for 3 resorts in four nights.
i agree! i was SO BEAT after that day of planning. my poor husband came home from work expecting dinner as usual. i was sitting in my desk chair drinking a beer!
and i think there IS an award. it is: four days in disney world. i'll take it!
because i need a break from baking (so. much. baking) here's the info on our ridiculous three resort stays:
a note for those of you who don't know me: my mom owns DVC at three different resorts. she has disney issues (dis-ues?) the grand floridian, the boardwalk, and saratoga springs. she's never actually stayed at saratoga (though i'd like to) and always uses those points on the 7 month window to book elsewhere.
but of course we were not booking at seven months out. we were booking at a little less than two months out. (there's that face again!) which is part of why we are doing all of the moving around. availability was an issue.
first night: two bedroom theme park view at BLT.
now, i wanted to argue this. it seemed excessive (yes, i'm even cheap with SOMEONE ELSE'S dvc points!) and for only one night, a two bedroom is ridiculous. but she has a lot of points saved up. and more importantly, the theme park view was very important to her. like very, very important. because on our last trip, she never got to see wishes because she was always too tired at that point in the evening to make it anywhere outside. so this way she's almost guaranteed to be able to see it at least once. and that's the best reason i can think of.
nights two and three: one bedroom lake view at the grand floridian.
what can i say? it's her new favorite place. she was stalking availability for that week for a couple of days, and when two nights in a row randomly popped up, she grabbed it.
night four: one bedroom at wilderness lodge.
mom wanted three full days in WDW, so we needed an additional night somewhere. she gave me the choice between AKL savannah view and WL, as this day is my actual birthday. to be perfectly honest, AKL would have been my choice. because giraffes. also because it makes the most sense, as we are going to AK that day. and jiko is my favorite resort restaurant. but i could tell she was hoping i'd say WL...so i did. she wanted to remain in the MK area for the entire time. so that's what we are doing. and hey, i've never stayed at WL before. so i'm adding to my list.
Ok, now all the moving around makes a bit more sense - I thought you wanted to stay at all those different resorts, but now I understand. Even so, oh boy!
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Ok, now all the moving around makes a bit more sense - I thought you wanted to stay at all those different resorts, but now I understand. Even so, oh boy!
i love that you are using the word 'sense' to describe this! ha! i think we've LOST our senses!
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I hope it all works out well and your Mom is able to enjoy this one more than the last one. Although, in all honesty, she did seem to enjoy the healing powers of the World a lot on the last trip as well.
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. I'm impressed but I'm not sure if it's something I want to attempt.
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