2 Year Anniversary PTR September 2010 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
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just found uour report - you are doing a great job
everything sounds great
you sound like me - we book everything so far in advance then go crazy till the time gets here
hurry back with more please
Okay, so I'm ridiculous...I already have the Spiral Edition, but I wanted the nifty binder. (Plus I had to scribble on my PassPorter when plans changed, and now I have a nice, neat, unscribbled book!)
David really likes the binder. And when he saw how excited I was about it, he finally said I could get the PassPorter nametags. He loves to see my smile. What a wonderful husband I have!
In the last couple of days, I've been talking about Disney World non-stop, and David's mother, Mary, is kind of catching my excitement, so I've had someone to chatter about it with.
Mary has decided she wants to drive us to the airport. Which is good! They have a nice roomy car with plenty of room for my overpacked luggage. Plus, if we had to depend on my Dad to drive us, we might miss our flight. Well, maybe not miss it, but we wouldn't get to the airport as early as I'd like. He's almost always late, to everything but work.
I'm really, REALLY happy with how our Mousekeeping envelopes turned out. TOO cute!
I've kind of been trying to decide whether it would be ridiculous to come up with a packing list...it's still forever away until our trip...although less than 150 days!
Anyways...that's it for now...Until I come up with a to-do list for getting ready!
How much is generally considered an appropriate tip for the drivers of the Magical Express? Last time, we forgot to have cash on hand for tips of any sort, and I want to fix that this time, without giving too much or too little!
And, for the Mousekeeping staff...is two dollars a person per day enough, or should it be more? I feel bad, because last time we went, we were totally unaware that we could or should leave tips...we aren't experienced travelers!
We tip the DME drive around $5 and the MouseKeepers $7 for the full cleaning and $3 for towel and trash day as we stay on DVC points. There are 3 of us.
So, today, I got online and booked our Shark Dive at SeaWorld! I was going to have to wait until next week, because I thought it would cost about a hundred dollars more than it did, but I guess the day we want to do it isn't a "High Traffic" day! Yay for saving $100!
Isn't it always absolutely lovely when you save money unexpectedly?
So, on the 21st we'll do Universal, 22nd we'll do Islands of Adventure, 23rd we'll do SeaWorld and the Shark Dive, and the 24th we'll do Discovery Cove and the Dolphin Swim. I LOVE knowing everything is reserved and paid for!
In fact, literally the only thing I haven't paid for yet is the rental car for the two days that we are doing SeaWorld and Discovery Cove. I've never rented a car before, but, I guess you pay after? Or maybe as you pick the car up? Not really sure. Who here has rented a car and can enlighten me as to the practices at Alamo? We're picking up our car at the one on Disney property, which will be nice.
I found a video on the SeaWorld website that showed the Shark Dive. It was only 23 seconds long, so, I mean, you didn't see much, but what I did see made me feel very nervous and excited all at the same time. I am excited about conquering my fear of sharks...and nervous that I'm crazy enough to do it this way! Of course, that shark cage looks really sturdy, so, I should be fine, right?
Anywho, that's all I have for now. To quote a lovable bouncy friend of mine: TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
You are SO brave for doing the shark dive! Your plans sound like a lot of fun, glad everything going fairly smoothly so far! (and I don't think it's too early for a packing list!)
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Plus, if we had to depend on my Dad to drive us, we might miss our flight. 
Well, maybe not miss it, but we wouldn't get to the airport as early as I'd like. He's almost always late, to everything but work.
my binder PassPorter! Glad you like yours, too!
I LOVE knowing everything is reserved and paid for! 
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