My first TR - Sept 2010 Three Adults "and Your Little Dog too!" - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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.
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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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Great report! I'm glad u guys slowed down. That is my biggest problem to remember too. I forget that my dad can not keep up with us. I can't wait to hear more. By the way we also had a horrible experience at the Luau.
Great report! I'm glad u guys slowed down. That is my biggest problem to remember too. I forget that my dad can not keep up with us. I can't wait to hear more. By the way we also had a horrible experience at the Luau.
I'm sorry about the luau - I had known ahead of time that it wasn't great, I just wasn't expecting the lack of Disney magic and manners.
So, as part of the whole slowing down thing, my previous carefully laid out plans have been thrown out the window. We hadn’t done most of what we wanted to do in any of the parks and it was obvious we were not going to fit it all in in the next two days. So, to keep us all from getting upset about things missed, I started a list that morning of the things we needed to do next time. We may all be adults on this trip, but that didn’t mean that we don’t get disappointed too. Including myself - it was obvious at this point that we were not going to make it to Illuminations. We made a pact to work together to come back to Disney in Jan 2012 time frame and wrote up our list of everything that we should do next time.
This ended up being a huge help to all of us (especially me!!) as we could each let go of what we personally wanted to do and work on what would be best for everyone. All our wishes were saved in my notebook so they would not be lost, and then we could plan out our last two days. By doing this, we were able to keep the focus on being happy and not killing ourselves to fit it all in. (Ok, in many ways, I was the one who needed this, I was terribly unhappy with the slow pace. But I knew that speeding things up would be a disaster.)
Besides my plans being thrown out the window, my idea of doing a day to a day & a half max at Magic Kingdom went sailing after it. There was so much we hadn’t done on our first trip, even with the Halloween party, that it was obvious we were going to need another day, if not more. Also, we all enjoyed Halloween so much that Stitch desperately wanted to go back. To the point where she paid for her ticket. To understand this, you need to know that this trip was a gift - she paid us a small fee several months before and brought along some spending money. And she was willing to pay out about half her spending money just to go back to Hallowishes. Since it meant so much to her, we bought the tickets for the next night. Also, she *really* wanted to meet Cruella De Vil!
But in the meantime, we knew that there was more left to do at MK than could be squeezed into one night, so off we went to the Magic Kingdom!
And this time I finally got it right - we slowed way down. We got to see more characters, even got to visit the fairies again.
And they remembered Little Dude - got some great pictures of Tink and Little Dude cuddling. The latest Tinkerbell movie had just come out so I had them sign the cover, they got a kick out of that.
We also made our own, original ear hats! This was awesome as I had never owned an ear hat before. We all made one that fit our personalities perfectly.
We rode the roller coasters and just slowly make our way through the park. There was no rushing, there was no missed rides. There were no meltdowns, no missed bathroom breaks for the dog. It was truly a relaxing day - probably our first one since we started. We were finally slowing down to the correct pace. Got to see the fireworks, they were nice, but not as good as the Halloween ones. And then a trip back to the hotel. Probably one of my favorite days of the whole vacation. I just hate that it took us (aka me) that long to realize how much we needed to slow down.
Lessons Learned:
Finally managed to slow down - we found our pace.
Photopass just rocks - another round of great pictures with our new ear hats.
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Another great round of pics! So happy that the trip is leveling out and that you were taking the time to enjoy! I have to say that I enjoy the character interactions almost as much as the rides- so we take quite a bit of time for those as well!!!
curious - where does a service dog have to take breaks while in the parks??
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curious - where does a service dog have to take breaks while in the parks??
Behind the scenes!!! But you can't see anything really. There is a special map with places marked out, you must be escorted by a cast member and technically only Stitch should be going back there with Little Dude but since she was having balancing issues either DB or I went with her to actually walk the dog. They have a little patch of grass, sometimes with a tree, in a spot labeled for service animals. And since all the dogs go there, it's very easy for him to catch the scent (but bring your own bags for clean up please). Most cast members knew what we were asking for, but some we surprised by showing them where the location was: "oh my! I just never noticed that sign before, how cool!!!" Never got see anything more interesting than a parking lot (did you know that Cast Members can basically park right behind the shops at Main Street?!?!?! It's closed than the turnstiles!!!)
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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And Yes, we finally found our pace.
The wheelchair did make for some interesting pictures that you probably won't get otherwise.
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