Trip--October, 2010-the big 4-0!! - Updated 4/5 - Baby Boy is Born! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Congratulations!!! I went pg with both my boys and did fine and it sounds like you know what you're doing and will be fine too. I did do the safari with my 1st at 5 months, but not with this last one at 7.5 months. I hope you have a great trip! And good luck on a healthy, easy pregnancy. It's all worth it and since I just had baby boy #2 5 days ago I know what I'm talking about.
Thanks and good to know about Safari! !
And in other thrilling news, I found a V&A dress!!! Be glad you weren't there. The challenge really is the formalness, there were plenty of not so dressy dresses that just weren't going to cut it for me. I'm fussy. And vain. I know. I found myself in Macy's in the formal/prom/fancy dress area with glassy eyes. I grabbed anything and everything that looked like it would be comfortable and attractive (this shouldn't be impossible!).
There were tears, lots of them, as I tried one dress after another. Some I loved but weren't right for semi-bump/missing waist/pregnant butt. Some fit but made me look like the mother of the bride. Some were just plain hideous. Plus the Macy's dressing room always smells like a hockey bag or old gym shoes. And there were four young teenage girls looking for 'like' homecoming dresses, that weren't 'like' so stupid looking. That they were all 15 years old and size sub zero wasn't helping matters.
Nothing. I'm ready to despair, give in to the empire waist mother of the bride chiffon nightmare when I see 'the dress'. Its hanging on the return rack and its just what I had in my head: loose/straight through the waist, like a flapper sort of, but with some sleeves, like a long tshirt...you know, covered but not geriatric?
I grabbed it. It fits. I'm so happy. Then I look at the price tag. $295. I dropped about forty f-bombs in the dressing room. And then I fell back on a old lesson from my mother: no garment is perfect, find the flaw, get the discount. So I inspected this dress and it became clear that someone had worn it and returned it. The button at the neck was loose, like you pulled it on with out unbuttoning it. Some of the detail was pulling, like it had been hung up for a long long time. And the coup de grace: the tiniest smudge of red lipstick on the hem of all places (imagine you dropped your lipstick and the tip just skimmed the hem...).
I took my flaws and my determined but pleasant attitude to the cashier. I showed her. I said that there was no reason this should be full price. She agreed, but said she was only allowed to give me 10% off. That's not going to be enough. We haggled a bit more. She poked around the register and found a 20% off coupon and said I could use that and then sign up for a Macy's card and get another 20% plus a few dollars for an added feature of some kind (that I could cancel) to the card.
In the end my $295 dress came to $154 with tax. More than I wanted to spend, but at that moment, with my tears dried and The 40th Birthday Dress in my hands I didn't care.
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Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
You are too cute I love the dress. It will be perfect and so worth it. Wow V & A for you 40th and then the gift you didn't even think to ask for (baby). What a magical birthday. I hope my 40th can be 1/2 as good!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Look what I got in the mail!!! Last week I noticed Pinkyt177 (Cassie!!!) makes these awesome glitter shirts for her trips (her 40th is right around the corner). I commented and asked how to do it and she took pity on my uncrafty soul and made me one! She even sent me directions and if only there was video of me trying to iron this on to a t-shirt last night, you would all offer to iron for me to.
(aside: I don't have an ironing board, I iron on a towel on my kitchen table. My iron has some gunk that melted on it so you have to be really careful because it gets on your clothes if you don't use a cloth. I also can't read the settings on it anymore--I keep the dry cleaner in business or love love love Brooks Brothers wrinkle free dress shirts!)
So after a few attempts to get the glitters to all stick at the same time, I've got my very own custom made by Cassie maternity tshirt that will ensure all those I encounter will know I've got a baby bump and not a lunch lump.
What to do with myself for the next two days? 1. type this while I'm sitting in a workshop in which I am the notetaker and no one guesses that I'm not typinig what I'm suspposed to be typing (its a repeat for me, so I'm cool on the notes...) 2. get my hair highlighted by Ted. I love Ted. He's a super hairy greek man who always tells his clients how beautiful there are. I pay him a fortune to lie to me. And no baby worries, I highlight with foils--nothing touches my skin the shop is well ventilated. 3. Pedicure. I'll do this on my own tomorrow night. I don't let the ladies touch my feet after this incident five years ago when I specifically asked to keep my calouses because I'm a runner and I've worked hard for them. Despite this request I battled fresh blisters on fresh skin for weeks after. I vowed never to have a pedicure again. 4. Swim once, bike once, run once. Why? Because I'll feel better about myself. Does it matter considering the Food and Food Festival? No. 5. gather and finalize paper work organization. Mostly done, but I like to triple check. 6. Check in online for flights, tomorrow after lunch. 7. Try on all clothes, make a big mess in the bedroom, get annoyed that nothing fits, try on new combinations of clothes, run to Target/Old Navy/Walmart in effort to find things that fit and make me happy, ulitmately buy nothing and pack the first things I tried on. 8. Remind Jake several hundred times to bring x,y, and z (varies depending on time of day and current panic levels). 9. Call Boardwalk to see if they can link our two seperate studio reservations (when we added a night we ended up with a new ressie). 10. drive to the airport!!!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.