PTR....Universal Adventures of Dreams and an Expanding world part 2 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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I thought I'd share some of our most recent purchases..
I got this top for really cheap, and Claire loves it. it will be going on the trip with us.
I have a wonderful Dis/facebook friend, Kristi, who goes to a Disney outlet quite a bit. She picked me up a couple of cute items and sent them to me. Thanks so much Kristi!!!! These sweatpants were only $5!
The sweats may go on the trip with us, as they are nice and comfy and would be great for Claire during down/colder times.
She also got me this sweatshirt, which I love...it was only $15!
This dress will be for our Golden Mickey night. One of my co-workers, Mindy, made the Mickey applique and sent it to me. I got the dress on ebay...not a great dress, but it was dirt cheap, and Claire's teacher put it on the dress for me free of charge. She is also going to embroider some names on pillowcases, so I'll buy her a giftcard for doing all of this.
I made these for Claire. We have been working on a couple of pairs lately. We find it fun. I plan to make a christmas pair and another pair to match an outfit I am having made. These may come along on the trip...we'll see how they last over the summer.
These I made for summer. We'll see how they fair too. They would be cute for the cruise...of course, we only need so many shoes. LOL
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Off topic... I wanted to share a few pictures of my kids. I don't often get to take pictures of the 3 of them together...but lately...they have actually allowed me to do so. Whats up with that?
My girls.
and my nieces Alexis and Abby. They will be going on the cruise with us.
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Sadly all good things must come to an end...and this is the day we leave the Dream...and like all cruise lines....they like to get you out as fast as they can. Since we have 1st seating for dinner, we'll have the bright and early, crack of dawn seating for breakfast. I have contemplated just going to Cabanas, we'll see how things go.
We'll say goodbye to our ship and head out. Hopefully we get off at a decent time and everything goes smoothly.
The plan is to send the guys over to pick up the cars at the resort and have them come back to pick us up. Dad should be a pro at this, because he picked us up last year.
It will be a bit depressing...but we also have more to look forward too. Everyone is going to WDW!
We'll make that drive over and each will seperate to their own resort. My sister is staying at Art of Animation. My cousin and her kids at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Her parents are at Pop Century. My Aunt and Uncle wil lbe staying at the JW Marriot Grande Lakes. Well I think they are. I have a reservation there for them, but my sister told me that she was telling them about the AoA and they are considering changing over to there. Knowing them though, I think they would like the Marriot better. They stay at Marriots all the time and they have stayed at this one several times. My parents looked at several options and decided they wanted to stay with me.
And me....
Well I splurged! I am staying at 1 of my dream resorts for 3 nights. I got a slight taste of the area last summer and I just had to get Claire there. I know she will love the pool. So do you want to know where? . . . . . . . . . . The Beach Club Villas. Claire is going to go nutso over this pool. She has seen it, and admired it, but now she will actually get to try it.
I got a Studio because it was just going to be Claire and I. Mom mentioned a few times about possibly staying with us to save her some money (which is fine because she pays for a ton of stuff as it is and is paying for the rental car and Residence Inn stay). I told her she could, but they would be on a pull out sofa bed. She cringed about that idea. I have been told that those beds really are not bad, and I did tell her that, but I am not 100 % sure how good they are either. Finally she decided to just go for it and save some big money, so I added them to the reservation.
Once we get to WDW, we really are not all hanging out together. I am not playing tourguide. I have my own agenda, my cousin has one completely different and my sister has her own as well. Though I think the older 6 of the group are going to try and eat with my sister some of the time. (she's still working on where she wants to eat) I won't bore you with everyone elses details. Here are the plans for Claire and I...always subject to change.
We should arrive at Beach Club fairly early. We will get us checked in. I am doubting the room will be ready, but you never know.
The plan is if the weather is decent to take Claire swimming right way. I know it's one of the top things that will be on her list. I might as well get that over with for the day.
I am hoping to have an icecream lunch at our favorite beach and creams.....a No way Jose to be exact!
I would like to be on our way to AK by 2-2:30 PM. I have 1 reason to go here this day (and I "think" my sister plans to be here too), that reason is to see the parade. it is one of my favorite parades and the way I have the next several days scheduled, it may be hard for me to have a chance to see it again.
I don't know if this will be changed over to the Christmas version yet or not. Either one will be fine with me though.
After the parade, we will probably work our way to the front and head out. We have an evening ADR at Epcot and I would like to take a look at the food and wine festival, as it will be closing up in 2 days and this will most likely be my only chance...... now this isn't a big draw for me, but I still want to check it out.
Before I go on, I'll talk a little bit about my Beach Club stay.
When I planned to stay a few days after the cruise, I only planned 3 at tops....I kept saying I would like to add more, but it didn't seem doable. So my plan was to stay here, a place I really wanted to stay and do the 1st Christmas party and basically chill out at the resort for the rest of the time. Oh how things change.....
Then I thought, for sure I would have to get a 1 day ticket and go to Hollywood Stuidos if Osborne Lights were on...this may be my only chance to ever see them. Ok that sounds like a plan. Well Skip gave me money for Christmas to pay off the cruise...so that left me with a little more money to play around with, and thus I added more days to the trip.
My package with tickets doesn't start till Sunday the 11th, so I am going to do the advance 3 day pick up when we arrive to keep down ticket costs. I have read directions on how to do this, and I know a few people who have done this as well, so it should be pretty simple. (not to self..print out the directions)
So back to Animal Kingdom. We'll watch the parade and head off to Epcot.
We'll probably mostly do the World Showcase..though I am sure I will check and see how busy Soarin is.
My Dis friend Tim will be at Epcot this day, as well as Carey, the one I plan to meet up with at MNSSHP. So I am hoping to meet up with Tim and family and once again with Carey's family too.
Our ADR is for 7PM at Akershus. We did this once before and the food was decent, but the Princesses are why we are really going.
I actually would rather do breakfast, but I can't see how I can fit that in, so for now dinner is on our agenda. I am hoping we will get seated on time and make it out to find a spot for Illuminations.
After that, it's time to head back and get to bed. This will be a long day...with many more to follow.
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