The Mighty Morphing Birthday Trip - Thread 1 - COMPLETE (last update 7/30) - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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.
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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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Love that pic of Chewy -- simply AWESOME!
Love the extension of the trip
Love the "releasing your death grip" on the planning
Love that Andy used two of the best "resources" out there -- AllEars and Angie!!
Love that there's another report in the works!
Eileen
Wonderful updates from both of you! How great that you'll get back to see La Nouba - it's one of our favourites and I can't wait to hear what else Andy has planned.
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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
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Yippee!! A Melissa and Andy trip report!! Can't wait! Let me just say that I hope you are able to buckle down and complete your TR during summer break, and not torture us with waiting to hear all about your trip. Seriously. I spent alot of time checking back to hear more about your trip last year. OK?
I'll quit nagging now . Hope you guys have a great trip!
So Andy lets me know that he's added a day and he wants me to go ahead and book the extra night (he hadn't done it b/c he knew I would see the charge which is why he told me...) so I start checking online to make sure a room is available for that night at the WL and that's when I realize that the night of July 7 is the last night of regular season for the deluxes.... The reason we booked at the WL was b/c our stay fell in value season.... So to add a night meant either A) the whole package became Regular Season rate... or B) we added just a night - separate reservation - and pay about $300 for that night.... I just couldn't do that.. I'm willing to pay a lot for my Disney, but when I see $300 standing alone for one night...that sort of hits a nerve. So another change.... we decided we'd just go ahead and try out POFQ for that one night. It was cheaper, and since we keep putting that resort on the back burner, we figured we'd call it on down and see what we thought of it so we'd know if we wanted to stay there in Dec. (if the funds are there...) SO, now we have our first night at POFQ, then we'll be transferring to the WL for the rest of the stay.
Now, I couldn't let Andy plan a whole day for me without me adding something special in I was sitting around one day last week when an idea hit me! I knew what I could, and he'd never be able to guess what it was.... some of you know.... but it won't be posted until after it happens. I'll just leave it with the fact that it's on Saturday morning so we have to make sure we arrive early....
Which leads into yet another change of course. At first we had said we would drive down to Brunswick, GA on that Friday and then only have 3 hours to drive Saturday morning. Then I decided it might be fun to leave on Thursday and go to St. Augustine (where we went on part of our honeymoon). So I checked into rooms and rates and found a place we could stay. Andy asked for Thursday and Friday off and when I went back to book it.....I was too late....the rooms had been booked up. I just took that as my sign as we probably should stick with our original plan since going to St. Augustine meant more money out of our pocket anyway. So it was back to Plan A, Brunswick. I booked us at the same Sleep Inn that we stayed at last year and all was set.
Then yesterday we were watching the race and a commercial for the Daytona race on July 7th came on and I made the joke that we'd wave at them as we drove by....then we all (me, Andy, and our friend Kevin who was over) just looked at each other with an "Oh crap" look. Race traffic..... Nobody took race traffic into consideration. Yes, it's an evening race....but how early do people start heading in?? We can't be late b/c we have a time for my surprise that I planned....and we have a lunch ADR. We have to arrive early.... So paranoid me said we have to change it. So now we've decided we'll just drive straight down on Friday and stay at a hotel outside of Disney, I found a few that cost the same as the Sleep Inn, and then head into the Disney Bubble early Saturday morning.... Now don't get too attached to that plan b/c I'm not calling to cancel the Sleep Inn and then booking the other place until Andy comes home from work........
So we will wait and see....
Now since I'm a MAJOR nerd, I have a bit of an outline for my Pre-Trip Report...and I'm a little behind....so I'm going to add my ADR's in the next post...
(and Andy, this really isn't all that entertaining of an update, so could you liven it up a bit??? Muchos Gracias )
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Well, La Nouba is a terrific start! 
Kris
PassPorter Guide Author
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The reason we booked at the WL was b/c our stay fell in value season.... So to add a night meant either A) the whole package became Regular Season rate... or B) we added just a night - separate reservation - and pay about $300 for that night.... I just couldn't do that.. I'm willing to pay a lot for my Disney, but when I see $300 standing alone for one night...that sort of hits a nerve. So another change.... we decided we'd just go ahead and try out POFQ for that one night. It was cheaper, and since we keep putting that resort on the back burner, we figured we'd call it on down and see what we thought of it so we'd know if we wanted to stay there in Dec. (if the funds are there...) SO, now we have our first night at POFQ, then we'll be transferring to the WL for the rest of the stay.
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