"Hey, Mom, Dad, get on plane and go to Disney" Trip report - "Finding shelter from the fireworks" - **Updated 11/13** - Page 6 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Great update...you're getting so close! You've got lots of fantastic extras planned -- I can't wait to hear all about them. We loved MNSSHP so much last year, that I could and would totally do it twice in one trip, so I know where you are coming from on that one!
I am so not worthy when it comes to your autograph book. I mean, WOW! You've got talent! (I hope I didn't sound like David Hasselhoff when I said that ).
Your plans sound great! Your DD will be so excited when she gets all done up at BBB. What is it about WDW that brings out the matchy-matchy geekiness in us? I just went to our Disney store last weekend and found some t-shirts for all of us to wear for our trip in December. Even DMIL wants to get in on the matching shirt thing! I love the autograph book and the thank you cards! They're really beautiful! Have a fabulous trip!
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Oh Nala I can not wait to see you, Kiara and Grumpy again!!! I think we might just have a Stop and Drop meet - since RNR is under rehab until the 5th... but we can make it work - I Know we can!!!
Can't wait to see you guys (and cell phone numbers are programed!!)
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Your autograph book & thank you cards are amazing! the costumes too....I think 'recycling' them is a great idea.....costumes are so expensie to make or purchase nowadays! Can't wait to hear more
What beautiful autograph books and thank you cards I hope you're able to meet up with all the Passporters, and I hope Kiara has a fantastic time at BBB
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.
Your autograph book is amazing and I just love the idea with the thank you cards. Sounds like you have a great time planned for all. Have a magical time at the Poly and let us hear all about it.
I'm sure you will have a super duper marvelous time. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Hope your trip is sprinkled with an extra dose of
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Great plans!!! You know, I'm getting the urge to take a day trip over to the parks! It's been 3 weeks already! And our F&W trip isn't until the 18th of October. My birthday is Monday, and I've always wanted to wear a b-day button at WDW. So I might just have to drop in on Saturday.
Have a great trip, and I can't wait to read all about it.
Well, with only a few hours left to go, I thought I would give a final update.
The weekend before we left, I spent my time packing, printing out all documents we would need, buying stuff needed for the trip, (I didn’t realize how desperate Kiara was for new underwear until I started to pack) and looking over the list I had made to make sure I had everything in order. Unlike past trips, I lacked my usual, overzealous approach to getting ready. I’m not sure what was up with my mood, but the normal level of excitement that hits me about a month before a trip to WDW was not at its expected level. And, I felt unorganized (a rare thought process for this Virgo) but not too concerned about it (an even rarer thought process for this Virgo).
I don‘t know what to blame this funk I am in about this trip, but will venture to guess that it is the stress from my job (we just put in a new computer system and simple, everyday things are now a battle and I am so far behind because of it) or possibly the fact that I have planned this trip to death. Whatever it was that was keeping me down, the encouraging words from a fellow PassPorter via some PMs helped pump me up. Coupled with the music on Live 365 that I played every chance I got, the appropriate mood hit me.
And just as I was getting in the mood, Grumpy, the wanna be weatherman, decided to share his joy in storm forecasting with me. It seems “Karen” the next storm to possibly hit the US, was looming in the Atlantic. Grumpy proudly produced a piece of paper with the projected path of “Karen” on it that he had printed out from the Weather Channel’s website. And on it he had drawn his prediction of the path “Karen” would take. Straight for Orlando, by Friday afternoon as he figured. Now, in the ten years we have been married, I have only felt the urge to slap Grumpy upside the head a time or two (ok, it‘s been about ten times, but who is counting?) . This was one of them. I listened to him talk about water temperatures, air currents and a whole bunch of other stuff until he finally came to the end of his weather lesson and said something that caused me to really to hold back from smacking him upside the head. “Wouldn’t it be cool to be in a hurricane? I mean, I have seen a tornado, a flood, a blizzard, but never a hurricane!” As much as I know where he is coming from, as I too have a strange obsession for extreme weather, I had one thing to say “But we have a child to think about!” Grumpy was quick to agree and stated that anything over a category two and we were out of Orlando, no questions asked.
Great, I feel so much better now.
So, on our final day of normal life, I went to work but Grumpy took the day off to get some things done before we left. Those things included mowing the lawn, calling me a work several times to rub in the fact that he was on vacation and I was still working and also going out and purchasing a laptop computer. When I walked in the door tonight, I saw him hunched over the new electronic device and asked what he had done. His answer was “Well, we needed one. Now you can download all your pictures and even give live updates to your trip report”. So it was all for me.
Great, I feel so much better now.
Now, I am not promising anything here, but there is the possibility of a live update or two. Might as well make good use of the “we needed it “ purchase.
Well, I guess that is it. I have nothing left to do but pack a few last minute things, apply another layer of fake tan and head to bed to wait sleeplessly for the alarm to go off at an obscene hour in the morning.
The next time you hear from me, I will be either giving a live update, or back to reality and sharing the memories made on this trip. Let’s all hope that none of my report includes any information on “Karen”!
WooooHoooooo!!!!! I'm going to WDW! Again!!!!!!!!!
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the costumes too....I think 'recycling' them is a great idea.....costumes are so expensie to make or purchase nowadays! Can't wait to hear more
I hope you're able to meet up with all the Passporters, and I hope Kiara has a fantastic time at BBB 
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We will envy you the whole time you are there!!
ANGIE
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