A trip of Firsts, Seconds, and Thirds PTR - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Whew! The holidays have me all frazzled!! First off, I hope that everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) and if anyone dared to go out on Black Friday, I Hope everyone made it home safe and sound
Now for the most important part of this post.....
DOUBLE DIGIT DANCING!!!!! WOOHOO!
I am so excited!!! 97 days!!! And I'm even more excited because Disney was offering a fantastic deal for passholders for the time we are going so I'm save almost $500 on my trip because of that! Needless to say, Mike was very happy about that too and even said he'd buy me something special for getting the extra savings! lol so stay tuned for that.
Anywho, I may not be on for a while, or at least able to post because Aiden's birthday is coming up next week (the 29th!) and he is turning 5! I can't believe it. Where has the time gone? So we have his birthday and then his party on the 1st, Christmas tree shopping and decorating so it's going to be busy!!
Thank you for joining me in my dancing and I will be back soon!
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First off, VERY much for all the Happy Birthday's you all sent Aiden's way. He had a wonderful birthday and a wonderful party that weekend. Of course he was spoiled beyond belief, with Christmas in the not too far distance. So, of course he was very happy. We have been doing some Christmas activities lately and practicing for Aiden's yellow belt promotion on the 21st. You know, as much as I LOVE Christmas and this time of year, I look forward to when it's over because then I get to go into full Disney planning mode!! I know you all completely understand Right now there isn't much to report. But come January, I will start buying some more clothes and shoes and luggage. ADIDAS puts on a tent sale in the shopping center right across the street and they have FANTASTIC deals. For instance, I got a pair of $135 shoes for $20 in May!!! I have to get Mike and Aiden new shoes, and if they happen to have a pair of shoes I like, I'll pick some up for myself too why not I always order new shirts from the Disneystore.com for Aiden, and myself, and this year I'll be ordering some for Mike too!! At the end of January I'll make my nephews and Aiden a Disney Vacation countdown and have the boys over for a Disney-themed sleep over to get them in the mood. Planning-wise, I have to buy our Photopass + in February (finally convinced Mike to get it! yay!), pay off the trip at the end of January, and then buy little things to surprise Aiden with in the room.
Until then, I will be updating you all on if I will have a new yellow belt this month soon. Until then...
Well, I am proud to say that Aiden earned his yellow belt during his belt promotion so he is the newest yellow belt to victory martial arts! We are so proud! Aiden was spoiled by Santa and loves everything he received. He is a lucky kid. Mike and I were pretty spoiled too. Now it's focusing on mike's sisters wedding on the 26th of January. Lots to do on that front. The other day I added 'Ohana for breakfast on March 5th so now we will have 'Ohana for breakfast and dinner but different days. Very excited! Within the next few weeks we will be PIF and I will begin making purchases for the trip from the Disneystore.com website and getting together my check lists and such. So I'm going to be very busy the next few months lol wish me luck!!!
So, we are 39 days out until our fabulous Disney vacation and time couldn't be going any slower haha I am even more excited because my DH Mike is seeming to be equally as excited as I am about this trip, which hardly ever happens. My parents even seem to be way more in the Disney spirit than before so it's nice all around to be able to enjoy all the planning and anticipation with everyone and not feel like the only Disney fan in the room. Not too much on the planning front. My birthday was the 12th of this month, so we celebrated by going to Downtown Disney and then to Bahama Breeze (LOVE it!) for my dinner, but not before my mom and Mike gave me my birthday present which was a Kitchenaid Standmixer!!!! I was and still am, so excited about this present. It's bright red (or, Mickey red as I call it) which they knew 1) Was my favorite color of all the mixers and, 2) because they knew I am redoing my kitchen in a Best of Mickey theme so the red will match beautifully! I have been baking at every opportunity I have and I LOVE it! In other news, I cut my hair short, well, shoulder length because I simply needed a change. It feels great too. So, I will see how much it grows before the trip and determine if I need a trim or not. On the 26th of this month (this Saturday), Mike, Aiden, and myself will be attending and part of my SiL's wedding. I am the Matron of Honor, Mike is a Groomsman and Aiden is the ring bearer. This wedding has been SO stressful on everyone, but it probably doesn't help that the Bride and Groom have been really wishy washy with planning and making decisions, which doesn't make for a very organized wedding. On top of that, it's costing us a fortune just to be a part of this wedding. And that is no joke. It's costing us just about $800 to be a part of this wedding. So, this hasn't been a pleasant experience for our wallets. Not to mention that the bride also has a Maid of Honor and instead of her writing the speech, as she should, she asked me if we could "write it together" which is code for "Hey Shellie, you write the speech and I'll help take credit for it". *sigh* It is what it is I guess. On top of all that, the ceremony is being held on an ice skating rink. Yep, you read that correctly. And the dresses she had us pick were tea length and no sleeved with no shawls or jackets. yep....and Aiden will be pulled out on to the ice on a sled. The Bride and her father will be ice skating up the "aisle" and the groom is who is pulling Aiden onto the ice on the sled. Yep, should make for an interesting ceremony. Honestly, I can't wait for it to be all over. After that, it's just tying up loose ends for our trip. Making finalized plans with the place our Bolt will be staying and getting training while we are gone, I've started making a packing list so I can start packing soon, and at the 30 day mark, I'm making countdown calendars for My mom, my nephews, and Aiden. We still have to have the boys over for a Disney themed sleepover, I need to order stuff from the disneystore.com website, finish making my mousekeeping envelopes, pick up new shoes for everyone (in my family), any new clothes we need, take care of haircuts, my mani/pedi and cleaning the house. We should be good to go. As soon as this wedding is over, I'm going into overdrive with Disney plans. I still need to print out a copy of all the dining reservations and times for my mom to have since she and my dad and my nephews are staying at a different resort now. I'm sure I will be keeping plenty busy before this trip!
