Pop century in December with an almost 4 year old - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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FYI-To get the special seating for Fantasmic you'll need to call the Disney dining line to make a reservation. I did the same thing (made early reservations for Mama Melrose) then read that I needed to make a specific Fantasmic reservation for Mama Melrose. You'll get the passes for Fantasmic when you check in for your meal at Mama Melrose.
I love reading your posts. Just finished your last trip report. Your family's love for WDW is contagious. We'll be staying at POP this December and will miss you by a couple of days.
I asked my travel agency about this and she told me the same. She tried to make a reservation for us with the Fantasmic package, but to no avail... unfortunatly. Oh well, we'll just risk it and get there early, because we LOVE Fantasmic
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11 more weeks before we get on our airplane and fly to that magical place (well slightly less). To be honest, all of Florida feels a little magical to us. Funny thing about the States is that it is very different and yet there are a lot of similarities to our country. The main difference is that the Netherlands are tiny (smaller than most states I believe) and everything is a lot closer together and smaller. We cram a lot of people and buildings in little places and are one of the most densely populated countries.
We dutch like our themeparks, but nothing can compare to Disney. We've been to Euro Disney a few times, but that doesn't hold the same magic as Disney World. Not sure why, I think it's the whole admosphere.
So, 75 days!! yay!! I am working a few extra days so that I can stay home a little longer after the trip and deal with the jet lag. We dutch are very spoiled for our holidays (especially if you are a school teacher, which I am not anymore) and it is easy to get time off and take long holidays. I remember being rather shocked last year by the work stories I heard from American shopkeepers. People having 3 or 4 jobs, hardly any free time and some were very scared of getting fired. We don't have that were we come from, the rules on working are very strict. Seeing people over 65 work was also very novel to us, you don't see that here, people retire with 65 and now that the government decided to make that 67 a lot of people were outraged. I don't mind working two years longer at all. We get older now a days, so why not work longer?
Another thing we love about going to the States is to see the creativity of the Americans. There are so many weird and wonderful inventions and we sometimes feel like we come from another planet when we browse through everything. I am not much of a shopper back home (books and dvd's being the exception to this rule) but when in Florida I love to hit the shops. Even DH is fascinated by the amount of choice. I remember being blown away by the choice of cerial. If we have 10 different flavours here in a supermarket, that is a lot. When I was a kid we only had cornflakes and then came the frosty's and the coco puffs (I was a teenager then) and that was pretty spectacular.
Anyway... we are really looking forward to our trip. We are looking forward to Florida... but most of all, we are looking forward to DISNEY!!
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.
Wow, I think my DH would starve if he had only 10 cereals to choose from, he likes to have at least 4 different varieties on hand at all times and then the next week he changes it up. Too funny! I was thrilled with my job when I got 3 weeks off per year. That is pretty good. My DH gets like 35 days off/year, but he works for the government.
Getting closer every day! Interesting difference between the US and the Dutch. I'm always fascinated by how others live. I'm afraid that sometimes we Americans are pretty clueless about the rest of the world.
Whoohooo... ten more paperclips on the chain, so that means that we have only 10 more weeks to go. Let me explain the paperclips: we made a paperclip chain and every tuesday one of the paperclips comes off so that we can count the weeks. In the end we'll make a paperchain, but my lovely little daughter is a little creative and usually the paperchains don't last too long. The paperclipchains involve help from mommy, so they are 'safe'
I send all the flight details to the travel agency so that the magic express can be booked. Now in all fairness, I don't remember the magical express to be either "magical" or "express"....
Still, it beats having to stand in line to get a car at the airport when you just had a 11 hour flight, so we are doing it again this year, with our expectations set on realism this time
Soon we'll be doing the 2 months to go dance. Getting down with all sorts of countdown moves here
We already told the neighbours we are going in December, so we hope they can take care of our cat when we are gone. I am really looking forward to this holiday. I did not have enough vacation days left to go, so right now I am booking some serious overtime, which makes me even more longing towards the holiday. All work and no play make chanti a dull girl
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.
Feeling all in the "disney mood" we have been rewatching the video's that we made during our Disney Cruise from Orlando to Spain.
Can't say I didn't flinch a little when I saw Elora "dancing" with a dainty looking cinderella. Poor Cindy could not stand up to all the 3 year old dancing violence of my little girl, who back then still thought dancing was spinning eachother around until one of the two would lose their balance. I can tell you, if we hadn't stepped in, Cindy would have been the first to go.
This year she will (hopefully) be a little more calm with all the characters. Though she is still very huggy, but now she knows her own strenght a little better.
We page through all her autograph booklets... 4 in total from 1 cruise and 3 weeks of Disney world. Elora is looking forward to seeing all the characters again.
A lot of them are in there, Marie of the Aristocats, Flick from a bugs life and Bert and the Beast (seriously, calling that lady beauty is a far stretch... and I think I am already being pretty reasonable calling it a lady, not all princesses cast by Disney are gorgeous and lovely... most of them are, but this one really wasn't! )
I can't wait to see Elora's face light up when she sees the characters! It is going to be awesome!! 66 more days!!!
My Alice was 4, last December we took her to Pop and she loved it!!! Same age, Place and time! It's a blast! I love the paperclip idea! Alice is on the ASD and will love that when i go down and tell her (when she gets of the DS)!