PTR: The Dunning Family's Triumphant Return to the World - Page 35 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Glad to hear everything is moving smoothly for you! with getting all the insurance and such settled until David can get another position!
Looks like you are ready to go! Won't be too much longer!!
Glad all seems to be well at home with you and David! All your final plans seem to be going well for the trip.
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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!
Good idea getting things set a little at a time, and in plenty of time to not feel rushed in the last few days!
I'm trying to make it a little smoother than our 2013 trip...our first trip with Briana felt like a train wreck, I was so disorganized!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
Things seem to be progressing on all fronts Glad to hear things at home are well
Thank you! I'm so glad we thought to get his meds refilled before they cut his insurance off. That's been a lifesaver for us!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
Glad to see things are moving ahead for this trip. Seems like you have everything well under control even if you don't agree.
I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my feet back under me.
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Glad you guys are doing ok!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad everything is coming along!!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NanaTink
Glad to hear everything is moving smoothly for you! with getting all the insurance and such settled until David can get another position!
Looks like you are ready to go! Won't be too much longer!!
I can't believe how time can both move so quickly and so excruciatingly slow at the same time, haha! But it definitely is getting closer now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I honestly enjoy your blog/update type posts! I think you are moving along with preparations quite well!
I'm so glad that someone enjoys them. I always feel like I'm just rambling at you guys.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Glad all seems to be well at home with you and David! All your final plans seem to be going well for the trip.
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Glad you are doing well. Sounds like everything is coming together. I'm the same way about getting the little things together so I'm not stressing right before leaving.
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First of all, David had a job interview this morning for a facilities team position in Seattle. The pay matches what he made at his previous job, so that would be ideal, and he could take the bus and save money on gas. He said he felt like the job interview went really well, and that they said they would call him either way next week...so send many pixies!
He has another interview on Friday with Comcast, one of the positions where he would drive around and install systems and trouble shoot in people's houses. He is less enthusiastic about this because of his anxiety issues, and he thinks the pay will be less than stellar, but we feel like he can't turn down anything right now. He can always keep looking if he gets hired and it doesn't pay enough.
We've purchased almost everything that we need for the trip. We still need to get new shoes and sandals for David, but we've gotten everything else! (Look at me, being all prepared! Watch me realize the day before the trip I've forgotten ten things...)
I guess I also need to buy more shampoo and body wash for Briana, because she uses different stuff than Chelsea does (if we don't use a certain soap on Bri, her poor skin breaks out in eczema patches), but that's just because we're running low at home. I bought one of those little travel containers to put her soap in for the trip.
I also ended up ordering myself some more tank tops. I had enough shirts if I included my maternity t-shirts, but I was thinking about last time I was down in FL when I was pregnant and how miserably hot I got sometimes, and I just didn't like the idea of having any more material on me than I needed to.
Our MagicBands arrived the other day, and Ashlee (I don't know her name on the boards) sent Bri and Chelsea each an adorable shirt she made. Well, Chelsea's looks like a little dress, but either way...adorable!
We did end up having to order a new set of luggage, unexpectedly. I'm really lucky I found one on sale for a good price, because I wasn't expecting to have to replace our luggage set. I knew our old set had gotten a bit beat up on our trip in 2013, but we haven't traveled by plane since then I hadn't looked at it very closely in quite a while, since we have a weekend duffel bag we tend to use for local trips.
When I pulled our set out of the back of the closet this evening, I was really upset. Our biggest bag's front pocket was ripped so badly there would be no repairing it (to the point the material on the inside of the pocket had been ripped and stuff would have been falling out), and our two smaller bags were torn badly along one side.
I don't know how I missed that damage when we got home, other than that was in the middle of David's super rough time before he got his diagnosis, and I was more worried about him than I was about my luggage. Plus it was right after we got back that we lost our apartment, so there was probably the scramble to pack and move and I just never thought to check it closely. Still...frustrating to not realize this until just a couple weeks before our trip.
Anyway. New luggage (and protective luggage covers) are on their way to us and will be here in plenty of time to make the trip across the country with us...and hopefully survive the trip.
The girls are all set for Disney clothes...they have enough to wear a different outfit every day. I have some fabulous friends...and the Target clearance racks...to thank for that!
David and AJ are going to set up the girls' tablets next Wednesday, and we've decided we will pick AJ up Friday morning (the day before we leave, so on the 23rd) so that he can help us pack the car the night before and help us keep the girls out of trouble while we do last minute packing. We did a "test run" with all of the luggage tonight to make sure it would all fit in my van with the double stroller and all the people we need to transport. I made sure the luggage we are waiting on was the same size as the luggage that we had, so there won't be any surprises. Everything fits. Woo hoo!
We had planned on riding in my father-in-laws new car, but when we looked at the trunk space we realized that plan would not work...not enough room for the stroller AND all the bags. My mother-in-law was talking about renting a van to drive us, and I was just like "This is so silly. We'll take my van and you can drive it home afterward. I don't want you to spend money on a rental when I have a perfectly good car we can use." She only argued with me for a week before she finally gave in. She is such a sweetheart.
I feel like everything is coming together really well. I'm still stressed about traveling with the kids, but the last few weeks in the car, the girls have been playing together from their respective car seats. They play peek-a-boo by hiding behind their books and peeking around at each other and then giggling hysterically. They make faces at each other and laugh. Briana passes Chelsea Goldfish Crackers and Chelsea claps. It's been really adorable to have them entertaining each other in the back seat. So maybe, just maybe, there is hope for a smooth flight from Seattle to Orlando.
Now if only security at the airport goes smoothly!
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with getting all the insurance and such settled until David can get another position!
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All your final plans seem to be going well for the trip.
She is such a sweetheart.
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