Be back soon with little updates from here on out!
You know you have to share some pics of the ice wedding. I laughed when you went from "they are wishy washy about the plans," to describing Aiden being pulled on a sled. And, what's up with having to fork out so much to be in someone's wedding? I know that's how it works, but it does put a hardship on folks in the wedding party.
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
VERY much for all the Happy Birthday's you all sent Aiden's way. He had a wonderful birthday and a wonderful party that weekend. Of course he was spoiled beyond belief, with Christmas in the not too far distance. So, of course he was very happy. We have been doing some Christmas activities lately and practicing for Aiden's yellow belt promotion on the 21st. You know, as much as I LOVE Christmas and this time of year, I look forward to when it's over because then I get to go into full Disney planning mode!! I know you all completely understand 
Right now there isn't much to report. But come January, I will start buying some more clothes and shoes and luggage. ADIDAS puts on a tent sale in the shopping center right across the street and they have FANTASTIC deals. For instance, I got a pair of $135 shoes for $20 in May!!! 
I always order new shirts from the Disneystore.com for Aiden, and myself, and this year I'll be ordering some for Mike too!! At the end of January I'll make my nephews and Aiden a Disney Vacation countdown and have the boys over for a Disney-themed sleep over to get them in the mood. Planning-wise, I have to buy our Photopass + in February (finally convinced Mike to get it! yay!), pay off the trip at the end of January, and then buy little things to surprise Aiden with in the room.
Lots of 
for planning and preps! 
In other news, I cut my hair short, well, shoulder length because I simply needed a change. It feels great too. So, I will see how much it grows before the trip and determine if I need a trim or not. On the 26th of this month (this Saturday), Mike, Aiden, and myself will be attending and part of my SiL's wedding. I am the Matron of Honor, Mike is a Groomsman and Aiden is the ring bearer. This wedding has been SO stressful on everyone, but it probably doesn't help that the Bride and Groom have been really wishy washy with planning and making decisions, which doesn't make for a very organized wedding. On top of that, it's costing us a fortune just to be a part of this wedding. And that is no joke. It's costing us just about $800 to be a part of this wedding. So, this hasn't been a pleasant experience for our wallets. Not to mention that the bride also has a Maid of Honor and instead of her writing the speech, as she should, she asked me if we could "write it together" which is code for "Hey Shellie, you write the speech and I'll help take credit for it". *sigh* It is what it is I guess. On top of all that, the ceremony is being held on an ice skating rink. Yep, you read that correctly. And the dresses she had us pick were tea length and no sleeved with no shawls or jackets. yep....and Aiden will be pulled out on to the ice on a sled. The Bride and her father will be ice skating up the "aisle" and the groom is who is pulling Aiden onto the ice on the sled. Yep, should make for an interesting ceremony. Honestly, I can't wait for it to be all over. 
After that, it's just tying up loose ends for our trip. Making finalized plans with the place our Bolt will be staying and getting training while we are gone, I've started making a packing list so I can start packing soon, and at the 30 day mark, I'm making countdown calendars for My mom, my nephews, and Aiden. We still have to have the boys over for a Disney themed sleepover, I need to order stuff from the disneystore.com website, finish making my mousekeeping envelopes, pick up new shoes for everyone (in my family), any new clothes we need, take care of haircuts, my mani/pedi and cleaning the house. We should be good to go. As soon as this wedding is over, I'm going into overdrive with Disney plans. I still need to print out a copy of all the dining reservations and times for my mom to have since she and my dad and my nephews are staying at a different resort now. I'm sure I will be keeping plenty busy before this trip! 
Wedding on Ice???? Can't wait to hear how that goes??? do you ice skate???
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