Have a Happy Birthday - Part Two - COMPLETE w/Final Thoughts **Updated 11/25** - Page 8 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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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.
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
As last time, I managed about 2 hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 12:45 a.m., but when you’re getting up to go to Disney who really cares about sleep! The girls bounced out of bed as if they had just had a full night of sleep - - oh, to be that age again! All of our bags were packed, so as soon as Thom had loaded them into the car we were off.
We’re less than 10 minutes from the train station, but the drive takes us through the college bar scene. It was amazing how crowded the streets were at 1 a.m. on a Friday morning and proved to me how old I’m getting! I really had to slow down through this area because it was like driving through an obstacle course - - apparently drunk college students have no qualms about jaywalking.
When we pulled up to the station, we immediately spotted Misti’s family outside. Her mom, Linda, informed us that she had our tickets because the pick up window had just closed. Unlike last time, the train was arriving early, so thankfully we hadn’t cut it any closer. As soon as Thom went to park the car, the train rolled up a full 20 minutes early.
Misti’s dad, Nicky, waited for Thom and the rest of us headed for the sleeper car entrance. All of the children were super excited and just about to bubble over. Maddie was literally from ear to ear as I held her in my arms (she was also shivering since it was a bit chilly that morning but she could have cared less about the cold.)
We were in one car and Misti’s family was in another, so we said goodbye as we boarded the train and each went in different directions. We tried to get the girls settled quickly, but Maddie was a lot chattier than she was on the first trip.
It probably took her a good hour for her to wind down - - Mommy, I have to pee pee; Mommy, I have to poo poo; Mommy, I have a boo boo on my finger. Kiss it. I think I heard every excuse in the world for not going to sleep. When she did finally fall asleep, she had my neck in a clinch hold as if I were one of her beloved fluffies.
Hours later, I felt Maddie crawl to the end of the bed and heard her pull back the curtain. I told her that it was still dark outside, so she laid back down beside me. About five minutes later she crawled back down to the curtain and said “See Mommy. It’s light outside. Time to get up.” Dawn was just breaking. We ended up sitting at the window for about 30 minutes watching the world go by and pointing out everything that we could see. I think our whispering finally woke up the other two, so we got ourselves presentable and headed down for breakfast.
Misti’s family was just finishing up breakfast when we got there, so we talked a bit on their way out. It was funny how excited the children were to see each other every time that we went a couple of hours without seeing each other! I had a yummy breakfast of French toast and lots of .
When we could eat no more, we went back to room for last hour of trip. Our big excitement of the morning was when Thom decided that he was going to take a shower in our teeny tiny bathroom. He was in and out within about 5 minutes and announced that it actually made you hurry since the water would turn off after a certain amount of time. The toilet and the shower are both in the room, so everything gets soaked after someone takes a shower. Mary Devall had to go to the bathroom after his shower and came out with wet shorts!
After Thom was clean, he set up his laptop for the girls to watch Suite Life. They also got into my snack stash . . . because breakfast was so long ago!
We got into Orlando right on time - - a few minutes after 10 a.m. We hadn’t been able to check any luggage in Columbia because of the early arrival of the train, but this actually ended up being a good thing since we didn’t have to wait to claim it. As soon as we reached the baggage pick up area, I spotted our Happy Limo van. Within 5 minutes, we were loaded and off to our resorts!
Sounds like another great start! I am so excited to hear about Maddie's change of heart on the characters!! I wondered how long it would be before she go over her fear of them.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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.
Sounds like Maddie was definitely up for her travels....glad she finally gave you a few hours to sleep (or at least close your eyes before she announced that it was time to get up).
Love the girls getting into the snacks...Maddie's face is just priceless. Can't wait to hear more...
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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All of our bags were packed, so as soon as Thom had loaded them into the car we were off. 
It was amazing how crowded the streets were at 1 a.m. on a Friday morning and proved to me how old I’m getting! 
I really had to slow down through this area because it was like driving through an obstacle course - - apparently drunk college students have no qualms about jaywalking. 
Her mom, Linda, informed us that she had our tickets because the pick up window had just closed. Unlike last time, the train was arriving early, so thankfully we hadn’t cut it any closer. As soon as Thom went to park the car, the train rolled up a full 20 minutes early. 
Dawn was just breaking. We ended up sitting at the window for about 30 minutes watching the world go by and pointing out everything that we could see. I think our whispering finally woke up the other two, so we got ourselves presentable and headed down for breakfast.
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The toilet and the shower are both in the room, so everything gets soaked after someone takes a shower. Mary Devall had to go to the bathroom after his shower and came out with wet shorts! 
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