A 40th celebration to end the world! COMPLETED 6/24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Long travel days aren't much fun. And to think you started out in the Atlantic Ocean that morning. Wow! The car rental issue doesn't sound too promising - we currently have a rental car with Dollar for this summer! I keep checking all companies for lower rates, so we'll see who we end up with. I'll be prepared for a long shuttle wait.
The room is very nice indeed! Nice and large. And I'm glad you could get room service too.
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What an incredibly long day for you. I think we we do a two coast holiday we will have a night at MCO and an early flight if we can find one. I also really like the sound of the Virgin America direct flight MCO-LAX.
A direct flight from MCO to LAX - now that sounds good to me! I don't think I even looked at Virgin America when planning this trip... I'll keep it in mind in case we do something similar in the future.
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Sorry about the chaos waiting for your car hire. We witnessed something similar at San Francisco airport, we were waiting for a shuttle to take us to pick up the RV we had hired in the car hire place and the lines were unbelievable people were waiting 60 mins in line to get to the desk.
Wow - that's nuts!
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The Grand Californian looks so beacutiful to me I could well see it being my favorite resort by far. I had a bubble of excitement in my tummy just looking at your photos. I bet that burger tasted good.
It is a stunning resort and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Glad you finally arrived at Disneyland. What a long day for you guys; your flight/drive there sounded pretty exhausing. I hate driving at night when it's raining- it makes my eyes hurt.
Your studio at The Grand Californian looks beautiful. It does look nice and spacious. Looking forward to your next update.
I have to be honest, the Grand Californian studio made all the travelling and the long day worthwhile.
That is a really long day! Wow.
I have to say I am a huge fan of gps now too. On our Williamsburg trip we pretty much solely relied on it. I had google maps printed, but it's so much nicer to hear turn left at the next corner instead of trying to read and drive at the same time. She did have flaws though, like when she would tell us to take 192 north and the only choices were east and west!
That is a really long day! Wow.
I have to say I am a huge fan of gps now too. On our Williamsburg trip we pretty much solely relied on it. I had google maps printed, but it's so much nicer to hear turn left at the next corner instead of trying to read and drive at the same time. She did have flaws though, like when she would tell us to take 192 north and the only choices were east and west!
Hmmm.... incidents like that are always entertaining...
I can honestly say, just reading the day you and Mark had, has made me exhausted. So I know you both needed bedtime. Yes, I think an earlier flight may have been better. But, you made it to a very beautiful Resort and it really is a big studio. Glad after all that you both made it safe and sound!!!!
It actually felt worse posting the last couple of updates than it did actually living through it, if that makes sense?
A direct flight from MCO to LAX - now that sounds good to me! I don't think I even looked at Virgin America when planning this trip... I'll keep it in mind in case we do something similar in the future.
The flights looked quite reasonable too, was quoted $1000 for the four of us. We couldn't fly Paris to Aberdeen for that!
Finally arriving at such a beautiful resort must have made such a long day a bit more bearable. I wonder if Disney's standard room service answer is 45 minutes. I seem to recall being told that twice on our cruise and the food showed up within 10 minutes.
The flights looked quite reasonable too, was quoted $1000 for the four of us. We couldn't fly Paris to Aberdeen for that!
Wow, that's really good! It's pretty rare to find that round trip for less than $300 per person! Oh wait, were you saying for one way? On average, coast to coast runs about $200-250 each way. Lately I've seen some fares as low as $140 each way which is amazing!
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Last edited by Dlandmom2; 04-29-2013 at 06:59 PM..
Love the room at GCV!! We actually own more points there than our other two home resorts - 250! - but have never stayed there! It didn't exist when we lived in LA. So we keep saying we must go stay at our West Coast home one of these days!!
Sounds like a very exhausting travel day but glad you finally arrived. The studio is really big...WOW, looks like a beautiful room. Glad you did not have to wait too long for dinner.
Hope that you both were able to get a good night's sleep.
You must have been exhausted! I'm tired and hungry just reading about it! Oh wait, at the moment I'm tired an hungry anyway, lol! This just made it more so.
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I don't think I even looked at Virgin America when planning this trip... I'll keep it in mind in case we do something similar in the future. 
I hate driving at night when it's raining- it makes my eyes hurt. 
Looking forward to your next update.
. So I know you both needed bedtime. Yes, I think an earlier flight may have been better. But, you made it to a very beautiful Resort and it really is a big studio
. Glad after all that you both made it safe and sound!!!!
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