Fall, Firsts, Food And The Final Frontier TR - UPDATED 11/11 - COMPLETE!! - Page 43 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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What an awesome update!!! I love the story about your family trip!! However!! I must say. I thought you were older than me so now I will have to mentally switch from thinking of you as an older brother to a younger one!! I'm not sure I can do it!! Great day at the space center, Dave!! I loved reading about every minute of it and your photos ROCK!!!!
What an awesome update!!! I love the story about your family trip!! However!! I must say. I thought you were older than me so now I will have to mentally switch from thinking of you as an older brother to a younger one!! I'm not sure I can do it!! Great day at the space center, Dave!! I loved reading about every minute of it and your photos ROCK!!!!
Being the younger one works for me! Glad you enjoyed the story as I'll always remember that experience! Wish I'd could forget about my first memory of WDW! Glad you are enjoying the photos!
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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!
Being the younger one works for me! Glad you enjoyed the story as I'll always remember that experience! Wish I'd could forget about my first memory of WDW! Glad you are enjoying the photos!
Your mom sounds totally cool and at least you got your money back!! I just read that story to Muffin and he wants to know if you guys had a station wagon?!
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Your mom sounds totally cool and at least you got your money back!! I just read that story to Muffin and he wants to know if you guys had a station wagon?!
Back home in CT we always had a station wagon as kids. Not sure what car we had down in Florida but probably some type of sedan.
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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!
Great update and thanks for sharing your story of the first time you went to Disney. I love stories like that.
Glad you enjoyed the update. It was a good story and happy I could share my first experience at WDW and witnessing the Apollo 16 blast off, which was so cool to see!
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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!
There really is so much to see at the space center. Thanks for sharing all the photos. Loved the back story of your first Disney visit.
I think you need a full day at the KSC to see and experience it all. Glad you enjoyed the story of my first WDW visit! Although, I can't say I enjoyed it at the time! Glad you are enjoying the photos as they're still intact here!
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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!
How cool you got to see an Apollo launch as a kid. Sorry WDW didn't start out with happy memories!! Glad you were able to turn it around.
It was quite the experience, even though it only lasted about a minute! The experience in WDW was quite different and not a good one. Now I love the place and glad I was able to put this childhood experience behind me!
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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!
Wow, thanks for sharing your experience from all that time ago - that truly is a magical moment getting to see Apollo 16 launch. Oh my, I can't even begin to imagine what Disney World was like that early in its life. I've read the accounts of how horrific the crowds were and your recollection just reinforces that....
Wow, neat stories! Sorry your very first trip to WDW wasn't magical, but at least you're making up for it now. And what a great job your mom did, getting a refund like that.
Wow, thanks for sharing your experience from all that time ago - that truly is a magical moment getting to see Apollo 16 launch. Oh my, I can't even begin to imagine what Disney World was like that early in its life. I've read the accounts of how horrific the crowds were and your recollection just reinforces that....
I got a good memory and can remember WDW back then being a complete nightmare and beyond! It was not a good experience. Glad I came back and keep coming back! The launch was so cool even though it didn't last that long. Just the sight of seeing the Apollo rocket in the sky and could see the fire tail which was even more amazing and the sounds!
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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!
Wow, neat stories! Sorry your very first trip to WDW wasn't magical, but at least you're making up for it now. And what a great job your mom did, getting a refund like that.
Glad you enjoyed them! I've more than made up for those bad memories with some 12 trips to WDW since then. The first trip was not good in any way! My mom always had the nerve to do things like that and be persistent.
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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!
Wow, that was quite the experience at WDW when you were a kid. I'm sure your mom wasn't the only one complaining! They must have been giving refunds left and right!
I went with my family in 1976 and had a much better experience! Though it was still quite crowded, they were much better at handling the crowds. And if I recall, by then there were more attractions open so that would certainly help.
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I love the story about your family trip!! However!! I must say. I thought you were older than me so now I will have to mentally switch from thinking of you as an older brother to a younger one!! I'm not sure I can do it!!
Great day at the space center, Dave!!
I loved reading about every minute of it and your photos ROCK!!!!
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Pixie Dust
Glad you enjoyed the story as I'll always remember that experience! 
Wish I'd could forget about my first memory of WDW! 
Glad you are enjoying the photos! 
Glad you are enjoying the photos as they're still intact here! 
The experience in WDW was quite different and not a good one.
Now I love the place and glad I was able to put this childhood experience behind me! 
PassPorter Guide Author
I've read the accounts of how horrific the crowds were and your recollection just reinforces that....
Glad I came back and keep coming back! 
My mom always had the nerve to do things like that and be persistent.
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