Payback’s a …. Trip to Disney World! (Jun 6 - 16) Updated 8/7 - Page 32 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I love the way you tell your story... After skulking around the Sci fi carrying 3 surprise bags under the pretense of needing a bathroom break...........and then really having to go Love the front row shot of the youngins. Maddie with the Alien in her face and another one approaching......cute... yet somehow scary. And Mom there looking on with a smile...like a scene from a sci fi movie, you know the one where Mom is really one of them. Jill... are you from Earth?
Now on to catch up on Jill Trip report.
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Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
I loved this update Karen!!! Your FAB sounded delicious even if it was ladened with calories Your time with the Koenig girls is always delightful to read about! Can't wait for more.
And since Jill has now updated, I can finally post again because I need competition to motivate me. Sad really….
Hey . . . whatever it takes. The race is on!
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Maddie warmed back up to me right away, and I was rewarded with lots of heart melting smiles emanating from her stroller throne.
She's such a love bug!
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Mary Devall on the other hand, she likes me just fine; but on her list of favorite Weiss family members, I’m waaayyyy, waaayyy down there. She was straining and pulling to try to catch a glimpse of Zack. And when we finally reunited them in the Writer’s Stop, she snuggled right up under his arm, where she’d remain for the next ten days. Now since I believe that everyone needs at least one person who loves them irrationally, unconditionally, and unexplainably, I’m all for the MD and Zack love. Zack tries to act like it’s all a little much, but secretly he eats it up with a spoon!
Now she does love you and not just because you're the mother of Zack!
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It is so amazing to me that I’ve only known the Koenigs in person for about a year because I love them to pieces.
I'm starting to think that we all knew each other in a former life.
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We were taken to a car in the very front row, so I immediately cried out, “Ah man! I hate when I have to sit in the front row of the movie theater.” No one laughed.
Okay, I did not even hear you say this. I know that because I would have laughed . . . hysterically.
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I let Jill and Thom know that if there was any hanky-panky going on behind us, I’d retaliate with a little tonsil hockey with Sharon. My only reward was Sharon sitting suspiciously far away from me for most of the meal, with a backpack on the seat between us… and her menu making a little barrier on the tabletop.
I wondered why Sharon seemed a little aloof at lunch.
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I love this picture of the three kids. It’s dark, but that’s an actual, genuine smile on Zack’s teenagery face. Disney World is magical, people, from grumpy to smiley in less than four hours.
What a fantastic picture! I've already copied it!
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I ordered up my favorite, the Marsha’s Martian. Chocolate and vanilla shake mixed with Bailey’s and Kahlua? Could you think of anything yummier?
See . . . I love those, but I drink them SO fast!
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Of course, Zack had to immediately comment on the plethora of alcoholic beverages being consumed in the back seats. It went a little something like, “Ummm, Mom, you know it’s only 9:30 in the morning California time, right?” Jill being my FAB enabler immediately let him know that it was past noon on the East Coast, which was well within the acceptable alcoholic consumption period.
Nuff said.
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So Zack’s got the unconditional love person from the Koenig family, and I’ve got the one who helps me stay shnokered guilt free. Once again, I win!
Anything I can do to help.
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“And I didn’t even ask for fries instead of the salad.” <Sip, slurp, suck, 476 calories> “I’ll probably LOSE weight this vacation.” Sad, right?
Plus you didn't account for the calories you would lose from slurping.
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Luckily, as dorky as I am about trying to execute on the surprises, Mary Devall equals me on the clueless to surprises front. (Just wait until I get to our “laundry” later in the week. )
You have her so pegged!
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But, literally, the first words out of Zack’s mouth were, “Mom, did you go to the bathroom? You’ve been gone like thirty seconds.” And, then, do you want to know the really sad party. I mean the really, really sad part. I actually had to go to the bathroom, and knew I couldn’t since I just said I went.
OMG! This story had me howling! I had no idea all of this was going on! I thought that you had actually gone to the bathroom until the server came
around with the gift bags. The kicker was that you really had to go after that!
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She was Disney magic, people!
She was great!
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The girls went crazy for the blow-up plastic aliens (for Sci-Fi, get it? I told you the themes were loose!) Mary Devall in particular was just beside herself that she had a present from Mickey, and then when she figured out that there might be more presents from Mickey? I think she might have shed a little tear. Oh, how I love that girl.
You totally, totally spoiled those two and they will never be the same! Each day they would be genuinely surprised that there was another present from Mickey!
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We renewed the game we played so many times in April, called, “Miss Kaw-wen, I’m ganna give you a kee-iss.” It’s probably my favorite game ever invented. It’s a really good game. Basically, Maddie tries to give me a kiss, and I lean back until her lips catch up to me. After a few attempts, I can’t help myself, and I have to lean in and give her bunches and bunches of kisses and then she laughs until she wheezes. I told you; it’s a really good game.
Just so you and Eileen know, she doesn't play that game with anyone else.
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Maddie was a pretty good sport about it. The fact that she was stuffing her face with Goldfish from her Mickey surprise might have had something to do with it, though.
Maddie is the only person I know who is ready for a snack within 5 minutes of leaving a restaurant.
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Maddie’s alien absconder returned soon enough with her friend, and as he went to hand back her toy he decided to get up close and personal.
I am SO glad that you got this picture. That entire experience was a hoot! I still can't believe that she willingly gave him a kiss. I do think that she was still feeling the "Karen" love.
Marsha's Martian are actually calorie optional (or so I keep telling myself) so you're good. Especially since I have plans for one myself the end of September!
This is the most awesome trip report. I just love making those teenagers smile! It's so much fun when you can actually get a good one out of them! Or to watch their bemused expressions when they realize what you just did!
I thought for a second ,that Jill updating her Trip report had sparked Karens competitive spirit.
But noooooo ..........it ....was......just....... Eileen......... trying ......to.......... get........ Karen....... to..... give...... an........ update....... to..... her..... fans. in my best Eeyore voice
Its not much of a "tale".... but I'm kinda of attached to it
Karen I love reading your trip reports
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Aug,1978- LBV;Apr,1987-Disneyland;March,1993-offsite;Jan,1997-offsite;Aug,1999- CBR;Sept,2000- ASMo;Aug,2001- ASSP;Aug,2002- ASMU/AKL;Jan & July 2003-POR;June,December 2004- PC;January 2005- ASMU; Aug 2005-PC;Dec 2005-AKL;Jan 2006-CBR ; July/Aug-Saratoga springs; Dec. PC;April 2007- Disneyland;Aug 2007-Disneyland & So Cal;Dec 2007-POFQ; Aug2008-POFQ & Nov 2008 PC,Y&B May 2009 ASmu, June 2009 PC ; Nov 2009 WL & POFQ;Jan 2010 BW & WL; June 2010 POFQ ; Aug 2010 Poly ;Oct 2010 WL; Jan 2011 PC
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Just in case Karen "lost" this trip report back on page FOUR, I thought I'd post to it again to put it back on the front page.
...and to make Karen feel bad
... that she'd let the thing die
... on Jill's birthday.
And we haven't even gotten to the best part yet when you arrive (still bucking for the BFF replacement position )